7 Lifestyle Strategies To Participate In Your 2-Week Wait
Don’t Wait, Participate! During The Two- Week Wait
Navigating The Two Week Wait.
You have finally made it! The day you have prepared for, embryo transfer day, has arrived. Some of you have invested many years, many surgeries and many tears for this moment to arrive. You are looking forward the sigh of relief upon seeing the *spark of light at implantation. You have done everything you possibly can to prepare your lining, your hormones and your emotions for this moment.
What I always hear however, is that after that spark of light upon transfer, what comes next is anything but a sign of relief. You begin what we know as the “2ww”, two week wait. The unburdened feeling you were hoping for isn’t there. Instead, most couples report that they feel anything but relaxed. Instead of floating around in faith based bliss, many report feeling worried and obsessed with each twinge, craving, emotion, and signs of fatigue. You know that overthinking will only make things worse but it can be impossible to stop thinking about future outcomes.
What can you do to shift away from fear and into faith based bliss?
So I want you to think of this time period sort of like that. No matter what the outcome, you will come out better than at the moment of transfer.
Better how? Your ability to handle stressful situations calmly with resilience will be increased. Your cellular (mitochondrial) functioning improved and less burdened. Your sleep will be deeper and you’ll awake with energy. Your digestion will be improved and free from symptoms. These are the symptoms you want. These are the symptoms of health that you need to cultivate no matter the outcome.
7 Lifestyle Strategies To Participate In Your 2-Week Wait:
1. Feng Shui Your Home- or at least Marie Kondo it!
You may be surprised to find out that Traditional Chinese Medicine has many tenets to it. Acupuncture, Chinese Herbology, Tui-na, I-Ching are among the list. And, so is Feng Shui. This is the art of moving energy, or qi, in your home so your life, relationships and health do not become stagnant. If you have been struggling with any aspect of your life, including fertility, applying some of the basic rules of feng shui to your home, especially your bedroom, is going to support you in achieving your wishes. If nothing else, do these three things:
– Clear out the clutter
– Move your bed, you may be sleeping over disruptive earth energies
– Clean out all the corners, these are important energetic areas of your home
2. Marie Kondo Your Thinking, Change The Channel Of Your Mind also known as meditation
How can you change the channel of your mind? The patterns that we’ve created in our thinking often go back many decades. We’ve all heard the phrase, worry is praying for what you don’t want.
It’s easy to say just stop worrying, just think about what you do want to create in your life. We all know that can be challenging.
These are deep patterns. When you think obsessively about something for a long time, you can’t just change the channel and have it stay on that channel. So when I say change the channel, I mean really stop what you are thinking about. Try to pay attention to your thoughts and your feelings. In Chinese medicine, the Chinese character for the mind has the heart character embedded in it. So very interesting! We know that the heart and mind are one but do we really feel that way? So we often separate out what we’re feeling and what we’re thinking, but we have to remind ourselves that it’s very interconnected.
“Stop, drop and roll with it”
- Stop what you’re doing first.
- Drop what you’re thinking and
- Roll out the red carpet to another hallway that is going to lead you to more faith, more peace and calm.
Feelings Create Thoughts
So your feelings are creating thoughts. Your thoughts are creating feelings. Which comes first? Who knows, but it is much easier to direct your thinking than it is to direct your feelings.
Feelings come and go. They are responding to things that are happening around us. We are constantly being triggered, whether or not you’re aware of your triggers is the question, because they can be very, very subtle. Start paying attention to your triggers. I think it’s a really good self-awareness challenge. And it’s something that I do a lot, it can be very subtle. How often are we just reacting to things? We can use the power of our minds to change and influence how we’re feeling. And it’s really that simple. But it’s hard work. You have to practice. The more you practice anything, the better off you’re going to be. Changing the channel of our mind to be neutral or above is an ongoing daily practice.
Unpacking The Issue: Trauma Work- if you don’t think you’re traumatized, you’re not paying attention!
The more you can pay attention to what’s going on in your mind and your emotions all the time, that’s where it really matters.
It’s how we are treating each other. I don’t know about the rest of you in the country, but here in upstate New York, I really feel like our social connections are deteriorating out in the public sphere. And I don’t know why exactly when you try to examine this very deeply. It doesn’t make sense. Really we’ve come through challenging times. We always have, and we always will. That means we have to stick together. We have to care about ourselves and each other. We have to try to show up for each other. And that’s hard.
