When getting pregnant didn’t come easily, yoga instructor Nikola Hájková turned to tools such as fertility yoga and the fertility awareness method to improve her chances of getting pregnant. What she discovered along the way is that these tools also really allowed her to open up to her intuitive voice and to deal with any challenging emotions that she encountered along the way. On this episode of the podcast, we discuss how fertility yoga works with the different phases of your cycle, supporting the uterus and your hormones in just the right way. We also talk about how Nikola improved her gut health and how working with the fertility awareness method really helped improve her connection with her body.

Top quotes:

Nikola: “In the beginning, somehow, in the back of my mind, I always was worried that it would be troubling for me to get pregnant, I don't know why, I was kind of healthy, I didn't have any major issues, health issues, or anything like that, but maybe it was a little bit of emotional blockage, mental blockage.”

Nikola: “Yoga helped me. Physically, of course, but also, mentally, emotionally, definitely, because it was just hard to navigate not only the fact that we were not getting pregnant, but also that we were not getting any help. That at the fertility clinic, they just told us, ‘wait, you are young, you seem healthy, there is nothing we can do at the moment.’”

Nikola: “I think women today are pushed into some options at the fertility clinic just too early without investigating without doing the test. And they don't even have the time to really look inwards and listen to the intuition and what I really want.”

Castor oil packs: https://www.bol.com/nl/nl/p/fushi-castor-oil-organic-250ml/9300000089321574/ (Nospon)

About Nikola Hájková

Nikola Hájková is a certified Fertility Awareness Method educator and a certified yoga instructor. Her focus in yoga is on women’s health, fertility and hormonal balance as she believes fertility is a reflection of our body’s overall health. Nikola has been on the fertility journey, too. And that’s why she knows how much it sucks. She is here to support you, boost your fertility and make you believe again you can have your baby. You can find out more about her and her work on her website https://balancedandfertile.com/, her Instagram @balanced.and.fertile or Youtube ‘Balanced and Fertile Yoga’.

(In)fertility can really damage your most important relationships: those you have with your partner, your family, your closest friends. Maybe they don’t know how to give you the support you need, maybe they are moving on with their lives in a direction where you cannot follow them, maybe they are really insensitive. Or all of the above… On this episode of the podcast, I discuss how the relationship with my entire family recently blew up and the steps I am taking to slowly repair that. I take you through the steps that I’ve used to create space for my pain and look at what I need to heal in myself so that I can show up from a place of love. Probably some of the most powerful work in the world!

Top quotes:

“When a situation with your family, with your friends, with your partner, when it really blows up, when you cannot find each other anymore, what usually happens is that you are stuck in these automatic responses. There is this deep pain that's being touched and we are not very good at that. At voicing that, at saying, look, this is what's happening with me. This is a core wound of mine that's now being touched.”

“What always happens in these types of conflicts, is that people go back to their really basic responses of fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. Those are your basic survival responses.”

“when you're stuck in such a difficult dynamic, it can be really easy to go into your head and start thinking about what you should do to fix it. But that's a lot of ‘doing’ again, and when we're so stuck in a doing mode we often lose the benefit and the value that's there in the ‘being’ mode. So when you're stuck in a situation like this, when a relationship has blown up, rather than trying to fix it straight away, go to the place of not knowing how to fix it.”

I was 14 years old when I was put on birth control by my family doctor. I can’t even remember what the reason was - something with acne or period pain maybe. If I’d been born on the other side of the world, chances are that my mother and grandmothers would have introduced me to the healing power of herbs instead. On this episode of the podcast, I talk with Susana Puelles, a physician of Asian medicine, about the power that herbs and cyclical living have for fertility. We discuss how this is a completely different paradigm. Rather than focusing on quick fixes and ignoring underlying causes, Asian medicine focuses on getting your entire organism back in flow. And how we might end up healing something much bigger than ourselves along the way.

Top quotes

Susana Puelles: “the womb technically is a muscle. So what I tell my patients, if your shoulders are very tense, guaranteed your womb is as tense. And we sit all day. So the womb gets folded upon on top of that tension. These are all cues that we need to tune into throughout the day, but we're so busy doing other things that we lose that.”

