Episode 71 - 10 Tools to De-stress and Calm Your Body
It can be hard to navigate our regular lives and trying to conceive while simultaneously experiencing collective grief and trauma. Bringing your body into “rest and relax” mode is key to conceiving successfully and coping with stress. This is why we're bringing back this episode packed with quick tips for calming your nervous system and clearing stress hormones anytime.
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All content offered through The Intersectional Fertility Podcast is created for informational purposes only, it is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
Disclaimer: This is an automatically generated transcript edited to be more readable. It may not be 100% accurate.
[00:00:00] Jonas: I'm Jonas Rodriguez-Bouchier, and this is the Intersectional Fertility Podcast, where ideas and identities intersect to deepen our understanding of fertility and ultimately our Whole Selves.
[00:00:32] Hello, friend. Welcome back to the podcast, or welcome for the first time. I want to begin again with an imperfect genocide and grief acknowledgement similar to a land acknowledgement. I just want to kind of Take a couple deep breaths and call us all in to this moment and just acknowledge that genocides are happening right now in our world.
[00:01:02] And many of us are witnessing them, bringing details about these genocides with us throughout our day, functioning, you know, trying to function while knowing that this is happening simultaneously, in different parts of the world, and how painful and full of grief and trauma that is for all of us as a collective.
[00:01:30] We're all experiencing this and also trying to go about our jobs and make money and survive in capitalism. And also try to conceive and be on a fertility journey and all the complexity that that entails in addition to being human, in this world and reconciling the incredible amount of violence and injustice that is happening at the same time.
[00:01:58] So it is a lot to. Yeah, that's an understatement. It's just a colossal amount of truth for all of us to be carrying all the time. So I just want to send you and this community so much love and solidarity and know that I'm here and this community is lovely and strong and we are you know, beholden to each other to support each other.
[00:02:34] So, you know, if you need support, reach out. I will always be in our free Qmunity, which you can access through my website, intersectionalfertility.com, you can just click on Qmunity and join us. I will always be there and available and accessible. Yeah, I just, it's right now, it's so important for us to not only take care of ourselves and our families, but also to reach out to supportive community that we have access to.
[00:03:00] To be able to get through, get through this, get through our days, get through our weeks. Right now I'm recording this on December 1st and the bombings have resumed in Palestine and Gaza. And we need to continue showing up for Palestinians. We need to continue raising their voices, their platforms, listening to what they need from us.
[00:03:27] You know, showing up where and how we can, being loud, being visible, using our voices, using our privileges, Writing to our representatives, calling our representatives, disrupting where we can, showing up and marching if we're able to, divesting from corporate funding that is directly supporting this genocide.
[00:03:56] You know, those are just kind of on the top of my head, you know, of the actions that we can be doing, but I know that there are more. I'll make a new highlight on my Instagram to continue to archive the resources and things that I've been sharing on my Instagram @intersectionalfertility so you can check those out in my highlights.
[00:04:15] And yeah, today I wanted to, in light of everything that's going on, I wanted to bring back one of the very first episodes of the Intersectional Fertility Podcast. It's one of the most popular ones and most downloaded. And it's where I go through some really simple, easy, effective accessible ways to bring your body into a rest and relaxation state.
[00:04:42] Being in that state of rest and relaxation is absolutely key for being able to conceive. And it becomes exponentially more difficult to do when we're exposed to high amounts of stress. So this is, you know, true all the time. It's true, especially during this time of year throughout the holidays and it's even more true right now as we're witnessing these global atrocities happen as well.
[00:05:10] So yes, I wanted to bring this one back to offer us any kind of respite that I can for us to be able to as safe in our bodies as we can using these really simple practices and tools. So I hope this is helpful for you. And feel free again to come over to, my Qmunity afterwards. You can go to intersectionalfertility.com and click on Qmunity and join us.
[00:05:38] You know, continue the conversation of this episode and previous episodes, reach out for support if you need and introduce yourself, just say hi. I'm loving just getting to know folks in this community and making more connections.
[00:05:53] And also this holiday season, you know, as your spending money and, you know, engaging with the holidays in whichever ways that you are.
[00:06:04] I also ask that you try to support more local, more BIPGM or BIPOC owned, more queer owned businesses and divest from corporate funding as much as possible. This is something we can all do more intentionally. You know, every year, that's I think that's a helpful thing to do, especially, but especially this year.