That means that you are unpacking. That’s not my term. That’s a term that I got from my fellow SRI (somatic respiratory integration) practitioners. They use that term a lot to unpack the issue, the trigger, the feelings that you’re having. The more you can unpack in yourself, the more you’re able to show up for others. And it’s a lifelong practice. I have been working on my own conscious growth for 30 years, and it’s not over yet. There’s still more to do. The real juice that connects us together is our humanness. The things, you know, whether you eat ice cream for dinner every day or any excuse to eat mayonnaise for breakfast, whatever it is. And that’s kind of the fun part of each other that allows us to feel more connected and be really honest.
3. Stop waiting! Start living in between events. Every Minute Counts.
I often talk about, we don’t wanna think of our life as waiting, whether you’re waiting in traffic, waiting in the waiting room, waiting for ovulation, waiting for …….
Let’s get rid of that word. Let’s not wait, let’s live. We want to live our life. And every moment counts. Every time you have an opportunity, direct your mind in a more positive way.
Remember our nervous system governs our endocrine system. Our nervous system is what is wired to our emotional system, our emotional body, which I just explained is connected to our thinking mind. So we have to use these opportunities in life to change our thoughts, and stop worrying about what we don’t want.
So it’s hard to not be obsessed during this time about every little twinge, every food craving, everything. So here’s what I want you to do. No matter what the outcome is. I want you to use this time to improve yourself, your health, and your emotions. Okay? So a lot of folks, you know, struggle, whether it’s with COVID or other viral infections or whatever. And I tell everybody in the clinic to use this time to support themselves so that when they come out the other side, they are better and stronger.
If you do something for two weeks, you will feel a difference. You will be supporting your health on a cellular level. There are lots of things to do. Of course, we want you to have a positive result, but if you don’t and you utilize this two-week period to improve yourself, then your chances of conceiving the next time around are much higher. So, that’s how I think about it.
4. Tapping is another thing that I like. You can go on YouTube and look up The Emotional Freedom Technique. There are many easy ways you can tap. It’s all about moving your energy. When you get stuck in a groove, whether it’s thinking or feeling you have to get unstuck and how do we do that? We move our energy. Using your fingers to tap on specific acupuncture points can help move your qi as well as your emotions. Sometimes feeling that you are doing absolutely everything you can to improve your desired outcome is going to give you the most peace of mind. Tapping on these points might help prevent miscarriage, balance your energy and increase your vitality. If you google them, their location, function, and indication will appear.
- Du 20/Bai Hui
- Stomach 36/ ZuSanLi
- KI 27/ShuFu
Remember we are biochemical and bioelectrical beings. And all of that is connected to how we’re thinking and feeling.
5. Laughter. Find things that make you laugh, please. There are some really good comedians out there. Studies show that laughing releases nitric oxide, the miracle molecule that is also released during LED Light Therapy. There is nothing better than a deep belly laugh. So find shows, comedians & friends that make you laugh. It’s literally how we learn to “lighten up” which is essential if your goal is enlightenment.
6. Don’t eat poison, don’t watch poison
Whatever we are taking in our five senses can be considered a form of nutrition. It is what sustains us essentially. We know that sound affects us on a cellular level and is a form of healing. The same goes for scent. Everyone has experienced the scent of peppermint helping to clear an agitated mind. So it goes for what we are watching. Be clear and aware of what you’re taking in visually. We have a lot of power collectively to influence our lives in our communities. What if we all started watching shows about compassion, understanding, caring, etc. Instead, so many people are watching violent shows.
7. Random acts of kindness. This could mean anything from making new friends, smiling at strangers, or saying prayers for people as they cross the street in front of you. I do that one a lot! It’s so easy to use your creative mind and send wishes of happiness and success towards others. The list of how you can make the world a better place and be kind to others is endless. The less you think about your personal struggles and can focus more on others, the better you will feel. And, if the saying “we are all one” is true, then in fact benefiting others is benefiting yourself. So go for it! The easiest thing to give is money. However, most people really want attention, caring and kindness.
Are you ready to optimize your health? Book a session with me, Jennifer Waters, L.Ac., Dipl.Ac., ATMAT Certified Practitioner & Light Therapist
Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of Jennifer Waters and her office co-mates, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked. Jennifer Waters and her team encourage you to make your own health care decisions based on your research in partnership with a qualified health professional.
Resources:
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
The Fertile Secret: 10 Steps to Living Your Most Fertile Life by Dr. Robert Kiltz and Kathryn Simmons Flynn
The Tapping Solution: A Revolutionary System for Stress-Free Living by Nick Ortner
Loving Yourself to Great Health by Heather Dane and Louise Hay
Life-Changing Foods by Anthony Williams
*There are two times you can “see” the spark of light. One is at the time of egg meets sperm. They call this a zinc spark of light. The second spark of light is upon implantation.