In the Mind/Body support group at East Coast Fertility, patients experience the opportunity to share information, feelings, or their own personal stories. You may be surprised to see how your support can help others, or you may be relieved to hear others experiencing the same type of thoughts and feelings as you experience. Often, the supportive nature of this mind/body group, and the connection that develops between members, fosters a healing process. Feelings of isolation, anger, and stress are slowly relieved.

Our Mind/Body program focuses on symptom reduction and developing a sense of control over one’s life by utilizing Mind/Body strategies and interventions which elicit the relaxation response. The relaxation response is actually a physical state that counteracts the stress response. You can think of it as the physiological opposite of the body’s stress response. We cannot be stressed and relaxed at the same time.

Therefore when a person elicits the relaxation response, the body’s stress response is halted, stress hormones diminish. Stress responses such as heart rate, metabolic rate, blood pressure, and shallow breathing decrease. Breathing becomes slower and deeper, so we have more oxygen being delivered to all the cells in the body. The way in which you are taught to elicit the relaxation response is through methods such as: breath focus, guided visual imagery, muscle Relaxation and learned mindfulness, and meditation.

In Mind/Body work, we also work with “cognitive restructuring” which is examining our negative thoughts, seeing where there is distortion, and reframing our thoughts positively and realistically. Often, we have held on to certain negative thoughts and feelings we may have developed years ago. The thought pattern becomes so ingrained in us, that we take it for truth, when in fact, it is a distortion. Cognitive restructuring will help you examine your thoughts and see which are distorted, causing you needless worry, anxiety, or depression. Once you understand how a thought is distorted, you can change those thoughts and alleviate the anxiety attached to them.

Awareness of the mind/body connection allows us to use our minds to make changes in our physiology. This holistic treatment - combining bio-medical science with mind/body medicine deals with the treatment of the whole individual rather than looking only at the physical aspect.  The fact is body and mind work together. We invite you to take advantage of this unique area of support provided at East Coast Fertility and join our Mind/Body group.