In this episode Iris sits down with fertility expert Miranda Myles. And honestly.. it will most likely BLOW. YOUR. MIND. The topics of sperm health and male fertility are often not talked about, and not taken into consideration when it comes to conceiving - while they're really 50% of the story. With this episode, we have aimed to open a compassionate conversation about sperm health and male fertility, hoping to inspire our listeners to open up this conversation in their partnership and community as well.

Topics covered

• Miranda's work
• How male fertility has declined over the last 40 years and why
• What parameters we should look at in semen analysis
• What normal sperm motility, morphology and count looks like
• Changes in reference ranges for semen testing
• Factors that impact sperm health
• How people can improve sperm health

About Miranda:

Dr Miranda Myles better known as The Conception Queen and all-round Women's Health Expert.  

She helps women feel better in their bodies and bring their babies home sooner. From menarche through motherhood to menopause, creating healthy periods, pregnancies and parents. 

She is a clinical Naturopath & Acupuncturist transforming health & hormones, creating fertility & families with new approaches to conception. She’s considered a thought leader in women's health, hormones & fertility, naturopathic gynaecology & reproduction, IVF/DEIVF support, male factor (in)fertility- successfully working with 20,000 patients over 20 years.  

Her mantra is Test Don’t Guess - Miranda is  obsessed with pathology and is known for her ability to accurately understand and easily explain blood test results to help everyone know their bodies’ better, and become all they can be, naturally.  

She is Founding Director of Freyja Health, Hormones & Fertility Clinic, Host of her podcast The Donor Project, an author, and has several projects on the way, including- “The Fertile You Diet” book- your evidence based 3 month diet to bring your baby home sooner. "The Thyroid Project"- 12-weeks course to heal your thyroid.

Website

Personal Instagram

The Donor Project Instagram

How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race

Holistic Hormone & Cycle Coaching Training

Are you thinking about becoming a Holistic Hormone & Cycle Coach? Join our globally recognized 9 month certification training! As a listener of the Planting Seeds Podcast you get an additional €100 off by using the code PODCAST at checkout.

>> More information + apply <<

In this episode Iris sits down with holistic OBGYN Dr. Nathan Riley - and phewww this is such a deep vulnerable conversation! Nathan is such a wealth of wisdom and a breath of fresh air in the sometimes heavy field of gynecology. 

Topics covered:

• Nathan’s journey through med school and as an OBGYN
• What is holism and why is it important
• How to understand a client in front of us
• What to look at beyond the physical
• Taking responsibility and agency over our cyclical experiences
• The sacred rite of passage of birth
• The connection between birth and death
• And so much more!

About Nathan:

Nathan Riley is an obgyn and end of life physician. He provides comprehensive women's healthcare in a truly holistic way, taking into account the mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of health in addition to the physical. He's a father of two, the second of whom was born at home. He is married to his highschool sweetheart, and he operates through a private association (Beloved Holistics, PCA) providing support to women and families who need support with fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, menopausal transition, and otherwise gynecologic. He also offers himself as a collaborator to midwives and health coaches around the country in order to optimize their autonomy as practitioners.

Website: https://www.belovedholistics.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanrileyobgyn/

Holistic Hormone & Cycle Coaching Training

Are you thinking about becoming a Holistic Hormone & Cycle Coach? Join our globally recognized 9 month certification training! As a listener of the Planting Seeds Podcast you get an additional €100 off by using the code PODCAST at checkout.For more information and to apply, go to ⁠https://holistic-hormone-cycle-training.phoenixsite.nl/⁠

Learn more about your host Iris

Make sure to follow Iris on Instagram via ⁠https://instagram.com/cycleseeds⁠ or work with her via ⁠www.cycleseeds.com

In this episode Iris sits down with Samantha Zipporah, who is a midwife, author and educator. This conversation invites you to think about the natural process of pregnancy loss in a whole different way. Get ready for a super vulnerable yet empowering conversation that can spark inspiration to start similar conversations in your own community.

Topics covered:

• Samantha’s story as a midwife

• The cyclical / womb continuum

• Similarities in miscarriage and abortion physiology

• The 4 pillars of care

• Holistic pregnancy loss, miscarriage and abortion support

• De-medicalizing and de-industrializing care for our bodies

• The womb as spirit door

• And much more!

About Samantha:

Samantha Zipporah is a midwife, author & educator in service to healing & liberation. Sam’s path rises from an ancient lineage of midwives, witches, & wise women​ with expertise spanning the continuum of birth, sex, & death. She is devoted to breaking the spells of oppression in reproductive & sexual health by connecting people with the innate pleasure, power, & wisdom of the body. Her praxis weaves scientific & soulful inquiry that integrate modern medicine & data with ancestral practices & epistemologies. Sam's most recent publications & offerings center the radical reclamation of contraception & abortion. Her online membership, The Fruit of Knowledge Learning Community, features access to her heart & mind via books, courses, Q&As, curated resources & more. 

