Favorite acupuncture and fertility books, meditations, and links, oh my!

I am often asked about favorites and have collected quite a few resources over the years. I decided to put together this link list of my favorite recommendations for you. Enjoy!

Books

1. The Infertility Cure and Making Babies

These are the two best books on acupuncture, East Asian Medicine (EAM), and reproductive medicine. I recommend them to nearly everyone. The first book by Randine Lewis, PhD (India), LAc, covers Chinese medicine in depth and outlines ways to improve your fertile potential with diet, lifestyle and EAM. The second book by Jill Blakeway, MS, LAc and Sami David, MD, is an excellent resource that describes ways EAM can enhance the treatments you do with a fertility doctor. It also describes the five main fertility types from an EAM perspective. Both are pragmatic, easy to read, and bursting with simple, yet powerful tools to increase your fertility.

2. Taking Charge of Your Fertility

Toni Weschler’s now classic book is an outstanding resource for all women, not just those trying to conceive. Learn how to take, chart, and interpret basal body temperature (BBT) with simple instructions and excellent illustrations in this easy to read text. BBTs are especially helpful for us in EAM. We use it to sometimes aid us in diagnosis.

3. Everything Conceivable

Even if it’s a few years old, this book is still an accurate snapshot on the various challenges that men and women face when pursuing assisted reproductive therapies like in vitro fertilization or artificial insemination. This book covers egg and sperm donors, surrogates, multiple pregnancies, and more. The writing style is intelligent and engaging by journalist Liza Mundy.

4. Conquering Infertility

This is a good book that describes some basic Mind-Body exercises and provides practical coping strategies. These are especially helpful during the holidays and in dealing with insensitive family members and friends.

5. Yoga for Fertility

I often recommend attending a Yoga for Fertility class to most everyone. Sometimes you can’t make the class; this book is the next best thing.

Guided meditations

If you like guided meditations, these two sources are fantastic. They each have a variety of fertility and non-fertility related topics. I’ve been recommending them and using them during treatment sessions for years.

1. Anji Online

2. Circle + Bloom

Retreats

1. The Fertile Soul

There occasionally comes a time when you need to get away from everything to reboot the old hard drive, as they say. And, for those who live in a part of the US where you don’t have easy access to an EAM practitioner, this is a good alternative. If either of these situations is the case for you, I cannot recommend these retreats enough. Led by Randine Lewis of the The Infertility Cure (recommended above), these retreats primarily focus on EAM, diet and lifestyle support for fertility. Couples are encouraged to attend.

2. Women’s Fertility Retreat

A yoga and Mind-Body based retreat based in the Pacific Northwest led by my Yoga for Fertility recommendation.

Ovulation Predictor Kits

Clearblue Advanced Digital Ovulation Test

In my experience, the best Ovulation Predictor Kit is the most accurate and least stress-inducing kit. If trying to figure out when one line is darker than the other makes you feel a little nuts, then this is the test for you. When the hormone indicating imminent ovulation is detected in the urine, a smiley face appears on the test. Perfect! And, don’t waste your money on the monitor, watch, or saliva tests.