Stress, Fertility, and the Mind-Body Connection (Episode 519)

Full Transcript: Episode 519

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack:

Today I’m sharing a brand new episode with Michelle Oravitz and we talk about how to optimize fertility in a different way. We’re looking at the importance of letting go, addressing the impact of stress on fertility, and really this missing piece for so many women when you’ve done virtually everything else. As a fertility awareness educator for many years, one of the things that you can see reliably on a woman’s menstrual cycle chart is the impact that stress has. Whether that’s acute stress and we’re seeing ovulation be delayed or the luteal phase shorten, premenstrual spotting, low progesterone, or a variety of specific issues in a particular cycle related to the stress that occurred that time — or whether we’re seeing the ongoing effects of chronic stress, often by a pattern of low hormone production and a variety of other symptoms. And so in today’s episode we focus on this important piece of the fertility puzzle.

And so before we jump into the interview let me share a little bit about Michelle. Michelle Oravitz is an acupuncturist specializing in fertility health. She found her love in Chinese medicine after it helped her through her own menstrual cycle challenges, and this inspired her to change her career from architecture to acupuncture. Michelle is the host of a top-rated podcast called the Wholesome Fertility Podcast. She has been on a mission to help women get pregnant through her one-on-one work at her acupuncture clinic as well as online. And she recently authored a new book, The Way of Fertility, which dives deep into the energetics of fertility through the lens of ancient wisdom. Michelle believes that our bodies are hardwired to procreate, and by connecting to our inherent wisdom, we can awaken our natural reproductive vitality. So without further ado, let’s go ahead and jump into today’s episode.

I’m excited to be here with Michelle Oravitz. Michelle has just recently released her new book, The Way of Fertility. And so we’re really excited to dive into that today. Welcome to the show, Michelle.

Michelle Oravitz:

Thank you so much, Lisa.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack:

Well, thank you for coming to the show. And I’d love to start by giving you an opportunity to share a little bit about your background. So let us know what you do, how you got into what you do, so what led you to do the work that you’re doing now, and especially also what led you to write your book at this stage.

Michelle Oravitz:

Yes, thank you for having me. And so my background — I started out really as a patient of acupuncture and it’s changed my life. And pretty much like the story of so many women, I had irregular periods, was given the birth control pill, and that was like the solution to my irregular periods. Never felt aligned. I was like, wait, what? This doesn’t really seem like an actual solution. So I was like, what happens if I get off? Like, aren’t you going to fix this? And he’s like, no, if you get off, it’s going to be back to what it is now. I’m like, okay, so it never made sense to me. And this is like at age seventeen. So for many years, you know, just continued on with a very irregular pattern of cycle.

And then also I had very probably undiagnosed PCOS, because I look back — I had hair loss, I had acne, I had certain hormonal issues and certain hair growth too. And also irregular periods. I don’t know if I had polycystic ovaries, so it was kind of, because I never really did an ultrasound, but definitely was very irregular for many years. And then the only thing that was a real solid solution for me was when I found an acupuncturist, and that with the herbs completely regulated my cycle.

I was an architect at the time, very stressful job, New York City, like completely different worlds. And I remember at the time I happened to really like my job because I liked the people, but I wasn’t crazy about the work that I was doing. And I felt really called to doing natural medicine. It was something that I was always interested in. So I eventually decided to go back to school, started with Ayurveda, and felt like I wanted to do something a little bit more in depth. And of course, acupuncture was what really changed things for me. So that was always kind of like my end goal. I went to school while my kids were in school, and then I got my degree and opened my practice in 2016. And pretty much have been doing acupuncture, Chinese medicine, specializing in fertility, and love fertility health, love working with women. It’s just something that I’ve always been called to do.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack:

So interesting that you started out in architecture. Very different field. I think it’s actually really common. I’ve heard so many stories like that, where you kind of start out in one field and then whatever draws you into this type of work. So I love hearing kind of the origin stories, if you will. Well, and so what inspired you then to write your book, The Way of Fertility?

