EP 274 Why Meditation Can Support Your Fertility Journey and How to Overcome Common Obstacles to the Practice

I cannot underscore enough the power that the mind can have in impactingour bodies. Acupuncture works on the mind from our meridians and energetic flow, but the mind can also impact the body’s energy flow as well.

In this episode I will cover what meditation is, why thinking that it’s not for you is simply a thought that the mind constructs when it’s uncomfortable,and how to overcome that!

My fertility book “The Way of Fertility” is going to launch soon and I would love to have you on the launch team!!! You’ll get to read it first! The application is more formality! https://www.michelleoravitz.com/TWOF-launch-team-application

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Transcript:[00:00:00]

Welcome to the wholesome fertility podcast. I'm Michelle, a fertility acupuncturist here to provide you with resources on how to create a wholesome approach to your fertility journey.

So on today's episode, I'm going to discuss a little bit more about meditation. And I'm also going to discuss something that typically happens in meditation and it is a deterrent. It's a deterrent for you to continue meditation. It's something that happens often to many people and it causes people to stop meditating.It also causes people to think. Meditation is not for me. I'm also going to discuss why it's important when it comes to your whole body's energy flow, not only your body's energy flow, but of course what reflects[00:01:00]overall health, your fertility health. So how can meditation help? There have been links that show that meditation mindfulness can impact fertility, health, reproductive health, and yourbody overall.

And it also helps your sleep, which is incredibly important for your bodyand also help your, your digestion. So not just body, but fertility health. So all of those things are important for your hormone balance. So in so many different ways, meditation can be incredibly powerful. It also taps into our inner terrain as I love to call it our inner terrain. So in Chinese medicine, we deal a lot with blockages and energy flow. And one of the ways that we can access really the body's energy flow, not something that's always talked about is through our awareness and our meditation. I've literally just through my awareness, my[00:02:00]meditation, my visualizations, sitting there with my mind have released major blocks or like, uh, knots in my back just by watching it.

Dr. Joe Dispenza talks about how he healed his body through visualizations. It's incredibly potent and powerful. It's something that science is starting to catch upon our minds and how powerful, just how powerful our minds are. When we do ge tinto a state of meditation, there's many different ways to meditate. What we're doing is we are starting to learn to master ourselves, really it's a form of mastering ourselves, it's a form of self mastery and it helps us become aware and bring ourselves to the present moment. In the present moment, when our mindsare aligned in that present moment, we talk about alignment, I talk about it a lotmyself.When you're aligned and you are in the present moment.

You are more vital than when your[00:03:00]mind is off somewhere else. And you can see that just as an example of how effective you are when you're focused or when you're multitasking, for example, or thinking about something else. You're spread too thin. And your mind is being divided and compromised and not in the present moment. 

When you are in the present moment, most people talk about like the state of flow. There have been a lot of books written about it and psychologists have talked about it. The state of flow that happens to athletes or artists when you're really focused on that present moment. And ultimately what meditation does is it trains your mind to come into this, the present moment and how it does that is by number one awareness because you can't train your mind to go into the present moment if it's not aware that it's not in the present moment and that actually happens a lot.

I know it sounds almost obvious, but it's very, very[00:04:00]often that, for example, we're driving. Maybe an hour. We literally cannot even recall what we were seeing. We're like from where we left and then all of a sudden we have arrived and we have no idea what happened. Where did that time go? How, like, how did it even happen? You don't even remember the ride because your mind was going off on something because you've taught yourself how to drive and your subconscious mind took the wheel. It's automatic. It knows what to do. And it's just, it's done it so many times it's become like automatic.

And so when your subconscious mind takes over, your mind can wander off into all kinds of different places away from the present moment. And you're totally fine, you get there safe, you know how to do it, your body knows how to do it, you almost train your body, your body is your subconscious mind. So that's pretty much how that happens. So when it comes to meditation, there are many different ways, but they[00:05:00]pretty much do the same thing.

And so it's all about finding one type of anchor to focus on. So you can focus on either a mantra. or even body sensations, or a breath, your breath. Many times, a breath or a mantra is typically what is most commonly used. So, say you're focusing on the mantra calm. You'll repeat that word in your mind, and they say not to do it like a metronome, just to kind of have it go in and out. Almost organically. So whenever your mind, so your awareness, the awareness aspect is what catches your mind when it's going off. So your awareness catches your mind when it's planning or like leaving the present moment into some other story or something that happened looking into the future or thinking about the[00:06:00] past ruminating and your awareness is what's going to catch that.

