September 3, 2025 • 49 mins
Fertility is often seen through a narrow medical lens, but in truth it’s a reflection of the body’s deeper wisdom. In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Aumatma Simmons, a double board-certified naturopathic endocrinologist and founder of Holistic Fertility Institute, about rethinking what it means to struggle with conception.
Together we explore how nourishment, rest, detoxification, and emotional healing can restore balance and open the path to conception. At its core, this conversation is about trust—listening to the body, honoring its signals, and reclaiming power on the fertility journey.
- Holistic health can significantly impact fertility.
- Infertility is often a protective mechanism of the body.
- Women should not feel broken during their fertility journey.
- Lifestyle adjustments can enhance fertility outcomes.
- Trauma can deeply affect reproductive health.
- Nutrition plays a crucial role in fertility.
- Hydration and sleep are foundational for reproductive health.
- Reducing environmental toxins is essential for fertility.
- Empowering women involves educating them about their bodies.
- Holistic practitioners can provide valuable support in fertility.
Visit Heallist.com - your portal to holistic healing, connecting seekers and thousands of practitioners across the globe.
Follow @heal_list on Instagram.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Yuli (00:00):
Hello, dear friends, and welcome back to another really
insightful episode of theHealist podcast.
I'm really, really thrilled tohave with us today an incredible
expert to talk about holistichealth and fertility, a subject
that's really truly close to myheart and, I think, to many,
many other people, I'm sure, alot of our listeners.
(00:21):
We're here having with us todayDr Omatma, and she's a double
board certified naturopathicendocrinologist and she's really
revolutionizing fertility careand, after witnessing countless
of couples struggling withinvasive treatments, she
pioneered a functional approachthat addresses the root causes
(00:44):
without drugs or financialstrain, and she helped hundreds
of medically hopeless couplesconceive naturally, and that's
one of the reasons I was reallyexcited to bring her on this
podcast and really give peoplethat light of hope.
And in addition to that andbeyond her clinical practice, dr
Ahmad Maiz trained hundreds ofphysicians and authored a
(01:05):
best-selling book and she hostsan award-winning podcast of her
own.
So really thrilled to have youwith us and I like to set
intention for each episode andfor this one, and I think it's
one of the missions of thispodcast also give people other
alternatives, give people otherchoices, and I know firsthand,
(01:27):
as I struggled with my owninfertility a few years back.
I felt like I had no choice andthe only other choice was very
invasive and very heavy on mybody.
So I love that there is nowpeople like yourself who are
coming out and spokespeople forthis issue that affecting so
(01:48):
many people.
But you're not just coming outwith a solution that is one
sided, you coming out with aholistic approach.
So I would like to just shedsome light on other options that
are out there right, and thenhighlight the fact that how
powerful we are as women and howbody our bodies are and empower
listeners on this journey.
(02:08):
So that's my intention Amazingamazing.
Aumatma (02:11):
Thank you for having me .
I'm very excited and I amaligned with your intention for
today Amazing.
Yuli (02:18):
So let's talk about fertility and holistic healing
right.
Oftentimes they don't go handin hand.
Like I mentioned most of thetimes firsthand experience, when
you're experiencing infertility, first of all, you're labeled
as infertility, which is whichis a problem to begin with,
which is a problem to talk aboutand two, you automatically put
(02:39):
it down this path.
That is very invasive andtasking your body.
Aumatma (02:44):
Can you?
Yuli (02:45):
talk about.
Where does holistic healingcome into that process and how
do you approach that andinfertility in general?
Aumatma (02:53):
Yeah, I, you know, I think that really the healing
and the holistic approach cancome in on all levels.
So I don't think it's just likelet's bring it in once you have
a diagnosis.
But even for me it starts waybefore we think about having
babies.
(03:13):
And if we can create thatmindset of, hey, I'm going to do
what I can do, what's in mypower to do to optimize my body,
in my power to do, to optimizemy body to prepare it for future
fertility, then A I'm going tolive a better life because
(03:34):
everything that you will do inorder to get fertile will also
help you feel amazing in yourbody.
And then, if and when I starttrying and if I have issues,
then I am looking for anunderstanding that is deeper
(03:54):
than the fix that's offered.
And the fix is interestingbecause IUI and IVF almost never
, except for two specificscenarios, and we can talk about
what those are but in mostpeople's cases they are not
(04:14):
actually solving a problem thatis identified.
It's just like, oh, this is nothappening, so we'll fix it for
you, right?
And there is no awareness ofwhat are all the things that can
be happening under the surface.
So infertility is differentbecause humanity me as an
(04:35):
individual on this planet cansurvive without reproducing.
Humanity as a whole can'tsurvive without reproducing, but
me as an individual, I can.
So reproduction is, I believe,like one of the only places
where we can shut it off and nothave any repercussion to our
(04:58):
day-to-day survival on thisplanet.
And that's why I believe somuch that our impetus it can be
survival or reproduction, but itcan't be both.
So anytime we shift intosurvival mode, anytime we're in
fight or flight, anytime we arefeeling unsafe in our bodies,
(05:21):
the wisest thing that our bodychooses to do is shut off
reproduction, and it's doing itas a protective mechanism.
Right, if it's not safe.
If there's a lion chasing me, Iprobably shouldn't be pregnant
right now.
Right Like that it throughevolution.
It never made sense for us tobe able to reproduce in times of
(05:43):
distress.
Yet so many of us aredistressed on a very basic level
all the time.
So reproduction shuts off.
It's our body trying to makethe best decision that it can,
given the information that ithad.
Yuli (05:59):
Absolutely, and I can tell you firsthand and I wish I met
you when I was going through myinfertility issues, because I
was completely in a survivalmode building a startup company,
all in everything on the line,solo founder, and then trying to
conceive without even thinkinghow those two can interfere with
(06:21):
each other.
Aumatma (06:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it's.
We don't think about it oftenthat way, right?
We, we as women, we take onthis identity of well, I want to
do it all, I'm going to do itnow, and often the the kind of
overcoming of that is still at acost to us in some ways.
(06:46):
So I, when we say holistic,like I want to ground it down to
like this is fertility is oneof the places where our body
absolutely needs every otherpart of it to function optimally
before it kicks backreproduction online.
(07:07):
And we've found amazingtechnology to like overcome and
kind of make up for the factwhen it's not working.
But I feel like we really haveto rethink how we think about
the technological options thatwe have and I'm not saying
they're bad, I think they'reamazing and I've seen them do
(07:29):
really incredible things.
But it's often as acompensation rather than like
let's get to the root of whyyour body thinks it's not safe.
Why is it in survival?
And if we can shift you out ofthat, most of the time
reproduction will kick backonline.
(07:50):
Sometimes in my practice I'vefound that there are times when
reproduction kicks back on butstill this couple can't conceive
in the timeline that they wantand in that case IVF is totally
reasonable.
Right?
We've done everything.
You're at optimal.
Your body's still notconceiving on your timeline
(08:12):
because you're like I want tohave had a baby three months,
three years ago, you know.
So in that case it's okay.
Well, we've done all the things, now go to IVF and it's going
to likely be more successful andyou can time it the way that
you want to.
So I think that there is aplace where we really could
(08:32):
benefit from looking at all ofthe underlying factors, seeing
how every like if we're thinkingabout all the factors gut,
thyroid, adrenals, blood sugar,insulin, methylation in the body
, foundational things areworking optimally before we go
(08:53):
to try to have a child, thenmost of the time it will be
easier.
Yuli (09:00):
Well, I think most people probably skip that step right to
looking inwards and analyzing.
Yes there's the blaming and youdo start feeling inadequate, but
they maybe fail to go thatextra step.
Okay, let's analyze what's inmy lifestyle that is not working
right now and what I'm incontrol of, that I can do today
(09:23):
and it doesn't need to be likeall or nothing, right?
We're not asking women to quittheir jobs and stressful lives
and absolutely my question toyou is like how do we balance
that and what does that processlook like of actually just maybe
give some examples of adjustinglifestyle very easily that can
lead to that successful outcomelifestyle very easily that can
(09:47):
lead to that successful outcome.
Aumatma (09:48):
Yeah, yeah, I.
There were a couple of things Iwant to address with what you
just said.
So first is we I will challengeus when, when shame or guilt or
the the self deprecation thatarises in the fertility journey,
I want to offer a reframe andthe reframe is it is not because
(10:11):
of you that your reproductionis shut off.
It is your body trying toprotect yourself and your future
child.
And if we can flip from thatshame to gratitude of like oh my
God, my body is like reallyaware that something is out of
(10:33):
whack and it shouldn't reproduceand allow me to reproduce right
now, and as soon as you takethat perspective on you say, oh
my God, you take thatperspective on, you say, oh my
God, I'm so grateful for my bodybecause it knows, even though I
didn't tell it, I didn't likehave to say anything to say
(10:54):
don't make me pregnant right now.
It's just happening becauseyour body wants the best for you
as well as your futuregeneration.