Michelle Oravitz:

So so many different things. But one of the things that I felt — once I started going to acupuncture, one of the things I noticed was that not only my body was aligning, but I felt like my life was aligning, or I was aligning with my life. And that was one of the things that pushed me to do something that was aligned with who I was in my own expression. And I felt like that was natural medicine. So I really got into meditation. That’s like a big part of my life. And really that connected me with my intuition. And so generally speaking, I feel like things sort of move through me. I started it with my podcast and then eventually it happened with my book.

And it’s really based on something that has been around for thousands of years, which is the basis of ancient medicine wisdom — Ayurvedic medicine, but also Chinese medicine. And Chinese medicine is based in Taoism. Ayurvedic medicine is in the Vedas. You have a lot of really interesting parallels in a lot of the ancient wisdom, and a lot of them really point you to the direction inwards. Right now we’re living in such an outward society where everything is all about our response to what is in the material world. And a lot of what we can really benefit from is going within and going to this yin state.

And I notice also with my work, a lot of people in the fertility world, they get so much information and the checklists. And one of the things that definitely does not get on the checklist is their well-being. And I think that yes, you can do all the right things, take all the supplements, go to the doctor’s visits, all of the things, exercise, stay away from plastics, all of the things, which of course I promote and I always teach. But also, it’s so important to nourish and nurture your own well-being. And I think that that is something that is so often left out of the conversation.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack:

Well, and so in your work then, what do you feel is missed if you want to go into it a little bit deeper? Because I think what’s interesting is I tend to focus so heavily on the nutrients, the menstrual cycle, very tangible things that I think are obviously important in both of our work. And often what I say when some of the more emotional type pieces of this equation come into play — I mean, I often will say, well, that’s not something that I specifically focus on because I don’t think I need to be everything. That’s why I talk about the team approach. So I think that this conversation is interesting and important because I think you’re right that some of these pieces can be missed. I do think that charting your cycle brings you into that intuition in a bit of a different way. Maybe share some of what you’re referring to and some of the things that you feel are missed in this conversation with most of your fertility clients.

Michelle Oravitz:

Yeah, and I agree. And I’m going to reframe because the noticing your body and charting your cycle and paying attention to that is really coming into presence with yourself and paying attention, becoming aware of your body and your body’s cues and really connecting with that. And that’s part of what I’m speaking about. It’s just maybe you’re not calling it that — there are many different names or ways to express things. But ultimately the goal is to become aware and to listen to your body and to really understand the cues and the language that your body has and expresses. And I think that that is your body’s intelligence, watching and paying attention to patterns that are coming out.

And so for me, one of the biggest things — especially in person with acupuncture — is the nervous system. Really regulating that nervous system, taking somebody from fight-or-flight to rest-and-digest, or to at least balance the two. Because both have a place and both have a role. So every part of our life has a role. And what we find is that when we are coming from a place of alignment, we’re going to choose better things. We’re going to choose the better nutrients. We’re going to be guided in knowing and learning the right things for our bodies. And so it’s really connecting to that intelligence and connecting to a state of listening to yourself and your body.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack:

Well, one of the things that you talk about in the book is emotions — connecting to them, releasing them, finding ways to work through them. And so this is something I find it’s obviously really important. Life is super busy and I think that a lot of us are going through the motions. We’ve got a lot of responsibilities, especially as women at different parts of our lives. So a lot of my clients are kind of in that 30s, 40s range of time. And it can be just incredibly busy. You could have your work, business, employment responsibilities. And a lot of things are also happening personally. There might have been things that happened in the past that you’ve never really addressed that could play into what your fertility journey is going to experience — whether it was previous losses that you had or previous relationships or a variety of things.

So maybe share — some of these things are addressed in different ways with charting, but some of these deeper type of emotions are just not part of my typical strategy to go into, and that’s not something I would refer out for unless I see some of those things. So how you kind of went through some of the very practical ways that we can work through some of those emotions depending on what’s going on in the background.

