FERTILITY MATTERS
Think, feel and choose for yourself.
This mantra comes up several times during a Fertile Heart workshop in Chicago led by Julia Indichova, a petite 58-year-old Czechoslovakian, who was diagnosed at 42 with a high FSH count, also 42. Doctors like to see FSH—follicle-stimulating hormones—below 10 or 15. They told Indichova she had irreversible secondary infertility.
Unsatisfied, she began her own search for a cure, going from homeopaths to acupuncturists and even a Native American medicine man."(He) told us to make love on bright red sheets only,” Indichova says."I basically was running around trying to find someone to fix me. I really left myself out of the process.”
At 44, Indichova became pregnant naturally. Through her books, Inconceivable and The Fertile Female, and her workshops, Indichova has been able to reach many hopeful and desperate women with what she found worked for her and others.
For women who receive similar irreversible diagnoses, Indichova’s workshop and other holistic approaches give them new hope at battling their infertility. Much of the workshop is helping people recognize and resolve their inner conflicts, to see that they are capable and to see what is holding them back. It’s about being in tune with their bodies both physically and emotionally, so they can improve in overall health.
“The most important aspect of my work is to support people in cultivating a voice of inner knowing,” Indichova says. She discusses three ways of doing this: BodyTruth, nutrition and imagery.
BodyTruth
Indichova stresses the importance of letting the body express itself. In the workshop, she leads a series of movements to release tension, shaking her hands out or letting her torso collapse down to her legs."Every cell, every muscle, is affected by our emotions,” Indichova says."There’s no such thing as only a physical body.”
Nutrition
When she began paying attention to how food affected her body, Indichova cut dairy and sweets out of her diet. Indichova stresses the importance of eating slowly and eating the biggest meal before 3 p.m. to make digestion easier. For those dealing with infertility, she recommends asparagus as a strong alkalizer and Brazilian nuts to help immune function. She also says to avoid peas, uncooked cabbage and unfermented soy such as tofu.
Imagery and visualization
In her books, Indichova includes several imagery exercises, which she recommends"to gradually create a new inner reality.”
“… The purpose is to change our view of what is possible for us, on a very deep, cellular level.”
Diana Xin
