The Practice of Positivity through COVID-19
During the COVID Pandemic, it is easy to give in to the anxiety surrounding the COVID-19 epidemic. Everywhere we look, every newspaper we read, every Facebook feed we scroll through, the world is in a state of panic.
However, now more than ever, it is so essential that we find peace somehow in our own lives, especially at home. Although logically, it may not feel right to feel any optimism right now, given how the pandemic has changed the world as we know it. We have survived wars, unrest, tragedy, and as a global community has overcome the worst scenarios. So, we can get through this together in unity; as a worldwide force of love.
Although it may cause anguish at times, self-isolation is a perfect time to go within and reflect on your life; past-present-future. In a world that seldom allows you to breathe, we finally have stillness where the world has quite literally stopped for us all.
Therefore, we feel it is essential to share with you ten ways that you can carve out time for yourself to focus on bringing abundance, gratitude, and self-healing to the forefront of your mind. This is so that when you are ready to continue with your Fertility Journey, you are in the right head-space to do so:
Start an Abundance Journal:
We receive what we put out into this world. And we seem to forget this in times of acute stress in our daily lives. We shut everything out and only focus on that stress-trigger instead of taking a step back and appreciating the abundance that surrounds us every moment.
Create soul-lifting affirmations that you repeat like a mantra to yourself throughout the day, every day.
Examples are:
- “I am ready to conceive a child. I can’t wait to meet my child. I am becoming more fertile each day. I am taking care of my body and mind to welcome a baby.”
- “I am worthy of love and acceptance.”
- “I am taking care of my body and mind to welcome a baby.”
Practice Gratitude Every Day:
Often when stuck in our stressful mindsets, we tend to focus on what we don’t have rather than being grateful for what we do have.
Every morning, as you awake, take a conscious moment to take in your surroundings:
- Listen to the birds chirping their morning rituals outside your window
- Soak up the sunbeams streaming through our bedroom window
- Make a conscious effort to watch breathtaking sunrises or sunsets where possible
Find at least ten things every day that brings your heart gratitude. A great way to practice gratitude is to reach out to 2-3 loved ones a day to tell them how much you love and appreciate them.
Practice Meditation and Mindfulness:
Practising mindfulness and the art of meditation can help to reduce levels of stress and anxiety and can promote conception. Mindfulness and meditation are two techniques that affect your mood and how you feel about yourself and improve your mental well-being.
If you are new to meditation, there are some fantastic apps out there to suit both the novice or expert when it comes to finding stillness within.
We recommend Insight Timer – which is a free app with guided meditations by the world’s top meditation experts, neuroscientists, psychologists, and teachers from Stanford, Harvard, the University of Oxford, to mention but a few,
Practice Yoga:
Yoga has been shown to promote general relaxation and reduce anxiety, stress, and depression. Fertility Yoga (FY) can regulate hormonal imbalances and increase circulation and stimulation of female and male reproductive organs.
There are lovely Fertility Yoga channels on YouTube that you can search for; we recommend BrettLarkinYoga.
If you would prefer a 1:1 Yoga Coach, we work closely with Harriet Came from Bloom Yoga, who specialises in pre/post-natal yoga. Her focus is to inform and influence through her teachings, working to show how conscious breathing, specific yoga postures and techniques can help enhance pregnancy and help birth and post-natal recovery.
Keep Moving:
Move. Even if you only have 20 minutes in a day for a workout. Exercise, even a short session, shoots up your endorphin levels (happy hormones). When it comes to fertility-boosting practice, low to moderate exercise is best. Vigorous exercise has been known to add stress to your body, which is the last thing you need when going through fertility treatment. Ideas for your idea fitness schedule are:
- Keep a fitness journal where you can document your exercise schedule per week. Make sure you dedicate certain days to yoga and meditation
- Google workouts online that you can do at home with little or no equipment. You can adjust the workout according to your strength or fitness capabilities
An example of a weekly fitness regime can be:
- Daily Meditation sessions of 10 minutes – either first thing in the morning or just before bedtime
- Two Yoga sessions per week (e.g., Monday and Wednesday)
- Three moderate workouts per week (e.g., Tuesday, Thursday Saturday)
- One active-recovery day (e.g., Sunday for stretching/walking/gardening)
Eat Food Made With Love:
It is so important to nourish your body with nutritious whole and natural foods. So make sure you eat food made with LOVE!
By this, we mean cooking food from scratch and being connected with the food that you are cooking and consuming:
- While trying to conceive focus on your eating habits and start eliminating unhealthy eating habits
- Stay clear of processed or pre-cooked meals from supermarkets that are mass-produced, full of artificial ingredients and almost always loaded with too much salt
- Increase your intake of fruit, raw vegetables, organic proteins and avoid wheat and man-made products with very little nutritional value to them
Having a relationship with your food and your body are the first steps to creating harmony within, starting with your hormonal balance.
We work closely with Yolandi Rademeyer is our Prenatal Dietitian. Her primary focus is on women’s health. Her stance is that food, nutraceuticals (medical-grade nutrients/supplements), and hormonal health are vital for women’s overall fertility. Yolandi runs regular online workshops offering advice and support from preconception to postpartum.
Spring-Clean Your Home:
Nothing brings peace to the mind, quite like de-cluttering your home. Use this time to go through every single cupboard, drawer, every nook, and cranny and get rid of things that no longer serve you.
We tend to hang onto things that are “sentimental,” but we need to love and release what is not part of our journey anymore. As we let go of the old, we allow the new to enter our lives.
Please make sure that you donate old clothes or furniture to those in need where possible.
It’s time for a Mental De-Cluttering:
Just as spring-cleaning, our homes brings peace of mind, de-cluttering the mind brings happiness to the soul. Start making choices about your life that will help you remove unnecessary stress so that you can think more clearly and have peace-of-mind.
Ideas are:
- Remove yourself from Social Media for a while. We are too consumed by what others are doing instead of focusing on where we are at in our own lives. And it can cause depression thinking others’ lives are more fulfilled than our own – when really, we are just staring at a picture that is meaningless in the bigger scheme of things
- Move away from toxic relationships – only allow people into your circle that bring positive and loving energies to the table. Remove people that do not bring joy to your life every day
- Create a plan to get rid of long-standing debt – seek assistance from a Finance Advisor or speak to your bank about assisting you with a payment plan. Whatever you need to do, get rid of debt.
Reach Out To Loved Ones Every Day:
Everybody, on any given day, is dealing with trials and tribulations. Sending someone a text message or a voice note affirming your love for them will bring them joy and fill their heart with love. Kindness doesn’t cost you a thing except for a moment in time.
Research Your Fertility Treatment Journey:
We may be in LOCK-DOWN, but this doesn’t mean you have to lose momentum on your journey to start your own family.
Egg Donation South Africa ‘s doors are open – so get in touch with us to find your perfect egg donor today!