Susana Puelles: “We need to get you back into your cyclical nature, because at some point we've just gone very linear in the masculine archetype or in our work. But our bodies are cyclical and the herbs remind you of that.”

Susana Puelles: “Are you flowing with the two cycles of the month with how your body's supposed to work, or are we flowing against it? Because if you're flowing against it, let's do little things to help you understand where you are in this cycle.”

Françoise Molenaar: “Everything that we're living on our fertility journey - it's not just about fertility, it's just how we live life in the modern world. It's a world where there's no space for grief. It's a world where we're poisoning ourselves. It's a world where we think we should be working all the time, and then all of a sudden you realize what that's doing to you when you're on this journey, and I feel that that means there’s space for much bigger healing here.

About Susana Puelles

Susana Puelles is a L.Ac. physician of Asian medicine, Functional medicine practitioner, Acupuncturist & Herbal Connoisseur. But most importantly, she’s committed to helping you unveil your sexy, savvy, vibrant self. She helps women, like you, transform and heal on multiple levels, so that you can enjoy the life you've worked so hard for, live free from medication and surgery, and maximize your fertility so that you can finally hold your dream baby. You can find out more about her work at her website https://www.yonisync.com/ or on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/yoni.sync/

Bianca lost her son Danté during childbirth. “He was a beautiful baby”, she tells me, “born with a full head of black hair, really long feet, really soft cheeks.”

On this episode of the podcast, we discuss how life has been for Bianca after losing Dante. Bianca shares how important it was for her to be able to be with Dante in the hours after his birth/death and how lactating and donating breast milk helped her maintain a connection with her son (despite receiving quite serious pushback from the Milk Bank who initially did not want her to donate). We also talk about how her 4-year-old daughter has helped her process her loss.

It’s not often that I come across someone who is able to voice so clearly what grief looks like and how it can present in so many different shapes and forms.

Top quotes:

"We're creating more memories about him by talking about him, you know? And that's really valuable."

"The basic lesson from behind all of this is we can't control everything. That's why we want to find the purpose, the reason, so we can get back some control but we can't control it."

"All ways of grieving are valid."

About Bianca:

Bianca lives in Lima, Perú, is mother to two children, and is navigating life and parenting of her eldest child after baby loss. You can find her on Instagram @doula.duelo

Have you ever felt that you might be blocking yourself from getting pregnant? And that you might subconsciously be holding on to certain beliefs or traumas that are preventing conception from happening? If so, Emily Wilson is your ‘go to’ gal. On this episode of the podcast, we discuss how she combines her medical knowledge with her intuitive gifts to help patients address trauma and emotional blockages, particularly in the context of fertility challenges. Emily provides practical advice that will help you address grief and any kind of physical or emotional trauma that you might be holding on to.

More info about my 3-month group program here: www.thatfertilefeeling.com/sister-sessions

Top quotes:

Emiliy Wilson: “We haven't been taught how to talk to your body, how to listen to your body, how to honor it.”

Emily Wilson: “I find when people feel held, and supported, that the body softens.”

Emily Wilson: “Having that mobility of the pelvic floor is really helpful. Most of my patients fall on the End of the spectrum where they're too tight in their pelvic floor. They're holding a lot of drama, tension, contraction.”

(Book) recommendations:

Walter Makichen - Spirit Babies: How to Communicate with the Child You're Meant to Have

Tami Lynn Kent - Wild Feminine: Finding Power, Spirit & Joy in the Female Body

Liz Koch - Core Awareness (https://www.instagram.com/stalkingwildpsoas/)

Olivia Bryant - Self Cervix (https://www.instagram.com/selfcervix/)