So I think we really canrepurpose this feeling, that
it's like a natural feeling thatcomes up like oh, something's
wrong with me, I'm broken,something's off, but really like
(11:17):
the magic I feel in our body,just knowing that this is not a
good time and there are hundredsof tests that we can do that
can prove or support what yourbody is saying.
So this is not like, well, Ican't get pregnant.
And Dr Omatma said you know,just like be grateful that I
(11:37):
can't get pregnant.
That's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying like that awarenesshelps to open a line of thinking
and query that can reallyuncover for us what is happening
under the surface and putscience behind it, rather than
like some woo-woo idea.
It's almost everyone.
(11:58):
I'm still looking forward tomeeting a couple that we can do
all of the testing on and theyhave nothing that is a clear
indicator of why they're notgetting pregnant.
So with the number of peoplethat get diagnosed with
quote-unquote for those youcan't see me unexplained
infertility, it is really likewe're not looking deep enough if
(12:24):
we're saying that someone hasunexplained infertility, because
every single time, even with I,had a 28 year old female and on
the surface everything lookedgreat, even her hormones look
great on the surface and doctorswere telling her oh, it's your
age, but they've been trying toget pregnant for three years.
To me like I don't understand.
(12:45):
You look fine, you look healthy, you guys have a healthy
lifestyle.
I'm not understanding.
And we do the blood work and her, her cortisol is at the bottom
of the barrel, almostnon-existent.
And I said to her have you hada really tough life?
(13:09):
Like?
You're so young, yet yourcortisol reserves look like
you're 60.
And she starts crying and she'slike oh my God, how did you
know that?
Like, how did you know?
And she's like my life has beenhorrendous.
And then she goes into all ofthe traumas that she's
(13:29):
experienced and I'm thereweeping with her because, oh my
God, you've been through so much.
Of course your reproduction isshut off, of course your body is
craving someone to just payattention and restore your
reserves before it goes on tohave a child.
So it's really like having donethis for 20 years.
(13:52):
I feel like there's so muchthat I have seen that brings me
to this awe that our bodies knowbetter than we do about when
it's the right time, what's theright thing for us, right, like
our bodies making thesedecisions without our brain
being involved.
Yuli (14:14):
Now I mean, I couldn't agree more with you.
It's so true and thank you forsharing that story.
I think a lot of listenerscould resonate with that,
because we all have some sort oftrauma.
Right, that's the point of ourexistence to experience those
things, experience the hardthings, one point that actually
(14:35):
interferes with our desire tocreate new life.
And then how do we go about it?
Because we also know anyonewho's ever been on a holistic
healing journey.
It's like endless process,right, you can probably process
that trauma now for years, andso I'm curious, how do you
(14:56):
approach cases like that thatyou know, okay, there's this
heavy trauma that needs to beprocessed.
But also, how do we do that ina way that still allows this
couple to to do that, I wouldsay, pretty quickly again, not
putting timelines on it, but itdoesn't take a lifetime and they
do have to get to experience achild absolutely and for her
(15:16):
like it's totally possible,right what they realized as I
talked to them.
Aumatma (15:22):
She has this particular couple very interesting story.
Her husband is an Air Forcepilot and he like they live in
California but he gets deployed.
Like every three or four weekshe's all away for a week in like
fighter planes where he couldbe striked down at any minute.
(15:45):
So it's not just her old trauma.
Like almost every time he'sdeployed she's going into fear
and survival that he's not goingto come back, right yeah, and
and he like they've beentogether since middle school,
they're the sweetest couple andshe's like he's my person in
(16:09):
this world.
He's all I have, and if I losehim, I will literally be
destroyed.
And that degree of fear andsurvival is like, listen, you
guys can try to have a babyright now, but I would really
work on rebuilding andreplenishing.
(16:31):
And I said to the guy likehelping her find safety in your
relationship, even while you'reaway, even while you're deployed
, creating some structuresaround you guys so that she can
feel safe regardless, andsimultaneously like replenish,
replenish, restore, restore.
(16:53):
And if you guys didn't try for alittle while and he's going to
be, I think he's done with hislike Air Force duty in like 18
months.
So I was like so if you spentthat 18 months not trying to
reproduce but instead reallyfocused on helping replenish her
from the bottom up andrestoring all of her body's
(17:15):
function, all of the things thatare like barely functioning, in
order for her to survive, whatwould that look like?
Like would that be an okay lifeIf, on the other side of that,
when you're back, you are likein a different place and you
guys can start trying again?
And they were really excitedabout that idea and they were
(17:35):
like, oh my God, thank you somuch, Like the freedom that I
could just see in their faces ofwe don't have to rush this
right now and her body like shehas plenty of eggs in her
ovaries.
there's no risk of her like, ohmy god, you're gonna be a year
and a half older, you're nevergonna get pregnant then, right,
so like making sure that?
(17:57):
Um, now, if that person was 41,we might have a very different
conversation at like with herage, with her hormones being
where they had been.
I was like this is focusing onfertility is the wrong thing
right now, and it will happenfor you a lot easier if you just
(18:19):
focus on filling up yourreserves.
Yuli (18:24):
I know it's kind of amazing and first of all, that
you gave such an advice, becauseit's so contradictory, right,
you come to a fertility doctor.
Right, what it tells you do notreproduce right now.
And this is what I love aboutholistic healing it's really,
it's such a personalized careand it's really from what I find
with a lot of holisticpractitioners that they're never
(18:46):
driven just by.
You know the greed, the data,whatever the success rates,
right, You're really truly ableto look at the person and say
maybe now it's not the righttime.
And it's such a so powerfulthat thank you for being out
there and not pushing, you know,this wonderful couple towards,
like, let's say, IVF cycle,which is even more stressful
(19:10):
than anything else.
So I just I'm grateful thatthere's people out out there
like yourself.
Aumatma (19:16):
Thank you, yeah, yeah, it was it's.
It's always like hard becauseyou don't know how this couple
is going to react and are theygoing to be upset with me
Because I don't want to helpthem get pregnant.
But they were very open andlike they've already done two
and a half two.
They were like in the middle ofan IVF cycle but had already
(19:38):
done two previous ones thatfailed and they were like what
can we do to like helpimplantation and I'm like just
save those embryos, let's justput those on pause.
So I'm sure their their IVFdoctor doesn't like me very much
, but that's okay, I'm okay withthat thank you for sharing that
(20:01):
yeah, yeah, um.
So the other part of yourquestion I have not forgotten
are what are some easy thingspeople can do to support their
fertility holistically, and Ithink there I call like the
foundation is something thateveryone can do all the time,
and it doesn't matter what ageyou are, it doesn't matter if
(20:22):
you're trying to get pregnantright now.
All of these things will helpsupport the foundation so that
either you're living morevitally or you're getting closer
to fertile, whichever it isthat you desire.
So first, food, like everyonetalks about food, eat a balanced
(20:43):
, varied, colorful,anti-inflammatory diet, and most
of those things you can do onyour own is you're eating lots
of fruits and vegetables, morevegetables than fruit.
I know we say fruits andvegetables together, but it's
really like seven to eightservings of vegetables, one to
(21:03):
two servings of fruit is theideal.
And then getting adequateprotein, not skipping the
complex carbohydrates which alot of women do.
So, as a woman, you needunprocessed carbohydrates.
So I'm not talking about breadand pasta, but I'm talking about
(21:23):
like a baked sweet potato orcarrots in a lentil soup or, you
know, like some potatoes intosomething.
Those things, the carbohydratesfrom that, are really going to
serve hormone production,specifically progesterone.
So a lot of women go intodeficiency of progesterone and
(21:46):
don't realize that it's comingfrom their like oh, I only eat
meat, or I eat a meat andvegetable diet and that's it.
And they're missing out on thiscore food group that our bodies
need specifically to producethe pro-life hormone called
progesterone.
So that's the food thing.
(22:07):
Anti-inflammatory foods usuallythe highest inflammatory foods
are going to be dairy soy gluten, dairy soy gluten, sugar, right
, and minimizing and orexcluding them from your diet is
perfectly fine.
And then the next piece of thatfoundation is going to be water
(22:29):
intake, and a lot of peopleforget that water.
Like our bodies are mostlywater, we need water to actually
get hormones to where they needto go.
So absolutely essential thatwe're hydrated.
And my secret, like easyformula for hydration, is half
your body weight in ounces andthen for every cup of coffee,
(22:51):
every one cup of coffee add fourcups of water of the same size.
So if it's an eight ounce, theneight times four.
If it's a 16 ounce cup ofcoffee, then 16 times four.
So add that to your baseline.
And then for every cup of teaand I'll get a lot of pushback
on this, I know.
So this is like all tea, notjust caffeinated tea, all tea.
(23:13):
You can add two cups of waterfor every cup.
So and the reason for that ismost teas are dehydrating.
So if you think about likeherbs, like nettle or red
raspberry these are commonthings that people are drinking
while they're trying to conceive, and those herbal teas are
actually still causing you topee more, which is going to be
(23:35):
dehydrating.
So you still have to compensatefor the fact that you're taking
in something, even if it's goodfor you.
