We are incredibly grateful for everyone who was involved in making our book launch such a special night. Our book baby has been birthed into the world!
Some people were asking about whether you can still join our private community Facebook group for Create A Fertile Life, as well as sign up for the FREE miniseries we created to celebrate the launch of the book. The answer is YES YES you may join both the facebook group as well as sign up for the miniseries. You can also purchase your copy of the book here Create a Fertile Life.
P.S. If you are a practitioner and want to join us on 2nd October for our practitioner only launch event, please sign up here. We know as soon as we announce the special guests for this one, spots will be snapped up in a flash. Make sure you are also signed up to our practitioner list for futurecollaborative events and opportunities too.
Thank you to all of our beautiful friends who took photos xx.
How to find your way even if you’re struggling with feeling stuck
Can you hear it whispering? That quiet, inner voice that knows – there has got to be more to life than this…or maybe it’s roaring. The heart speaks in whispers until it goes unheard for too long.
Perhaps you’re feeling that nagging sense of dissatisfaction and wondering ‘How did I get here? Why is it all so hard? Why hasn’t it worked out yet?’ Feeling stuck, tired, over it, held back, burnt out, overwhelmed by it all, no time to think, no time for self…
It’s likely your self-care practices are sitting on the bottom rung of the endless list of things to do, something you’ll get to later. Yet later never seems to come.
When you’re not on the path that your heart longs for, sometimes it’s easier not to feel. Maybe you buffer or avoid those deep emotions with workaholism, distraction, and busyness. Or maybe it’s the latest Netflix series. Whatever it is, something in you yearns for more to life than this.
Your potential feels buried amongst all the things of day to day life.
You are not alone.
What if you had the opportunity to reimagine your life?
Sometimes all you need is the freedom to look at your current reality from a different perspective, to explore your endless possibilities from a refreshed vantage point.
Clarity unveils in the stillest places.
It’s time to STOP. It’s time to ASK yourself:
How do you want to be?
Where do you want to be?
Who do you want to be?
It’s in this space of stillness that you come to nurture your authentic self, to discover your purpose, and to find your way.
The rest of your juicy life is patiently waiting for you.
Focus on you
This immersion is carefully crafted to support, nourish, and facilitate your re-emergence toward the life that you long to live.
You will come away feeling rested, rejuvenated, and equipped with the tools, techniques and strategies you need for ongoing healthy self-care and self-discovery. Through expertly curated workshop-style process, we support you to delve deeply and help you find answers to your big life questions. You will get clarity and start to imagine the possibility of living the life of your dreams – from a place of brimming fullness rather than running on empty.
Daily reflective self-enquiry workshops are blended with unique and powerful explorations of meditation and visualisation, deep introspection and connection processes, moon yoga, qigong, tantra, kundalini shake, Buteyko breathing, nutrition, nature, immersive relaxation, and traditional Balinese blessing and healing.
We are deeply passionate about self-care and this is reflected in the program all week long. This is an opportunity for you to slow right down. To rest and reconnect with yourself, feel a sense of rejuvenation, possibility, and a deep connection with what you want for yourself in this life.
Undoubtedly there will be tears shared as we release the old parts of ourselves. And we will have a lot of fun and laughter too!! All emotions are welcome here on the way to experiencing life to its fullest.
Who is running this AMAZING sounding retreat?
Charmaine Dennis and Calry Woods from Fertile Ground Health Group are passionate about self-care, continually reconnecting themselves and others to practices that nourish and inspire.
Fertile Ground Health Group (FGHG) is a multidisciplinary, natural medicine practice with expertise in preconception, infertility, pregnancy and family health. We are currently seeking an experienced Osteopath with a desire to develop their career and work with other high achievers in a vibrant, professional team. If you can start in August, we have a waiting list of patients ready for you!
We are ideally looking for a dedicated professional with special interest and experience in treating pre and post-natal women, newborn babes and children. A minimum of 3-5 years’ experience as an Osteopath working with pregnancy is an absolute necessity and additional training in this area, as well as treating babies will be highly regarded.