Michelle Oravitz:

Yes. So I talk about undigested emotions. I look at it almost like you’re digesting something, and if you don’t digest it, it’s going to sit around and stagnate, and it’s going to impact really the freedom and the liberation mentally that you are experiencing life. And so because like you said, we’re so busy, there’s this saying that if you have time to meditate, meditate for 20 minutes. If you don’t have time to meditate, meditate for an hour. And I’ll tell you why — I’ve been a longtime meditator and I know it from the inside out. Because I know what it’s done for my life and how it’s impacted me. And I can tell you when you get your mind to be in a state of coherence — and actually there’s science behind it really, the heart-brain coherence, something called the HeartMath Institute, where they measure coherence — there’s a beautiful relationship between the heart and the brain and they do interact. And when they’re incoherent, it creates a state of disharmony or stress. And coherence can create stress and anxiety. But when they are in coherence, you have more mental clarity and you feel really positive about life, you connect with people better, and your coherence can also impact the people around you.

So it’s really all energy. When you’re allowing yourself to experience the emotions and lean into them and allow them to move through rather than fighting them, ultimately you’re actually going to get more liberated. You’re going to get what you really want. Because when we don’t want to feel our feelings, we just want freedom from them. But when we shut them down and don’t let them digest and move through, then we’re keeping them in place. We’re really kind of constricting and allowing that stagnation. And this all really ties into a lot of what Chinese medicine has been talking about for thousands of years — which is that our organs, our overall energy and chi vitality, can stagnate due to emotions. And our liver is in charge of ensuring the free flow of chi throughout the body. And when we feel constricted — we’ve all felt that, we know what I’m talking about when you’re feeling really stressed, you constrict your body, you feel tight, it feels like things are not flowing and not easy. Versus when you’re on vacation in the nicest place and you let go. But it’s a condition that we make for ourselves. We only allow ourselves that freedom when we’re in a really nice environment. However, when you do internal work like meditation, when you really do stay still and pay attention to yourself and listen to your body — and part of that is charting — that’s one aspect of mindfulness, is paying attention and listening and being in a state of receptivity and observing.

And so when you’re sitting there in that truth and allowing things to process, you’re going to feel those feelings that you might have shut down for a while. It might be uncomfortable at first. But just allowing yourself to go through that — once the energy moves and flows through, you do feel liberated. And so it frees up your energy because emotions are very taxing.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack:

I mean, for someone who’s been trying to conceive, I think it can be — it’s like another thing. It’s like, now I also have to do this thing, right? So when someone is in that space who’s been trying to conceive, who’s experiencing delay to conception or some degree of fertility challenges — generally the women who I’ve worked with in this space, they’re metaphorically like standing on their head while spinning sixty balls. They’re already doing so many different things. And sometimes it can get to a bit of desperation where they’re kind of throwing everything at the wall to see what will stick.

So I think in some ways it can feel like there’s yet another thing to do. And in other ways I can see the benefit in taking a step back to evaluate what’s going on. So from my perspective from the charting, when it comes to stress, there’s no question that stress has a negative impact on the menstrual cycle and arguably also on fertility. But what’s interesting is that when we talk about stress, it’s kind of this esoteric concept. And sometimes I feel the need to kind of break it down more specifically. Because if a person is experiencing an acute stressor — something stressful one time — or if a person is experiencing a chronic stressor, I would say fertility challenges are a chronic stressor. In both of those examples, you would be able to see an impact on the chart. Whether it’s a specific one-time thing that delays ovulation or whether it’s a chronic thing that overall results in a poor hormone profile.

One of the things I often talk about is that I think stress itself has an effect, but when you’re really stressed, when you’re going through that type of a situation, you’re also not taking care of yourself. So I think it compounds. We have the actual hormonal impact of stress in general, but also if something really difficult happens, you’re going through a chronic stressor, chances are you might be skipping some of those meals. So I think the energetic perspective makes a big difference, but I also think that when you do take a step back, you kind of re-evaluate and then reassess. And that in and of itself lends itself to getting back to some of those important habits. What are your thoughts on that?