You have to make sure that it'snot dehydrating you too much
and compensate for it.
So that's the water spiel.
And then the third foundationis sleep, and sleep is probably
the fastest way to fertility Ifwe can get good, high quality
(24:02):
sleep that is actuallyrestorative, meaning you don't
wake up multiple times throughthe night.
You are asleep and in deepsleep states.
We have a lot of data geeks inour clientele, so they'll have
an Oura ring and we'll betracking their sleep cycles and
we'll be tracking their sleepcycles.
Yuli (24:22):
Yeah, I'm obsessed.
I think it was like such alife-changing moment just to be
able to analyze your sleep andsee the differences right.
When you get a proper deepsleep, when I get a proper REM
like I could have done thisinterview if I didn't go to
proper REM last night, my brainwill be just all over the place
and it's just amazing to seethis data.
Aumatma (24:41):
Yeah, yeah, and, and it's just amazing to see this
data yeah, yeah, and it's likesuch good feedback.
So if they are the type ofpeople that want that feedback
like or a ring or one of theselike new rings that's out, it's
perfectly fine to help documentwhat's happening with the sleep
and help address sleep issues.
And then, if you have a ring ornot, usually you like the
(25:04):
couple of hours before bed,screens are going to throw off
the production of melatonin, soyou're going to get lower
quality sleep, but the melatoninbut ideally internally produced
(25:28):
that hormone is going to be themost potent antioxidant for our
reproductive system.
So literally, healing andrestoring reproduction is
happening while we sleep withthis hormone.
So one of my favorite things todo is get people to sleep more,
and it's not always easy.
Yuli (25:50):
But why is it so hard these days, in this lifetime?
I don't know.
Aumatma (25:55):
Gosh, it's hard.
It's hard for me.
I used to do this before we gotpregnant.
I was doing this religiously,but now I'm like, oh, but it's
my one hour to watch somethingon TV or Netflix or whatever.
So it's hard, I get it, Icompletely get it, and I think
that we, when we can get to aplace where we love our bodies
(26:18):
and how we feel, when we wake upmore than the hour or two hours
that you get to binge on yourfavorite TV show at night, like
when one outweighs the other,then it's going to be really
easy to make that choice.
It's usually when, in themoment, it feels like but this
(26:41):
is so good for me in terms ofwatching TV, then we don't
notice or we don't have enoughreflection in the morning to be
like I actually feel better ondays that I didn't watch or
didn't consume before going tobed.
And if I can become more awareof that, if I can say I'm at
(27:05):
like an 8 out of 10 energy whenI don't watch in the night the
night before, versus 6 out of 10when I do, then that awareness,
as we start making thoseconnections, our brain goes wait
a second, this is silly, likewhy am I choosing this if I know
I'm going to feel better if Idon't?
So behavior change ischallenging, as we know, believe
(27:28):
that awareness is kind of thekey to it, and we that awareness
, even for food, right Likepeople will always come in and
say it took gluten out of mydiet for three weeks and it
didn't do anything.
I'm like, okay, let's try it forsix weeks.
And they're like what?
It didn't do anything.
I'm like, okay, let's try itfor six weeks, and they're like
what it didn't do anything.
I'm like, just try it for alittle bit longer with a little
(27:49):
bit more awareness.
And what they will notice isnot when they eliminate it, but
when they add it back in andthey feel shitty again, like, oh
, I remember how I used to feel,right, and they're not going to
want to eat that food anymorebecause they feel crappy when
they eat it.
So it's just like making thoseconnections and giving the
(28:14):
feedback loop to your brain tobe like, hey, I don't actually
feel great when I do this thing,make me not do it anymore and
we will.
And like either we'll get thereor we need some coaching to get
there, as I yawn, so that Ithink those three are the
biggest foundations.
And the last foundation pieceis toxins.
(28:35):
And if we can rid ourenvironment and our body of
toxins as much as possible, itwill make a positive movement
towards fertility.
And the toxins are coming infrom literally everywhere.
So, um, I don't know if youwant to get into them today.
(28:57):
I we can if you want.
Yuli (28:59):
That's a whole other subject and that's like another,
my geeky side is findinganything from like environmental
toxins that I got into recently, which is a huge subject, like
indoor air quality, to you know,water as well, because I feel
(29:20):
like you know there's no otherway to really find out what's
wrong, because, right, like airand water, those are the things
that are really hard to diagnose.
But, two, there's some amazing,amazing technologies these days
that actually allow us, youknow as much as I feel like the,
(29:41):
the climate and the quality isgoing down but the level of
devices and technology is goingup so we're actually able to at
least diagnose it and thencorrect it if needed.
Aumatma (29:48):
Yeah, yeah and and like I think, with fertility.
Most well known are theplastics and the phthalates.
Phthalates are um in anythingthat has a fragrance or perfume,
so those things are easy to getrid of as much as possible.
(30:09):
You know you're not going to beperfect, you're not going to do
it perfect, but if you caneliminate and lower your input,
that's going to help your bodyfunction better.
Yuli (30:22):
Well, thank you for all this wealth of information.
Again, I wish I knew you when Iwas trying to conceive and
unfortunately I was one of thosepeople.
It was before my holistichealth journey, so I was still
in a place where I believeddoctors and fully trusted
medical advice, which oftenobviously, was great and I had
(30:43):
some amazing doctors.
But I wish there was also thisother layer, the holistic layer,
that maybe made this experiencenot as tasking on my body and
nervous system as it was.
That's one thing that I hope tobring to more women out there
and realize there's so muchinformation today, right, that
(31:06):
you can actually read.
And I think oftentimes this islike one area.
I think one area that peopleoften just go straight to, like
the medical advice, because it's, you know, fertility and it has
to be done in a lab and there'sthis perception.
But I don't think people eventhink.
Even people that areholistically inclined, I feel
(31:27):
like they don't always thinkabout it because they think it's
something so hard that it needsthat medical intervention,
right, yeah, so yeah it is, it'sit's tough because we've made
it.
Aumatma (31:42):
I feel like we have given our power away in some
ways, right like we, when women,especially women's health, has
been medicalized in every aspectfor centuries.
It's like you have PMS.
You're like like you're feelingupset about something.
(32:05):
You must be PMS.
If you're having hormonaldysregulation, let's give you
birth control.
If you're in perimenopause,let's pump you full of hormones.
Aspect of the female cycle isand has been kind of overtaken
(32:25):
by the medical world.
Even pregnancy, which, likeback in the day in tribal
communities, women had births intents and then at some point it
was like oh, it got toodangerous for you to have your
own baby, so you need to do itin a hospital setting so that
you can be safer.
So, like every like thing thathas been part of our bodies and
(32:53):
the way that our bodies function, has been kind of consumed by
the medical world as a problemand an issue to fix when it
comes to fertility, becausethere is, I believe, a lot of
(33:13):
misinformation and we don't tryto unlearn that information.
Then we have a situation wherewe willingly hand over our power
because we say, oh well, theymust know better than I do,
(33:34):
because you know I only have a20% chance of getting pregnant
on my own.
I'm going to start withstatistics.
Yuli (33:46):
Okay, I defined all of them and I'm just like one of
the things that I was proud ofbecause I had two of my babies
in my forties.
And with all of my diagnosticsand all of my stats, I had like
1% chance of having a baby andthen of having two separately.
So it's just, it was such apowerful proof for me I mean,
(34:11):
you can't get caught up in thosestatistics.
I always knew like I had thepower to, my body was healthy
and strong and I meant to be amother and I just refused to
look at that, right.
But I think, seeing so manywomen kind of struggling with
the statistics, right, well, Ionly have this chance and I only
(34:32):
have, like you know, one shot.
I mean we have plenty ofexamples at this point.
Even people that rely on thatprocess, right, and then, like,
give up and then getting kind ofnaturally because they're out
of that stress because of thatsystem puts you in that such a
stressful mode.
And then there's timelines andprotocols.
So just remembering our natureright and remembering how
(34:55):
powerful we are, it just isn'tsuch a simple remedy and part of
me also wishes that there ismore holistic practitioners out
there that helped womenunderstand this power and bring
them home, and bring them hometo their own body.
So I know you're passionateabout that as well.
I don't know if you want totalk specifically to, because we
(35:17):
do have a pretty big audienceof holistic healers who are
listening to this podcast.
What can they do in theirpractice that?
I feel like you know, fertilityis one of those things that
also a lot of healers try tomaybe stay away from because
it's been so medicalized rightOn both parts.
How can they help people onthis journey?
Aumatma (35:36):
Yeah, and so it's funny because I feel like a lot of
holistic practitioners come outof training and are like oh, I
specialize in fertility and insome ways it's a good thing
because they can help support.
When I talk to most of themit's like they're actually doing
(35:57):
preconception care, which ishelping support people to
optimize their body before theyget pregnant and before they
even start trying.
Fertility is a little morenuanced and has a lot of layers
and it's almost likespecializing in 15 things as
(36:22):
part of fertility, because youhave to be able to do all of
these other things really well.
You have to get to all the rootcauses.