We are also very interested in applications for an enthusiastic osteopath who treats men and women generally (without experience in babies and children necessarily) and we encourage you to apply also as we grow our physical therapy team. We have plenty of patients with pain who need your confident expertise and hands-on therapy too!
You will also want to actively raise your own profile amongst your peers, medical specialists and other important referrers as well as share your expertise with our patient base through blogs, podcasts and/or social media. Your ability to collaborate with other practitioners, coupled with confidence in communication with and presenting to medical specialists and other primary health carers will be highly regarded.
Starting immediately, FGHG has room for a practitioner doing at least 2-3 days per week including valuable Saturdays. Our current osteopath Andrew Nguyen and his partner are moving back to Tasmania to start a family of their own leaving a gap ready to fill. To apply please email a covering letter and resume to Monique Bevan at management@fertileground.com.au. Apply ASAP.
An exciting opportunity for an experienced Acupuncturist / Chinese Herbal Medicine practitioner to join Fertile Ground Health Group (FGHG) is now available.
FGHG practitioners are leaders in their respective profession for IVF support, fertility and pregnancy related treatments and are well respected among medical specialists and experts within this area of speciality. We are growing our team and looking for our next Acupuncture superstar who has a passion, interest and experience in pre-conception care, infertility, IVF/ART, pregnancy, birth and beyond.
Sound like a fantastic opportunity for you? Would you like to join us?
You will have a fabulous, supportive team of professionals to work, grow and collaborate with, along with a highly experienced management team to guide, develop and expand your professional development. You will have an immediate start with patients waiting to see you and the well-established reputation of Fertile Ground Health Group to provide you with a consistent flow of patients to work with ongoing.
Your ability to develop referrer relationships and patient results are a must. And of course you will also want to establish yourself as a leader in your profession and be willing and ready to raise your profile through networking, blogs and social media contributions using the FGHG extensive platform and presence.
Ideally we are looking for an experienced acupuncturist and herbalist who would like to simplify their practice and focus only on being a fantastic practitioner, dedicating their efforts to growing their patient reach and acupuncture career with the support of Fertile Ground Health Group. We will take care of the rest!
Starting immediately, you will need to commit to at least three to four sessions per week in our vibrant, busy practice. To apply please email a covering letter and resume to Monique Bevan at management@fertileground.com.au.
Applications close 30th July 2019 and we will be interviewing as soon as the right candidate lands in our inbox, so don’t hesitate take the plunge now!
with Michelle Lowe, FGHG pregnancy and fertility massage therapist and doula
What do you love about your work as a remedial, pregnancy and fertility massage therapist?
There’s so much that I love about what I do as a massage therapist, I feel I am very fortunate and lucky to be able to do work that I am deeply passionate about. I love being able to see the transition patients make from when I first see them to when they leave the treatment like a whole new person and then seeing the progress they make with each treatment. I love being a part of the journey with women to falling pregnant and helping them to switch off and just receive. Hearing my patients’ good news that they’ve fallen pregnant, or the relief they feel after a pregnancy massage is really rewarding for me as I love to help.
What initially inspired you to add womb massage to your skill set?
So I used to suffer from really bad period pains, with no real understanding as to why I was suffering from them. I tried many different things to help, but for me they weren’t overly successful or not well suited for my lifestyle. It was definitely more of a personal journey for me initially to train in fertility/ womb massage. I remember sitting in circle on the first day and all my symptoms were explained so clearly to me as to why I was experiencing period pains. With this experience I learnt so much about my body that I wanted to help others who experience the same.
What types of benefits do you commonly see in your patients doing regular womb massage?
Everyone can be vastly different as all cases are unique. The main benefits I will see in almost everyone is that they are more relaxed and grounded. Almost everyone reports a lighter feeling in their abdomen, better bowel movement, reduction in period pain and feeling less stress and anxiety.
In your work you support many women on their journey to becoming pregnant. Do you recommend they continue to see you after becoming pregnant? What benefits does massage have to offer women in pregnancy?
