TFS Retreat Now Available ON DEMAND!

SELF RETREAT OVERVIEW:

The Fertile Soul now offers a personal fertility enhancing retreat, a 14 hour recorded retreat that delivers everything a live retreat does, except the “live.”  This two day session is broken down into two segments, where Dr. Randine Lewis provides:

• A vision of hope
• A new approach to your fertility, shifting paradigms from “efforting” to “allowing”
• Using the energetic view of Chinese medicine: Yin/Yang; 3 Treasures, 5 Elements
• Acupressure for fertility
• Microcosmic orbit breathing process – open the life gate
• Age and the ovarian cycle; what hormones really mean
• Qi Gong
• Spleen Qi diet and nutritional recommendations
• Supplements for various conditions
• Guided meditations
• Releasing Exercise
• Physical, mental and emotional components of your fertility
• Exploring limiting beliefs and obstructions to the life force
• Patterns of imbalance that manifest as various fertility diagnoses

Dr. Lewis guides you through these pre-recorded sessions, and provides multiple exercises and self inquiry processes for you to complete at your leisure.

Q: How is this different from the live retreat process?

A: Dr. Lewis has encapsulated what she considers the most important elements in the retreat process and concentrated it in this very informative two day session. You are not “on the spot”, and don’t have to share any personal information with anyone else. You can go through the information as many times as you wish and have one full year to complete the process on your own. The main difference is that you will not be meeting with Dr. Lewis live. However, the recorded retreat process allows you the opportunity to meet with Dr. Lewis for an individual session after you have had a TCM consultation and have been on the program for three months.

Click HERE for Registration Information

Aging

According to the Nei Jing, the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, Chapter One, The female essence (jing) goes through seven your cycles. Seven is considered a harmonious representation of natural cycles: there are seven days in a week, four cycles of seven complete the phases of a full menstrual cycle. There are seven spirits; seven stages of development, and seven vibrational frequencies.

• 1 x 7: A girl's Kidney energy becomes prosperous at seven years of age.
• 2 x 7: Her menstruation appears as the ren (sea of yin) channel flows and the chong (sea of blood) channel becomes prosperous at the age of 14.
• 3 x 7: Her Kidney qi reaches a balanced state, and her teeth are completely developed at the age of 21.
• 4 x 7: Her vital energy and blood are substantial, her four limbs are strong and the body is at optimal condition at the age of 28.
• 5 x 7: Her peak condition declines gradually. The yang ming channel is depleted, her face withers and her hair begins to fall out at the age of 35.
• 6 x 7: Her three yang channels, tai yang, yang ming and shao yang, begin to decline. Her face complexion wanes and her hair turn white at the age of 42.
• 7 x 7: The ren and chong channels are both declining, her menstruation ends, her physique turns old and feeble, and she can no longer conceive at the age of 49.

Notice that there is a peak from age 28 – 35; thereafter her jing declines. What the jing cycle doesn’t define for us, but what is at least as important is that as the jing declines, there is an increase in shen, or spirit. So, while we still work to enhance the essence during the decline, the shen, must be attended to. If you focus on the jing during the last three cycles of seven, it sounds pretty dismal. Her face withers, her hair begins to turn white and fall out. Her complexion wanes. Her physique turns old and feeble. But also notice, that while they highlight the decline, she is still able to conceive until her menstruation ends. What keeps this process going during the decline? Her spirit. Life is created through jing and shen, essence and spirit. While Chinese herbs and lifestyle changes may help enhance your jing, the shen is your internal state of consciousness, and cannot be neglected in this process.

The rise in shen could be represented by inner wisdom; a sense of completion and giving up needs of the material world. This is a state of spiritual health and wholeness. Feeling empty and unfulfilled depletes both the jing and the shen. Daily meditations, gratitude for what you already have, and feeling a lightness in your heart allow you to live in a state of abundance, nourishing to both the jing and the shen.