You have to be really good atgetting to the root cause and
then you have to be able to help, support and navigate that
person through whatever the rootcauses are, and ideally you're
doing that in a very shortperiod of time, because they
(36:44):
only have so much time beforethey need to go get pregnant.
So fertility is a funny thingand when I this is probably like
seven years ago now I had a fewpractitioners that kept coming
to me and be like I need you totrain me on what you do, and I
(37:04):
was like I don't have a trainingprogram.
Like I don't know what thatwould even look like.
I'm just doing naturopathicmedicine, right.
Like I was like what are youtalking about?
I'm just doing the basics.
And they're like no, you'redoing something different and we
can see it from the outside,but we don't know what it is and
we need you to train us.
And so over.
(37:25):
At some point one of themconvinced me to do a training
program, so I started it andthen it's been continuing and I
speak at a lot of conferences,so a lot of practitioners get
trained just from that, likefigure out.
Like if these things werehappening, this is how you would
approach it from a holisticperspective, because this is how
(37:46):
our world is right.
Like everyone's.
Like just give me the protocol,give me the shortcut, and I'm
like nope, that does not exist.
And the reason it doesn't existis because every person in
(38:15):
front of you is unique andthey're an individual.
Even their expression of gutissues is going to be different.
So there's no magical gutprotocol that's going to fix all
of it.
It's going to be what is theissue and what makes sense for
this person.
So I really, like, took on thisidea that I want people, I want
(38:38):
practitioners to be able tothink through it, instead of
it's a protocol.
Yuli (38:45):
I'm just going to like slam it down your throat,
because that's what my teachersaid to do this is where you
know ai gets really interesting,right like if you can be just
replaced by ai, you can justslam a protocol on it.
Why do you need a person?
Even why do you need a human?
Aumatma (39:03):
right, yep, and and I tell, like what we have?
Um, have five, sixpractitioners right now who are
coming towards the end of theirmentorship, and AI this year has
been kind of insane.
So they're all like oh my God,we're going to graduate from
this and we're not going to haveany clients, because everyone's
(39:25):
just going to AI for fertilitysupport.
And I'm like listen, they'renot taking over what I do.
I don't think they're takingover what you do, because you
have learned how to think, andthat is what's missing in our
education system is to actuallymake connections that AI cannot
(39:46):
make and prove it to them againand again.
Almost every other week there'sa new client that will come in
and say I plugged in all of mylabs into AI and this is what it
told me.
And I'm like and what did youthink about that?
Like you're still here, soobviously you want my thoughts
(40:06):
on this and they're like well,it sort of was right, but it
missed these other things that Ihave going on and I don't see
how it's connected and I don'tknow how to make sense of it in
the context of fertility and I'mlike great, let's go through
all of your labs, from what Isee, and then we can circle back
to this AI thing and we'll gothrough their labs from my
(40:29):
perspective and they, we get tothe end of it and they're like
this was very different fromwhat AI said.
Like, yeah, I know, like Ididn't want to tell you that at
the beginning, but I know, I'maware.
Yuli (40:41):
Thank you for sharing that .
So this program sounds reallywonderful.
Is it open to only physiciansor holistic practitioners of
different modalities can do thatas well.
Aumatma (40:57):
Yeah, we have a lot of different types of practitioners
.
It's practitioners that haveaccess to ordering lab work that
we can accept.
So, like you don't have tounderstand all the labs.
We go through it.
We'll explain how to like dothe interpretations, but you
have to be able to order itwherever you are.
(41:18):
So we have, for example, wehave a practitioner in Germany
right now who is doing thetraining and in her country
she's able to order a lab work.
So even though she's not adoctor and like doesn't have a
certification of any sort thatwould allow it in the US, she
has that authority in Germany.
(41:39):
So I'm like great, that works.
As long as you can do what youneed to do where you are, then
we can work around it.
Yuli (41:49):
You need to do where you are, then we can work around it.
I love that.
I love that you're kind ofcreating a whole other path for
people to not just receive thecare but also give this care,
because we need more people likeyou and we need more people
with holistic approach in thisfertility industry right, and
even though they might be notadministering the treatment
itself, but just to have otherkind of layers to that process
(42:12):
right.
That is so one sided right now.
I just love what you do and, aswe, I feel like I can.
I have so many more questionsfor you.
We can talk about the subjectforever, because I just been on
the trenches.
It's been, like you know, good,like I would say, five years of
my life.
Aumatma (42:27):
Yeah.
Yuli (42:27):
Not more.
And I feel like I had to becomemy own doctor and I had to
educate myself and a lot ofthose things and just even you
know, question.
I come from a background oflike questioning everything,
just because I grew up in thecommunist Russia and I learned
early on in my age that thingsneed to be questioned.
Yeah, you can't just takeeverything.
(42:48):
Yeah, I can't just takeeverything.
Yeah, I can't, you know, bebrainwashed.
So I would be the one who wouldask all those questions my
doctor what is this metric andwhat does this say?
Aumatma (42:56):
yeah, I'm sure they loved it.
Yuli (42:59):
They're like oh yuli, here we go it's just, you know, it's
fascinating because I feel likeyou know, I want to understand
what's happening in my body.
Just such a powerful tool.
So you have these diagnosticstoday.
But I think it's also veryimportant for you actually, you
know, to read it and, yes, havea practitioner, have the chat
(43:20):
gpt version, have thepractitioner version but also
for you yourself to understandreally what it means and what's
happening in your body, Just soempowering, I think, just to go
through that process and reallybe like attuned, Like I'm.
I'm also like 50% analytic, like50% of life left brain, 50%
(43:40):
right brain so it's importantfor me to feel, to see the data
but also compare it to my ownfeelings.
Okay, I can feel this on mybody or, you know, I do have
this kind of symptom.
So I just want to empowerpeople to also get like their
own knowledge, but also workwith somebody who can give you
those other perspectives right,not just like one sided picture,
or maybe work with multiplepractitioners or multiple
(44:03):
doctors that you can then kindof make your own decision and
use your intuition, even right,to see who's right for you.
Aumatma (44:11):
Yep, I think it's.
And a lot of people will sayI'm talking to like five other
people and I'm going to try tofigure this out and I'm like
great, what are you going to useto figure out who's the right
person?
And they'll be like I don'tknow logic and like whoever's
the least expensive and blah,blah, blah.
You know like they'll kind ofthere isn't a good framework to
(44:35):
make these types of decisions.
I said, okay, what I would likeyou to do is take away all the
logic, Just put it aside forlike 20 minutes and sit, sit
with yourself, sit with eachother, get into the heart space
and see what your intuitionwants you to do.
And your intuition will guideyou to who the right person is.
(44:57):
Because the reality is likethere's so many different ways
and lots of practitioners and somany amazing people.
You just need to find the onefor you.
And when you find that one, youwill know.
And if it's not me, cool, noproblem, just let us know.
It's all good and it's like itwill be so freeing to be like oh
(45:21):
, I can just like listen to myintuition.
What's that Right?
Like, yeah, I could.
I could talk for days onintuition.
Yuli (45:31):
Okay, so you'll have to come back and we're gonna talk
about intuition, but as we'rerunning out of time, I wanted to
ask you any parting words ofwisdom, anything you would like
to share with our listeners?
Aumatma (45:44):
For those that are trying on the fertility journey,
if you've been trying for a bit, or even if you're just
starting out on your journey, ifthere's a part of you going
back to this intuition, ifthere's a part of you that feels
like something's not right,something's missing, your cycles
feel out of whack and you'relike trying to ask your doctor
(46:06):
what to do about it.
These are the exact people thatI have been building this app.
It's called Madre Fertility andyou can access it online.
It's MadreFertilitycom, and itis an app that will help you get
to the root cause of yourpotential fertility struggles.
Even if, like I said, even ifyou're not trying yet and you're
(46:29):
not sure that it's going to bea struggle, it's okay, you don't
need to wait right.
This idea that we need to tryfor six to 12 months before we
get any kind of support to me islike dumb.
It's totally dumb.
It's like wait, we're going towait six to 12 months.
We're going to have these womenfeeling like they're doing
(46:54):
something wrong, notunderstanding how to make sense
of what's happening, only to betold oh sorry, you're infertile,
go get IVF Right.
Like the whole system is justmessed up.
So, anyway, this I'm like,really upset about it, which is
why I've spent like three yearsworking with a tech genius to
(47:19):
try and create a way for peopleto get feedback about what could
be happening.
It's not a diagnostic tool getfeedback about what could be
happening.
It's not a diagnostic tool.
It is just a tool to help youbetter understand what your body
might be saying and if it'ssignaling like hey, you might
have some gut hormone issueslike let's deal with those
(47:43):
before you get to the point ofnow.
You've been waiting a yearhoping that something would
happen when your body wasn'tgoing to let it happen in the
first place.
Yuli (47:53):
So save time, save time.
Thank you for developing that.
I love that you're also movinginto the tech space.
We need more people like you inour industry yeah, all that,
yeah, awesome, um, yeah.
Aumatma (48:09):
So I hope.