Michelle Oravitz:

Well, you are basically programmed, hardwired, to know how to get back into balance. That’s just it. And so that’s why things like meditation — getting back to the basics and getting quiet and connecting with that intelligence, that higher intelligence that really runs your body — that higher intelligence is always there. It’s always wanting to get you back into homeostasis, yin and yang balance. It’s how our bodies are programmed. We’ll always want to go back into that. That’s how all of nature runs.

And so this is what I was going to say — it’s not about stopping stress because stress is going to happen. Life happens. So it’s not about stopping stress, just like meditation is not about stopping your thoughts. It’s not about stopping anything. It’s about adapting. So it’s not like you’re going to make difficult things go away. They’re part of life. And one of the things in HeartMath that they test is heart rate variability — it’s about how the heart adapts. So that adapting, when you know that you have a very heavy burden that you’re dealing with and it’s coming from all ends, that is when you have to kind of strategize even stronger to counterbalance it. And if that means giving yourself like an hour to watch Netflix, just let your mind go. Give yourself that mental break, or dance in the house, or do something that you used to love doing before all of this happened. Just kind of getting back to the basics of things that allowed you to feel free. Even if it’s for an hour. And when you do that, the human body and the mind have an amazing way of going back to balance. It just becomes a little easier. It creates more space.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack:

Does that make sense?

Michelle Oravitz:

It does, yeah. And it’s a very simple concept, right? It’s not complicated, it’s not scientific, it’s logical. If you’ve been really focused on something for a long time, you kind of get into a certain way about things. And I think we can all recognize that it’s helpful to take a step back and actually evaluate and come back to what we know that we need to do.

It’s really interesting because I think sometimes it goes this way with charting as well. When I’m working with practitioners especially, because it’s like we all kind of know to some degree at least partly what we should be doing. We might not have the full understanding, but we all kind of know — we should be sleeping, we should be eating well, we should be moving our bodies. We all kind of know what we should be doing. But it’s very easy to get caught up in it. And so it sounds like this kind of practice that you’re talking about helps us to get back into realignment, to help us to stay focused. Which is one of the most difficult things in today’s world, with all of our tech, with all of the devices, with all of the access to information. There’s analysis paralysis. There’s so much information and not all of it’s good. There’s a lot of fear too, by the way, and that’s another thing — it’s not good for the nervous system.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack:

I don’t know if this exactly ties in, but I have a question around intuition. One of the things you also speak about is intuition. And on that line of being in a distracted world with so many options and so many different things — I think that’s one of the reasons we don’t necessarily have the time we need to actually take a step back, kind of evaluate, and sort ourselves out. So just talk a little bit about intuition, what your experience has been working with women. I know my experience has been that many of us are not connected to it. And as many avenues as there are that can bring us back to that intuition, I feel like it’s just so important for us to be able to do that.

Michelle Oravitz:

So basically our intuition is a gift. It really is something that we have. I’ve had patients — one of them I tell this story a lot because it’s just so mind-boggling and fascinating at the same time. There were two different doctors from two different countries that told her that she was very low on her reserve. One of them said, you’re approaching menopause based on your numbers. The other one said, I’m not going to be able to do a cycle on you unless you choose an egg donor. Two different doctors from two different countries that were like the best of the best. She came to me, and she also had a nodule on her thyroid. This woman was so in tune with her intuition. Not only was she in tune, she also was like, I’m not doing anything that’s not in alignment with this.

She came to me and actually only came to me for two weeks and then I had to shut down for COVID. We continued online, and she was doing herbs, pressure points, all the different things that we could do. And at one point she calls me and she’s like, listen, I don’t know if it’s the herbs but my period’s messed up, I’m not getting it, I’m late on my period. It was a negative pregnancy test. I don’t know what’s going on. Maybe I am approaching menopause. Let this not be the case. She’s like, starting to hear almost the voice of the doctor in her mind. And that does come up. Because sometimes even if you’re so in tune with your intuition, even though you are willing to make that bet on yourself, you still have those thoughts creep up. And that’s part of the process.