Menstrual Phases (Part 4) – The Ovulatory Transition

Yin has reached its zenith. Accordingly, estrogen rises to its peak, performing yin functions of maximum follicular growth, maximum endometrial proliferation, production of clear, thin, fertile cervical fluid, and the cervix becomes more yin: soft, open and moving upward to the center (yin) of the body. If all of the previous functions have been met during the Yin phase (adequate and unobstructed blood, qi, and essence,) a cascade of events occur throughout the body in response to these yin cues. The hypothalamus tells the pituitary gland to release luteinizing hormone, which will cause the mature follicle to discharge its egg and turn into a corpus luteum. This process is governed by unobstructed liver qi, directed by the lungs. If the process is unobstructed, as these internal energies rise, there is a concomitant rise in libido, as she feels a magnetic draw to her partner. Believe it or not, your most fertile time is when you feel sexiest. Pay attention to this, rather than an ovulation predictor kit. It is far more reliable. This is the summer of the seasonal solar cycle; the full moon of the liunar cycle. The spleen has produced the blood, its qi has lifted it to the heart and pericardium, where it is endowed with the life giving powers of heavenly essence (tian gui), and it is now directed to the liver and then to the uterus via the kidneys. This process can be inhibited by having a “heavy” heart, laden with depressed, repressed, oppressed, suppressed emotions and resistance to life circumstances. This inhibits the true expression of who we are and how we interact in life, and thus inhibits internal movement. The heart receives and interprets sensory input via the hypothalamus, which could be seen as occupying the spleen’s ascending power to the heart and pericardium. This process advises the entire HPO axis whether or not life is ready to be received within.

Guilt, anger and frustration stagnate the feedback that rises to the hypothalamus via the governing meridian. The “wei” qi or protective energy increases and moves inward toward the center, to keep out pathogens during fertilization. A woman may feel sick during this time if her wei qi is low. If the liver qi is obstructed, she may feel breast tenderness, irritability, and anything but the usual rise in libido. Ovulation may not be not smooth, and the cycle may be out of sync during this time.

Your energies are maximum during this time. If there is stagnation, you likely do not feel well during ovulation. If you don’t have signs of obstruction, your moods are likely enhanced, and you may have higher energy levels. Feel free to increase exercise during this time. Run, bike, dance kick-box – whatever you love. Drink milk thistle or peppermint tea if you have liver qi stagnation. If you have a lot of repressed emotions, practice getting them out physically. Stomp, scream and slap the blockages out of your system. Hit a tree with a branch. Hit a punching bag.  And those of you have been on retreat with me, perform the boulder exercise.

Where Do Babies Come From? - A Taoist View, Part II

The father’s essence stirs the mother’s heavenly essence as the palace of the child is readied. The endometrium emits chemicals into the cavity of the womb to invite the embryo to share in this earthly existence. If the invitation is accepted, a portal is opened up through which the cosmic qi is ignited. Heaven and earth combine, and the creation of a new individual has begun. During the first trimester, the Po (corporeal soul) is being formed as the channels and organs develop. In the second trimester, the Shen (spirit) is programmed to establish the upcoming curriculum or meaning of life, which will be stored in the blood. During the third trimester, the Hun (ethereal soul) establishes how the program is to be carried out.

Each stage of fetal development carries a beautiful interface between the parent’s life and the baby’s spiritual unfolding.  The mother’s energies must be strong enough to contain the great movement occurring within the depths. Her liver must have the blood reserves for the womb to initiate the development of the embryo’s essence. Her spleen must be strong enough to contain the embodied banking of manifestation.  At seven months gestation, the stars open the orifices (sensory organs) to absorb light from heaven and earth. The heart is harmonized and energetic boundaries are established. Heaven and earth settle within the lower chamber of essence (the Dan Tien), and the birth process is initiated as the child is ready to be released into the world.

The mother cannot alter the baby’s curriculum. She is only the channel through which the being has chosen to manifest. It is through her heart that she communicates with her baby.  The highest job she can perform is to remove her own physical, mental, and emotional obstructions so that the baby’s entrance into the earthly realm is not cluttered by her unfinished business. Only then can their souls be in union, unclouded by her needs. In this way, she is in service to her child.