And what you do is you gently bring it back to that mantra or to the breath. So you're pretty much just training. It's almost like riding a horse. You're taking, you're taming this horse, which is your mind and you're making it, you're bringing it back gently, not making it, you're bringing it back gently to.Whatever it is that you're focused on, that object of focus, which could be a mantraor it could be the breath. Or sometimes what I like to do, and you can start out on meditation like this, is just interoception, which is body awareness, becoming aware of your body sensations. You can scan your body.

That's something that sometimes people like to do. You could focus on your uterus. You can focus on the heart. Anything that you feel, and what's great about interoception is it actually through your awareness helps you to realize what's happening inside your body. And when you are aware[00:07:00]of what's happening inside your body, you can utilize your breath, like the sensation of your breath and your awareness and your attention into that area and almost like breathe into that area and release it. So you can almost feel that internal blocks within your body centers. So you can feel it, um, where the chakras are, if you're familiar with chakras, but it doesn'teven have to be chakras. It could be really anywhere in your body that you're feeling almost like a stuck feeling or something that'snot moving.And by breathing into that area and putting your focus and your state of mind, youknow, kind of your awareness. You're over time going to release it. It's just naturally what happens because you're bringing that divine intelligence, kind ofthat intelligence, but you're using in a way that's focused to release that area.

So over time that impacts your body, it actually has a very calming effect on your body. And if you just do something where it is an object of focus, like the breath[00:08:00]or a mantra. What you're doing is you're training the mind and it can be uncomfortable at first. Any new habit that you're doing is always going to be uncomfortable if that is not where your mind is used to. It's going to want to go where it usually goes because that feels comfortable. So whenever you do something new, that could be very triggering. So getting into meditation, when I was talking about like getting that. That resistance that we get,that a lot of people get, that makes them stop meditating.

What can happen is you get the sensation, right? The sensation is that your body's like, I don't like this. Or your mind's like, I don't like this. And your body's going to feel it. It's going to start feeling edgy from sitting still. And it's going to say, this doesn't feel right. This doesn't feel like natural for me.

And that not feeling natural is going to open up a resistance and that resistance is actually going to impact your thought about it. And your thought will conclude, you know what? Meditation's just[00:09:00]not for me. I'm not built to meditate. And it will convince you that. And I've seen, and I've talked to, and I've actually been one of them. People who have started out thinking meditation is not for me because they thought that they had to like not think about anything or that they felt really uncomfortable.

And then ultimately, if they still stayed with it, eventually they break through and then they realize They're getting benefits from the meditation. So my personal opinion is Meditation is for everybody who decides they want it so it could be for everybody and I'm not saying that you have to do it. But if you do give it a chance

Eventually, just like exercising is good for the body. I mean meditations good for the mind and the body eventually it will provide some benefit. And part of it is, is because it's training the mind to come back into the present moment. So when you're saying a[00:10:00]mantra and you're focusing on the mantra and you're becoming aware of the mantra, when are you saying the mantra? You're saying it now. And so when your attention is focused on that anchor, that anchor, like a mantra, or a breath is happening in the now. So you catch yourself, but you gently bring it back. You don't force yourself. You don'tget mad at yourself. You just let the mind go where it goes. It's, there's a saying called monkey mind, and it describes.

Meditation or like the, what happens in meditation and the mind will jump from one thing to the next. So when you see monkeys go from one branch to the other, that's how each branch is a different thought. And your mind will go back and forth and all over the place. And that is the nature of the mind. So you're not really supposed to stop thinking because it's almost impossible. And you're going to feel. Like a failure, if that's the case, because you can't really[00:11:00]stop thinking. Your mind's always going to go in that direction. It just likes to sway. It's almost like a branch is swaying in the wind. It's just going to go back and forth and it's always going to do that. But what you could do is over time, train it to come to the present moment. And when you're doing that, and it's not about stopping something else, typically. That doesn't work when you're trying to stop something. So like a negative with a negative, you don't really cancel something in your mind or like a state of being what you could do is redirect. So the same thing with habits.

