2 years ago
(NBC) -- Millions of couples are affected by infertility and now some of those couples are finding new hope by getting away from it all. 39-year-old Julia McCormick is among more than a dozen women who have come to the Arizona desert in search of motherhood. She's taking part in a weeklong fertility retreat that focuses on a mind-body approach to getting pregnant. "I'm here to find hope again. To find hope to have a child," explained McCormick. Dr. Randine Lewis is the founder of the Fertile Soul Retreat and believes acupuncture and other holistic methods can help women become pregnant. "It brings the body, mind and spirit into a state of harmony, into a state of balance where the energies flow, where the body does what it's meant to do," said Dr. Lewis. By using yoga, dance, meditation, massage and acupuncture, Lewis says you can boost your chances of having a baby. In fact, a recent study in Colorado that combined acupuncture with in-vitro fertilization resulted in a 23% jump in live births. Lewis says diet also plays a key role in fertility. One of the components of good fertility is good nutrition. The Fertile Soul recommends eating a healthy diet of foods that contain no wheat, no dairy and no refined sugar. Dr. Lewis has helped more than 2,000 women have babies in the past 12 years using the fertile soul method. Encouraging results, for infertile women like Susan Quinzi who was diagnosed with premature ovarian failure at age 27. "I'm not infertile. It's just getting my body working again and getting myself in balance with itself and feeling like a whole person," explained Quinzi. Physical, emotional and spiritual wholeness that these women hope will someday give birth to new life.
(NBC)
