Julia Indochiva's book, INCONCEIVABLE - Winning the Fertility Game (a true story of one woman's triumph over statistics) was a treat and a delight. After completing the account of her infertility treatment, I recognized that this is not a book about infertility. It is really about the process of inner growth that she experienced, triggered by the life circumstances of her infertility. It is a testament to holistic healing through the integration of body, mind and spirit. Here is one woman's story that complements the ever increasing medical documentation of the benefits to "mind-body" medicine.

Nowhere does this seem to be clearer than in the relationship that women have with their menses and fertility. The moontime is a women's connection to the cycles of nature, manifest within her on a monthly basis. A potentially great resource of guidance and wisdom, that today has been mostly cursed. In our society we are generally divorced from this wisdom. The core moments of life (birth and death) have been institutionalized which to some degree has negated their wisdom in our life. Seventy five years ago, a woman pregnant for the first time had experienced many births in assisting family, neighbors and friends. Some easy, some hard; some with good outcome, some with bad. Either way she had firsthand experience of the process she was entering allowing for realistic expectations. She truly knew what she was getting into. Today, this type of experience is very rare indeed. This leads to inappropriate expectations and a loss when those expectations are not met. This loss can be great and the pain women carry over childbirth is legion. The same holds true for our experience of death and dying. The core experiences which can teach us some of the greatest lessons about the value of our time here, in this body, are just out of reach.

Due to specific lab tests that were used to reflect her reproductive abilities she was told over and over again that all medical interventions were futile. There was never a safe space drawn around her (by the medical community) that something could be done about her elevated blood levels of FSH (follicle stimulating hormone). This hormone is produced by the pituitary gland in the brain and sent to the ovaries each month to initiate egg development. This forty two year old women (with an 18 month old child) was told there was no recourse to address her declining ovarian function. Basically she was told her biological clock had run out

Initially her search took her from one infertility specialist to another. Some were more personable, some more technically proficient but none were able to provide any glimmer of hope that there was some way to address her biological clock (i.e. elevated FSH levels). From one dogmatic extreme to the other, she found confusion in much of the alternative advice she was given. Some of the confusion came from her advisers and some from within herself. She fearlessly documents the process she underwent, over several years time, to move into clarity and understanding. This came through practical experience, persistence and eventually the ability to honor and nurture herself and her own body’s wisdom and guidance.

Her travels through both the conventional medical and alternative medical options are a great metaphor for the inner process we all can go through. Her honesty in reflecting her feelings allows one to share this process readily. She is up front about her desperation in moving towards the alternative, at first approaching it in a context of fix me quick. Eventually moving into a true understanding of how practices such as good eating, yoga and meditation can bring about belief in oneself. Making that "pivot leap of faith" in moving from external control to inner guidance. Growing strong in the guidance of inner wisdom and honoring personal intuition. Following her own healthy impulses.

This is not inconsistent with medical science. Many other areas of the brain influence the pituitary, including the thinking cortex (our conscious and unconscious mind). By transforming her life (how she lived, her belief systems and her thought processes) she had a very real effect on her brain function and conceived and delivered another healthy child.

I now recommend this book to all my patients who have any fertility issues. But it is a book that will benefit anyone interested in the inner process of growth and how it transforms your life. I found it to be an easy read in a personal, straightforward style makes it readily approachable to all. Thank you, Julia, for sharing your wisdom with us.