[00:06:29] So I would love, love, love your support. I have a little shop that's on my website. You can go to intersectionalfertility.com and click on shop, and you'll see my beautiful merch that my incredible designers have designed. And there's so many different t-shirts and hoodies and tank tops and mugs and journals, all different colors, all different sizes, incredible designs that say messages like de gender reproductive health and queer families are the future.
[00:07:01] So please consider adding That merchandise to your holiday shopping this year will help me immensely to continue bringing this podcast to you, continue to bring you new episodes, and it will also support my Fertile Scholarship Fund to make Fertile more accessible to more queer, trans, non-binary folks, and especially of the global majority to take control over their fertility journey and conceive using my Whole Self Fertility Method.
[00:07:30] So all funds from my shop will go towards the Fertile Scholarship Fund and also towards the podcast. So I really, truly appreciate your support there if you're able to. And something that I keep meaning to mention is that all of these episodes are available on my website, and actually the transcripts exist for every episode.
[00:07:55] My podcast producer does an incredible job of making a beautiful transcript for every episode, and it's even time stamped. And it's It's not 100 percent accurate, but it's very accurate and that's hard to come by, not all podcast episodes have transcripts that are available on the website, so please utilize those if those would be helpful to you, they are there and available to the public, so.
[00:08:21] Just wanted to make sure to mention that. All right. I am just sending you so much love, giving you virtual hugs. I'm a hugger and hope that today's episode is helpful for you and Feels comforting and nourishing to you as well, as you're on your fertility journey or as you're supporting folks on their fertility journey or just as you being you and going about your day.
[00:08:47] So, sending lots of love, and I will see you over in our community. Oh, one more thing that I forgot to mention. Our next community webinar is going to be on December 13th, on a Wednesday, from 10am to 11am Mountain Time. And the topic will be how stress impacts fertility and how to reduce it. So definitely you don't want to miss that one.
[00:09:14] This webinar will be available to all paid community members, which is $26 a month, and you can cancel at any time. And you'll also get access to all the previous fertility webinars that I've given. Which I believe are, I think there's five now, I think there's five other fertility webinars. So just a ton of information is there waiting for you if you'd like.
[00:09:35] So today's episode, that's also one of the reasons why I brought back this episode. It's kind of a little taster or a little teaser of this upcoming stress relief webinar that will be in our paid Qmunity. So reach out if you have any questions about that, you can always email me Josie@intersectionalfertility.com and otherwise I hope to see you there and hope to see you in our community
[00:10:07] Hello friend today, we're gonna talk about how to level our stress and anxiety levels This is a huge topic that keeps coming up over and over in my clinical practice, with friends and family, discussions with colleagues, it's just a hot topic. Especially since the pandemic started over a year and a half ago.
[00:10:32] So I'm going to give you lots of tools today to fill up your anti-anxiety de-stress toolbox. So these are strategies and techniques that you'll be able to do at any time in any scenario, pretty much. And they will immediately give you feelings of peace and calm by flipping the switch from That fight or flight mode in your brain to that rest and relaxation mode.
[00:11:07] I won't get too much into the science of it and how it works, but just know that all of these techniques that I'm teaching you today are basically talking to your reptilian brain and making that flip switch from what we call the sympathetic nervous system, which is in charge of that fight or flight response, and we're flipping that switch to our parasympathetic nervous system, which is that rest and relaxation response.
[00:11:39] So that's what all of these techniques will do. And I'm going to go through each one, but don't feel like you have to write them all down. If you're not in a position to, you can always go to the show notes on my website. And a few days after the episode drops, there will be a written transcript. And It may not appear right away, but if you check back in a couple of days, it should be there.
[00:12:05] So you can just go to intersectionalfertility.com/podcast and search for this episode. It should be episode eight. So most of the folks that come to see me are either coming to see me to reduce their stress and anxiety, or they don't know that that's what they're coming to see me for. So I'd say a hundred percent of the patients that I'm treating, I am addressing stress and anxiety and lowering those levels.
[00:12:39] So it really is. It's across the board something that is at the root of a lot of fertility issues that show up and also just in general, all sorts of other health issues that show up. this was an issue before the pandemic, but of course it really skyrocketed, you know, with the pandemic.
[00:13:01] And again, I'm seeing another spike in my private practice now that things are going back to normal. Quote unquote normal, whatever that means anymore. But it's bringing with that a whole nother set of stressors. With folks who have been working remotely for the past year and a half are now trying to decide whether to go back in person or are being forced to go back in person and don't want to.
