Author James Schwartz on Acupuncture & Fertility

James Schwartz, author of Mind-Body Fertility Connection, is a certified hypnotherapist and neuro-linguistic programming practitioner. He is interviewed in the current issue of Acupuncture Today. Here is an excerpt from that interview:

JW: What do you think is the best way to promote fertility?

JS: I think the key to fertility is to create mental, physical, emotional and (for some) spiritual wellness. I highly recommend that all my clients use acupuncture to put the body in a place of physical balance. I recommend hypnotherapy to reduce stress and process the emotional blocks that might be interfering with the conception process. When a fertility client has weak kidney and spleen qi, a uterus that is out of alignment, is experiencing high anxiety and has a fear of repeated miscarriages, it is very unlikely that she can successfully conceive or carry the baby full term.

The key is to first create balance, which is when the process begins. Many women figure that going off the pill is the start of the fertility journey. I feel that a woman begins that journey when she starts to work on creating balance in her life. I find it to be very rare that a woman can circumvent that process by ignoring all of the physical and emotional issues by opting for Western medicine. Women who choose Western medicine should be doing this wellness work in conjunction with their procedures.

JW: Do you feel that any woman with a diagnosis of "infertility" can ultimately overcome that diagnosis?

JS: Absolutely. I believe that the term "infertility" is used too liberally within the Western medical model. If a woman who is having trouble getting pregnant goes to a Eastern medicine practitioner, and that practitioner observes conditions such as blood stagnation related to the liver (resulting in poor blood flow to the uterus) and depleted kidney energy, that practitioner isn't going to use the "infertility" label. Instead, the acupuncturist is going to say: "Let's try to correct these imbalances and give you the opportunity to succeed." Similarly, if I see a woman trying to get pregnant but experiencing a high level of stress and who has some issues, I would also say: "If we can process these issues, it might change the dynamics of your situation."

The "infertility" diagnosis is usually based on the limited resources available within the Western Medical system. I find that when a woman achieves physical and emotional balance, there may no longer be an infertile situation. That is why I felt this book was so important to write. Some people get into the mindset that Western medicine is the only way to address fertility when the statistics show that alternative modalities often produce better results.