During gestation, the father’s job is to ready the world for the baby’s arrival. In Chinese lore, the father’s interaction with the child begins when the child first laughs. When he recognizes the character of his baby, the father names the child.

In the words of Kahlil Gibran:

Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

The Return

The Way of the Tao is YieldingThe Movement of the Tao is Return.

This time of year represents the beginning of the annual return. Life moves from the external abundance of the harvest, and into the potential within that will give rise to the next cycle of fulfillment.

Nights will get longer as days get shorter. Weather patterns become more erratic. Yet there is great potential during the return. In the menstrual cycle, the return is the junction ? through the menstrual cycle where the cosmic qi, deep within the womb, is ignited to bring forth life. Invisible and beyond control, when we honor the return, we open up to the fertile potential of the origin itself.

I hope you will be able to join us for one of our upcoming return retreats, where together we will maximize the potential of the return and its ability to bring forth the unimaginable powers of creation itself.

Newcomers and returners are welcome.

With love and blessings,

Randine

Holding Your Dream

Hope is the thing with feathersThat perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops at all. -Emily Dickinson

When your dream hasn’t become a reality, do you continue to pursue it, or do you let it go? Many people I have worked with over the years have great difficulty relating to their dream when it remains elusive. Some continue to hold it tightly, and pursue it with everything they have; others let it slip away, little by little, until there is nothing left but despair.

A dream, a goal, a vision pursued, is a function of the right brain, governed by the Liver system of energies, according to Chinese medicine. We create an image in our mind’s eye, and muster up the energy and resources to pursue it. The desire often becomes a reality. But not always. Difficulty arises when we hold tightly to desire and don't let it go. Most liver qi stagnation is caused by the resistance to unfulfilled desires. Look back over your life and recall all of the desires you have had. Have they all become a reality? Not mine. When I was ten, I wanted to live on a ranch in Montana with my husband and three kids and be a roller skating waitress at a drive-in. When I was a teenager, I wanted to spend the rest of my life with my first boyfriend. When I started college, I decided to major in journalism. None of these deeply held dreams came to fruition, but that doesn’t mean they were wrong.  Life molded itself so that my life could fulfill its destiny; not so I would get all that I wanted in the way I wanted it.

When life doesn’t participate with you according to the way you are holding your dream, perhaps you need to hold it differently. Perhaps the thing with feathers that is perched in the soul is molding you, rather than the other way around.

Don’t give it words; don’t give it an image. Let it provide one for you. Open your heart to allow hope to speak in its own language. My longing for children was not a mistake, but the way I pursued it was. I thought I could make it happen according to my timeline, in my way. My children came in their own way. The dreams I held in my heart guided me – I didn’t guide them. My children didn’t come because of my desire or what I did with it. True desires are unselfish and emerge from the heart – the same place through which our fertility comes forth.

Hold the feeling of the dream in your heart. Let it sing its wordless tune through your heart and guide you to its fruition.

Retreat Reflections

We just finished an amazingly transformative retreat. It continues to put me in awe when those struggling with “infertility” open up to their true fertility, and become liberated. It isn’t that they let go of trying to have a baby; they let go of the struggling, suffering and agony over not having a baby. Somehow, this helps open the way. One woman who shared that she and her husband love being Fertile Souls, said: “I have experienced a profound shift in my consciousness in regards to what is possible for me, both as future mother and as a woman who strives to be fully expressed.”

Another woman responded after the group-healing circle, “This is, hands down, the best acupuncture I have ever had.”

When couples arrive on retreat, often there is so much pain and despair that this type of shift would seem impossible for them. All that is necessary is the right environment for the heart to open, the body to respond, and life to come pouring through.

I always leave retreat feeling so full – wishing, as they do, that retreat would never end. But life goes on. We return to our lives and our jobs; which oftentimes become transformed by the retreat experience as well.

