| There is nothing more simple and natural than the | | | | creates and allows all life to thrive is always present to |
| creation of new life. We witness it all around us. For | | | | all of us equally. We simply need to create the right |
| many people the question of fertility and the inevitability | | | | conditions within ourselves to allow it to move through |
| of children are barely questioned. It feels like our own | | | | us equally. |
| birth-right, and we plan our lives as if we have the | | | | I am an optimist. I believe there is always hope. Of |
| choice to engage with this process as and when we | | | | course we need to be blessed with the correct |
| decide. | | | | equipment to procreate – a physical reality, and |
| The truth is there is no guarantee we will all bear | | | | our bodies need the intelligence to govern a process |
| children. The creation of new life is a gift of nature and | | | | that is precise and rhythmic, but most importantly, deep |
| although not a right, every human being has a right to | | | | within us we need the spark of life we call the spirit |
| try for a child. The ancient Chinese as with many | | | | that ignites and fuels something as powerful as |
| ancient cultures were well aware of this fact and | | | | creation itself. |
| showed great gratitude when conception occurred, but | | | | My responsibility as an acupuncturist is to help people |
| more importantly they understood that for this gift to | | | | access who they are at core, help them dispel any |
| come they had a responsibility to create the right | | | | myths and untrue stories they may carry about |
| conditions within themselves. | | | | themselves and help them make choices that are |
| For us to be fertile, much like the farmer who ploughs | | | | congruent with their sense of self. When we live and |
| and prepares the soil, we can do a lot to help create | | | | function from this place of authenticity, not only do we |
| the right conditions within us. The Ancient Chinese | | | | experience and celebrate ourselves but have a |
| observed that nature produced new life year after | | | | greater potential to create new life. |
| year, and by observing the natural laws developed a | | | | You may well ask; how is it people with no self |
| health care system that would assist nature in keeping | | | | awareness, destructive lifestyles and unhealthy ideals |
| people well, productive and most importantly – | | | | still manage to conceive? I do not know and cannot |
| fertile. | | | | comment as it is not for me or anyone else to judge |
| I have been working with men and women for over | | | | why nature follows a certain path, but sometimes the |
| 20 years, who for many reasons have not been able | | | | life-force is so great nothing will stop it. Think of the |
| to conceive or realise a child of their own. For many | | | | seed that falls on infertile soil, shielded from the sun, dry |
| this journey is painful, frustrating, and deeply saddening, | | | | from lack of rain but still grows and finds its way |
| but worst of all they can often feel a great sense of | | | | through to become a tree. |
| injustice, that somehow they have been left out or | | | | Every day in my clinic I see patients improving their |
| forsaken. This hopelessness that many feel as each | | | | physical and mental health, changing their lives for the |
| month and year rolls on is often rooted in a growing | | | | better and falling pregnant against all odds. |
| belief that somehow they have been singled out and | | | | There are no acupuncture points that improve fertility |
| will not contribute to nature’s great plan of | | | | directly, just as IVF (in vitro-fertilisation) is no guarantee |
| procreation. | | | | of a pregnancy. No on/off buttons that make |
| Nature wants us to make babies. It will do everything in | | | | something happen. Instead the acupuncture points |
| its power for this to happen, but sometimes something | | | | serve as a pivot to allow something to change for the |
| or someone gets in the way. My job and the job of | | | | better. |
| everyone in the field of infertility, be they an | | | | Our cultural term, ‘falling pregnant’ |
| acupuncturist, a doctor, a psychotherapist or a friend, is | | | | suggests our understanding that it is an involuntary act, |
| to help move the person in body, mind and spirit to the | | | | and yet when we are not successful we jump into the |
| place where the natural force of creation can | | | | driving seat of ‘trying to get pregnant’ |
| dominate and have its expression. This force that | | | | which inevitably creates tension and stress. |