[00:13:26] Or, you know, all these ways in which we're kind of being forced to re-enter capitalism, basically, and re enter our old, really highly productive, highly stressful lifestyles. So I am seeing another spike in patients having trouble conceiving, and having trouble managing stress and anxiety levels, and not sleeping well, and having digestive issues, and, you know, all of these things that come from you know, functioning at that high level of stress day to day.
[00:14:02] So it's no fun. This is, you know, I think working in the fertility realm during a pandemic has been challenging. It's been really challenging to try to work with folks and basically try to trick everyone's nervous systems that we're not in a pandemic, you know. It's been tricky. So, I've, had my work cut out for me.
[00:14:25] And also, you know, another point I wanted to mention too, is that the way that our culture is structured is stressful, right? I mean, there is, like I mentioned, we're in a capitalist society. We're also in a patriarchal society, a cis heteronormative society, a white supremacist society. So there's all these layers of stress that we have to constantly navigate.
[00:14:53] You know, as queer folks, as genderqueer folks, and as People of Color as well. So there's just all these nuances and multitudes of stress going on at any given moment. So it's one thing to say, you know, Eat right and exercise and take care of yourself and go to bed on time. And you know, all of these things sound simple enough, but when you think about it logistically, just in terms of living in our culture, it's like, you know, how do we get affordable healthcare?
[00:15:28] You know, some of us don't have access to that. How do we have access to affordable housing? Or safe place to exercise, or healthy food to eat, or clean water to drink? You know, our environments are becoming more and more toxic. So I just want to acknowledge and point that out that, you know, This is hard.
[00:15:49] And so if you feel stressed or you feel like you're doing it wrong, you're not, you know, we are living in a really hard environment to feel our best selves all the time and to feel like we're not weighted down by stress and anxiety. I mean, I'd say it's, it's a constant battle. It's a constant struggle in the culture that we're living in.
[00:16:14] So I just want to give you a big virtual hug and, you know, reach out to you and just let you know that you're doing great and this is hard. And here's some more tools for your toolbox.
[00:16:28] I want to describe the difference of what happens in our bodies from a fertility standpoint when we're stressed. Just so you can kind of visualize why it's, it's so important to lower our stress and anxiety levels in order to conceive.
[00:16:47] Specifically to conceive, which is, you know, what we're focusing on, but also just to, you know, increase our well being and to feel like we have a higher quality of life. So, when we're stressed, when we're functioning at high stress levels day to day, we are basically sending signals throughout our body in the form of chemical messengers that become hormones.
[00:17:12] And they activate or deactivate the fertile pathways in our body. And when we're stressed those pathways, those fertile pathways get shut down. Because our brain says oh, no, we're in danger. There's a flood, there's a war, there's a famine, there's a pandemic, and we must not bring a baby into this world.
[00:17:35] So let's shut down the fertile pathways and focus on pushing out our blood flow to our limbs, our hands and our legs and our, and our feet so that we can fight for our lives or run for our lives. That's what our body is registering when we're functioning at those high stress levels. So that's not what we want.
[00:17:59] So we want to essentially trick our nervous systems into thinking that the opposite is true. So we want to send signals of safety and peace and calm and relaxation so that all the blood flow can gather and center and And go back to our internal organ systems and away from our limbs. So, you know, we want the blood flow to go back to our digestion and our reproductive organs, most specifically.
[00:18:33] So that's our goal is to lower our stress and anxiety levels so that we're functioning more and more often at that rest and relaxation mode. So that we're sending signals to our fertility pathways, right. In the form of hormones that we want to stay nice and fertile and that we do want to bring a baby into the world and that this baby will be cared for and safe and fed and sheltered and loved.
[00:19:02] So the trouble is that most of the things that we reach for when we are feeling this high stress and anxiety. is what we call liver loaders in western medicine. So, they tend to be caffeine, or alcohol, or sugar, or marijuana. So, these are all really great things to temporarily bring us relief. But they actually cause more what we call liver qi stagnation in the long run.
[00:19:34] So it actually creates this vicious cycle where it keeps us in this mode of high anxiety where we actually need more of these substances to feel calm. So it's not a sustainable long term solution and it's not healthy for us, unfortunately.