I hope that we can change howwe think about fertility.
That's my goal is like getevery woman on this planet to
think differently aboutfertility.
To go from the extreme of.
It's going to happen at thedrop of a hat.
The very first time I try to,my fertility is going to
(48:33):
suddenly drop off of a cliff at35.
There are literally bothextremes that don't make sense.
So let's just make it makesense.
Let's demystify all of it.
Yuli (48:44):
I love your message and thank you for all the work you
do and for all the trainings aswell that you provide into
practitioners.
Such a pleasure to have you.
Aumatma (48:53):
Thank you for having me Take care.
Hello, dear friends, and welcome back to another really
insightful episode of theHealist podcast.
I'm really, really thrilled tohave with us today an incredible
expert to talk about holistichealth and fertility, a subject
that's really truly close to myheart and, I think, to many,
many other people, I'm sure, alot of our listeners.
(00:21):
We're here having with us todayDr Omatma, and she's a double
board certified naturopathicendocrinologist and she's really
revolutionizing fertility careand, after witnessing countless
of couples struggling withinvasive treatments, she
pioneered a functional approachthat addresses the root causes
(00:44):
without drugs or financialstrain, and she helped hundreds
of medically hopeless couplesconceive naturally, and that's
one of the reasons I was reallyexcited to bring her on this
podcast and really give peoplethat light of hope.
And in addition to that andbeyond her clinical practice, dr
Ahmad Maiz trained hundreds ofphysicians and authored a
(01:05):
best-selling book and she hostsan award-winning podcast of her
own.
So really thrilled to have youwith us and I like to set
intention for each episode andfor this one, and I think it's
one of the missions of thispodcast also give people other
alternatives, give people otherchoices, and I know firsthand,
(01:27):
as I struggled with my owninfertility a few years back.
I felt like I had no choice andthe only other choice was very
invasive and very heavy on mybody.
So I love that there is nowpeople like yourself who are
coming out and spokespeople forthis issue that affecting so
(01:48):
many people.
But you're not just coming outwith a solution that is one
sided, you coming out with aholistic approach.
So I would like to just shedsome light on other options that
are out there right, and thenhighlight the fact that how
powerful we are as women and howbody our bodies are and empower
listeners on this journey.
(02:08):
So that's my intention Amazingamazing.
Aumatma (02:11):
Thank you for having me .
I'm very excited and I amaligned with your intention for
today Amazing.
Yuli (02:18):
So let's talk about fertility and holistic healing
right.
Oftentimes they don't go handin hand.
Like I mentioned most of thetimes firsthand experience, when
you're experiencing infertility, first of all, you're labeled
as infertility, which is whichis a problem to begin with,
which is a problem to talk aboutand two, you automatically put
(02:39):
it down this path.
That is very invasive andtasking your body.
Aumatma (02:44):
Can you?
Yuli (02:45):
talk about.
Where does holistic healingcome into that process and how
do you approach that andinfertility in general?
Aumatma (02:53):
Yeah, I, you know, I think that really the healing
and the holistic approach cancome in on all levels.
So I don't think it's just likelet's bring it in once you have
a diagnosis.
But even for me it starts waybefore we think about having
babies.
(03:13):
And if we can create thatmindset of, hey, I'm going to do
what I can do, what's in mypower to do to optimize my body,
in my power to do, to optimizemy body to prepare it for future
fertility, then A I'm going tolive a better life because
(03:34):
everything that you will do inorder to get fertile will also
help you feel amazing in yourbody.
And then, if and when I starttrying and if I have issues,
then I am looking for anunderstanding that is deeper
(03:54):
than the fix that's offered.
And the fix is interestingbecause IUI and IVF almost never
, except for two specificscenarios, and we can talk about
what those are but in mostpeople's cases they are not
(04:14):
actually solving a problem thatis identified.
It's just like, oh, this is nothappening, so we'll fix it for
you, right?
And there is no awareness ofwhat are all the things that can
be happening under the surface.
So infertility is differentbecause humanity me as an
(04:35):
individual on this planet cansurvive without reproducing.
Humanity as a whole can'tsurvive without reproducing, but
me as an individual, I can.
So reproduction is, I believe,like one of the only places
where we can shut it off and nothave any repercussion to our
(04:58):
day-to-day survival on thisplanet.
And that's why I believe somuch that our impetus it can be
survival or reproduction, but itcan't be both.
So anytime we shift intosurvival mode, anytime we're in
fight or flight, anytime we arefeeling unsafe in our bodies,
(05:21):
the wisest thing that our bodychooses to do is shut off
reproduction, and it's doing itas a protective mechanism.
Right, if it's not safe.
If there's a lion chasing me, Iprobably shouldn't be pregnant
right now.
Right Like that it throughevolution.
It never made sense for us tobe able to reproduce in times of
(05:43):
distress.
Yet so many of us aredistressed on a very basic level
all the time.
So reproduction shuts off.
It's our body trying to makethe best decision that it can,
given the information that ithad.
Yuli (05:59):
Absolutely, and I can tell you firsthand and I wish I met
you when I was going through myinfertility issues, because I
was completely in a survivalmode building a startup company,
all in everything on the line,solo founder, and then trying to
conceive without even thinkinghow those two can interfere with
(06:21):
each other.
Aumatma (06:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it's.
We don't think about it oftenthat way, right?
We, we as women, we take onthis identity of well, I want to
do it all, I'm going to do itnow, and often the the kind of
overcoming of that is still at acost to us in some ways.
(06:46):
So I, when we say holistic,like I want to ground it down to
like this is fertility is oneof the places where our body
absolutely needs every otherpart of it to function optimally
before it kicks backreproduction online.
(07:07):
And we've found amazingtechnology to like overcome and
kind of make up for the factwhen it's not working.
But I feel like we really haveto rethink how we think about
the technological options thatwe have and I'm not saying
they're bad, I think they'reamazing and I've seen them do
(07:29):
really incredible things.
But it's often as acompensation rather than like
let's get to the root of whyyour body thinks it's not safe.
Why is it in survival?
And if we can shift you out ofthat, most of the time
reproduction will kick backonline.
(07:50):
Sometimes in my practice I'vefound that there are times when
reproduction kicks back on butstill this couple can't conceive
in the timeline that they wantand in that case IVF is totally
reasonable.
Right?
We've done everything.
You're at optimal.
Your body's still notconceiving on your timeline
(08:12):
because you're like I want tohave had a baby three months,
three years ago, you know.
So in that case it's okay.
Well, we've done all the things, now go to IVF and it's going
to likely be more successful andyou can time it the way that
you want to.
So I think that there is aplace where we really could
(08:32):
benefit from looking at all ofthe underlying factors, seeing
how every like if we're thinkingabout all the factors gut,
thyroid, adrenals, blood sugar,insulin, methylation in the body
, foundational things areworking optimally before we go
(08:53):
to try to have a child, thenmost of the time it will be
easier.
Yuli (09:00):
Well, I think most people probably skip that step right to
looking inwards and analyzing.
Yes there's the blaming and youdo start feeling inadequate, but
they maybe fail to go thatextra step.
Okay, let's analyze what's inmy lifestyle that is not working
right now and what I'm incontrol of, that I can do today
(09:23):
and it doesn't need to be likeall or nothing, right?
We're not asking women to quittheir jobs and stressful lives
and absolutely my question toyou is like how do we balance
that and what does that processlook like of actually just maybe
give some examples of adjustinglifestyle very easily that can
lead to that successful outcomelifestyle very easily that can
(09:47):
lead to that successful outcome.
Aumatma (09:48):
Yeah, yeah, I.
There were a couple of things Iwant to address with what you
just said.
So first is we I will challengeus when, when shame or guilt or
the the self deprecation thatarises in the fertility journey,
I want to offer a reframe andthe reframe is it is not because
(10:11):
of you that your reproductionis shut off.
It is your body trying toprotect yourself and your future
child.
And if we can flip from thatshame to gratitude of like oh my
God, my body is like reallyaware that something is out of
(10:33):
whack and it shouldn't reproduceand allow me to reproduce right
now, and as soon as you takethat perspective on you say, oh
my God, you take thatperspective on, you say, oh my
God, I'm so grateful for my bodybecause it knows, even though I
didn't tell it, I didn't likehave to say anything to say
(10:54):
don't make me pregnant right now.
It's just happening becauseyour body wants the best for you
as well as your futuregeneration.
So I think we really canrepurpose this feeling, that
it's like a natural feeling thatcomes up like oh, something's
wrong with me, I'm broken,something's off, but really like
(11:17):
the magic I feel in our body,just knowing that this is not a
good time and there are hundredsof tests that we can do that
can prove or support what yourbody is saying.
So this is not like, well, Ican't get pregnant.
And Dr Omatma said you know,just like be grateful that I
(11:37):
can't get pregnant.
That's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying like that awarenesshelps to open a line of thinking
and query that can reallyuncover for us what is happening
under the surface and putscience behind it, rather than
like some woo-woo idea.
It's almost everyone.
