Regulate your menstrual cycle to achieve a healthy pregnancy using Arvigo Therapy
When I first started trying to conceive, I had no idea what my cycle looked like.
I had been taking contraception for about 15 years by that stage. And while I was on the pill, I manipulated my cycle so I never had to have a period. Mainly for the convenience, and while my periods weren’t overly painful, there was definitely some discomfort each month when it arrived.
I have no idea whether that contributed to my fertility struggles over the next 7 years, however I’m sure it didn’t help.
When my husband and I decided we wanted to have a baby, I went off the pill and hoped for the best. After a few months and nothing, I started tracking my cycle. I googled and found out that a regular cycle was 28 days, but mine didn’t look anything like that. It varied from 26 to 35 days.
Back then I had no idea that I could actually do something to fix it. Instead, I guessed when I was ovulating and made sure we had sex around that time. After 6 months and no baby, we went to our doctor and given my age (I was 33 at the time), he referred us to a fertility specialist.
Pretty soon after that we were wrapped up in IVF.
What I wish I knew back then, was that you need a healthy cycle for a healthy pregnancy.
If only I’d focused on fixing my cycle, perhaps our story would gone a little differently.
There is a huge myth that your cycle is what it is, and that painful periods are normal. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
We’re taught from a young age that it’s just a part of being a woman, and you just take pain-killers each month – or in my case, you manipulate your cycle using contraception, so it doesn’t happen at all.
What I didn’t realise was that all of the symptoms I was experiencing was a sign that something that needed fixing. The menstruation cycle is such a huge part of a woman’s health and by looking at our cycle, it gives a good indication of our health.
So how do you achieve a healthy cycle in order to fall pregnant naturally?
Here are some things you can do to alleviate the pain and discomfort, and regulate your cycle, which are based on the Arvigo Therapy principles -
Eat warm food and drink warm water. This helps with digestion which is connected to the menstrual cycle; because digestion and reproduction all go together. We want to achieve a warm womb because cold is a contracting energy.
Movement – our body can get stagnant from sitting too much. So putting your joints through their range of moment ensures that it gets moving. Circular moments are best, so try belly dancing, or go back to your childhood and get a hula hoop.
Dealing with our emotions as they come up. Our emotions are energy in motion, and when they’re not flowing, they get stuck. So, when you’re holding onto something and pushing it deep down inside (which is exactly what I did for almost a decade) it can cause blockages. And it is believed that we hold a lot of things from our past in our uterus. So working with your cycle every month and using it as a way to let go and release your emotions – both physically and mentally, is a great way to end and start each cycle.
Another great technique for getting everything flowing correctly AND giving yourself a little self-care time, is massage. And I don’t mean going to a massage therapist, because they massage all parts of your body, except the belly. Which is exactly what we want to focus on. Each organ has its own corresponding emotion and when we worry, our chi gets stuck in the belly.
Giving your belly a massage in a clockwise direction for 3-5 minutes before going to bed is a great way of creating connection with ourselves. Instead of seeing our stomach as something we don’t like, or an inconvenience when you’re trying to button your jeans up, it’s important to get in touch with our gut instinct and intuition. Because it’s our engine.
And most importantly for those of you who are trying to have a baby, it helps alleviate baby-making blockages, thereby clearing the road to conceiving.
If you’d like to hear a little more on this, you can jump over to my interview with Lisa Levine, who is an Arvigo Practitioner and Acupuncturist passionate about Women’s Health and Preconception Care. She's been in the healing profession since 1992 and has an extensive background in massage, yoga and acupuncture.
p.s. If you struggle with pregnancy announcements and find yourself cringing every time you open your social media account, don’t miss out on your FREE Pregnancy Announcement Survival guide. Fear no more, because this is tried and tested!!