About Emily Wilson

Dr. Emily Wilson, PT, DPT is the owner and founder of Pelvic Wisdom Physical Therapy located in Portland, Maine. Dr. Emily is a pelvic floor physical therapist who takes an intuitive and mind-body approach to healing pelvic floor dysfunction. As a medical intuitive her practice has roots in somatic therapy and trauma healing. Her goal is to help her patients learn the language of their body as well as invite them into the power that they hold within the pelvis and the womb space. She loves working in person and virtually with patients in the preconception, conception, pregnancy and postpartum to help tend to the energetic landscape of the pelvis. You can find her at her website www.pelvicwisdom.com or on Instagram @pelvic_wisdom

My podcast can feel a bit paradoxical. I try to help you start trying so hard to get pregnant, yet many of my podcast guests will talk about all the things you could be doing to improve your fertility. I can imagine that it feels overwhelming at times - like I’m adding even more stuff to your fertility todo list.

On this episode of the podcast I break down all of the information that I’ve received throughout the first 55 episodes and break them down across what I call the ‘five pillars of holistic fertility.’ Rather than following every piece of advice out there, this will help you take stock of how you are doing on each of these five pillars and where you could possibly do with a bit more support or guidance.

More information about my 3-month group program: thatfertilefeeling.com/sister-sessions

Book recommendation: “Fiber Fueled: The Plant-Based Gut Health Program for Losing Weight, Restoring Your Health, and Optimizing Your Microbiome” by Will Bulsiewicz

Top quotes:

“what all of these things are going to do is improve your overall well being. And that's why I find it so important to break them down into these five pillars. To motivate you to seek help when you feel like, like there's something lacking. Not so much from the point of view of, okay, this is what I need to do to get pregnant, but really from the point of... Okay, this is what I can do to improve my health, to improve my physical health, my emotional health. This is what's going to make this journey easier for me.”

“these categories or these pillars are a bit superficial. That also means that you can find resources that cover several of them at the same time.”

“that keeps being the main message for me. Feel what is good for you right now. What is it that you need right now? And really focus on how you can improve your journey rather than on that end result of getting pregnant.”

When you enter fertility treatment you figure that your doctors will know what the right course of action is for you, right? That wasn’t what Instagram user @fertilitytroubles experienced.

On this episode of the podcast, we talk about how - after a series of missed abortions and early miscarriages - she took her journey across four different countries. It wasn’t until her final clinic in the Czech Republic that she got a diagnosis that led her to consider egg donation as an option.

At the time of recording, @fertilitytroubles is 25-weeks pregnant with her first child. We discuss why it’s so important to do your own research and look across borders when you can’t get the treatment you need at home.

You can find more information about my 3-month group program that starts on Sunday Oct. 1st at www.thatfertilefeeling.com/sister-sessions

Top quotes:

“After a couple of miscarriages and biochemical pregnancies I asked the clinic what could be wrong. Is there something wrong with me or the embryos? They told me it was just bad luck. And that there was no indication that I couldn’t get pregnant.”

“They really damaged me. Just because they weren’t honest. If they would have said in the beginning, your AMH is good, you have a lot of eggs, but your egg quality may be poor because of your age, and that might be causing all of these early miscarriages. Then I would have known the facts.”

“Now I know it is not because of my body. It’s no other reason but egg quality.”

About @fertiltitytroubles:

#ivfwarrior #eggdonation 🤰nov ‘23🌈 #ivfabroad

#ivfinprague 🇨🇿#loweggquality

🇳🇱🇭🇺🇮🇩🦸‍♀️🦸‍♂️42 Icsi warriors

1🇳🇱8❄️/2🇩🇪7❄️/3🇨🇿pgt 0/ 4🇨🇿#donoreggs

3bioch/1mmc/1miscar 5w/3failed ET

This week’s podcast guest Tamara has experienced a lot of trauma in her life (trigger warning: we talk about pregnancy loss, sexual abuse and post-natal depression).

Together, we discuss how healing is a process - not some end-goal that you need to achieve. We also touch upon the importance of having healthy relationships and how small practices can help you create space for healing.

I admire Tamara for her radical honesty and how she uses that to make sure that it’s the best version of herself that keeps showing up in the world and in her family. She’s using her trauma to truly guide others.