(11:58):
I'm still looking forward tomeeting a couple that we can do
all of the testing on and theyhave nothing that is a clear
indicator of why they're notgetting pregnant.
So with the number of peoplethat get diagnosed with
quote-unquote for those youcan't see me unexplained
infertility, it is really likewe're not looking deep enough if
(12:24):
we're saying that someone hasunexplained infertility, because
every single time, even with I,had a 28 year old female and on
the surface everything lookedgreat, even her hormones look
great on the surface and doctorswere telling her oh, it's your
age, but they've been trying toget pregnant for three years.
To me like I don't understand.
(12:45):
You look fine, you look healthy, you guys have a healthy
lifestyle.
I'm not understanding.
And we do the blood work and her, her cortisol is at the bottom
of the barrel, almostnon-existent.
And I said to her have you hada really tough life?
(13:09):
Like?
You're so young, yet yourcortisol reserves look like
you're 60.
And she starts crying and she'slike oh my God, how did you
know that?
Like, how did you know?
And she's like my life has beenhorrendous.
And then she goes into all ofthe traumas that she's
(13:29):
experienced and I'm thereweeping with her because, oh my
God, you've been through so much.
Of course your reproduction isshut off, of course your body is
craving someone to just payattention and restore your
reserves before it goes on tohave a child.
So it's really like having donethis for 20 years.
(13:52):
I feel like there's so muchthat I have seen that brings me
to this awe that our bodies knowbetter than we do about when
it's the right time, what's theright thing for us, right, like
our bodies making thesedecisions without our brain
being involved.
Yuli (14:14):
Now I mean, I couldn't agree more with you.
It's so true and thank you forsharing that story.
I think a lot of listenerscould resonate with that,
because we all have some sort oftrauma.
Right, that's the point of ourexistence to experience those
things, experience the hardthings, one point that actually
(14:35):
interferes with our desire tocreate new life.
And then how do we go about it?
Because we also know anyonewho's ever been on a holistic
healing journey.
It's like endless process,right, you can probably process
that trauma now for years, andso I'm curious, how do you
(14:56):
approach cases like that thatyou know, okay, there's this
heavy trauma that needs to beprocessed.
But also, how do we do that ina way that still allows this
couple to to do that, I wouldsay, pretty quickly again, not
putting timelines on it, but itdoesn't take a lifetime and they
do have to get to experience achild absolutely and for her
(15:16):
like it's totally possible,right what they realized as I
talked to them.
Aumatma (15:22):
She has this particular couple very interesting story.
Her husband is an Air Forcepilot and he like they live in
California but he gets deployed.
Like every three or four weekshe's all away for a week in like
fighter planes where he couldbe striked down at any minute.
(15:45):
So it's not just her old trauma.
Like almost every time he'sdeployed she's going into fear
and survival that he's not goingto come back, right yeah, and
and he like they've beentogether since middle school,
they're the sweetest couple andshe's like he's my person in
(16:09):
this world.
He's all I have, and if I losehim, I will literally be
destroyed.
And that degree of fear andsurvival is like, listen, you
guys can try to have a babyright now, but I would really
work on rebuilding andreplenishing.
(16:31):
And I said to the guy likehelping her find safety in your
relationship, even while you'reaway, even while you're deployed
, creating some structuresaround you guys so that she can
feel safe regardless, andsimultaneously like replenish,
replenish, restore, restore.
(16:53):
And if you guys didn't try for alittle while and he's going to
be, I think he's done with hislike Air Force duty in like 18
months.
So I was like so if you spentthat 18 months not trying to
reproduce but instead reallyfocused on helping replenish her
from the bottom up andrestoring all of her body's
(17:15):
function, all of the things thatare like barely functioning, in
order for her to survive, whatwould that look like?
Like would that be an okay lifeIf, on the other side of that,
when you're back, you are likein a different place and you
guys can start trying again?
And they were really excitedabout that idea and they were
(17:35):
like, oh my God, thank you somuch, Like the freedom that I
could just see in their faces ofwe don't have to rush this
right now and her body like shehas plenty of eggs in her
ovaries.
there's no risk of her like, ohmy god, you're gonna be a year
and a half older, you're nevergonna get pregnant then, right,
so like making sure that?
(17:57):
Um, now, if that person was 41,we might have a very different
conversation at like with herage, with her hormones being
where they had been.
I was like this is focusing onfertility is the wrong thing
right now, and it will happenfor you a lot easier if you just
(18:19):
focus on filling up yourreserves.
Yuli (18:24):
I know it's kind of amazing and first of all, that
you gave such an advice, becauseit's so contradictory, right,
you come to a fertility doctor.
Right, what it tells you do notreproduce right now.
And this is what I love aboutholistic healing it's really,
it's such a personalized careand it's really from what I find
with a lot of holisticpractitioners that they're never
(18:46):
driven just by.
You know the greed, the data,whatever the success rates,
right, You're really truly ableto look at the person and say
maybe now it's not the righttime.
And it's such a so powerfulthat thank you for being out
there and not pushing, you know,this wonderful couple towards,
like, let's say, IVF cycle,which is even more stressful
(19:10):
than anything else.
So I just I'm grateful thatthere's people out out there
like yourself.
Aumatma (19:16):
Thank you, yeah, yeah, it was it's.
It's always like hard becauseyou don't know how this couple
is going to react and are theygoing to be upset with me
Because I don't want to helpthem get pregnant.
But they were very open andlike they've already done two
and a half two.
They were like in the middle ofan IVF cycle but had already
(19:38):
done two previous ones thatfailed and they were like what
can we do to like helpimplantation and I'm like just
save those embryos, let's justput those on pause.
So I'm sure their their IVFdoctor doesn't like me very much
, but that's okay, I'm okay withthat thank you for sharing that
(20:01):
yeah, yeah, um.
So the other part of yourquestion I have not forgotten
are what are some easy thingspeople can do to support their
fertility holistically, and Ithink there I call like the
foundation is something thateveryone can do all the time,
and it doesn't matter what ageyou are, it doesn't matter if
(20:22):
you're trying to get pregnantright now.
All of these things will helpsupport the foundation so that
either you're living morevitally or you're getting closer
to fertile, whichever it isthat you desire.
So first, food, like everyonetalks about food, eat a balanced
(20:43):
, varied, colorful,anti-inflammatory diet, and most
of those things you can do onyour own is you're eating lots
of fruits and vegetables, morevegetables than fruit.
I know we say fruits andvegetables together, but it's
really like seven to eightservings of vegetables, one to
(21:03):
two servings of fruit is theideal.
And then getting adequateprotein, not skipping the
complex carbohydrates which alot of women do.
So, as a woman, you needunprocessed carbohydrates.
So I'm not talking about breadand pasta, but I'm talking about
(21:23):
like a baked sweet potato orcarrots in a lentil soup or, you
know, like some potatoes intosomething.
Those things, the carbohydratesfrom that, are really going to
serve hormone production,specifically progesterone.
So a lot of women go intodeficiency of progesterone and
(21:46):
don't realize that it's comingfrom their like oh, I only eat
meat, or I eat a meat andvegetable diet and that's it.
And they're missing out on thiscore food group that our bodies
need specifically to producethe pro-life hormone called
progesterone.
So that's the food thing.
(22:07):
Anti-inflammatory foods usuallythe highest inflammatory foods
are going to be dairy soy gluten, dairy soy gluten, sugar, right
, and minimizing and orexcluding them from your diet is
perfectly fine.
And then the next piece of thatfoundation is going to be water
(22:29):
intake, and a lot of peopleforget that water.
Like our bodies are mostlywater, we need water to actually
get hormones to where they needto go.
So absolutely essential thatwe're hydrated.
And my secret, like easyformula for hydration, is half
your body weight in ounces andthen for every cup of coffee,
(22:51):
every one cup of coffee add fourcups of water of the same size.
So if it's an eight ounce, theneight times four.
If it's a 16 ounce cup ofcoffee, then 16 times four.
So add that to your baseline.
And then for every cup of teaand I'll get a lot of pushback
on this, I know.
So this is like all tea, notjust caffeinated tea, all tea.
(23:13):
You can add two cups of waterfor every cup.
So and the reason for that ismost teas are dehydrating.
So if you think about likeherbs, like nettle or red
raspberry these are commonthings that people are drinking
while they're trying to conceive, and those herbal teas are
actually still causing you topee more, which is going to be
(23:35):
dehydrating.
So you still have to compensatefor the fact that you're taking
in something, even if it's goodfor you.
You have to make sure that it'snot dehydrating you too much
and compensate for it.
So that's the water spiel.
And then the third foundationis sleep, and sleep is probably
the fastest way to fertility Ifwe can get good, high quality
(24:02):
sleep that is actuallyrestorative, meaning you don't
wake up multiple times throughthe night.
You are asleep and in deepsleep states.
We have a lot of data geeks inour clientele, so they'll have
an Oura ring and we'll betracking their sleep cycles and
we'll be tracking their sleepcycles.
Yuli (24:22):
Yeah, I'm obsessed.
I think it was like such alife-changing moment just to be
able to analyze your sleep andsee the differences right.
