Today, our guest blogger is Alice Langholt, a reiki practitioner and trainer who has offered to share her work with us.
Reiki is an energy healing technique which uses "universal life energy" channeled through the practitioner to the recipient, balancing the subtle energies within the body. Reiki addresses physical, emotional, mental and spiritual imbalances.
Reiki (pronounced Ray-key) is a Japanese word consisting of two words Rei and Ki meaning spiritually guided life energy (commonly known as Universal Life Energy), an energy which animates us all and is found all around us.
Reiki does not require belief in order to be effective. Being open to trying Reiki is all you need.
This is the definition of Reiki, and yet it doesn't really show all that Reiki can do. Reiki is useful for lymphoma patients because the gentle, soothing energy helps combat nausea, reduce fatigue, release anxiety, and increase well-being. This helps after a chemo treatment, or just for coping with the side effects and symptoms of the disease or treatment. People who receive Reiki often sleep better and rest more fitfully. Reiki is very recommended as a regular practice for everyone, and especially those dealing with illness of any kind. Patients can receive Reiki from others, and also learn Reiki for self-healing.
In addition, caregivers can benefit from receiving and learning Reiki. Reiki is very useful as a self-healing practice. It helps one release stress at the end of the day, or balance as needed in just a few minutes during the day. Reiki can help one deal better with one's emotions and those of others. Caregivers can also give Reiki to their loved ones and it provides an additional way to help them. Reiki can be used to clear the energy in a room, and healing sessions can also be given by distance. Reiki energy is not limited by time or proximity.
Anyone can learn Reiki from a Reiki Master Teacher. A simple adjustment in one's energy field, called an attunement, opens one to being able to use the energy immediately. Simple techniques are learned for how to call the energy and direct it. Reiki is something that everyone should have for personal use, and for helping others.
I teach a strong and simple form of Reiki called Kundalini Reiki. It can be learned in as little as three weeks, and I teach by distance. I encourage everyone to learn Reiki to connect with their ability to tap into powerful healing energy whenever needed. My website is http://reikiawakening.com and I'm here to help you.

A fellow advocate in the fertility field recently caught some flak for talking about the sacred cow of money as it relates to fertility treatment. After all, the doctor asked her, "How can you put a price tag on a baby?"

Ahhh...to have the freedom of living a life of luxury, free from such petty worries as to actual dollars. If only we all could have gone to medical school.

But alas, we didn't and the rest of us mere mortals do have to talk about money.I’m all for discussing money as openly and honestly as possible when it comes to fertility care. I truly wish this was not necessary. But, most patients are financially responsible for at least some (if not all) the cost of their fertility treatments. We all wish we could say money doesn’t matter and the sky’s the limit when it comes to family building, but this is not the case for the vast majorities of families experiencing infertility. It’s the truth, and it should not something about which any of us should be ashamed.

However, there are still clinics that do not want to mention money, and many patients feel very uncomfortable bringing up what they can and cannot realistically afford to their health care providers. Everyone has a different view on money so one should not assume what works for one family will work for others.

But for patients, you have got to be able to ask the hard questions and be frank about your resources – in terms of time, money, energy and emotions.

It’s up to you to protect yourself.

We have talked about the possibility of getting affordable treatments and one of the ways I haven’t talked about is participating in a clinical trial. Some are only for local residents, while others will pay for transportation and lodging as well. Most importantly, you are generally receiving some form of medical evaluation and perhaps treatment at a very reduced cost, or for free. Look for clinical trials in your area of interest at www.ClinicalTrials.gov. You may even get reimbursed for your time.
These trials are currently enrolling:
PCOS and Ovulation
The purpose of this study is to bring about ovulation in women with infertility due to polycystic ovary syndrome. The study will determine which of two medications, Clomiphene Citrate or Letrozole, will most likely result in pregnancy and live birth for women with PCOS.
Participants must:
Have PCOS and desire pregnancy
• Have 8 or less periods per year
• Be 18-40 years of age
• Not be taking certain medications
• Have a partner available for intercourse 2-3 times per week for 20 weeks
• Be in general good health
Study medication and all study-related visits (including physical exams, blood work and ultrasounds) will be provided at no cost to participants.
University of Pennsylvania
Penn Fertility Care
3701 Market Street
Suite 810
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Obesity and Sperm Counts
Obesity is associated with an increase in blood levels of estrogen. Estrogen or "female hormone" is believed to have a negative effect on sperm production. Aromatase inhibitors such as anastrozole work to decrease the production of estrogen and increase testosterone in the body. By decreasing the level of estrogen, sperm production should improve. In this study, the investigators will try to determine the benefit of anastrozole in obese men with low sperm counts. Patients participating in this study will be randomly assigned (by chance) to treatment in one of two study arms: Group A: Anastrozole 1mg per day for 4 months and Group B: Placebo for 4 months.
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT 84132
United States