[00:19:55] But you know, I'm also definitely of the mindset of meeting people where they're at and harm reduction. So, you know, Lessening, you know, the amount of caffeine, or alcohol, or smoking, or sugar, rather than trying to cut it out entirely. sometimes cutting things out entirely is not realistic, or helpful. You know, sometimes that can be more stressful than anything. So, you know, there's nuance there.
[00:20:25] So I try to, again, meet people where they're at and be really kind to yourself when you are, you know, trying to move away from a vice that has been bringing you comfort or some pleasure. And rather than trying to remove it completely or go cold turkey, you know, I always recommend slowly decreasing.
[00:20:48] Whatever it is, the substance, and replacing it with something that also brings you pleasure so that there's something to fill that void. So we don't want to just take away your, pacifier Or yo,ur blankie or, you know, your security thing. Like we don't want to just take that away and then you're just, you know, fending for yourself.
[00:21:09] So, you know, try to think about what, what, what kind of things can also bring me pleasure. And I would make a list, you know, I oftentimes recommend to folks to make a pleasure list in their phone, or on a piece of paper. And just keep that handy. So it's not like you have to rethink it all the time.
[00:21:29] It's just, it's something that you can access and refer to when you need to know you know, when you're feeling stressed or you're instead of reaching for, you know, the second or third cup of coffee, you could, you know, reach for your meditation app. Or you could go on a walk around the block, or you could call a friend. Or, you know, pour a really special cup of tea or whatever it is. So having that list handy is helpful.
[00:22:03] So let's dive into. The tools. So these are the quick and easy, simple de-stress and anti anxiety tools that I'm going to share with you to fill up your toolbox. And these, I also recommend kind of having on hand in some way. So keeping a short little list again in your phone or on a piece of paper nearby where you can access it easily so that you can remember easily one of these.
[00:22:35] Things that you can do so you don't have to try to think about it and you know stress yourself out more. We don't want that. So the first one is Belly breathing which if you've spent any time around me at all, you've heard me say this a million times It is one of my favorite techniques because it is so effective so easy.
[00:22:58] You can do it anywhere And it works instantly. All of these techniques work instantly, but I just I really love this one and I get really good feedback from it So if you want to learn more about why it works, you can go back and listen to the episode where I talk about How to create a fertile environment in your body And I go into more detail about why that belly breathing works.
[00:23:22] For today I'll just teach you how to do it. And you can just know that what it does is it eliminates stress hormones from your body faster than any drug. It just immediately flips that switch from fight or flight to rest and relax.
[00:23:38] So what you want to do is just make sure that your back is supported, so you could be sitting in a chair, you could be lying down on your back just anywhere where you can rest your back against something, because if your back is not supported, then your belly has to engage a little bit to help hold your back up, and then it can't relax all the way, which is our main goal with this exercise, is to let our belly relax all the way.
[00:24:07] So I always tell folks to, you know, this is a great thing that you can do while driving, you can do it while you're at a doctor's appointment, while you're working, if you tend to be in front of the computer sitting in a chair, you can do it while you're lying down at night trying to fall asleep. It's a great time to do it.
[00:24:27] Also, if you are getting regular acupuncture, I always tell my patients to practice this technique while they're lying on the treatment table. So what you want to do is place your hands under your belly button on your lower abdomen. And when you take a breath in, you want to let your belly expand into your hands.
[00:24:51] And then when you exhale, your belly can go back towards your body or back down. So we'll try it. Ready? Wherever you are, if you can lean back on something, if you can't, no worries if you're walking or out doing something, you can try this later. But if you are somewhere where you can sit and lean your back against something, let's try it together.
[00:25:13] Alright, so lean your back against the chair or surface that you're lying on. And take a breath in. Let your belly expand.
[00:25:25] And then let it out. And let your belly contract. And we'll do another one, inhale. And exhale.
[00:25:40] Isn't that nice? How do you feel?
[00:25:44] I love this one. I just feel instantly calm. It's amazing. This is my favorite one for sure. So keep that in your pocket for next time you're feeling stressed. Oh, and before I move on, something I wanted to say about the belly breathing is that you don't have to do big belly breaths.
[00:26:03] It doesn't have to be a big breath. The volume of the breath can be normal, you know, the normal volume of your regular breaths, it's more the location that's important. So I don't want you hyperventilating. And taking huge belly breaths. You can just do normal size, but from your belly instead of up high in your chest area, which is where we tend to normally breathe.