If you like to, I don't know, have wine. I always say, just have chamomile tea instead, do something to substitute it or redirect it somewhere else rather than just have a void. Because that usually doesn't work. The mind wants to focus onsomething or it wants to get directed somewhere else. So when you give it something else to focus on or you redirect it, then it'll eventually fall in line and then it will start to be more in the present[00:12:00]moment.

When you become in the present moment and it starts to, you start to get more into that place, it really is a state of alignment because when your attention is focused on the now you're bringing more vitality to the moment. Because you're aware ofyour body or aware of your state and it becomes more alive and that vitality impacts your body. I like to talk a lot about the mind and I'm sure you've heard me talk about it a lot. The reason is, is because acupuncture, you know, what I do is basically we work alot on energy. But by working on the energy in the body, it impacts the mind, but it's kind of like a double sided thing. It's a relationship. The mind can also impact the energy in your body. So you can actually, without necessarily getting acupuncture, although I do really highly recommend it because it is powerful. There's been a lot of, uh, amazing things that I've seen. Incredible things.

One that I[00:13:00]shared on Instagram a while ago, I actually pinned it on my reels. It shows the blood before and after acupuncture. Mind blowing because it'ssomething that the textbooks have always said. And now, interestingly enough, on so many levels, science is catching up to what it really does, what Chinese medicine has been talking about for many years. And they talk about it.They literally say that the blood moves, it moves the blood and it increases Qi. And you can see the blood vessel, like you could see the blood cells becoming more spherical and also moving, like moving a lot faster. It's like they're coming to life. 

It's incredible. So back to what I was saying, not only can you do it through the body, but you can also do it through the mind. You can impact the body through the mind by visualizations, by sensations, by becoming more aware. So your awareness by itself is intelligent. Your awareness by itself kind of[00:14:00]aligns you to that divine intelligence. That really iswhat designed your body to do its thing.

And the way acupuncture works is reallyto start that up to wake up that divine intelligence and to create balance and harmony so that your body isable to self heal and do its thing. Do what it was designed to do, which is self heal and self regulate. Typically the body always knows how to do that, but sometimes it has to go in an uphill battle for many years. Because of lifestyle choices, whatever it is, and this is why we create, we establish that harmony by doing acupuncture, but you can establish that harmony through your own awareness, just by being present. So, have you ever been on a really great vacation where nothing else matters? Now, was it really that nothing else matters, or was it that you just said the[00:15:00]conditions where I am allowsme, or I'm giving myself permission now to fully let go mentally because of the conditions, the conditions that you placed on your life and saying, well, in order to feel really relaxed, I need X, Y, and Z to happen. I need to be by a beach. 

Does that necessarily have to be the case? Sometimes imagining a beach can have the same impact on your body. Just imagining the waves, hearing them in your mind can have an impact. So imagining something has been shown to have the same impact on the body. As the actual real thing.

So an example is, and I always use this exercise a lot of times when I do in person workshops, is for people to imagine a lemon and squeezing that lemon and like really tasting that lemon. What happens? They start to salivate. Did they really have a lemon? Why did they start to salivate it? Why did their body respond as if they already had[00:16:00]lemon?That they really squeezed it in their mouth? That's the question. Like, can you just make your your mouth salivate that way? No. The imagining of the lemon automatically created almost like an instinct in the body, so.That is just one really, really clear cut example of how powerful the mind is. So when you're bringing thatdivine intelligence and really.

Realizing that your mind is intelligent and your awareness, it's not even your mind, your mind's a tool, but it's your awareness, your consciousness, and bringing it to full alignment into the present moment is incredibly powerful for the healing aspects of your body. So, with Chinese medicine, of course, we go through the body, we go through the channels, and that impacts the mind, but that doesn't mean that Impacting the mind doesn't also impact the body. I've treated people where[00:17:00]physically I'm helping them a lot. You know, I'll treat them with certain patterns, but their mind habits and their thought patterns are so strong that even though they'll feel better if they leave for a little while, they'll go back to the same thing. This is one of the things that actually inspired me to certify in hypnotherapy.I'm very interested in the mind, obviously, but like, that was something that I wanted to learn because I said, why is it that even though we're getting better physically, it just keeps going back to the same thing. And then I'd hear in the language, the same repetitive. Words. And that means that obviously what you speak about is what you think about.

So it just reflects the same repetitive thoughts and beliefs. And was it those beliefs that kept putting people in the same position and, um, having the same conditions over and over again. And I love to give the example of the people with.

