Mother Nurture Wellness

Ikigai () is a Japanese concept meaning "a reason for being." Everyone, according to the Japanese, has an ikigai. Finding it requires a deep and often lengt...hy search of self-discovery and reflection. The word "ikigai" is usually used to indicate the source of value in one's life or the things that make one's life worthwhile. The word is also used to refer to mental and spiritual circumstances under which individuals feel that their lives are valuable. In the culture of Okinawa, ikigai is thought of as "a reason to get up in the morning"; that is, a reason to enjoy life. In a TED Talk, Dan Buettner referenced ikigai as one of the reasons people in the area had such long lives. Primary text source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikigai Ikigai () Reason for Being https://creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com//ikigai-/

Friendly reminder Keeping yourself in the present moment is the key to managing the profound stress that can come with an unexpectedly long road to your baby. It’s not easy, but it’s worth a try. Getting caught in a loop of what has already happened makes it so incredibly hard to move forward without being in a state of profound anxiety and fear. Setting daily intentions to stay mindful and in the moment is a first step. It’s ok if you have to remind yourself a hundred ti...mes a day... I choose to stay in today and trust the process is a mantra you can use, or anything similar to snap you back into the moment when your mind strays. Do you have any tricks for staying present to share? #mindfullness #fertility #infertility #ttc #consciousconception #acupuncture #fertilityspecialist #holisticfertility #lauraerlichlac

Mothers Day is complicated. I am grateful beyond words to be a mother. I love my children and it is my most important job and joy. I miss my mom. I mostly avoid social media on Mother’s Day because, even after 32 years without her, I still grieve her absence. I am Heidi’s daughter. ... Many of my patients suffer with infertility. On this day I hold as much space in my heart as I can for their pain. It’s monumental. If you know someone struggling to have a baby, send them love today. An equal measure of my patients have overcome their fertility challenges and are now mothers or mothers to be. For them, I feel overwhelming joy and relief as I know this day carries the weight of all the struggle turned to gold And for the people in my life without children, by choice or circumstance, I see you. For those with fur babies instead of human ones, with gardens, novels to write, business to run, art to make... thank you for the nurturing you bring to the world. And to our great mother may we all find the will to put you first and see you as a reflection of ourselves, in great need of nurture, repair and a recentering towards all that really matters, which is our collective inner and outer good health. #mothersday #motherlessdaughters

We can’t relent. As a practitioner of East Asian medicine, I know whose shoulders I stand on. This is crazy, heartbreaking and outrageous. It’s is not new and we all owe it to our AAPI brothers and sisters to educate ourselves about this countries history and to make sure we do better from now on. It’s exhausting, America. Repost @dr.annagold

In my initial 1:1 consults, I always ask about painful periods. A really common thing I hear from women is that they had TERRIBLE periods when they were teens, and then were put on birth control to manage the pain. Birth control is then often taken for a decade or more, only to have those terrible periods return after stopping, a time that often coincides with wanting to get pregnant. If you had periods as a teenager that kept you home from school, required multiple doses ...of pain killers and even made you have diarrhea or nausea, that’s not normal. You may have thought it was normal because it also happened to your mom and even your sister, because these kinds of periods often run in families. That’s because they are often due to endometriosis, a condition with likely genetic components. If you went on birth control as a teenager, and have been on it a long time, please do yourself a favor by thinking back to your pre birth-control periods and speak to your doctor about addressing potential endometriosis if yours were difficult. This is especially important to do before you start trying to conceive, along with building in some time to support your body with acupuncture, herbs, diet and supplements. You’re period doesn’t have to be excruciating and you don’t have to suffer. #endometriosis #endometriosispain #endometriosissupport #periodpain #cramps #birthcontrol #fertility #endowarrior #acupuncture #herbs #tcm #chinesemedicine #holistic #fertilityspecialist #holisticfertilitysupport #fertilitycoach #mothernurturewellness #lauraerlichlac

Happy International Womxn’s Day! Let’s all keep moving the needle towards a better, safer world for all womxn! All bodies are beautiful ... Genders are self determined Healthy shows up in many shapes and sizes. Love is Love #internationalwomensday #womxn #beauty #healthy #bodypositivity #loveislove #beautiful #womensupportingwomen