So she ended up taking another test — negative. Another test. And I said, humor me, just get another test. She bought another test at CVS. And sure enough, it was positive. And it was on April 1st. She told her husband, and her husband thought she was pranking him because they’d been trying to conceive for a while. Not only did she have a healthy first baby — full-term pregnancy — but they tried to convince her she couldn’t make it full-term and that she needed a C-section or scheduled induction because of her age. She did not do it. Now I’m not giving medical advice, just for anybody who’s listening, you have to listen to your doctors too. But knowing your body is also important. So she ended up having a full-term birth. And quickly after, she got pregnant again. Now she has two healthy kids.

And so this is just one example of a woman who was like, I’m listening to my intuition. She felt that calling. She really listened to it. And she allowed it to move her in the direction. And sometimes doing so can feel like you’re taking a risk, because it’s something that you cannot predict and it doesn’t look like your past. And the future that you’re hoping for is so different from your past, and you’re also hearing so many different voices tell you otherwise. And it was the same thing with me, when I went to the doctor and he gave me the birth control pill.

Really listening to your body. And what’s really interesting is my husband’s an ER doctor and he tells me that sometimes he’ll have people — there’s nothing from his perspective that would point to them needing a certain test — but they are adamant. So at that point he’s like, okay, when they’re that adamant, let’s do it. And sure enough many times it comes out that there’s something that needed to be uncovered that had no other logical explanation to point them in that direction.

So the intuition is really there to protect us. Because if you look at animals and how they survive in the wild and how they know to eat certain plants when they’re sick — they know what to do. How do they know that? It doesn’t just exist in our own body. It goes out into the universe. This intelligence that runs our bodies also runs us. Getting in tune with that is a huge asset.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack:

I really appreciate that example. It’s so common and so important. And what a great example of somebody who wasn’t discouraged by what their doctor was saying but chose to kind of carve their own path. And I mean, sure, it’s tricky territory. But you have your medical professionals. And I think the most important thing is to recognize what their strengths are. Because I think the challenge in our culture isn’t that we don’t respect doctors — obviously we do — it’s that we think that they know everything. And that, in my opinion, is the issue. While we do want to respect the educated opinion of our healthcare professional, I think it’s helpful to think about what lane they’re in and what their specialization is. What are their strengths, what did they go to school for, what do they know how to do? Because that’s why we’re going to them.

When you have a medical doctor who’s kind of going outside of that and giving all of this other opinion — really, because nobody can tell you whether or not you’re going to be able to get pregnant naturally, I mean, unless you literally don’t have a uterus. So these are some of the things. I’ve done a few episodes on this AMH issue where if a woman is showing a low AMH number or low ovarian reserve parameters on her bloodwork, doctors will make these broad claims at her ability to conceive naturally, when ironically those tests don’t predict natural conception. That’s just not what they do. There are studies on that. It’s not a couple of random studies, it’s pretty much consistent. When you read enough research, if you were to read meta-analyses on AMH and what it’s most effective at doing, it’s consistent.

Anyway, back to the intuition piece. What I found as well is always back to the charting — whatever it is that helps women to be confident in whatever it is that they’re feeling. Because I think all of us, at least when you get to a certain age, have had at least one probably many experiences where you had that gut feeling something was off. You were suspicious of something. Someone said something to you and you were kind of unsure but you went against that feeling and it didn’t turn out good. And so this is a thing where we have to get back to listening and paying attention to those feelings. And it’s most difficult when you’re in front of a credentialed medical professional, with the diplomas on the walls. It’s hard when someone’s putting you down, when they’re telling you diet has nothing to do with this or whatever it is.