Website: www.samanthazipporah.com to explore womb wisdom offerings & join Fruit of Knowledge. Sam’s music & memoirs can be found on Patreon as The Venus Christ.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthazipporah 

Holistic Hormone & Cycle Coaching Training

Are you thinking about becoming a Holistic Hormone & Cycle Coach? Join our globally recognized 9 month certification training! As a listener of the Planting Seeds Podcast you get an additional €100 off by using the code PODCAST at checkout.For more information and to apply, go to https://holistic-hormone-cycle-training.phoenixsite.nl/

Learn more about your host Iris

Make sure to follow Iris on Instagram via https://instagram.com/cycleseeds or work with her via www.cycleseeds.com

In this episode Iris sits down with Bridgit Danner to talk all about toxic mold. Many people are unaware toxic mold exists and the impact it can have on our health - especially our menstrual cycles. With this episode, we hope to shed some light on what toxic mold is, how to recognize it and what to do about it.

Topics covered:

• Bridgit's story
• What toxic mold is
• What to look out for when you have toxic mold in your house
• Mold testing
• Symptoms we can experience when our bodies are affected by mold
• What mold can do to the body and the health effects it can cause
• How mold affects people with menstrual cycles and their fertility
• The effects of mold on our hormone headquarters in our brain, our liver, gut, thyroid, mitochondria, and more
• Which modalities can help us recover from toxic mold exposure

• ...and more!

About Bridgit:

Bridgit Danner has been a licensed acupuncturist since 2004 and a certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practitioner since 2015. 

After losing everything to toxic mold, Bridgit now educates about toxins on how to detoxify with a functional healthcare approach through her online community at bridgitdanner.com. 

She is also the author of The Ultimate Toxic Mold Recovery Guide: Take Back Your Home, Health & Life, available on Amazon.

Website: https://www.bridgitdanner.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bridgit.danner/

In this episode Iris sits down with Jessica Duffin to have an in-depth conversation about endometriosis - a condition that affects a lot of people who menstruate but often takes a long time to diagnose and receive adequate care for. We discuss everything you always wanted to know about endometriosis.
Topics covered:

• Jessica's journey with endometriosis
• What endometriosis is
• Nutrition for endo – why an anti-inflammatory diet is helpful, what an anti-inflammatory diet might look like and why each diet is unique to each person. 
•  SIBO and endo – the association between endometriosis and SIBO, how SIBO occurs, symptoms (and how they overlap with endo symptoms) and an overview of testing and treatment. 
• Natural pain relief – short-term pain relievers for in the moment pain and long-term pain relievers 
• and more!

About Jessica:

Jessica Duffin is a certified women’s health coach specialised in endometriosis and small intestine bacterial overgrowth. Through her articles, podcast and coaching she empowers people all over the world to live and thrive with endometriosis and its associated conditions using nutrition and holistic lifestyle changes. 

Website: https://www.theendobellycoach.com/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/theendobellycoach/

In this episode Iris sits down with Lauren Curtain to discuss traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture for overall cyclical health across the lifespan. Lauren shares a wealth of wisdom with us in this episode.

Topics covered:

• Lauren's journey of becoming a TCM practitioner and acupuncturist
• How TCM differs from allopathic Western medicine when it comes to health assessment
• How TCM looks at and interprets the menstrual cycle
• TCM and acupuncture for fertility, menstrual cycle health, conception, and more
• and much more!

About Lauren:

Lauren Curtain is a registered Chinese medicine practitioner, women’s health-focused acupuncturist and herbalist living in Australia. She has centered her career around supporting women in person and online to navigate their hormones, menstrual cycles and fertility using a combination of education, acupuncture, herbal medicine, nutrition and lifestyle support. Lauren believes every woman has the right to know how her body works and what she can do to optimise her reproductive and whole body health. Lauren has seen first-hand with her patients the dramatic improvements that can be made to reproductive health through simple, inexpensive, non-invasive techniques and firmly believes symptomatic periods and menstrual cycles can be a thing of the past and we can embody a thriving fertile life.

Website: https://www.laurencurtain.com/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/laurencurtain 

In this episode Iris sits down with Holly Grigg-Spall (the writer of Sweetening the Pill) and Abby Epstein (the producer of the documentary The Business of Birth Control, The Business of Birth, and more). They talk about about how this groundbreaking documentary was born and their ongoing activism and passion to inform people about hormonal birth control

Topics covered:

• Holly's personal story with hormonal birth control and how she decided to write her book
• How Holly got to meet Abby and Ricki Lake and how they were inspired to make documentary about Holly's book
• The making of the Business of Birth Control
• What the documentary is about and how it's changing people's lives
• The times we are living in how this documentary is so relevant now

About Abby Epstein:

