You’re getting very sleepy ... you will have a baby

Couples struggling to conceive may find the biggest barrier to fertility is a mental one, Lynsi Eastburn says.

Eastburn, a Denver hypnotherapist, uses hypnosis to aid people with fertility problems and has trained therapists around the world in her Hypno-Fertility methods. She details her approach in a new book, “It’s Conceivable!”

She sees hypnosis as an effective tool for reducing stress and removing subconscious blocks stemming from issues such as an abortion, miscarriage or unresolved sexual trauma that may affect a woman’s ability to conceive.

Eastburn doesn’t claim to reverse medical conditions that can cause infertility, but she aims to achieve the best state of mind and body conducive to fertility.

“What I’m doing is helping the mind reset the body, basically,” she said.

Her work with fertility patients began with women seeking to relax as they underwent fertility treatments or hoping to overcome a fear of the needles used in in vitro fertilization. Success with those women led her to see broader uses for hypnosis in overcoming fertility problems.

“We started out as a general hypnotherapy practice, but I’m almost exclusively fertility now,” she said.

Patricia Lee, a licensed professional counselor in Colorado Springs, also has found hypnosis to be useful in resolving some fertility issues. It’s only one tool, she said, “but it’s awfully powerful.”

She doesn’t use Eastburn’s methods but has similar goals in easing stress and removing subconscious blocks.

“The work tends to be pretty indirect, using a lot of metaphorical work,” she said. For example, she might address fertility by encouraging the birth of ideas.

She has produced a CD, “Fertile Beginnings,” that promises to uplift and relax the listener with “metaphors of fertile thoughts, fertile mind and a fertile body.” She also leads therapy groups for individuals and couples struggling with infertility.

Dr. Paul Magarelli, medical director of the Reproductive Medicine & Fertility Center in Colorado Springs, doesn’t see hypnosis as a replacement for evaluation and medical treatment of fertility issues. But it could prove to be a useful adjunct, he said.

“I think it’s certainly worth investigating,” he said.

Magarelli has explored the mind-body connection in treating infertility, and said research supports combining high-tech in vitro fertilization with the ancient Chinese practice of acupuncture to boost success rates.

How it helps isn’t clear, but acupuncture has been shown to increase blood flow into the uterus and also may serve to reduce stress. According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, there’s little evidence stress can cause infertility, but it’s clear that women undergoing fertility treatments have a higher level of stress than others.

“I can go into the waiting room and identify patients who are doing acupuncture because they seem to be more relaxed and better able to cope with the cycles,” Magarelli said.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0272 or bill.radford@gazette.com

DETAILS

“It’s Conceivable” (Trafford Publishing, $21), by Lynsi Eastburn, is available at hypnofertility. com or amazon. com. To contact the Eastburn Hypnotherapy Center, call 1-303-424-2331. To order Patricia Lee’s “Fertile Beginnings” CD, $19, go to patricialeellc. com or call 268-6882.