If you’ve ever been ticked off by someone telling you that you should relax and you’ll get pregnant, know that you’re justified in your emotions.
A study done in 2018 exploring the link between stress and infertility showed that women with the highest levels of stress were twice as likely to experience infertility. Markers for stress were found in the participants’ saliva and hair.
The researchers concluded that mental and emotional interventions for women with infertility have the potential to decrease anxiety and depression, which may then lead to significantly higher pregnancy rates.
And now for the critical reframing of these findings…
Stress isn’t simply about worrying or exerting ourselves physically. You might have tried taking the warm baths, meditating, doing acupuncture or yoga, planning romantic date nights to "get your sexy on"...and still with disappointing results.
Stress goes deeper under the surface.
Memories and emotions buried in the subconscious mind create a stress response in our system when triggered. This leads to the release of fight, flight, or freeze hormones from our brain and into our body. The brain communicates to the body that we are not safe: that we either have to run from a threat, fight off a threat, or stay frozen until everything is over because we have no control over the outcome.
One (or a mix of these three states) is the ongoing reality for Birth Warriors who’ve gone through loss or are going through infertility. And so, releasing stress isn’t about relaxing. It’s about healing. It’s healing the memories and emotions that are creating the continuous stress response in the body.
Why Healing Might Seem Scary
What makes healing daunting is that we fear reliving the experience that left us shattered in the first place. I had that fear, too. It wasn’t until I discovered Somatic Healing that I realized that something could be gentle and still effective.
There are dark corners of our minds and in our bodies where the memories and emotions are so painful, that we dare not take the lid off the box we’ve had to keep them in. This is the pain I help my clients heal—the one they never spoke about before working with me, but were sending off alarms or stress signals in the body that they were still in danger.
And until the healing work was done, the brain would still continue to do what it’s biologically programmed to do: signal danger so it can protect them from it.
Again, releasing stress isn’t about relaxing. It’s about healing.
What have you had to hold on to because you haven’t had the support to heal? What cost are you still paying for the pain you already went through?
I’d love to introduce you to the incredible benefits of Somatic Healing in regulating the nervous system, restoring a sense of safety in the body, releasing trauma and painful emotions, and optimizing the body for fertility and pregnancy.
>> Learn about the experience of other clients.
>> Book a call with me to learn how Somatic Healing can support you on your fertility and pregnancy journey.
Sending you all the love!
Natalee