Absolutely, massage is really beneficial to have throughout pregnancy. It’s great for relaxation, especially during first trimester or if any stage of pregnancy is causing some stress and/ or anxiety. It’s also great for relieving any aches and pains associated with pregnancy or pre-existing aches and pains that may be exacerbated by pregnancy. Beyond that, its beneficial for sleep and circulation, especially during third trimester when everything is starting to feel compromised. I like to think massage gives you a boost mentally and physically to help you feel more comfortable and relaxed.
You are also a doula (also known as a birth attendant). What inspired you to become a doula?
This has always been a tricky question to answer as there are many reasons why I decided to become a doula/ birth attendant. I think one of the biggest reasons why I wanted to become a doula was to support women and be with women during a time that can make you feel very vulnerable. I’ve been treating pregnant women for many years and I’ve heard lots of stories from women who hadn’t felt well supported during their births and many other stories when women haven’t been aware of their choices and options during pregnancy and labour, maybe wanting to have done it differently. If you look at the statistics and the possible causes of medical intervention, having a support person, particularly a doula, has shown positive research results. I’d love to help women have better birthing experiences.
What sorts of things do you do to support women in your work as a doula?
As a doula I am an emotional and physical support person during the pregnancy and labour of a mum to be. I support the mother in helping her through the pregnancy in the lead up to the labour, really getting to know her and her partner and what’s important to them during their labour experience. I personally like to go over any fears and try our best to work with them so that a couple can have a positive birth experience.
We go over a birth plan and their options as to what they might like to experience and how they usually cope with pain. I am currently working on a plan to try and determine tools that couples can use to help women cope with pain. This will allow partners to have a better idea of what they can do and possibly what role the mother wants from them – whether that’s eye contact, movement, massage, pressure points, music, rebozo work, there are sooo many things we can use to help create a safe space that is working with pain (if that’s what a mother’s goal is). Having said that I obviously bring in my own tools to work with pain and that’s massage, rebozo techniques (using a shawl) and pressure points, which are also great at boosting oxytocin for labour. I can use and teach these tools to partners so that we can support each other in supporting the mother to be.
After the birth I also like to meet up with the new family and see how they are going and offer any support that I can during this transitional phase too.
Can you share a moment from your work that you will never forget?
I will never forget that magical moment of seeing a baby born for the first time. I was so in awe of the mother’s strength and perseverance, it’s a magnificent journey to witness and be a part of, words cannot describe the feeling in the room once that baby is born. There are ups and downs, but you’re working as a team to support the mother and father along the way. That first birth taught me soo much, and I think it will forever affect my approach to being a birth attendant.
Your patients are often seeing acupuncturists and naturopaths as well. What type of benefits do you see in these types of shared care?
I find the women and couples who are seeing an acupuncturist and or a naturopath are very well supported through all aspects of health. We’re all looking at different angles of the individuals’ health and I find these clients tend to have better overall health and reach their health goals quicker, generally speaking.
What other modalities do you find your clients get benefit from?
Meditation and yoga, and when necessary counselling.
When I see patients who have a lot of mind chatter and trouble switching off I like to advise meditation to calm the monkey brain.
I also hear lots of good feedback from clients who have seen a counsellor, whether it’s to put things into perspective or have someone with an unbiased opinion to talk to.
I am also a yoga enthusiast and will often advise patients to do certain yoga poses to help stretch and strengthen muscles for better alignment, but if people can get to a class that’s even better.
Learn more about Michelle Lowe, remedial massage therapist at Fertile Ground Health Group or make an appointment to have one of her fabulous massage treatments. Online Booking
We are seeking a Remedial Massage or Myotherapist experienced in pre and post natal massage.
Fertile Ground Health Group (FGHG) is a busy, multidisciplinary natural medicine practice specialising in preconception, infertility, pregnancy and family health.
Your experience, motivation and passion for working with pregnant women, as well as your professional approach will secure this role. To be considered you must have:
At least 3 years experience in massage
Health Fund Provider numbers, insurance and professional association membership
Availability to work 2-3 sessions per week, including evenings until 7pm.
Excellent communication skills, a desire to be the best in your profession and actively seek opportunities to raise your profile in the industry.
