Whatever your heart desires most, bring through love, not through fear of its absence.

There is a void at the center of your heart that connects you to all of creation. There is also a void in the center of the womb that opens to the life giving power that emanates from your heart. When fear of not getting what you want is stronger than the heart’s desire, the contractive nature of fear energetically closes off the womb’s receptivity to the life giving power of the heart.

Most of us have been conditioned to go after what we want out of fear of not getting it. Fear of financial insecurity can propel us toward great professional careers. Fear of being alone can move us toward relationships, both helpful and harmful. As our attention is directed outward, fear can actually serve us in  obtaining our personal effort based achievements. Fear moves us away from that which we most try to avoid.

Yet fear has only a fraction of the power of love. Fear has no ability to produce; it only drains. Fear produces a state of control, which lulls us into thinking we have power. Control is fear based, and depleting.

Love, which emanates from the heart, has no need to control. It simply moves toward opening to more of itself. Love is the creative power of the universe.

When our actions are based on fear of not getting a child, our behaviors are controlling and motivated by deprivation. Energetically, it is almost impossible to conceive from this state of being. This is a very infertile state, as fear begets more lack. Infertility is fed by fear and control. When our actions are motivated by love, we feel nourished and energized. Love is vibrantly alive, and seeking more of itself. Love is the most abundantly fertile state.

When your fertility challenge leaves you fearful, don’t fight, resist, or control. Simply shift your attention to the heart, and focus on the love for life. Let life’s longing for itself be the motivating force. In every moment, choose love over fear.

There is a dragon asleep in the heart of humanity. From the depths of the ocean, this dragon rises to the surface, beckoning us into the most fierce approach to life – to awaken to the fire breathing magnificence of our own miraculous power. Some will heed it’s power, and some will turn away from its call.

We are not the small beings we have taken ourselves to be; and are not, in fact, what we think we are. We are not victims of life, nor are we at its mercy. We are life itself, and as such are beyond such happenings as birth and death. Our own unfathomable being is so grand that it cannot be contained in a body or a mind. These are mere reflections, vehicles through which our divine magnificence peers through into this three dimensional existence. The face of your own divinity will devour all illusion.

When the power of this dragon is awakened, it will stop at nothing. It is propelled by the fiercest force in all of existence – to know itself as all. This force will consume you and all you have known until it comes to rest in the cave of stillness, knowing its source, containing the pure potential from which all arises.

If you dare to awaken this dragon, it will consume all of its manifestations. It will see past the illusion of the dream made self. It will face and devour all of your fears, angers, sorrows, and conditional love, joy, and happiness. It will not rest until it resides in the unborn grandeur of the unconditioned, in peace that cannot be understood; only lived.

This dragon cannot die. It has never not been. It has always been there, sleeping in  the cave of your own heart, waiting for your invitation. It brings you to the power many dare not encounter. Do not be afraid to come face to face with your own terrible magnificence. You are the life you have been longing for. You have taken birth for this chance. Dare to use the power of the dragon to awaken to the life giving powers of creation arising from the depth of your own being.

Free Conference Call Next Monday

The Basics of Fertility Enhancement

Q&A with Dr. Randine Lewis

Monday January 30th at 7 p.m. EST

I strongly believe that even just finding out about The Fertile Soul has a powerful, ripple, helpful effect, especially for those who cannot travel, but who nevertheless read – and listen– ask questions, wonder, benefit, and grow, grow, grow. L.H.

I am looking forward to a rich retreat in January, where we will focus on aging, overwhelm, and turning into the wellspring of deep inner guidance. In this inner sanctuary there is no aging or overwhelm. When we can reside in this place, a more fertile response to life is possible, which of course, is reflected in our reproductive response. Our New York session filled up quickly, but we do have openings in February in my hometown of Asheville, NC, February 17-20th, where our focus will expand to include welcoming in the year of the Dragon, a powerful and dynamic expression of the Chinese New Year. We will use this power to deeply connect with the life-giving source within. I love witnessing the power of retreat participants as they learn to live the miracle!

We will also offer a free conference call on Monday, January 30th at 7 p.m. EST. I will go over some fertility basics and open the call up to your questions and answers. I hope you will be able to join us – whether you are new to the Fertile Soul or have already embraced this process. I look forward to connecting with you.

To Join in dial 605-475-4000 then access code 794774#.  Those calling from Canada should call 805-360-1075 and then you will be prompted to enter the original number and access code.

1. Men who drink at least a quart of cola daily have sperm counts almost 30 percent lower than men who drink no cola.

2. Women who eat lots of low-fat dairy products face an 85 percent higher risk of ovulatory infertility than women who consume little or no low-fat dairy products.