What is the takeaway? Hope. Abundance. A shift in consciousness like the one described above changes the entire physiology. It becomes irresistible to life.

Protection - A Barrier to Conception?

Our primary physical directive in life is survival, or self-preservation. All other physiological functions come after the primary directive has been met. If we can survive, we can potentially thrive, become productive members of society, and reproduce. If our sense of safety and security are perceived to be in jeopardy, however, the body/mind diverts attention away from growth, until the threat passes. The reproductive function is the first to be sacrificed, as your body does not want you pregnant if your life is in danger. We don't question this directive in nature - animals in the wild don't reproduce well when their survival is jeopardized. They don't go into heat when resources are scarce or they are in captivity. Yet, when this happens in us, we panic and think there is something wrong. In actuality, our bodies are doing exactly what they have been conditioned to do, from our own life responses to the deepest messages carried within our DNA. I recently worked with a woman whose entire fertility pursuit threatened her very sense of well-being. She constantly felt like her life was in jeopardy. Almost as soon as she decided to try to have a baby, her hormones started to fluctuate and her cycles became erratic; eventually her periods quit altogether. Her body/mind went into panic and survival mode. She experienced severe anxiety and mild panic attacks every time she thought about not being able to have a child. The harder she worked to overcome this feeling of threat, the more threatened she felt.  Throughout her healing process, every practitioner she went to for help (acupuncturists, nutritionists, and therapists) seemed to further perpetuate this feeling of panic. The more she was given to do, the more overwhelmed she felt.

Deep inside there was a feeling that her very survival needed protecting. No doctor or therapist could talk her body out of this deeply held unconscious belief. Yet, her heart could. Chinese medicine views the heart as the only true healer, as it houses the spirit, or life giving force of all of existence. The healing had to begin in her own heart.

While we teach individuals how to calmly harmonize themselves with their environments, the real work we do on retreat is to put individuals in touch with the healing power of their own hearts. When they no longer have to protect themselves, the invisible shield that I call "infertility," naturally falls.

Letter from Your Unborn Child

Dear Mom and Dad, I know you're there. Sometimes, when you let go a little bit, I can feel you.

And yet, to you I feel like an unfulfilled wish, a memory that hasn't yet occurred.

I think you know I'm here, too. I know at some level you can feel my pull. Perhaps it's what keeps you going on this path that has been so hard for you. It doesn't have to be, you know.

You don't have to force me to come. The laws of the universe are not altered by struggling, groveling or prayers of desperation.

Remember, I am a miracle, and I'm looking for light.

I'm looking for an opening. Receptivity. Softness. The life force needs an opening to express itself.

Sometimes I see yours, but your struggling effort to do everything right closes it off before I can reach you.

Relax your body and quiet your senses. Return to your deepest self. That's what I'm drawn to.

It doesn't matter to me if you think positive thoughts all the time. Be who you are. Be where you are, not where you think you should be. Honor yourself. When you are angry, stomp your feet. Yell. When you are sad, cry. When you are frightened, see beyond to the miracle, Clear the way.

Please don't force yourself to do anything that feels like it will hurt you in order to get me. I won't come that way.

It does matter that you nourish and care for yourself.  Only you can be responsible for your well-being, and I want you to be here for me, for a long time.

You won't be able to accept and love me fully and without conditions until you can first do this for yourself. Be a vessel of yourself fully, before you try to be a vessel for me.

Pay attention to that still small voice inside of you that longs to experience unconditional love. And express that love where you are, now.

Don't wait for me to come before you live your life. Live and love your life fully

How can I love being a part of your life if you don't?

Remember, I'm a miracle, and I'm looking for your light. I'm looking for an opening, for your receptivity.

There must be space in your lives, for you and for me.

If you scramble about in search of me, you will lose me.

Pay attention to your deepest self. That's where the light is. That's where the opening is.

I can see your light when you're laughing, when you're dancing, and even when you cry.

I see it when you're real.

Please stop listening to all the outside voices telling you what you should do.