Abby made her film directing debut at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival with the documentary, V-Day: Until the Violence Stops, featuring Jane Fonda, Salma Hayek and Rosie Perez. The film won the Audience Award at Vancouver’s Amnesty International Film Festival and premiered on Lifetime Television, receiving both an Emmy and a Gracie Allen Award. In 2007, she teamed up with Ricki Lake for their widely acclaimed documentary, The Business of Being Born, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released by New Line Cinema/Netflix and broadcast on Showtime.  The film’s success led to their follow-up series, More Business of Being Born, featuring Cindy Crawford, Alanis Morissette, Gisele Bündchen and Christy Turlington plus a book, Your Best Birth, published by Hachette. Next, the duo teamed up for Weed the People, which premiered at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival and won the Audience Award at the Nashville Film Festival.  Weed the People was acquired by Netflix for distribution. In April 2022, they released The Business of Birth Control which premiered at DOC NYC and had played at Sheffield Doc Fest and Human Rights Film Festival Berlin. It opened at IFC Theaters in NYC.  Under their company BOBB Films, Ms. Epstein and Ms. Lake produced the documentaries Breastmilk and The Mama Sherpas.  Prior to her film work, Ms. Epstein directed Broadway theater, helming national tours and international productions of RENT and The Vagina Monologues.

Website: https://www.thebusinessof.life/ --> you can watch the documentary here too
Instagram: www.instagram.com/abbyepsteinxoxo & www.instagram.com/businessofbirthcontrol

About Holly Grigg-Spall:
Holly is the author of the cult hit ‘Sweetening the Pill: Or How We Got Hooked On Hormonal Birth Control.’ The book was released in 2013 and has since become an underground phenomenon.

She is a producer on a feature documentary inspired by ‘Sweetening the Pill.’ The film is directed by Abby Epstein and executive produced by Ricki Lake (the team behind the paradigm-shifting ‘The Business of Being Born’). ‘The Business of Birth Control’ is available now.

You may know Holly from her Guardian Op-Ed on the pill and mental health side effects, which was ranked as the most-read comment piece of 2016. The story went viral, became a Twitter Moment, and as a result she was featured by the Washington Post and interviewed for NPR (to name just a couple).

Vice has named Holly “the poster girl for a movement of women abandoning the pill in favor of contraceptives that don’t wreak havoc on their body and mind.”

Holly’s work has featured in both American and British Vogue; she has collaborated on an article about the pro-period revolution with Alanis Morissette, and produced a piece on male birth control options with Mayim Bialik.

Website: https://www.sweeteningthepill.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweeteningthepill

In this episode Iris sits down with ND Rachel Vong to discuss the often overlooked connection between out thyroid health and our menstrual health. 

Topics covered:

• Rachel's journey and how she started specializing in thyroid health
• the connection between our thyroid and our menstrual cycle
• common thyroid issues no one talks about but should
• symptoms that could show that our thyroid may need a little extra support
• what different thyroid issues may be going on 
• the difference between hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's thyroiditis
• simple tips to support our thyroid at home

About Dr. Rachel:

Dr. Rachel Vong is a licensed Naturopathic Doctor practicing in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her passion and area of clinical focus include thyroid disorders, specifically hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, digestive health, and hormone imbalance. 

Having struggled with debilitating anxiety, burnout, and a myriad of gut issues for several years, it has become her mission in life to help guide and empower other women to take charge of their own health so that they can live a life that they love.

Website: www.drvongnd.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/drvongnd

In this episode Iris sits down with her friend Tara Ghosh who is a period educator and abdominal therapist. We talk about how abdominal massage/Arvigo therapy can be used for menstrual cycle health AND overall human health.

Topics covered:

• what abdominal massage is
• how abdominal massage can help us 
• what this massage can be used for
• the importance of circulation in our bodies
• why this type of massage is not only for people who want to support their menstrual cycle, but is actually good for ALL people (also kids!)
• and much more!

About Tara:

Tara is a period educator and abdominal therapist passionate about helping people with periods 1:1 and in workshops understand their cyclical nature and solve their period and mood issues, so that they can thrive in every aspect of their lives. Tara works with women in their mid 30s to mid 40s and runs period workshops for pre-teens and teens so they can have a good relationship with their period from the start.

Tara runs 1 hour workshop to teach the self-care massage. She also runs online and in person workshops for pre-teens to prepare them for their period and teaches the self care massage to mums to share with their kids.

Website: www.taraghosh.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/_taraghosh_

In this episode Iris sits down with the lovely Kim from Start with Rasa. Kim is a Mother, Yoga Teacher & Ayurveda Coach. In this episode, we talk about Ayurveda and all the ways this beautiful system looks at health, healing, and cyclical phases and processes like the menstrual cycle, fertility, pregnancy, postpartum and more. 

Topics covered:

• what Ayurveda is 
• how Ayurveda looks at our cyclical bodies
• how Ayurveda honors our different life stages
• Ayurvedic wisdom to care for our cycles
• practices to prepare for pregnancy
• Ayurvedic perspectives on postpartum
• and much more!

About Kim:

Kim is a Mother, Yoga Teacher, and Ayurveda Coach. She has had her own fair share with health issues and she managed to get herself back on track with the help of Ayurveda, yoga and more. Inspired by her own journey, she founded Start with Rasa after the birth of her first child, aiming to make Yoga and Ayurveda accessible for everyone. She is a mother of 2 and currently pregnant with her third baby. She lives in the Netherlands with her family. 

Website: https://startwithrasa.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimvdveer/