A guide to caring for mind and body while trying to conceive from the bestselling authors of The First Forty Days, with recipes included. The path to motherhood is a deep and transformative process. It can also include unexpected twists and turns. Awakening Fertility is a loving companion to accompany you along the journey—whether your desire to become a mother burns fiercely today or is a future calling just beginning to stir. Intended for women at every stage of the preconception process, this book offers wisdom and guidance to support your body, mind, and spirit—including nearly 50 delicious recipes to nourish yourself deeply.

From the bestselling authors of The First Forty Days comes a gently nurturing guide for aspiring mothers. The path to motherhood is a deep and transformative process. It can also include unexpected twists and turns. Awakening Fertility is a loving companion to accompany you along the journey--whether your desire to become a mother burns fiercely today or is a future calling just beginning to stir. Intended for women at every stage of the preconception process, this book offers wisdom and guidance to support your body, mind, and spirt--including nearly 50 delicious recipes to nourish yourself deeply.

After labor, it’s time for rest: A gentle guide to zuo yuezi, the ancient Chinese practice of postpartum self-care, including sixty simple recipes. The first forty days after the birth of a child offer an essential and fleeting period of rest and recovery for the new mother. Based on Heng Ou’s own postpartum experience with zuo yuezi, a set period of “confinement” in which a woman remains at home focusing on healing and bonding with her baby, The First Forty Days revives the lost art of caring for the mother after birth. As modern mothers are pushed to prematurely “bounce back” after delivering their babies, and are often left alone to face the physical and emotional challenges of this new stage of their lives, the first forty days provide a lifeline—a source of connection, nourishment, and guidance. This book includes sixty simple recipes for healing soups, replenishing meals and snacks, and calming and lactation-boosting teas, all formulated to support the unique needs of the new mother. In addition to recipes, this warm and encouraging guide offers advice on arranging a system of help during the postpartum period, navigating relationship challenges, and honoring the significance of pregnancy and birth. Fully illustrated, it is a practical guide and inspirational read for all new mothers and mothers-to-be—the perfect ally during the first weeks with a new baby. “Bringing our attention back to the importance of the postpartum period for new mothers helps to create space for this essential period of integration and recovery . . . an invaluable companion during the first 40 days and beyond.” —Ricki Lake & Abby Epstein, filmmakers, The Business of Being Born

Introducing the only clinically proven program—steeped in ancient Chinese healing traditions—that has enabled hundreds of infertile couples to conceive. At Wu's Healing Center in San Francisco, miracles are happening. Women and their partners come to the clinic—often from across the country-- to fulfill a passionately held yet fragile dream: to conceive and deliver the healthy baby that mainstream doctors have told them they cannot have. Using traditional Chinese medical techniques, sometimes integrated with Western fertility treatments, Dr. Angela Wu is helping these couples experience the miracle of birth. In this book, Dr. Wu details a proven 6-part self-care regimen that helps create the internal harmony and balance vital to conception. Her techniques not only enhance the results and reduce the side effects of in vitro and other Western fertility treatments, they also shorten labor and speed postpartum recovery. Babies benefit too, adopting regular sleep patterns more quickly and getting sick less frequently. At a time when one in five U.S. couples is struggling with fertility problems, this practical and uplifting volume, filled with the inspirational stories of Dr. Wu's grateful patients, will be a godsend.

The bestselling authors of the First Forty Days encourage mothers-to-be to care for themselves—and not just their babies—during pregnancy There is so much noise surrounding pregnancy and birth. There are countless books teeming with information—what test does what, the “rights” and “wrongs” of eating, and “safe” or “risky” lifestyle choices—but few that hold a woman through the experience, acting as an elder sister, a matriarch, or a circle of women might hold her—with compassion, nonjudgment, and, most of all, wisdom. To the authors of Nine Golden Months, this is exactly what’s needed now, in an era of high-speed living, endless demands, and more than a little anxiety and fear. A woman needs to feel connected to others, rooted in the knowledge that many have done this before her, and calmed and fortified by time-honored practices that nourish her body, soothe her mind, and hold up her spirit. The (still-growing) success of The First Forty Days showed that women are longing to experience the deeper aspects of becoming a mother. Nine Golden Months shares timeless guidance from the authors’ extraordinary circle of practitioners, guides, and wisdom-keepers specializing in prenatal care; it draws from Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda, and features rituals and self-sourced wisdom, so that it addresses all aspects of a woman’s pregnancy experience: emotional, mental, physiological, and spiritual.