Nobody out there has your answer.

Listen to the still, small voice inside that still lives in the miraculous.

I am still in spirit, and I'm drawn to yours.

You don't know how or when I'm coming to you.

But I will come on my own time, in my own way, if you let me.

Loosen your grasp. Lower your expectations about how it's all supposed to look. Whatever your expectations, I'll never live up to them.

I am not your image of me. I am so much more.  I am a whisper of possibility that arises out of the depths of nature's way.

Consider the possibility that I have been orchestrating this entire journey so that you can learn to open your heart to yourself so you can open to me.

Hope. Trust. Open.

Remember, I am a miracle.

So are you.

I am unconditional love waiting to manifest. So are you. Allow me to enter in my way. Stop fighting, forcing, pleading, and researching how to get me. I come when you stop trying to control life.

I come out of Grace.

Open your way to the miracle.

Can Women Make New Eggs?

A new study confirmed the underlying belief, unproven, that the ovary contains deep, hidden stem cells, capable of becoming new eggs. It was previously believed that a woman’s ovarian potential was determined before birth, and was incapable of being improved upon. While science hasn’t been able to study ovarian potential from healthy, living ovarian tissue, rodent studies have supported the idea that mammalian ovarian cells have a potential to produce new cells. Yet, the only tissue science has previously had to study was pathological or diseased tissue, removed from the body. It was previously proven that menopausal ovaries, when placed in a younger, healthier body, were capable of ovulating again. Science does not know how, why, or under what circumstances those stem cells can produce eggs. The ovaries respond to cues from the internal environment (the blood circulation, hormones, nutritional status, oxygenation, stress hormones in the blood., toxin and antioxidant levels…) and create a follicular environment to mimic the body’s internal response to its external environment. It is within that follicular environment that the eggs (which have been in a dormant state since before birth) undergo meiosis, and wait to see if they will be selected for maturation and ovulation.

Knowing that ovarian tissue is capable of producing new eggs, and knowing that primordial follicles remain dormant until called into circulation by communicating with the body’s internal environment (which is based on her emotional interpretation of the external environment), let me provide a couple of stories from women I have treated.

A woman underwent high dose radiation and chemotherapy, which “killed” her ovaries. She conceived naturally.

A woman in ovarian failure, with an FSH value over 100, conceived naturally.

A woman conceived during her 7^th IVF at age 47.

A woman conceived naturally with ¼ of one ovary.

A woman conceived naturally with only one ovary on the left, and only one fallopian tube, on the right.

A woman gave birth to her first child, conceived naturally, at age 48.

The body is capable of miraculous feats, when provided the right cues. I am less concerned with how to manipulate stem cells in the lab ten years from now, than I am with providing the right environment where the body can call upon its deepest, dormant potential now. While the examples might be clinical anecdotes and not research worthy, the beauty of these stories is that each of the women above had to call upon a higher potential within. According to Chinese medicine, the energy that stirs this primordial potential comes not from the Kidneys (which govern the ovaries), but from the Heart (Spirit’s) interaction with the primordial potential within the ovaries. Energetically, ones highest potential must reach into one’s most basic potential. When an internal pressure cooker is provided (like the fertility journey,) an internal state of tension is produced, requiring one to call upon this higher level of interaction. If it isn’t accessed, the HPO axis continues on its previous (horizontal) pathway of decline. When a woman can access her heart’s highest potential, we can consider it an evolutionary jump, calling upon that hidden (vertical) potential to now manifest at a higher level.

Free Conference Call - Monday January 30th at 7 p.m. EST

Happy Chinese New Year!

Free Conference Call Next Monday

The Basics of Fertility Enhancement

Q&A with Dr. Randine Lewis

Monday January 30th at 7 p.m. EST

I strongly believe that even just finding out about The Fertile Soul has a powerful, ripple, helpful effect, especially for those who cannot travel, but who nevertheless read -- and listen-- ask questions, wonder, benefit, and grow, grow, grow. L.H.