If you are seeking full reception support, relevant resources and additional training with professional development opportunities, this is an extraordinary opportunity to work with a vibrant, experienced team. Set in a beautiful work environment with excellent prospects for career, business and professional practice development, your desire to be the best in your profession will be supported by opportunities to collaborate with some of the most respected practitioners in the industry.
To apply email a covering letter and resume to Monique Bevan management@fertileground.com.au. Applications close Friday 7th June 2019.
by Carly Woods, FGHG Buteyko practitioner and Naturopath
Did I say potato? No. But I understand the confusion. Let’s get some clarity around what Buteyko is.
A lot of people know about Buteyko Therapy because of the incredible results it produces in asthma recovery. Dr Konstantin Buteyko developed it in the 1950s for this exact purpose. It’s a breathing therapy that is simple, powerful, and easy to integrate into your life for maximising your health outcomes. Let’s dive in.
So Buteyko is fabulous for asthma – great, but did you know that it’s also applicable to a whole range of conditions that aren’t even related to asthma?
Anxiety, for example, is such a pervasive and easily hidden condition suffered by so many, and you can use the simplicity and power of Buteyko Therapy to take the edge off before the panic hits. You can even use Buteyko therapy to train your body out of anxiety patterns to avoid panic and chronic internal tension entirely.
The list of conditions that Buteyko is brilliant for is extensive, and includes:
Stress, anxiety
Digestive issues
Respiratory issues, such as sinusitis, rhinitis, hay fever, and asthma.
Sleeping issues, such as insomnia, sleep apnoea, and waking with a dry mouth.
Cognition issues, like memory, focus, and concentration.
Fatigue
Dental issues, like palate development, teeth grinding, bad breath.
Muscle tension.
And that’s not even all of it.
‘So why are the beneficial effects of Buteyko so wide-reaching?’ I hear you asking me with inquisitive eyes and slight disbelief. A great question.
The answers are simple, and the systemic effects profound.
Buteyko works to
balance and retrain your nervous system;
align your jaw to the right position and activate your correct breathing muscles (to train you out of being a dirty mouth breather);
support proper oxygenation of the tissues throughout your entire body by adjusting your blood gas set point to a more appropriate level.
So let’s think about this for a second. I’m going to just take the first point of how Buteyko works, and dissect it a bit to help you to understand how powerful ‘balancing and retraining your nervous system’ really is. Imagine you have a chronic condition (many of you may already, so if this is you, imagine your reality). Now imagine you are SUPER stressed. How does that stress feel thrown into the mix of your chronic condition symptoms? Does it exacerbate them, or does it placate them?
It surely does not placate.
So we can see here that stress is unhelpful. Great.
Now let’s think about sleeping. When we sleep our body LOVES to repair itself. When we sleep we switch into something called the ‘parasympathetic nervous system response’. It governs our states of rest. In this state we digest, repair, and rest best.
The first reason that Buteyko is such an incredibly versatile therapy is because it switches your body out of the state of stress (called the sympathetic nervous system response) and lands you in your parasympathetic response – your resting, digesting, and repairing state.
So now reconsider your chronic condition – is its repair helped or hindered by stress? Is its repair helped or hindered by being in a repair and rest state?
You got it – the healing of chronic conditions is helped GREATLY by putting your body in the nervous system response state of REPAIR. I’ve never met anyone who was all, ‘oh yes please, I’d love a bit more stress today – that will surely help me feel apex on my health mountain and heal my underlying issues.’
So we get it – the takeaway here is: Buteyko trains your body OUT of the stress state and INTO a state of repair.
Throughout the next lot of blogs I’ll get into the nitty gritty of how Buteyko helps with all of the conditions listed above. We will start with anxiety and stress. In the meantime – to get you going with a fierce health stride make sure you grab your free access to my Stress & Anxiety Buteyko Starter Pack.
Buteyko is a combination of simple, practical breathing techniques – I’ll be writing all about how and why they work in these blogs. If you’re keen to learn how to use Buteyko for yourself and start feeling better immediately – come and see me so that we can tailor a Buteyko program specifically for your needs. In my consultations we create a Buteko program specifically for you, teach you how and when to use your techniques at home, I’ll show you how to measure your progress, and you’ll learn about what signs to look out for from your body that indicate you’re on the right track with your balance and healing. My aim is to make it super accessible and easy for you to stay on track with your health long-term.