Do you want to make a healthy baby and have a healthy pregnancy? Are you interested in a holistic approach to fertility? Do you need to optimize your fertility due to your age or health conditions? Are you trying to conceive and experiencing challenges? Very few women and men expect to have trouble when it comes to having a family, and coming up against obstacles can bring about epic levels of stress. Deciding what steps to take can be absolutely baffling. The good news is that Feed Your Fertility is here to help you. Inside, fertility professionals and authors Emily Bartlett and Laura Erlich will guide you on a path to making the nutritional and lifestyle changes you need to help support healthy fertility and pregnancy. Inside you'll learn: -How your lifestyle may be inhibiting your ability to conceive - and what to do about it -Why popular fertility diets may be leading you down the wrong road -What foods to eat to optimize and nourish your fertility, and how to adopt a real foods diet -How to determine your personal health imbalances that may be interfering with your fertility -How to use Chinese medicine to bring your body into balance and improve your odds of conception -How to streamline your supplements and take only what you really need -Your natural and medical treatment options for common fertility issues -How to navigate the medical fertility world and when to seek help Get your pregnancy on track the natural, time-tested way and enjoy your journey to motherhood with Feed Your Fertility. "It takes a village to raise a baby, to start a family... I say it takes a village to simply start taking charge of your own body in our culture today. Food and environment can be the break, or the breakthrough. Laura Erlich and Emily Bartlett have detailed and provided the map and menu for healing and supporting a body so it is able to welcome new life and energy." - Selma Blair, actress and mother "Down to earth and practical, Feed your Fertility delivers accessible fertility wisdom that can easily be applied to your daily life. Those who are navigating through the sometimes difficult and confusing labyrinth toward better fertility probably don't need better reproductive clinics; they need simple, sensible guidance. Feed Your Fertility provides easy to follow solutions for taking charge of your reproductive health." - Randine Lewis, L.Ac., Ph.D., author of The Infertility Cure and The Way of the Fertile Soul

Awakening The Seed is a powerful yet simple self-care process based on over 14 years of the author's real-world clinical experience helping over 2200 women and couples labeled as "infertile" - many of whom were told they had little to no chance - to conceive and give birth to healthy, beautiful babies.

In the tradition of Silent Spring and The Sixth Extinction, an urgent, meticulously researched, and groundbreaking book about the ways in which chemicals in the modern environment are changing—and endangering—human sexuality and fertility on the grandest scale, from renowned epidemiologist Shanna Swan. In 2017, author Shanna Swan and her team of researchers completed a major study. They found that over the past four decades, sperm levels among men in Western countries have dropped by more than 50 percent. They came to this conclusion after examining 185 studies involving close to 45,000 healthy men. The result sent shockwaves around the globe—but the story didn’t end there. It turns out our sexual development is changing in broader ways, for both men and women and even other species, and that the modern world is on pace to become an infertile one. How and why could this happen? What is hijacking our fertility and our health? Count Down unpacks these questions, revealing what Swan and other researchers have learned about how both lifestyle and chemical exposures are affecting our fertility, sexual development—potentially including the increase in gender fluidity—and general health as a species. Engagingly explaining the science and repercussions of these worldwide threats and providing simple and practical guidelines for effectively avoiding chemical goods (from water bottles to shaving cream) both as individuals and societies, Count Down is at once an urgent wake-up call, an illuminating read, and a vital tool for the protection of our future.

Bring in the energy of wild places and work in harmony with the land to grow your own food and live sustainably. In this beautifully illustrated book, award-winning garden designer Mary Reynolds encourages us to create a bond with the land to restore its health and feel its energy. Drawing inspiration from permaculture traditions as well as the ancient multi-tiered approach of forest gardening, Mary demonstrates how to create a magical garden that is an expanding, living, interconnected ecosystem. The Garden Awakening is both art and inspiration for any garden lover seeking to create a positive and natural space while incorporating sustainable living such as growing your own food. It combines practical step-by-step instructions with spiritual, ancient Celtic stories to help you awaken any garden space, nurturing it to benefit both the land and the people in it. This design approach allows ecosystems to be whole and in balance while providing a place for human beings to live happy and productive lives. Transform your garden into a vibrant, wild area that embraces the spiritual side of nature with this wonderful read.

A PRACTICAL, INTENTIONAL GUIDE TO CREATING ENHANCED CONDITIONS FOR CONCEPTION Creating new life is a natural part of being a woman, but it doesn't always come as easily as we expect. With high-stress modern lives, many women's bodies are not prepared to nurture the growth of a child, and they may find it challenging to become pregnant. Heather Grzych discovered firsthand that the practice of Ayurveda, and its deep teachings on the Four Fertility Factors, could help her and other women create the optimal conditions for conception. She shares that understanding — which led to the birth of her son — in this comprehensive book. Ayurveda, the ancient "science of life," teaches rejuvenating mind-body-spirit practices and herbal remedies that will help you and your partner align with nature for a healthy conception. You can safely explore this holistic approach as you plan for your pregnancy. With Heather's guidance, you will discover and learn to enhance the factors that contribute to fertility and overall well-being, including the spiritual, emotional, and environmental dimensions of conception.