3. Men who eat large quantities of soy-based foods produce 32 percent less sperm per milliliter than men who consume no soy-based foods.

4. Women who consume at least one daily serving of whole milk are more than 50 percent less likely to experience ovulatory infertility than are women who consume less than one serving of whole milk per week.

5. Men who are exposed to large quantities of bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical used in the manufacture of canned foods, have sperm counts about 23 percent lower than men with no BPA exposure.

6. Vegan women are only one-fifth as likely to have twins as are vegetarian and omnivorous women.

7. Men with high concentrations of trans-fatty acids in their semen have 96 percent fewer sperm than men with low concentrations of trans-fatty acids in their semen.

8. Women who consume at least one alcoholic beverage per day have a nearly 50 percent greater risk of ovulatory infertility than women who drink no alcohol.

9. Women who are exposed to large quantities of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a synthetic chemical used in the linings of microwave-popcorn bags, face an infertility risk ranging from 70 percent to 134 percent higher than that of women with the least amount of PFOA exposure.

10. Men who eat a traditional Dutch diet have sperm counts nearly twice as high as do men who eat a fish-and-produce-based diet.

11. Women who eat large quantities of omega-3 fatty acids are 22 percent less likely to be diagnosed with endometriosis—a common cause of infertility—than women who eat little or no omega-3s.

12. Women who consume large quantities of non-heme iron—the kind found in lentils, spinach, and supplements—have a 40 percent lower risk of ovulatory infertility than women who consume little or no non-heme iron.

13. Women who consume at least 5 percent of their daily calories in the form of vegetable protein rather than meat protein have a 50 percent lower risk of ovulatory infertility than women who consume only meat protein.

14. The sperm of men who consume very low quantities of antioxidants is only two thirds as motile as the sperm of men who consume high quantities of antioxidants.

15. Men whose mothers ate beef at least seven times a week while pregnant with them are three times as likely to have low sperm counts as men whose mothers ate less beef while pregnant.

For the complete article, see:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/09/can-food-make-you-infertile-foods-to-eat-and-avoid.html

Ovulation, intercourse, ejaculation, fertilization, zygote, embryo, fetus, baby, child, adult, longing to bring forth life anew.

Will life emerge from the desire that you carry? Nobody knows. What is certain is this – you cannot force life from external measures.

Sure, procedural medicine can try to force sperm into egg, but that’s where the advances of modern medicine begin and end in the fertility world.

The miracle of life, however, is endless.

Fertility is an inside job.

One of the most ancient texts of medicine in existence tells us that all disease begins with the spirit, and manifests in the body/mind. All healing comes from the spirit, and emerges from your own heart. The meridian that connects the heart to the womb and allows life to be made manifest, has no points of its own. It is too deep for any external force to manipulate. Fertility is an inside job.

One of the best fertility meditations I know is to quiet the body and mind, and feel into the spaciousness of your own body. As you breathe in, imagine the connection from your heart to your womb. Feel yourself carry the life-giving blood from the heart to the uterus with every inhalation, and with every exhalation allow yourself to release any tension between the uterus and the heart. Keep opening up further and further with every breath, and eventually you can merge your awareness with the source of life itself. It is not anywhere else but within.

Chinese medicine has a concept of Xin, or heart-mind, which is different than the thought based, conceptual mind, which demands answers, as if it could control life. Xin holds the deeper wisdom of life itself, which is perfectly comfortable not knowing. It moves from the space where miracles occur. It understands that all of life is wondrous in its expression. When an individual resides in her heart-mind, she allows life to move through her effortlessly. She seems to create miracles around her.

What are some ways to move into the space of Xin? Stop letting the thought-based mind lead. Get out of the books, off the internet chat rooms, and touch into the space of your own heart. Literally bring your attention to your heart, as your mind quiets. Let it reveal its own quiet wisdom to you, as you loosen your attention on the demands of the world. Listen to your own intuition instead of giving your power to the medical professionals.

Our attention goes where we direct it. When we direct out attention into the repetitive thought obsessed mind, we are dominated by the brain’s beta-waves. In this state, our blood pressure is highest, our adrenal glands put out more stress hormones, our growth hormone output is minimum, and our blood flows away from the internal organs to feed the brain and eyes. We are not in a receptive state.

When we direct our attention to deeper aspects of our body-mind, especially the heart space, and away from thoughts, worries and concerns, we can access alpha, theta, and delta brain waves, where we drop into deeper states of relaxation. The body directs its inner attention away from the adrenal glands and sympathetic nervous system, and provides more blood flow to the internal organs. Stress hormones decrease. Growth hormones increase. The brain’s feel good chemicals increase.  Our digestive system functions more effectively. And most importantly, the receptivity of our reproductive system improves.