So maybe share — how do we help women to connect more with their intuition? How do we stop ourselves in the moment? How do we start — what are some of the ways that we could just not ignore that?

Michelle Oravitz:

That is such a good point. And it’s happened to me so many times. I think part of it is really honoring ourselves a little bit more. And one of the things I say — this is a trick, basically, to not make it like an extra thing but something that you could basically do at any time — is connect to your body, connect to your breath. Those are the two things that will always connect you to your intuition and also to what your body’s telling you.

And when you feel stressed or are in a situation where you know it’s going to be challenging — so you’re about to go to the doctor — ahead of time, definitely write a list. Because even though this happens to everybody — oh, I’m going to remember — it never happens. So when you write a list, you’re definitely taking off a little bit of the pressure on your mind as to what you want to cover. And also getting in tune with your breath, centering yourself before going. Slow down your breathing. When it’s deep and slow, it has an immediate impact on your mind. It gives you more clarity of thought. So that you feel more balanced, more centered, more connected. And you’re able to go in and feel rooted.

It’s important to do that because almost all of my patients feel the same way. Some of them have major anxiety at the doctors. People who end up being pregnant have major anxiety going to the doctor because they’ve had so many bad experiences. So knowing that you’ve got to arm yourself ahead of time — really prepare yourself, write down your thoughts, write down how you want it to go, and advocate for yourself. These are humans. They’re not God. They don’t know everything. You know your body. You are connected to your body from the inside out. Advocate for yourself. It’s important to have that dialogue with the doctor. You’re getting information and like you said, they do have their perspective and their gifts. However, you also are a part of this team — you’re the head of the team. So it’s important for you to really anchor into that and advocate for yourself and ask the questions and don’t let anybody intimidate you.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack:

And it’s so unfair. I think that’s just the truth. It’s so unfair that we have to do this. Any doctors listening — this is how we prepare for appointments. But it’s true. Even after having kids, I had to really stand my ground on so many things. And if you have questions outside of what’s conventional, if they have a strong suggestion and you don’t want to do it, or even if you want to wait and think about it, all of a sudden your nice friendly doctor can turn. And so it shouldn’t be this way. We shouldn’t have to kind of arm ourselves for these interactions.

And those types of interactions make it difficult for us to trust our intuition. So the only thing I would add to what you said is also don’t feel pressured to make decisions right there. And that can also be helpful. Because it’s hard to draw on your intuition when you’re literally told that you have to have a surgery tomorrow. Unless it’s literally — you know, unless it’s an emergency, right? There are few things when you’re at a doctor’s that literally require you to have a surgery tomorrow. Unless it’s kind of that — otherwise I think it’s just useful to remember that as part of that preparation. You can remind yourself, I don’t have to fill any medications today, I don’t have to accept any new prescriptions, I don’t have to do any procedures today. And if anything is recommended, if I do have a concern, I can use the phone-a-friend option. I can take somebody with me. Sometimes it’s helpful if you are particularly nervous about doctor’s appointments, or often feel really stressed out about it, to bring a friend, sister, cousin, friend, partner with you there, or have them on speed dial.

So anyway, just those are all thoughts. Because when I think about how do we get back to our intuition, it’s kind of like we have to get through the noise and the clutter. We have to get through the emotions and the fear and the things that can arise, especially when we’re in these situations and especially when you’re dealing with fertility challenges. You’re already — your emotions are already elevated. You’re kind of already on alert. And that doesn’t lend itself easily to trusting your intuition when your emotions are already kind of on alert.

Michelle Oravitz:

Totally. And a lot of times I tell people, listen, you’re going to go to an IVF doctor — guess what? They’re going to try to sell IVF. It’s just what they do. It’s what they see. It’s how they perceive fertility many times. So it’s good to know that ahead of time. And what just drives me crazy is this kind of pressure with time. You don’t have a lot of time, you’ve got to go really quick. No. In a couple of months, your eggs are not just going to disappear. And as you know, you need those couple of months to improve the quality with diet. How many couples — like your example — how many couples do have experiences where they were told that they could never get pregnant naturally and after one pregnancy, they fall pregnant surprisingly? Happens a lot.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack:

So I think I mean, I feel like the message is clear for the listeners. We’ve got to get back to trusting our intuition. And as we start wrapping up today’s call, I feel like we’ve covered so much ground. Maybe share with us your top takeaways or what you would most want our listeners to know to equip them if they are facing fertility challenges and they feel like they’ve tried everything.