When you get a proper deepsleep, when I get a proper REM
like I could have done thisinterview if I didn't go to
proper REM last night, my brainwill be just all over the place
and it's just amazing to seethis data.
Aumatma (24:41):
Yeah, yeah, and, and it's just amazing to see this
data yeah, yeah, and it's likesuch good feedback.
So if they are the type ofpeople that want that feedback
like or a ring or one of theselike new rings that's out, it's
perfectly fine to help documentwhat's happening with the sleep
and help address sleep issues.
And then, if you have a ring ornot, usually you like the
(25:04):
couple of hours before bed,screens are going to throw off
the production of melatonin, soyou're going to get lower
quality sleep, but the melatoninbut ideally internally produced
(25:28):
that hormone is going to be themost potent antioxidant for our
reproductive system.
So literally, healing andrestoring reproduction is
happening while we sleep withthis hormone.
So one of my favorite things todo is get people to sleep more,
and it's not always easy.
Yuli (25:50):
But why is it so hard these days, in this lifetime?
I don't know.
Aumatma (25:55):
Gosh, it's hard.
It's hard for me.
I used to do this before we gotpregnant.
I was doing this religiously,but now I'm like, oh, but it's
my one hour to watch somethingon TV or Netflix or whatever.
So it's hard, I get it, Icompletely get it, and I think
that we, when we can get to aplace where we love our bodies
(26:18):
and how we feel, when we wake upmore than the hour or two hours
that you get to binge on yourfavorite TV show at night, like
when one outweighs the other,then it's going to be really
easy to make that choice.
It's usually when, in themoment, it feels like but this
(26:41):
is so good for me in terms ofwatching TV, then we don't
notice or we don't have enoughreflection in the morning to be
like I actually feel better ondays that I didn't watch or
didn't consume before going tobed.
And if I can become more awareof that, if I can say I'm at
(27:05):
like an 8 out of 10 energy whenI don't watch in the night the
night before, versus 6 out of 10when I do, then that awareness,
as we start making thoseconnections, our brain goes wait
a second, this is silly, likewhy am I choosing this if I know
I'm going to feel better if Idon't?
So behavior change ischallenging, as we know, believe
(27:28):
that awareness is kind of thekey to it, and we that awareness
, even for food, right Likepeople will always come in and
say it took gluten out of mydiet for three weeks and it
didn't do anything.
I'm like, okay, let's try it forsix weeks.
And they're like what?
It didn't do anything.
I'm like, okay, let's try itfor six weeks, and they're like
what it didn't do anything.
I'm like, just try it for alittle bit longer with a little
(27:49):
bit more awareness.
And what they will notice isnot when they eliminate it, but
when they add it back in andthey feel shitty again, like, oh
, I remember how I used to feel,right, and they're not going to
want to eat that food anymorebecause they feel crappy when
they eat it.
So it's just like making thoseconnections and giving the
(28:14):
feedback loop to your brain tobe like, hey, I don't actually
feel great when I do this thing,make me not do it anymore and
we will.
And like either we'll get thereor we need some coaching to get
there, as I yawn, so that Ithink those three are the
biggest foundations.
And the last foundation pieceis toxins.
(28:35):
And if we can rid ourenvironment and our body of
toxins as much as possible, itwill make a positive movement
towards fertility.
And the toxins are coming infrom literally everywhere.
So, um, I don't know if youwant to get into them today.
(28:57):
I we can if you want.
Yuli (28:59):
That's a whole other subject and that's like another,
my geeky side is findinganything from like environmental
toxins that I got into recently, which is a huge subject, like
indoor air quality, to you know,water as well, because I feel
(29:20):
like you know there's no otherway to really find out what's
wrong, because, right, like airand water, those are the things
that are really hard to diagnose.
But, two, there's some amazing,amazing technologies these days
that actually allow us, youknow as much as I feel like the,
(29:41):
the climate and the quality isgoing down but the level of
devices and technology is goingup so we're actually able to at
least diagnose it and thencorrect it if needed.
Aumatma (29:48):
Yeah, yeah and and like I think, with fertility.
Most well known are theplastics and the phthalates.
Phthalates are um in anythingthat has a fragrance or perfume,
so those things are easy to getrid of as much as possible.
(30:09):
You know you're not going to beperfect, you're not going to do
it perfect, but if you caneliminate and lower your input,
that's going to help your bodyfunction better.
Yuli (30:22):
Well, thank you for all this wealth of information.
Again, I wish I knew you when Iwas trying to conceive and
unfortunately I was one of thosepeople.
It was before my holistichealth journey, so I was still
in a place where I believeddoctors and fully trusted
medical advice, which oftenobviously, was great and I had
(30:43):
some amazing doctors.
But I wish there was also thisother layer, the holistic layer,
that maybe made this experiencenot as tasking on my body and
nervous system as it was.
That's one thing that I hope tobring to more women out there
and realize there's so muchinformation today, right, that
(31:06):
you can actually read.
And I think oftentimes this islike one area.
I think one area that peopleoften just go straight to, like
the medical advice, because it's, you know, fertility and it has
to be done in a lab and there'sthis perception.
But I don't think people eventhink.
Even people that areholistically inclined, I feel
(31:27):
like they don't always thinkabout it because they think it's
something so hard that it needsthat medical intervention,
right, yeah, so yeah it is, it'sit's tough because we've made
it.
Aumatma (31:42):
I feel like we have given our power away in some
ways, right like we, when women,especially women's health, has
been medicalized in every aspectfor centuries.
It's like you have PMS.
You're like like you're feelingupset about something.
(32:05):
You must be PMS.
If you're having hormonaldysregulation, let's give you
birth control.
If you're in perimenopause,let's pump you full of hormones.
Aspect of the female cycle isand has been kind of overtaken
(32:25):
by the medical world.
Even pregnancy, which, likeback in the day in tribal
communities, women had births intents and then at some point it
was like oh, it got toodangerous for you to have your
own baby, so you need to do itin a hospital setting so that
you can be safer.
So, like every like thing thathas been part of our bodies and
(32:53):
the way that our bodies function, has been kind of consumed by
the medical world as a problemand an issue to fix when it
comes to fertility, becausethere is, I believe, a lot of
(33:13):
misinformation and we don't tryto unlearn that information.
Then we have a situation wherewe willingly hand over our power
because we say, oh well, theymust know better than I do,
(33:34):
because you know I only have a20% chance of getting pregnant
on my own.
I'm going to start withstatistics.
Yuli (33:46):
Okay, I defined all of them and I'm just like one of
the things that I was proud ofbecause I had two of my babies
in my forties.
And with all of my diagnosticsand all of my stats, I had like
1% chance of having a baby andthen of having two separately.
So it's just, it was such apowerful proof for me I mean,
(34:11):
you can't get caught up in thosestatistics.
I always knew like I had thepower to, my body was healthy
and strong and I meant to be amother and I just refused to
look at that, right.
But I think, seeing so manywomen kind of struggling with
the statistics, right, well, Ionly have this chance and I only
(34:32):
have, like you know, one shot.
I mean we have plenty ofexamples at this point.
Even people that rely on thatprocess, right, and then, like,
give up and then getting kind ofnaturally because they're out
of that stress because of thatsystem puts you in that such a
stressful mode.
And then there's timelines andprotocols.
So just remembering our natureright and remembering how
(34:55):
powerful we are, it just isn'tsuch a simple remedy and part of
me also wishes that there ismore holistic practitioners out
there that helped womenunderstand this power and bring
them home, and bring them hometo their own body.
So I know you're passionateabout that as well.
I don't know if you want totalk specifically to, because we
(35:17):
do have a pretty big audienceof holistic healers who are
listening to this podcast.
What can they do in theirpractice that?
I feel like you know, fertilityis one of those things that
also a lot of healers try tomaybe stay away from because
it's been so medicalized rightOn both parts.
How can they help people onthis journey?
Aumatma (35:36):
Yeah, and so it's funny because I feel like a lot of
holistic practitioners come outof training and are like oh, I
specialize in fertility and insome ways it's a good thing
because they can help support.
When I talk to most of themit's like they're actually doing
(35:57):
preconception care, which ishelping support people to
optimize their body before theyget pregnant and before they
even start trying.
Fertility is a little morenuanced and has a lot of layers
and it's almost likespecializing in 15 things as
(36:22):
part of fertility, because youhave to be able to do all of
these other things really well.
You have to get to all the rootcauses.
You have to be really good atgetting to the root cause and
then you have to be able to help, support and navigate that
person through whatever the rootcauses are, and ideally you're
doing that in a very shortperiod of time, because they
(36:44):
only have so much time beforethey need to go get pregnant.
So fertility is a funny thingand when I this is probably like
seven years ago now I had a fewpractitioners that kept coming
to me and be like I need you totrain me on what you do, and I
(37:04):
was like I don't have a trainingprogram.
Like I don't know what thatwould even look like.
I'm just doing naturopathicmedicine, right.
Like I was like what are youtalking about?
I'm just doing the basics.