Dissociative[00:18:00]personality disorder where they have different personalities come out that they've seen allergies shift like people having hives from orange juice and then the hives disappear with the different personalities and then also eye color changing. I mean, it's crazy, but it really impacts the way the body expresses itself Like, why is that? It's not like their genetics are changing. What is it? It's like the brainthoughts and the beliefs and the patterns can completely shift what your body is acting like. So that to me is another example of how powerful our minds are.

And one of the best ways to go into this default. State and default, not in a negative way. Really default meaning going back to our own nature is by our awareness. Just our awareness by itself is intelligence and by staying aware, we're also[00:19:00]being receptive and we're allowing our own mental antenna to connect to that divine intelligence. And I know this because I've been meditating. I know this beyond. Even things that I've read in books, it's a knowing that you can only know through experience. 

And it's something that is very hard to really explain in words, but I'm trying. And it's something that I highly recommend you try. And what I often recommend if you do want to start a meditation practice is you don't have to do this like for 20 minutes a day. You could start out with literally two minutes a day, no more. And what you do by doing that for two minutes, You can handle anything, even if it's uncomfortable for two minutes, just sitting there and making your object to focus your breath. Or justpaying attention to your body sensations, which again, similar to the breath and the mantra, they're happening in the present moment.And so doing that, kind of[00:20:00]tuning in and being in a receptive, aware state of becoming aware, becoming aware of your mind going off and then come bringing it back gently and just continuously encouraging it to come to the present moment, whatever that object of focus is, and just sitting with it when you do that over and over again, over time for two minutes a day. You are going to basically convince your mind that this has become your new habit. So I highly recommend doing this at a time that you're doing something else already. Cause everybody has some kind of repetition or some kind of habit that they do. So your habit could be having coffee in the morning or tea or exercise after exercising or taking a walk. There's always something that you do every single day and it could be in the beginning of the day or at the end of the day, anchor the two minute meditation to that specific habit. So it could be before or after something that you do. It could be before or after having that tea in the morning [00:21:00]o r after the exercise or before that exercise or anchor it to something that you do every single day. When you anchor a new habit to an old habit, That's another way to get your mindon board. And when your mind gets on board, it's very similar to starting an exercise routine. Once you get into it, you start to crave it. It becomes part of what you want to do. It becomes part of your habit. And when you're doing that, you actually get your mind on board. Then, once you have that repetition, and I always start with two minutes a day, the reason being is because you could do anything for two minutes. It's not like that big of a deal. It doesn't request too much from you. And then it gets your mind intothe habit of doing it every day. And then, little by little, you're going to naturally want to increase that time.

You might even want to after, like before the two weeks, and I would say like do it for two weeks. Another thing that I would highly suggest if you're[00:22:00]really not familiar with meditation, you want to find out a little bit more. This is something I suggest often for my patients to do with their partners is to watch on Netflix. Headspace series, and it's a series that is amazing. It's little cartoons that describe the meditations. It's short enough. It's a little cartoon. It's entertaining. It describes the science behind a lot of these meditations, and it'll take you through a different meditations for each episode. And at the end of each cartoon, they take you through a guided meditation of that which they just explained. So that's something that I highly recommend. So I hope you got value from this. I highly recommend starting or at least trying to start a meditation practice. I can't tell you how much it's changed my own life. I can't tell you how much I've seen incredible benefits with the patients that I work with that started meditating.[00:23:00]

So I know that it could be a little challenging at first. Know that, keep that in mind so that you realize that you're going to get through it, just like any challenge. When you get through a challenge and your mind knows that it can overcome, it gets stronger, and it stays, you know, that type of pattern gets stronger and stronger, and you also prove to yourself that you can overcome. So, I hope you got value from this episode, and thank you so much for tuning in.

Have a beautiful day. So that concludes today's episode. You can find all of the links mentioned on the episode notes. If you're enjoying these episodes, please take a moment to share and leave a review. Reviews mean everything to podcasters and I really enjoy hearing from my listeners.

You can also find me on my website at www.thewholesomelotus. com or email me at info at thewholesomelotus. com. I love hearing from my listeners. If you're interested[00:24:00]and want updates as well as a free ebook on my top 10 fertility boosting habits, you can visit my fertility page on www.thewholesomelotus.com.

I thank you so much for listening in and hope that you have a beautiful day.[00:25:00]