In the last few weeks I posted about pregnancy massage and my approach to it, having the skills to support women while they work on growing a small person, is incredibly rewarding. Having the skills to provide support people in their dream to create life is even more so.
In the interests of making my approach clear and to manage expectations, I want to share and experience with you…A few years ago, I posted on a local facebook group that acupuncture can help support people through the IVF process, and that studies have shown that it can increase the chances of success. I was told to take the post down as the moderator didn’t want to be advertising “that witchcraft” on the page. After a chat with the moderator I understood that he had friends who had struggled and failed with IVF and he felt I was trying to offer a guarantee. I want to be very clear, there is no guarantee, this is not what I offer. I do understand that there is so much pressure from family, society and often from the individual themselves, there are so many stresses and imbalances involved, that anything we can do to reduce that stress, and keep the body in balance, can only help in the journey, this is what I offer.
If you are preparing your body for trying to get pregnant, have been trying for a while or are going through fertility treatments, holistic therapy can be a useful and supportive resource to include in your plans.
I have a range of skills which can be very helpful in supporting people who are planning to or trying to get pregnant, but the most important thing is to find a therapist and treatment style that feels right for you. With the obvious exception of physical issues which prevent conception, most often the biggest obstacle is stress, and holistic therapies can make a massive difference here, which means any holistic therapy will help to support you by reducing stress levels and supporting your body’s natural rhythms.
If you come to me for support with fertility, I will take in to consideration which treatments resonate most with you, and work around this to create a treatment plan, I will usually suggest incorporating acupuncture and moxibustion in your treatment, these treatments have been shown in studies to help improve the chances of success in fertility treatments, regular acupuncture treatments will help to support the hormonal cycle and levels in both men and women. Acupuncture will also help to reduce stress levels and balance the body, leading to improved health and wellbeing.
I strongly feel that stomach massage should be included where possible, we hold a lot of emotional stress and physical tension in our abdomen, massaging the abdomen can therefore be very helpful in reducing stress levels and allowing the organs to relax and function as they should do, but also, with tension comes the restriction of circulation, and in this case, restriction of circulation in a vital area. We need to unwind the belly in order to ensure good, healthy blood flow to the reproductive organs.
In my training on focusing on fertility, I loved the very basic approach used, that in order to successfully bake a bun, we must first pre warm the oven. Heat and good blood flow should be encouraged in the direction of the uterus, this is of course one of the main reasons I’ll always include abdominal massage, and Moxibustion is often used directly on the abdomen or on the hand in the points connecting to the uterus through Korean Hand Therapy. I also always recommend keeping the abdomen warm, with layers, with hot water bottles and with drinking warming drinks such as ginger tea
Sometimes just coming to someone who is separate from your social circle can often be key, with the best of intentions, family and friends can often add pressure to the situation without meaning to, being able to chat or grumble about these pressures without worry of hurting these well meaning folk can in itself be very helpful, I’m equally happy for you to both chat, offload and rant or to drift off in your own world and fall asleep. If you are also making use of meditations or visualisations, you are welcome to put your headphones on and integrate these elements in to your treatment to increase your relaxation.
If I can help on your journey to building your family in any way, I am honoured to do so, working with fertility issues is an incredible gift, I am grateful for the training I have had so that I can help those who need me.
The Barefoot therapist 