And they're like no, you'redoing something different and we
can see it from the outside,but we don't know what it is and
we need you to train us.
And so over.
(37:25):
At some point one of themconvinced me to do a training
program, so I started it andthen it's been continuing and I
speak at a lot of conferences,so a lot of practitioners get
trained just from that, likefigure out.
Like if these things werehappening, this is how you would
approach it from a holisticperspective, because this is how
(37:46):
our world is right.
Like everyone's.
Like just give me the protocol,give me the shortcut, and I'm
like nope, that does not exist.
And the reason it doesn't existis because every person in
(38:15):
front of you is unique andthey're an individual.
Even their expression of gutissues is going to be different.
So there's no magical gutprotocol that's going to fix all
of it.
It's going to be what is theissue and what makes sense for
this person.
So I really, like, took on thisidea that I want people, I want
(38:38):
practitioners to be able tothink through it, instead of
it's a protocol.
Yuli (38:45):
I'm just going to like slam it down your throat,
because that's what my teachersaid to do this is where you
know ai gets really interesting,right like if you can be just
replaced by ai, you can justslam a protocol on it.
Why do you need a person?
Even why do you need a human?
Aumatma (39:03):
right, yep, and and I tell, like what we have?
Um, have five, sixpractitioners right now who are
coming towards the end of theirmentorship, and AI this year has
been kind of insane.
So they're all like oh my God,we're going to graduate from
this and we're not going to haveany clients, because everyone's
(39:25):
just going to AI for fertilitysupport.
And I'm like listen, they'renot taking over what I do.
I don't think they're takingover what you do, because you
have learned how to think, andthat is what's missing in our
education system is to actuallymake connections that AI cannot
(39:46):
make and prove it to them againand again.
Almost every other week there'sa new client that will come in
and say I plugged in all of mylabs into AI and this is what it
told me.
And I'm like and what did youthink about that?
Like you're still here, soobviously you want my thoughts
(40:06):
on this and they're like well,it sort of was right, but it
missed these other things that Ihave going on and I don't see
how it's connected and I don'tknow how to make sense of it in
the context of fertility and I'mlike great, let's go through
all of your labs, from what Isee, and then we can circle back
to this AI thing and we'll gothrough their labs from my
(40:29):
perspective and they, we get tothe end of it and they're like
this was very different fromwhat AI said.
Like, yeah, I know, like Ididn't want to tell you that at
the beginning, but I know, I'maware.
Yuli (40:41):
Thank you for sharing that .
So this program sounds reallywonderful.
Is it open to only physiciansor holistic practitioners of
different modalities can do thatas well.
Aumatma (40:57):
Yeah, we have a lot of different types of practitioners
.
It's practitioners that haveaccess to ordering lab work that
we can accept.
So, like you don't have tounderstand all the labs.
We go through it.
We'll explain how to like dothe interpretations, but you
have to be able to order itwherever you are.
(41:18):
So we have, for example, wehave a practitioner in Germany
right now who is doing thetraining and in her country
she's able to order a lab work.
So even though she's not adoctor and like doesn't have a
certification of any sort thatwould allow it in the US, she
has that authority in Germany.
(41:39):
So I'm like great, that works.
As long as you can do what youneed to do where you are, then
we can work around it.
Yuli (41:49):
You need to do where you are, then we can work around it.
I love that.
I love that you're kind ofcreating a whole other path for
people to not just receive thecare but also give this care,
because we need more people likeyou and we need more people
with holistic approach in thisfertility industry right, and
even though they might be notadministering the treatment
itself, but just to have otherkind of layers to that process
(42:12):
right.
That is so one sided right now.
I just love what you do and, aswe, I feel like I can.
I have so many more questionsfor you.
We can talk about the subjectforever, because I just been on
the trenches.
It's been, like you know, good,like I would say, five years of
my life.
Aumatma (42:27):
Yeah.
Yuli (42:27):
Not more.
And I feel like I had to becomemy own doctor and I had to
educate myself and a lot ofthose things and just even you
know, question.
I come from a background oflike questioning everything,
just because I grew up in thecommunist Russia and I learned
early on in my age that thingsneed to be questioned.
Yeah, you can't just takeeverything.
(42:48):
Yeah, I can't just takeeverything.
Yeah, I can't, you know, bebrainwashed.
So I would be the one who wouldask all those questions my
doctor what is this metric andwhat does this say?
Aumatma (42:56):
yeah, I'm sure they loved it.
Yuli (42:59):
They're like oh yuli, here we go it's just, you know, it's
fascinating because I feel likeyou know, I want to understand
what's happening in my body.
Just such a powerful tool.
So you have these diagnosticstoday.
But I think it's also veryimportant for you actually, you
know, to read it and, yes, havea practitioner, have the chat
(43:20):
gpt version, have thepractitioner version but also
for you yourself to understandreally what it means and what's
happening in your body, Just soempowering, I think, just to go
through that process and reallybe like attuned, Like I'm.
I'm also like 50% analytic, like50% of life left brain, 50%
(43:40):
right brain so it's importantfor me to feel, to see the data
but also compare it to my ownfeelings.
Okay, I can feel this on mybody or, you know, I do have
this kind of symptom.
So I just want to empowerpeople to also get like their
own knowledge, but also workwith somebody who can give you
those other perspectives right,not just like one sided picture,
or maybe work with multiplepractitioners or multiple
(44:03):
doctors that you can then kindof make your own decision and
use your intuition, even right,to see who's right for you.
Aumatma (44:11):
Yep, I think it's.
And a lot of people will sayI'm talking to like five other
people and I'm going to try tofigure this out and I'm like
great, what are you going to useto figure out who's the right
person?
And they'll be like I don'tknow logic and like whoever's
the least expensive and blah,blah, blah.
You know like they'll kind ofthere isn't a good framework to
(44:35):
make these types of decisions.
I said, okay, what I would likeyou to do is take away all the
logic, Just put it aside forlike 20 minutes and sit, sit
with yourself, sit with eachother, get into the heart space
and see what your intuitionwants you to do.
And your intuition will guideyou to who the right person is.
(44:57):
Because the reality is likethere's so many different ways
and lots of practitioners and somany amazing people.
You just need to find the onefor you.
And when you find that one, youwill know.
And if it's not me, cool, noproblem, just let us know.
It's all good and it's like itwill be so freeing to be like oh
(45:21):
, I can just like listen to myintuition.
What's that Right?
Like, yeah, I could.
I could talk for days onintuition.
Yuli (45:31):
Okay, so you'll have to come back and we're gonna talk
about intuition, but as we'rerunning out of time, I wanted to
ask you any parting words ofwisdom, anything you would like
to share with our listeners?
Aumatma (45:44):
For those that are trying on the fertility journey,
if you've been trying for a bit, or even if you're just
starting out on your journey, ifthere's a part of you going
back to this intuition, ifthere's a part of you that feels
like something's not right,something's missing, your cycles
feel out of whack and you'relike trying to ask your doctor
(46:06):
what to do about it.
These are the exact people thatI have been building this app.
It's called Madre Fertility andyou can access it online.
It's MadreFertilitycom, and itis an app that will help you get
to the root cause of yourpotential fertility struggles.
Even if, like I said, even ifyou're not trying yet and you're
(46:29):
not sure that it's going to bea struggle, it's okay, you don't
need to wait right.
This idea that we need to tryfor six to 12 months before we
get any kind of support to me islike dumb.
It's totally dumb.
It's like wait, we're going towait six to 12 months.
We're going to have these womenfeeling like they're doing
(46:54):
something wrong, notunderstanding how to make sense
of what's happening, only to betold oh sorry, you're infertile,
go get IVF Right.
Like the whole system is justmessed up.
So, anyway, this I'm like,really upset about it, which is
why I've spent like three yearsworking with a tech genius to
(47:19):
try and create a way for peopleto get feedback about what could
be happening.
It's not a diagnostic tool getfeedback about what could be
happening.
It's not a diagnostic tool.
It is just a tool to help youbetter understand what your body
might be saying and if it'ssignaling like hey, you might
have some gut hormone issueslike let's deal with those
(47:43):
before you get to the point ofnow.
You've been waiting a yearhoping that something would
happen when your body wasn'tgoing to let it happen in the
first place.
Yuli (47:53):
So save time, save time.
Thank you for developing that.
I love that you're also movinginto the tech space.
We need more people like you inour industry yeah, all that,
yeah, awesome, um, yeah.
Aumatma (48:09):
So I hope.
I hope that we can change howwe think about fertility.
That's my goal is like getevery woman on this planet to
think differently aboutfertility.
To go from the extreme of.
It's going to happen at thedrop of a hat.
The very first time I try to,my fertility is going to
(48:33):
suddenly drop off of a cliff at35.
There are literally bothextremes that don't make sense.
So let's just make it makesense.
Let's demystify all of it.
Yuli (48:44):
I love your message and thank you for all the work you
do and for all the trainings aswell that you provide into
practitioners.
Such a pleasure to have you.
Aumatma (48:53):
Thank you for having me Take care.
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