Primary Contact:
Ahmad O hammoud, MD
Email: ahmad.hammoud@hsc.utah.edu
Phone: 801-587-3795

Once again, I have invited a colleague I respect to share her thoughts and experiences with all of you fabulous people. Today – welcome Gabriela Rosa.

“It’s easy to become overwhelmed when trying to conceive—especially if you are challenged with unexpected circumstances including unexplained, recurrent miscarriages and/or infertility. What you need to know is that your fertility isn’t “out there,” a magic cure to be given to you by the doctor or other practitioner treating you. It is inside, tucked within your body’s own internal wisdom, waiting to be released when coaxed properly.

And right now, all you really need to know is that you can!

Are You Doing Your Part?
Your objective is to optimise your fertility and the chances of creating a healthy baby but the real question to ask yourself is this: “Am I doing absolutely everything I can to change my results?”

I hear you cry out: “What ELSE could I be doing?”

And that’s the point. The answer is not to do more but instead to do it differently, smarter, and more effectively. Clarity about your self-help options and a sense of direction on your trying to conceive (TTC) journey are paramount, to release you from feeling desperate, unsure, frustrated, angry, sad, despairing... which although with good reason, things do not need to be this way.

Often because of not being sure of what effective steps to take, most people use a scatter gun approach and adopt unreasonable regimens that eventually only lead to further disappointment.

The Challenges Of Today

There are so many challenges when trying to conceive in this modern day. Since our parent’s time much has changed... much indeed.

Our environment is no longer the same; chemicals and endocrine disruptors rule the day, the nutrient levels in our food are much decreased. There are far more egg, sperm and embryo toxins (e.g. chemicals, radiation, stress) than ever before.

"Hoping for the best", "not fussing", keeping your "fingers crossed" is resulting in 1 couple in 6 being infertile; 1 pregnancy in 4 miscarrying; 1 baby in 17 being malformed; 1 in 11 babies having low birth weight, 1 baby in 13 ending up in intensive care units, 1 in 4 children developing learning difficulties and 1 in 5 being diagnosed with eczema and asthma 1.

It is crucial to understand that today’s average lifestyle is not “foeto-friendly”. It’s now our job to make it become so. This is no longer something we can afford to take for granted including those not diagnosed with fertility problems—if for no other reason than the health and fertility of the child in the long term.

Vague optimism isn't good enough anymore.

Unfortunately, these are the facts: Most prospective parents aren't healthy enough; The average diet is not good enough; The intake of pollution, medication, alcohol, coffee etc is too high; As many as 50% of couples have genito-urinary infections and 1 in 6 has an allergy or parasites 1. Almost everyone I see in the clinic has nutritional deficiencies and many are overloaded with heavy metal toxicity.

Is There A Solution?

Absolutely! The key to optimising your fertility in the 21st century isn’t total avoidance of the things that can negatively impact one’s fertility—this is impossible, instead the ideal approach is a conscious reduction of all known negative exposures.

Most people believe this is a fair enough goal and in clinical practice, I have seen it work but there is one problem... Most couples lack the complete education required to make the choices that are going to turn things around for them—on their own.

The Answer?

An effective and all encompassing fertility alignment with a specialised practitioner is a must if you want to give you and your family the best possible start in life.

Proper education is the only road to true empowerment. You can take control of your fertility but only when you understand what you are protecting yourself and your partner from—in specific detail. A careless, haphazard, “cross-your-fingers-and-hope-for-the-best” approach puts your dream of becoming a proud parent at risk.

Only a targeted, comprehensive analysis of your specific circumstance will get you closer to your desired outcome.

3 Areas You Must Address
If you want to boost your natural fertility or improve the odds of assisted reproductive therapy (ART) such as ICSI or IVF there are 3 major areas you must address in order to create the results you are looking for.

