And yet the role the mind body connection plays, specifically the neuroendocrine system (nervous and endocrine aka your hormones), in supporting the healing process, and the reproductive system, is so critical it shouldn’t be ignored.
I think this quote sums that up perfectly!
“You can eat all the right food, you can do all the right things. But if you’re living in anxiety and fear, and you’re viewing your world from the worst case scenario (because that’s what you do in survival), there’s no energy for growth and repair.”
When you are living in a state of fear, struggling to cope with the stress, anxiety and that can often come with trying to navigate the overwhelming process of a challenging fertility journey, or IVF.
It hugely disrupts the homeostasis of your mind-body’s capacity to feel safe and secure, meaning the more you live impacted by stress hormones.
Left unprocessed, our physical body holds onto this stress, causing physiological and metabolic changes, in order to cope with the demands of a homeostatic challenge, inadvertently impacting fertility success.
Read the science
“Stressor-induced activation of the HPA axis and the SNS results in a series of neural and endocrine adaptations known as the "stress response" or "stress cascade"."
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12040534/
🤍 You stop trusting your gut intuition, your innate ability to know what feels right for you, and instead allow the people around you to make decisions for you.
🤍 You may feel isolated and alone, even when you’re not alone
🤍 You can feel like you’ve lost your passion for the things you once loved
🤍 You feel like you have no purpose, and are just going through the motions
🤍 You feel disempowered and helpless
🤍 You may feel triggered emotionally, when a friend announces she’s pregnant (especially if they didn’t have any difficulty getting pregnant), or seeing a pregnant woman in the street.
YOU DESERVE TO take your life back whilst you wait.
Here are three things you can do daily to reduce the emotional impact of your fertility journey:
1. Let go of the things you can’t control
When you try to control an outcome that is out of your control, it prevents you from living in the here and Now, being present, and having peace of mind whilst you are waiting.
Keeping you stuck in the past, and spiraling into negative thinking about the worst case scenario, wearing you down over time, preventing you from growing and moving forward with your life.
By letting go of the things you can’t control, and instead learning from your experiences, so you no-longer keep repeating the same unhelpful behaviours, and experience the same unwanted thoughts, will help you to increase your self confidence, leading to improvements in your emotional and physical health.
2. Focus on the things that you can control.
When you feel like you’re losing control of your life, there are always things that you can do to regain a sense of control, and grow stronger.
Listen to your inner voice, think about the situation you are facing and notice the feelings that are coming up for you.
Accept your feelings and label them, and then analyse them to decide if this is something you have control over, and if so decide what small step(s) you can take to make a change to your current situation.
Tuning in to how you will feel once you have achieved that, will help you to feel empowered to want to make a change to your life.
Making sure you give yourself credit for each small step forward you take, by acknowledging your achievements, will help you to move beyond existing in a place of fear and hopelessness, to living a more fulfilling life.
3. Make taking care of yourself and your needs a priority.
When you’re feeling stressed, and being pulled in a million directions, trying to please and take care of everyone else, your body is crying out for you to stop, and listen to the wisdom your feelings and emotions are trying to send you. To help you decide on the next best step to take, to start taking care of yourself.
Such as how you can free up time to do the things that you want to do.
Ensuring you are always taking care of your emotional needs, and know how to take the appropriate action to ensure you are always moving forward in all the key areas of your life your relationship with your partner, family, friends, colleagues, your work, finances, physical health, leisure, and mental health.
When you support your emotional health, by acknowledging and processing your difficult emotions in the right way, to decide on the next best action to take, it helps you to feel calmer, less anxious and more in control.
Sending the Brain a signal of safety, activating the parasympathetic nervous system, helping your body to return to calm, to a more neutral state. Restoring energy to healing the body, and in-turn optimising fertility success.
This blog post has been written by Freedom Fertility Formula Specialist, Gaynor Almond.
Gaynor Almond BA (Hons), CRM5, PRM, CNHC is a Holistic MindBody Fertility Coach, and Clinical Reflexologist. Providing individuals and couples with Mind-Body Emotional healing on their (in)fertility and IVF journey.
Helping you to feel more in control whilst trying to conceive your baby, by learning how to overcome fear, anxiety, and negative self-talk, enhancing your chances of fertility success.
Are you ready to take the first step to support your emotional healing?
You can get in touch with Gaynor HERE.
