A new vision in health care is emerging, challenging the age-old separation of mind and body, which I believe undergirds the reproductive crisis of today. There is growing evidence that our emotional and physical health and well-being is affected by the complex interplay of psychosocial, psychological and physiological factors.

Contrary to popular belief fertility is not determined by one's age or the number and quality of one's eggs alone. Fertility is a lifelong relationship with oneself regardless of age or whether or not one has a biological child. Feeling open and receptive to the reproductive process has more to do with how we feel about ourselves as sensual, sexual and fertile beings. And ... how we feel about ourselves today is largely influenced by unexpressed (often unconscious) thoughts, emotions, beliefs and behaviors based on unfinished business from childhood.

The media's recent inclination to depict women over thirty-five who want babies as 'desperate' caught up in a 'biological-clock panic', and having 'wombs that are too old to work' undermines the confidence and emotional health of millions of women concerning their fertility. It also places undue fear-based pressure on women in their 20's and 30's to have families when they are not ready to do so.

I am quite concerned that under the weight of these judgments one's natural ability to conceive is sadly being "lost-in-the-shuffle" of ageist-based statistics, charts and dictums which unnaturally separate one's emotional life from physiological consequences.

As an international pioneer in Mind/Body reproductive health and author of "The Fertility Solution: A Revolutionary Mind/Body Process To Help You Conceive", I have successfully counseled well over a thousand women and men worldwide, 90% of whom are baby boomers, who either naturally or in conjunction with medical fertility treatments increased their opportunity to conceive when they realized that their difficulties in conception or carrying a pregnancy to term were not necessarily a medical problem. In broadening their view and allowing themselves to explore some troublesome and even at times painful issues in their personal history and current life, they reclaimed their reproductive rights.

I feel we have lost sight of why millions of women throughout the world deferred childbearing. There were complex social, political, and psychological factors that gave rise to the Baby Boomers' decision to delay childbearing, altering the reproductive life patterns familiar to their parents and thousands of generations before them. This was not a capricious decision based on "wanting-it-all."

It was born out of a generation that did not want to repeat the narrowly defined, repressive and often frustrated lives of their mothers living in the 1950's. They said "no" to early marriage and childbearing and "yes" to defining and developing themselves. And many mothers of baby boomers, recognizing the lack of fulfillment and frustration that characterized their own lives, encouraged their daughters to seek a college education and professional careers. The sexual revolution of the 60's along with birth control pills and legalized abortion made this possible. For the first time in history women could take charge of their reproductive lives. This generation of women, generally healthier than their mothers were at the same age, have become trailblazers in challenging the stereotypical view of aging, affecting almost all facets of life.

It should be noted that many of my clients did have at least one abortion, in their early 20's, about the same time their mothers had their first child. However, when women felt ready to do so, they were unaware that their conflicts about childbearing had not been automatically resolved. Having tasted the joyous gifts of individuation and personal autonomy in the outer world of business and creativity, they often expressed fears about loss of autonomy and financial independence.

As Dr. Christiane Northrup points out that, "too often the standard dualistic western approach to fertility difficulties compounds the problem by severing one's emotions and mind from the body."

In this exciting era of mind/body research we are discovering how conflicted feelings impact physiological reactions. Our endocrine, immune and nervous systems are all intimately connected and influenced by every thought we think and every emotion we feel.

As a biofeedback specialist, I have reviewed countless scientific studies that validate the mind/body interconnection and interdependence. Whether our conscious mind is aware of what we are feeling or not, our bodies register our reactions. The mind is an amazing recorder of events and feelings. Every single thing that ever happened to you is there, somewhere in your memory bank. In a sense, we have a whole personal history book inside our head. There is a constant "dialogue" between our thoughts, images, beliefs and feelings that leads to chemical, hormonal, neurological and muscular changes that can throw off the delicately balanced hormonal system involved in reproduction. Hormones released in response to emotional upset, tension or anxiety disrupts the natural flow of important pituitary gland secretions necessary to produce and release luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FHS). With the disruption, menstruation may become irregular or ovulation may be suppressed altogether. Nerve fibers traveling through the spinal cord also link the brain directly to the ovaries, uterus and fallopian tubes. In men, because of similar links between the brain and the reproductive organs, tension can reduce sex drives and cause impotence.

The release of the male hormone testosterone, which triggers sperm production, is governed by the hypothalamus-pituitary control center, which is highly sensitive to emotional tension. Studies link heightened anxiety with low sperm counts. Emotional tension can be exacerbated by negative beliefs, behavioral patterns, and conscious and unconscious damaging thoughts, feelings, and attitudes.

I had no idea that fertility would become my life's work when I received my degree and began my professional life as a psychotherapist and biofeedback specialist. In working with biofeedback instruments, I saw tangible evidence of what I had always believed in my heart: mind and emotions have the power to affect the body.

The Whole Person Fertility Program was conceived in response to the urgent need for an integrated mind/body approach to assist women seeking to become pregnant. This is the first mind/body fertility program used on its own or in conjunction with medical fertility treatments which offers a broader view of fertility and is intended to heal the split between emotions and bodily responses. This powerful step-by-step process has been responsible for assisting thousands of women and men in their efforts to conceive as they learn to listen to their mind/body's inner dialogue.

Niravi Payne runs her clinic from Florida in America. Although it is possible to have one-to-one sessions with her over the phone she is due to start training two UK therapists later this year.

If you feel that this approach to infertility may help you Niravi has designed an exercise that you can carry out at home that may help you to start examining whether your attitude to fertility is really as positive as you think.

The theory is that just considering these questions will stimulate feelings and concerns that may help you to start being more positive about the whole process. 'Consciousness of your inner feelings is where the real freedom comes,' she says.

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF

1. As you were growing up, did you hear negative stories about menstruation, childbirth or child-bearing from your parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles?
2. Specifically, what did you hear about your mother's pregnancy with you? Your birth? From which parent? Do the stories differ between your mother and father?
3. Do you feel that children were valued by your mother, father, grandparents and siblings? Do you feel that you were valued? How?
4. Do any of your siblings have difficulty conceiving? Did they conceive - and you did not?
5. How does your family view working women and motherhood?
6. Are many of your major life decisions based upon whether your parents would approve?
7. Why do you want to have a baby?....Why don't you? Consider: Do you see any family issues in your responses?

'When we look at ourselves in this way, it is easier to bring to light multi-generational ambivalence about conception.'