Michelle Oravitz:

To nurture yourself. Like, it’s okay to nurture ourselves. I feel like it’s so interesting because it feels weird for people — that concept. They don’t know where to start and they think it’s bizarre. Like, what does that mean, nurture myself? What does that mean, love myself? It feels foreign. And it shouldn’t. And that’s like my message. It shouldn’t feel foreign to mother yourself in order to mother another being. Like really to mother yourself, because that is really what would help you the most right now. Getting to that place of self-love and giving yourself that grace and doing things for yourself that make you feel good, or taking that time, or creating those boundaries, or whatever it is that just takes the edge off. It’s important to get back to that. Self-love — I mean, yes. Tell yourself you love yourself. Tell your ovaries you love them. It’s okay. It does have energy. And now people are starting to see that even visualizations can make an impact physiologically. So sending that love and really making that intentional goes a long way — longer than you would initially imagine.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack:

Well, I don’t remember the name of the researcher who did the water test. So they look at water under a microscope and if you say cuss words and all kinds of things —

Michelle Oravitz:

Masaru Emoto.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack:

Oh yes, thank you. I can’t spell that so I’m going to have to look that up. It’s Japanese, right? But it’s so interesting because there are pictures of the water — if you cuss at the water, the water visually doesn’t look appealing. And then if you tell the water that you love it, it has all these beautiful structured shapes. You can’t make this stuff up. Truth is stranger than fiction.

Michelle Oravitz:

Yes, it’s true. There is truth to that — how you talk to things. That is one of the most fascinating scientific experiments I think, today.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack:

Okay, well thank you so much, Michelle. This has been so much fun. Please tell us where we can go to find out more information about you, your book, your podcast, your work, and if anyone is local and they’re wanting to work with you in person.

Michelle Oravitz:

Oh, thank you, Lisa. So my name is Michelle Oravitz. Michelleoravitz.com would be where you can find me. And you can pretty much find my Instagram, which is @thewholesomelotusfertility, or my podcast, The Wholesome Fertility Podcast. And then the book is on michelleoravitz.com/thewayoffertility.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack:

Wonderful. Well, we will make sure to link all of those places. Thank you again for being here, and congratulations on your new book. Wishing you all the best.

Michelle Oravitz:

Thank you, Lisa. Thank you so much. It was great talking to you.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack:

Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it with a friend. You’ll find the show notes page for today’s episode over at fertilityfriday.com/519.

I hope that you enjoyed today’s episode with Michelle. I feel like we really delved into this topic and it’s such an important one. What I’ve observed is that stress filters into our life in a variety of different ways, whether it’s direct or indirect — whether it’s the direct hormone imbalances that occur as a result of the stress itself, or the secondary effects. When you’re stressed, you’re not eating well, you’re not exercising, you’re not taking care of yourself, and you’re not sleeping very well. And when all of these important pieces suffer as a result of stress, it can make a significant negative impact on our hormone health, on our fertility, and so much more.

And then the last thing that we need is additional stress of thinking about how the stress is negatively affecting us. So it’s so important to be able to take some time to take a step back, to evaluate what’s happening, to be able to plan, and really find your way out of it. It can be impossibly difficult when you are already facing the intense demands associated with fertility challenges, but it’s something that we definitely need to look at so that we can cover as many of those bases as possible when you’re preparing for your fertility journey. So with that said, I hope you have a wonderful week or weekend or whenever you’re tuning into the show. And of course, as always, until next time, be well and happy charting.