[00:26:27] Okay, moving on to the next tool is also a breathing exercise. And this one, instead of breathing into the belly, I want you to breathe into the bottom back of your lungs. So this takes some visualization and you want to just imagine where your lungs, where the bottom of your lungs are. So those are going to be sort of your mid back area.
[00:26:53] And then we want to go to the backside of our lungs. So again, right around that mid back area. And when you take a breath in, I want you to just imagine the breath going all the way down and filling the bottom back of your lungs. So we'll try it. Ready?
[00:27:17] I love that one. Did you feel that?
[00:27:19] It feels like my lungs expand bigger than normal when I do that, that kind of breath. So that's a really powerful one. And this is bringing to mind the episode that I did with Pati Garcia. So if you have not heard that one, go back and listen to that one and they will teach you about bottom breathing, which was something I learned about in that episode.
[00:27:44] And it was fascinating to me. So I'm going to add that in there as a bonus tool. Alright, so the next one is activating your peripheral vision. So this works because when you're in fight or flight mode, Your vision is also focused in front of you to identify the threat so that you know what to fight or run away from.
[00:28:12] So when your peripheral vision is activated, your body is telling you that you're actually in rest and relaxation mode, because you can afford to widen your horizons and look beyond what's in front of you. You can really see more of a 180 degree view. So the best way to do this is to reach your arms out all the way.
[00:28:40] Extend your arms out on either side of you. And then slowly while looking forward, slowly bring them closer to the center of your body until you can see both of your hands and your peripheral vision. And. This will just activate that part of your brain that is saying, Oh, we're in rest and relaxation mode.
[00:29:06] Because we, we don't have to be searching for predators right now. Basically, is what we're trying to tell our brain. So that's a good one. You may not be able to reach your hands out in every situation. You might be somewhere where you can't do that. but if you are somewhere where you can reach your hands out like that, that's a really good one to do.
[00:29:25] The next one I love, it's a self hug. So just, it's exactly what it sounds like. Just wrap your arms around yourself and give yourself a good squeeze and let it feel really comforting and tight and warm. And this again just activates all those good, good hormones and de-stress hormones. It's a really great calming experience that you can do anywhere.
[00:29:55] The next one is touching your own face. So, of course, wash your hands before you do this one. And I love it because When I first started doing it, I realized, like, how little I touch my own face. It's kind of like, I feel like as adults, too, we're sort of taught to stop touching our faces. And like, also for, you know, skin issues, like if you have ever struggled with acne or anything, it's like you don't want to touch your face because you don't want it to break out or be oily or anything.
[00:30:25] So again, just wash your hands before and, and that will really take care of that problem. And it just feels so soothing and so nice. A lot of times what I'll do is just have my full hand on the side of my face while I'm falling asleep. And that can really help with calming my nervous system before bedtime.
[00:30:46] Okay, the next one is massaging the ears. So, I love this one so much. I used to joke that this is like giving yourself a full body massage and it really is because in Chinese medicine, the entire body is represented on the ear. So if you can imagine an image of a baby in utero or a fetus in utero where the head is towards the bottom and the spine, you know, is curved, you know, off to the side, and then the feet and legs are sort of curled inwards on the top.
[00:31:28] And then if you can overlay that image on top of the shape of your ear, if you can imagine that. So the earlobe is where the fetal head would be, and then the outer rim of your ear is where the spine aligns.
[00:31:44] And then the top of your ear, kind of curling back in, is where the legs align. And, and knees and feet kind of fold in and wrap and fold back in towards the body. So in Chinese medicine, there are acupuncture points on the ear that correlate to these different parts of the body. So if we want to treat the head, for example, like to treat a headache or anything going on with the head, we would treat the ear lobe area where that fetal head would be.
[00:32:18] And then if we want to treat the neck or the back or low back area, we treat that. We put needles in the outer part of the ear right there, that outer rim of the ear. And then if we want to treat like any sort of internal organ, Issues or things like that, then we treat the, the inner whorls of the ear.
[00:32:39] So not the ear canal, not that far in, but the sort of like the flatter cartilage part on the inside. By massaging the whole entire ear, like really get into those nooks and crannies and you can do one ear at a time, or you can do them both at the same time and really increase your pleasure. What, what happens is you can really massage each part.
[00:33:06] You know, all the parts of your body and also you can balance and regulate your hormone systems and your internal organs. So really take your time and really go into all the crevices and, you know, really give yourself a good ear massage and it just works wonders. I love that one.