I usually see patients 3-4 times, and then it’s up to you to implement the changes consistently in your life – which is not hard at all with Buteyko since it’s practical and simple, plus the way you feel as you progress through it is so wonderful that you’ll undoubtedly be a keen Buteyko breathing bean, looking forward to your integrated self-care spaces.
Breath is so incredibly fundamental to life. You meet your breath before you meet your mother.
Learn to get the basics right, and from there your health and healing potential is limitless.
In breath
Carly
Carly is a Buteyko Practitioner and Naturopath. She is passionate about helping her patients access their innate balance and wellbeing using practical, simple, and powerful fundamentals. If you’re keen to get started now, book in to see Carly. She is available to see you at Fertile Ground Health Group on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Take a look at Carly’s bio to find out more about the way she works and how Buteyko Therapy can help you.
What do you love about your work as a remedial and pregnancy massage therapist?
I love being able to give women relief from any aches, pains or discomfort they have. I also absolutely adore when women lie down on the table and 9 times out of 10 there is an instant “Ähhhhhhhh” moment as they allow themselves to relax, knowing that the next 60-90 minutes is all about them and nurturing their bodies. Being a remedial and pregnancy massage therapist it’s my job be as caring, kind, compassionate and knowledgeable about the body as I can possibly be. Considering these are my favourite things to be in life, I truly think I have one of the best jobs in the world!
As well as being an aromatherapist and reiki practitioner, you teach feminine embodiment yoga. Would you like to tell us a bit about that?
Love to, it’s a massive passion of mine. Feminine Embodiment Yoga (FEY) is a specialised yoga practice uniquely celebrating the female form and flow. The practice allows you to strengthen your body through a combination of hatha yoga poses and rhythmic movements. It also has a strong focus on breath, balancing active and restorative poses and meditation. I love being a woman and learning about how unique our minds, emotions and bodies are, so when I discovered a yoga style specifically developed for women I couldn’t get enough and I enjoy sharing this practice with all women.
As a Practitioner, layering treatments with several modalities brings incredible results. For example, in a birth preparation massage the physical massage will work on an anatomical level, with the essential oils in the massage oil penetrating to a physiological level, add some reiki to reach the energetic level and once the massage is complete we the discuss home care and simple yoga postures and stretches that can work wonders to continue the birth preparation process.
Do you think women could benefit from feminine embodiment yoga during their fertility journey? How?
Definitely, Feminine Embodiment Yoga (FEY) focuses on relaxing the nervous system by releasing physical and emotional tension from the body. When the nervous system is relaxed your body goes from being in the ‘fight or flight’ mode (sympathetic nervous system) to “rest and digest”mode (parasympathetic nervous system) allowing your body to heal and restore itself. The practice also targets specific areas of women’s bodies for greater engagement and toning. For example, in today’s society we do a lot of sitting at desks, in front of the TV, in the car, on transport etc. So FEY focuses on building strength in your legs, bottom and core, as well as stretching out the hips and pelvis, as these areas can become tight and locked. This is especially beneficial for fertility as it creates space and increases blood flow and nutrients to the area.
You support many women with massage on their journey through pregnancy and also post birth. What are some of the biggest challenges you see women going through physically and emotionally during these times?
It is an amazing privilege to be able to support women through this time of great transition as their bodies adapt and change to accommodate the next generation they are growing inside them. Exhaustion and fatigue are common challenges I see women facing during pregnancy and post birth. We live in a fast pace society and being the matriarch of the family comes with a never ending to do list, which you have just added “grow human” and/or “raise child” to the list! It’s important to get enough rest so your body and the baby has the best chance to grow and thrive. Getting a massage is amazing for this and I’m delighted when women come in to see me, having placed importance on putting themselves and their babies on top of their priority list. A massage helps relieve tension, headaches, body aches and pains, and cramping, to name a few. Massage for birth preparation is crucial to be in the most relaxed, rested and healthy state for the labour.