Sleep is a receptive process of allowing. It cannot be forced. So is conception. Feel the beauty in the idea of falling pregnant. Allow yourself to feel whatever resistance you have to the idea, too. It can feel quite threatening to require yourself to “allow” rather than struggle. Many of us are conditioned to feel like the struggle is necessary to achieve the desired outcome. If only this were true – you know you’d already be pregnant. It isn’t true. What’s true is that you already have that which it takes. I invite you to experience your own heart’s wisdom and move into the space where miracles occur.

When we lose our essential harmony with life, tension arises. Stress results. We enter states of “dis-ease”, at the level of the physical body, emotional resistance, mental patterns that do not serve us, and spiritual unrest.

The beauty of the system of Chinese medicine is that it allows us to delve deeply into each area of our life, and uncover areas where the way we have responded to our life situation, and how we interact with our environment, are the cause of all states of imbalance. These patterns of imbalance result in physical symptoms, including the inability to bring forth life, a natural and inherent tendency that we all embody during our reproductive years.

When we utilize this diagnostic system, we can chart our course in life without resistance. Our lives start to flow more freely. Unhealthy patterns fall away. I often hear from retreat participants, “This is the way I always knew life could be.” I remember in my own experience when I first felt a deep sense of well being, which preceded my ability to conceive. What a gift that was!

That sense of well being guides me now, and never lets me down. I no longer am at the mercy of life, anyone else’s opinions about my life, my health, or well being. I, and only I, am responsible for my life. How empowering… but, also, how daunting this was at times. I could no longer blame doctors, my past, life situations, or anyone else for any difficulty that arose. My response to life was up to me. Nobody else.

As I said in The Infertility Cure, this is not a process for the weak at heart. Nor is fertility; nor is motherhood. It is the most courageous journey you can take. It will never let you down.

Learn fertility enhancing diet, self-massage, acupressure, breathing exercises and more from Traditional Chinese Medicine, whether you seek natural conception or are preparing for assisted reproduction.

This workshop introduces you to The Fertile Soul^™approach to recovering fertility.

This workshop is for anyone struggling with fertility. It may also serve as a Foundations pre-event for The Fertile Soul^™ Retreat at Oriens with Elizabeth Carpenter, MS, L.Ac., CEFP & Randine Lewis, Ph.D., L.Ac. (author, The Infertility Cure) beginning immediately afterward.

Registration information here: http://www.oriensliving.com/BookingRetrieve.aspx?ID=158026

Obviously, we are not the creators of babies. Assisted reproductive medicine may make you think that human power has this one under its control, but you know better. We would like to believe that someone has the power to make this happen. If it’s not me, and it’s not my doctor, it must be God.

What is God? If God is the creator, then what role do I have in creation? Any? What role does a rabbit have in producing baby rabbits? What role does a tree have in producing seedlings? Any?

When we look through the lens of reproductive medicine, we place the power of creation in our doctor’s hands, and pretty much out of our own. When we place creation in God’s hands, we move out of the picture almost entirely, other than where our beliefs about God are concerned. This opens up a whole can of worms. Now religious and moral values overshadow whether or not we will be worthy of creation. “Will I be a good mother?” “What about the abortion I had when I was 18?” “What am I being punished for – focusing on my career?”  I don’t believe rabbits or trees suffer from these same delusions.

Chinese medicine views all parts of existence as holographic representations of the whole. The whole is in the part. That’s why we can treat the entire body by needling just one ear, or one hand. The human body is seen as a microcosm of the macrocosm; of having all of the elements of creation at its disposal. You might say that the creator is in the creation; and therefore the creation has all the powers of creation at its disposal.

That means you are the very essence of the creator; not separate from it. Everything about your consciousness reflects the power of creation. Your beliefs about unworthiness or punishment become manifest in your body/mind.  That’s why rabbits and trees aren’t affected by their beliefs… they don’t have any. They simply allow creation to move through them, unimpeded.

Internalized messages like, “I am not worthy” contract the kidney energies – the very ones through which the reproductive energies arise. And we keep creation from manifesting. Worry knots the qi, and prevents the spirit energies from interacting with the source energies, from which life itself emerges.

Unfortunately, many people don’t want to take on the full responsibility for creation. It is easier to hand over our power to another deity, be it a doctor or a religious figure. The Fertile Soul process brings you in as a full participant in creation, from your rightful place – prior to it. You don’t manipulate the elements to bring forth life – you occupy the space where miracles arise. From this space, you have full awareness of and participation with the energies that either obstruct or open to life.