[00:33:26] An excellent is an old favorite I've done for a long time is to use lavender essential oil, and if you have access to this. This is a great thing to carry with you to just have on your person at all times like a little vial of it. And what you can do is just put a couple dabs on your temples. So your temple area is the area in between the side of your eye, between that, that area in front of your hairline.
[00:33:56] So that's your temple area. So just put a little dab there on each side, and then that is close enough to your nose where you can really smell it. And just smelling that lavender will be instantly calming. Sometimes I recommend even doing a couple dabs right under your nose. For some folks that's too intense, but some people really love it.
[00:34:17] So you can play around with that and see how close to your nose you want that lavender scent. But that's an instant de-stressor. I love that tool.
[00:34:28] Another one is to press on your eyeballs. So, this is great if you, especially if you tend to spend long hours in front of a computer screen and also it's really great if you tend to have high blood pressure.
[00:34:43] So if you tend to have low blood pressure, then definitely do not do this exercise because it can lower your blood pressure even more. That is my disclaimer for this one, for this tool. So, folks with low blood pressure, don't do this one. But if you have normal blood pressure or if you even, especially if you tend to have high blood pressure, what you want to do is lean your elbows on a desk or a table right in front of you while you're sitting down.
[00:35:12] And then rest your eyes closed into the palms. It's the heel of the palms of your hands. So each heel of each palm goes in each Eyeball. If that makes sense. It's hard to describe. I hope that you're with me here. So, you just let your head rest and relax in the palms of your hands, basically. The heel of the palm of your hands will really press on your eyeball and you can stay there for a couple minutes.
[00:35:42] And, oh, it just feels incredible if you have eye fatigue or if you've been staring at a screen for a long time. So I tend to do this, you know, every hour or so if I'm spending a lot of time on the computer. And it just, I feel instantly calm and it really helps to rejuvenate my eyes. Your vision will be a bit blurry right after this, so that's normal.
[00:36:05] So don't be alarmed if you're like, oh my gosh, I can't see now. It's just what happens when you press on your eyeballs for a little bit. So I probably wouldn't do it for more than a minute. Cause that's really all you need. And it just feels fantastic afterwards.
[00:36:22] The next one is something I've taught my patients for years. I love this one too. So you want to make a little pointer with your knuckle of your, I like to use my pointer finger. So I'll fold it, I'll fold it over and so that my knuckle is forming like a little sharp little pointer. And then I'll massage the base of my skull, where the back of my neck and the base of my skull meet.
[00:36:49] I'll just massage along that whole ridge. I'll press my knuckle into that whole area sort of going back and forth. So there's a lot of good acupuncture points along that, that base of your skull that when you press on them, they'll really release those causes of tension headaches. And you can kind of lean your head back as you do it so that the weight of your head can kind of help to get that knuckle pointer really in there. So that's a really good one.
[00:37:23] And lastly, this is one that I love. Is pressing on a point in Chinese medicine called yin tang, and it exists right between your eyebrows on your forehead. And some folks refer to this area as your third eye. I've heard it referred to as in yoga or meditation. And in Chinese medicine this point helps to regulate the pineal gland because that pineal gland is actually directly behind that point.
[00:37:53] And I've found that, so we needle it in Chinese medicine, but you can also press on it. Or you can also just think about pressing on it. Which I find fascinating that works. So if you're somewhere where you can't be touching your, you know, your face or pressing on your forehead, you can actually just imagine, just put your focus and your energy on that point between your eyebrows, or you can imagine yourself pressing on it. And just that alone is extremely calming and regulating. So, that's a really good one, too.
[00:38:31] So, those are your new tools in your de stress and anti anxiety toolbox. Use them well, use them often, and you're doing a great job. Life is hard, and I think that you're doing awesome. All right. I hope this was helpful for you.
[00:38:52] Thanks so much for joining me and I will see you in the next episode.
[00:38:59] Thanks for listening to the Intersectional Fertility Podcast. To get customized fertility recommendations based on your Whole Self Fertility Method element, join my mailing list at intersectionalfertility.com and get immediate access to my two minute quiz. If you like the show and want to hear more, tap subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.
[00:39:22] And please leave us a review, it really truly helps. The Intersectional Fertility Podcast is hosted by me, Jonas Rodriguez-Bouchier, and produced by Rozarie Productions, with original music by Jen Korte.
All content offered through The Intersectional Fertility Podcast is created for informational purposes only, it is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.