Post birth massage is essential to relieve the stress your body has gone through in labour and accelerate the healing process by releasing tense muscles which aids in moving lymph, fresh blood and nutrients around the body. It can be a challenge to find the time with a newborn to make it into the clinic so we recommend timing it just after a feed and then your gorgeous baby can sleep peacefully in their pram in the room while you receive a much needed massage. If they wake and cry it wouldn’t be the first time the awesome team on reception coo them back to sleep (it’s literally a pleasure and cuteness overload). If leaving the house still seems too hard (which it totally can be trying to time feed and sleep cycles) we offer home visit massages, we recommend you have someone at home with you to watch over baby so you can fully relax in the massage and receive as much nurturing as you give your bundle of joy.
How else can men and women benefit from massage?
Massage can benefit men and women in so many ways by increasing circulation, assisting detoxification, relieving tension and pain, reducing stress and anxiety, improving sleep, and boosting your immune system, just to name a few.
Massage also counteracts all the sitting we do which is an awesome benefit considering how many of us have office jobs equating to prolonged periods of sitting. All this sitting leads postural stress which most times manifests in the shoulders and neck. More advanced postural stress can show up as pain or weakness in the lower back and gluteals. More often than not after a massage I will have patients comment how they didn’t realise how tense they were or how tight a specific area was until it was massaged. It’s highly beneficial to have a regular massage, even just once a month, to check in with your body before any aches or pains become acute or chronic.
What part of your work has ever brought you to tears?
As much as I try, I can’t help the rush of emotion when I hear about the birth, see pictures of, or meet a baby of a mother I have been massaging during her pregnancy. Its humbling and special to be able to share the joys of watching their belly grow and feeling the baby move when they receive a massage in Mum’s tum. Knowing that I have been able to support the mother through massage, which may have helped them have a more relaxed and enjoyable pregnancy is just wonderful.
Learn more about Nicole McCowan, remedial massage therapist at Fertile Ground Health Group or make an appointment to have one of her fabulous massage treatments. Online Booking
The truth is, male fertility is declining at such a rapid rate that it is not just an issue for up to 50% of couples experiencing infertility, it has become a real public health issue.
Sperm concentrations in western men have declined 50% over the past 40 years according to a recent research review.1 Particularly associated with advancing age, lifestyle, diet choices and environmental factors, the consequences on the future of human population is concerning to say the least.
The information we share with our patients at Fertile Ground is so important for men to embrace – environmental, nutritional, physical exercise and psychological support, combined with the use of appropriate supplementation. Attention and focus here can really improve semen parameters and prevent infertility, improving the chance for a couple to conceive spontaneously or optimise their chances of conception.2-4 Where possible, it is just as important for men donating sperm too.
In our experience, men are not always on board with exploring this territory let alone committing to all the changes. They may be too confronted or embarrassed or just unwilling to wade through this kind of information about health and fertility like women often are.
We also know that some men really see how their sperm is a reflection of their overall health and they are ready to make change and prevent more potentially serious health consequences in the future, as well as improve their sperm health and fertility. When men get on board with this, we do see time and time again how important it is for the women they are making babies with.
When men make a concerted effort to help improve their own fertility and the healthy conception and pregnancy outcomes, women feel so supported, so much more able to adhere to the recommendations themselves, and as an added bonus of course, it is good for the relationship too!
Levine H, Jørgensen N, Martino-Andrade A, et al. Temporal trends in sperm count: A systematic review and meta-regression analysis. Hum Reprod Update. 2017;23(6):646-659. doi:10.1093/humupd/dmx022.
Ilacqua A, Izzo G, Emerenziani G Pietro, Baldari C, Aversa A. Lifestyle and fertility: The influence of stress and quality of life on male fertility. Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2018;16(1):1-11. doi:10.1186/s12958-018-0436-9.
Salas-Huetos A, Bulló M, Salas-Salvadó J. Dietary patterns, foods and nutrients in male fertility parameters and fecundability: A systematic review of observational studies. Hum Reprod Update. 2017;23(4):371-389. doi:10.1093/humupd/dmx006.
Gaskins AJ, Chavarro JE. Diet and fertility: a review. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2018;218(4):379-389. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2017.08.010.