Endometriosis and your thyroid- is there a connection? Yes! A relationship between the thyroid and fertility has been well established for a long time. Fertility issues like miscarriage, anovulation (when you don’t ovulate), early/late or long periods can all possibly involve the thyroid. Keeping that in mind, it’s not too hard to image a link between the thyroid and endometriosis, and research has shown a correlation between endometriosis and autoimmune thyroid disease, p...articularly Hashimoto’s, though the exact mechanism for this connection is still unclear. Here’s what you can do: If you know you have endometriosis, get your thyroid checked If you know you have a thyroid condition, speak with your doctor about ruling out endometriosis, especially if your TTC, or have symptoms of endometriosis Make sure you ask your doctor for a *complete* thyroid panel, including testing for antibodies. If your doctor doesn’t want to do that, seek a second opinion. You can also help support your thyroid and your endometriosis by doing some of these things: Focus on reducing inflammation through diet . Approaches like autoimmune paleo (AIP) and Whole 30 are great options. Take supplements for thyroid health like selenium, and anti-inflammatory supplements like NAC, curcumin, systemic enzymes and omega 3 fatty acids Make she’s your vitamin D levels are optimal (60-80) and supplement if not. Acupuncture! Regular acupuncture helps to regulate your nervous system and your endocrine system, reduces inflammation and reduces pain Work with an herbalist and take a curated formula intended to address four specific presentation. As always, please reach out if you need support, or schedule a free discover call to see how I can support you, your health and your fertility #endometriosis #endometriosisawarenessmonth #thyroid #hypothyroidism #hyperthyroidism #hashimotos #graves #infertility #miscarriage #ovulation #acupuncture #herbs #nutrition #health #laacupuncturist #mothernurturewellness #ttc #fertilityexpert #holisticfertility #lauraerlichlac

We all feel it. Lately, we feel it pretty much all the time. Stress is a physiological response to danger, and it is our very best defense against running from a wild animal or lifting a car up off of a child. Stress alerts us that something isn’t right and sets off a cascade of chemicals in our bodies designed to help us escape immediate danger. And then, when said escape is successful, we are meant to return to a normal, stress-free existence. And when we are in this myt...hical stress-free existence, our bodies are able to function optimally, because they aren’t using all of our energy, hormones, brain-power, and strength to escape danger. Unfortunately, modern society has really mucked this one up. Instead of having run-of-the-mill encounters with lions, followed by relaxing around the campfire, we are constantly stressed to some degree. Whether from work stress, financial stress, fertility stress, parenting stress or the ever-present pandemic stress, it’s pretty much a 24/7 proposition. The problem with the modern stress-paradigm is that we really aren’t designed to toggle between sort-of-stressed and stressed-out-of-our-minds- indefinitely. Persistent stress has negative effects on our health, by increasing inflammation, keeping our nervous systems in a state of hyper-vigilance, diverting blood flow to our muscles and away from our organs (so we can be poised to run), increasing our heart rate, raising blood pressure, etc. Over time, this can begin to take a toll on all our health, even throwing hormones out of whack and impacting ovulation and cycle length. Let’s be clear, though-- stress does not cause miscarriage and will not otherwise interrupt a healthy pregnancy. If you have suffered a pregnancy loss I am so sorry, and you didn’t do anything to cause it. to read the full post, including some tips for regulating your stress response, please head over to the link in my bio

Really feeling this as I wrap up a full day of seeing patients. Some are having to accept the reality of postponing their cycles for one more months, others doing all they can to remain patient while they await labor and birth. If there’s one thing that fertility and pregnancy have to teach us, it’s patience and trust. Trust in our bodies, care providers and the process itself. Trust that when things don’t play out on the timeline we had in mind, there is a greater force at work in the unfolding of our lives. #patience #trust #trusttheprocess #faith #fertility #fertilityjourney #fertilitywarrior #pregnancy #ttc #birth #labor #divinetiming #acupuncture #acupuncturist #losangelesacupuncturist #herbs #herbalmedicine #tcm #health #wellness

Figuring out how to best time sex when your trying to conceive can be very challenging! Hers what I have to say on the topic! Join me for live talks about all things fertility, pregnancy and women’s health every week on my Facebook group, Holistic Fertility Support. Link to join in bio

Join me Holistic Fertility Support with Laura Erlich, LAc, FABORM for a live talk on TTC and how time without stress!Join me Holistic Fertility Support with Laura Erlich, LAc, FABORM for a live talk on TTC and how time without stress!