Top quotes:

Françoise Molenaar: “The fertility journey can be a healing journey. Maybe there are things that you need to heal before you’re ready to become a mother. But that doesn’t mean that healing is something that you need to achieve, that there’s something that you need to fix before you can continue on with your process. It’s a journey where you touch deeper layers within yourself.”

Tamara: “The mind can also keep you alive when something traumatic happens. To keep your own head above water. When there is enough time, and you feel safe enough, when you surround yourself with people that can truly support you, there’s space to start really feeling.”

Tamara: “The loss of my child showed me that I had to open my heart much more, that I couldn’t control life, that life is too short to postpone, life isn’t perfect, we aren’t perfect but that we can show up in the state that we are now and give what we have.”

Tamara: it isn’t about doing the ayahuasca ceremony, or starting a new diet, or seeing yet another therapist. The first step is accepting what is, where you are right now. Once you start breathing into where you are right now, that’s the only way in which we can start our healing. Because you can also use therapy and spirituality to flee from whatever you’re feeling inside. The first step is acceptance, surrender.

About Tamara:

Tamara is known for her immense inner strength and devotion to inspire others. This way, she has been able to heal her own trauma, surrendering to her soul’s calling: "Spread the word about your life as a living testimony of acceptance, love and surrender. This will be the medicine.” She is an energy worker, facilitator and founder of Mothers of Mothers Foundation the Netherlands. You can find her on Instagram @mind.body.andsoul.treatments

Manifestation and visualization practices were definitely not my thing when I was trying to get pregnant. I always felt like I wasn’t doing it right and that I was thereby blocking my chances of getting pregnant. I’ve since come to learn that manifestation can be a great tool to improve the quality of your life, but only if you stop focusing on the outcomes you’d like to achieve. On this episode of the podcast, I share how you can use manifestation practices to really tune in on how you’d like to feel while you’re on this fertility journey and how they can help you start living in a way that truly nurtures and heals you. And the ultimate benefit of letting go of outcomes is that you create the possibility for so much more abundance than you’d ever imagined.

If you want to experience for yourself, join my free online masterclass ‘Manifesting a healing fertility journey’ on Sunday Sep 3rd: https://www.thatfertilefeeling.com/masterclass-manifesting or join my 3-month guided journey that starts on Sunday Oct 1st: https://www.thatfertilefeeling.com/sister-sessions

Fertility is often a journey that takes us out of the body and into the mind. Rather than following our body’s cues, we start cycle tracking to know when it is the right time to conceive. Rather than listening to our heart and our gut, we follow our doctor’s recommendations and do some more research online to see how we can optimize our fertility. On this episode of the podcast, I talk to massage therapist Laura Jones about how fertility massage brings you back into the body. Laura shares about her own fertility journey and how that has influenced the work that she does today. We also touch upon ways to learn to surrender and process grief and loss.

Top quotes:

Laura Jones: “I was always very afraid to commit to my fertility journey because of my first experience of trying for two years. I felt like it was too painful to fully commit. I just wanted to be like ‘if it happens, it happens.’ But it didn’t happen.”

Laura Jones: “Even after my baby was born I was still mourning the loss of that previous baby. Which is so strange to feel those feelings, it didn’t feel like it was right or normal.”

Françoise Molenaar: “It opens a bigger portal for healing, going through something that is so difficult.”

Laura Jones: “Sometimes we just have to feel what we’re feeling without anyone trying to fix us. You don’t want a bandaid to put on your little feelings.”

About Laura Jones:

Laura is a massage therapist of 17 years residing on the Central Coast in Australia. She has had four children, one baby loss and is a bonus Mum to one. She has a passion for supporting women through life’s biggest transitions: menarche, fertility, pregnancy, birth loss, birth and the post partum period. She understands through her own experiences, how important support and nurturing is needed during these times. She is qualified and experienced in remedial, relaxation, fertility, pregnancy, postnatal, trigger point therapy, cupping therapy, infant massage, Spinning Babies Aware Practitioner and is a First Moons Circle facilitator.