I am looking forward to a rich retreat in January, where we will focus on aging, overwhelm, and turning into the wellspring of deep inner guidance. In this inner sanctuary there is no aging or overwhelm. When we can reside in this place, a more fertile response to life is possible, which of course, is reflected in our reproductive response. Our New York session filled up quickly, but we do have openings in February in my hometown of Asheville, NC, February 17-20th, where our focus will expand to include welcoming in the year of the Dragon, a powerful and dynamic expression of the Chinese New Year. We will use this power to deeply connect with the life-giving source within. I love witnessing the power of retreat participants as they learn to live the miracle!

We will also offer a free conference call on Monday, January 30th at 7 p.m. EST. I will go over some fertility basics and open the call up to your questions and answers. I hope you will be able to join us - whether you are new to the Fertile Soul or have already embraced this process. I look forward to connecting with you.

To Join in dial 605-475-4000 then access code 794774#.  Those calling from Canada should call 805-360-1075 and then you will be prompted to enter the original number and access code.

*SPACES STILL AVAILABLE - Fertility Retreat with Dr. Randine Lewis

Dr. Randine Lewis and The Fertile Soul will be in Asheville’s newest edition, Biltmore Town Square, for this retreat December 9th – 12th at the Hilton Hotel located in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, North Carolina. Check out our Holiday Tuition special going on now - http://thefertilesoul.com/shop/retreats/re11-1209-the-fertile-soul-retreat

What are you committed to?

One of my teachers emphasized the universal truth that our life situation is determined by what we are committed to. Before I expand, I’ll ask the question he asked me: Where is your allegiance? Before you answer, look at your life situation, as it is right now. It shows you where your allegiance is, as well as what you are committed to.

It has always amazed me to see what people think they are committed to, and what they are actually committed to.

Obviously, I host retreats because of the intensity of the healing power that happens there. Because of that, I only meet individually with people after they have attended retreats. I demand commitment before I commit myself to anyone else’s healing process. I am presently working with three couples from other countries – one from Russia – now pregnant,; one from Greece – now pregnant; and one from Central America that is getting ready to go through an IVF. They each have adjusted their entire worlds to this program.

At the same time, I talk to people who say, “I’ll go to retreat when you come to my area,” or “I can’t go right now, because I’m getting ready to do another IVF,” when nothing in their lives have changed. We all know that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.

Are you committed to what’s wrong with you or what’s right with you? Are you giving your allegiance to your labs or the healing potential within you? Are you committed to what you think medical technology has to offer you, or to your very self, where the real changes occur?

Again, look at your life situation, as it is right now. That’s your answer. I believe life meets us where we our, with the intensity of our devotion to what it is we want most. Life does not, however, give us the object of our desires, but creates an opening for its energetic expression. If we are focused on the object, we remain focused externally, and nothing internally can change. If we can learn to move out of our obsession with the object and into the healing potential within, life can meet us there, and create an opening.

You’ve all heard me talk about the miracle births – from FSH values over 100 to AMH values of 0; severe implantation and immunologic difficulties, uterine and ovarian issues… these aren’t any more miraculous than anything you are presently experiencing. The true healing process requires a commitment and devotion to self that will require you to put yourself and your own healing potential ahead of everything else in your life.

If you remain committed to maintaining the status quo in your life, you will continue to receive more of what you have. If you are looking for a miracle, give yourself totally to that place within where miracles occur.

Dr. Randine Lewis hosts Fall Retreat in Asheville, NC

Fall Retreats: $250 off with Registration with code: "THANKSGIVING" Join Randine Lewis for The Fertile Soul Retreat experience, this November and December, in the beautiful city of Asheville, NC. The holidays are a wonderful time to reconnect with your deepest energies and replenish. If you want to find out more about payment plans or scholarships please contact our registrations department. We hope you will be able to join us at either of our Asheville NC retreats this fall (November 3-6 or December 9-12) and share in the bounty that is there for the taking. Please use the code "thanksgiving" at checkout to take advantage of the $250 off fall retreats.