These areas encompass the triad of health and require emotional, physical and biochemical balance to ensure an effective and truly holistic approach to becoming pregnant and having a healthy baby.

Implementing the 11 Pillars of Fertility (which rest upon the triad of health as its solid foundation) is essential to help you create the healthy baby of your dreams—fast.

Remember this quote? “Do your part and the Heaven’s will come to you aid”. What a lovely reminder...

Author’s Bio:
Natural fertility specialist and leading naturopath Gabriela Rosa (BHSc, ND, Post Grad NFM, DBM, Dip Nut, MATMS, MNHAA) is the author of three books, including 'Eat Your Way To Parenthood: The Diet Secrets Of Highly Fertile Couples Revealed'. For more information or a FREE subscription to the Natural Fertility Booster please visit www.NaturalFertilityBreakthrough or www.FertilityAlignment.com.

I invited Connie Peebles Barrow, a fertility coach, to share with you today.

Like many of you, one day, I woke up and found myself in the thick of my fertility journey. Month in, month out, I kept dangling the reality further out into the future, telling myself, “I’m not REALLY having infertility struggles. This could be the month!…This could be the week!...This could be the day!”

My journey over those five years of trying to conceive would lead me to the peaks of pregnancy, then the dramatic, downward plunge of miscarriage, not once or twice, but three times. Even in the midst of my second miscarriage as I came close to hemorrhaging in the local emergency room, I clung to the not-even-remote possibility that my little one just might pull through. Hope is a funny thing, that is “funny strange”, not “funny ha-ha”.

Hope was the life raft that I clung to—a glimpse, a whisper, an inflection of the voice. I looked for it in the nuances of my life when I could no longer see it in the details. Even as I received the death knell prognosis from my reproductive endocrinologist that I had a less than five percent chance of ever conceiving with my own eggs, my reflex was to grasp for any sign of hope. I asked my doctor if he knew of anyone, even just one woman, with a fertility history similar to mine who had ultimately conceived on her own. That moment before he answered is frozen in time for me. I willed him to say “yes”, yet felt embarrassed that my desperation had led me to this miserable place. After what felt like an eternity, my doctor said “yes”, and I clung to that word.

I would like to say that I consciously chose to stay with hope and leave desperation behind. The reality for me—as it is in most, if not all, of my fertility coaching clients’ lives—is that whether we like it or not, both hope and desperation are our companions on this fertility journey.

Desperation is the primal scream of our spirit as it craves relief from the fear and powerlessness. Yet, when we find ourselves bottomed out, the flicker of hope re-ignites once again. Synchronicities (aka “God’s coincidences”), nudges, our Inner Voice show us our next step, our new path, our possibilities. And, before we know it, we find ourselves soaring again, spiraling upward with renewed energy and hope.

Is it naïve to continue to hope in the face of improbabilities?

Is it self-sabotage to feel such extreme desperation when you still have even a slight chance of conceiving?

No, on both counts! As an ocean wave is both ebb and flow so is that of our spirit. The key is to avoid getting stuck in the ebb of desperation and to sustain your spirits’ momentum to shift into the flow of hope. Desperation grabs your attention, showing you the depths of your desires and the measure, the capacity, of love and joy that is yearning to be fulfilled. Hope is the compass, the magnet that draws you ever closer to your heart’s desire, with a knowing beyond your earthly knowledge. Hope creates an opening that allows you to co-create with Spirit, interweaving faith and actions together to manifest in the outer world what you have only imagined in your inner world.

So, what to do? Sustain that ocean wave in your life through support. Support—at the mind, body, and spirit levels—is the glue that binds together the ebb of desperation and the flow of hope. It comes to each one of us in different forms at different times…through fellow fertility bloggers, support groups, mind/body/spirit practitioners, books, workshops, spiritual retreats, and life coaches. As a life coach, my focus is on walking alongside my client to provide her with encouragement and a fresh perspective, asking the tough questions and keeping my client true to her heart’s path.

May each one of you who reads this know in your heart a full measure of support with each step you take on your journey, and may you find peace and joy not only at your destination but also as you travel along.

And, so it is!

For more information about Connie Peebles Barrow and Fertile Possibilities, visit www.fertilepossibilities.com.