Exploring the Spiritual Dimensions of Fertility Awareness: A Journey Back to Self

TW: Infertility. Miscarriage.

I hope this finds you well. I wanted to share with you some thoughts and reflections on a topic that I find deeply inspiring and transformative: the spiritual dimensions of fertility awareness.

In our fast-paced modern world, where capitalism and technology often dictates the pace of our lives, there's a quiet yet potent revolution happening—a return to ancient wisdom, a rediscovery of the rhythms of nature, and a reconnection with our bodies. Fertility awareness, once relegated to the realms of women's health and family planning, can also be recognized for its profound spiritual dimensions.

Many women and people with uteruses often feel pressured to have children early or to have multiple children. I am sure you have come across a social media post saying something along the likes of, “stay out of my uterus” when a nosy family or community member asks “when are you going to have children?” or “why haven’t you all had babies yet?”. The pressure to have children often causes unnecessary stress on both the parent who will carry and the supportive partner. For some, the joy of intimacy is swapped out with having intercourse on a strict schedule.

Fertility is a sensitive subject that so many people go through, but few people share their experiences aloud. Many people have experienced miscarriages, but those who are attempting to conceive often don’t hear these stories until other people chime in with the “me too’s” after someone shares their miscarriage story. Many people have fertility journey’s that do not look like what our society is taught is “right”. Some people plan their pregnancies and most people happen to get pregnant.

When I say fertility, I am not just talking about the ability to carry and birth a physical child. We are all innately fertile. That is our nature and our birthright. Fertility, at its core, is the ability to produce abundance. It is the ability to be fruitful and productive. We all have the capability to produce abundance because inherently, we come from abundance whether we recognize it or not. We have all gone through seasons of abundance. By channeling and meditating on the essence of abundance, we embody abundance.

At its core, fertility awareness is about relationship—with ourselves, with our others, with the natural world, and with the spiritual world.

In a day and age that often seeks to disconnect us from our bodies and from the rhythms of nature, fertility awareness offers a path back to wholeness, connection, and spiritual alignment. By listening to the body's wisdom, honoring the seasons of life, embracing the divine feminine, and deepening intimacy and connection, we can unlock the spiritual dimensions of fertility awareness and embark on a journey of self-discovery and empowerment. As we reclaim our fertility as a sacred gift, we reclaim our power to create, to nurture, and to bring forth new life in harmony with the cycles of the universe.

One of the aspects of fertility awareness lies the practice of tuning in to the body's natural rhythms and signals, and not just the rhythms and signals regarding the reproductive cycle. It's about learning to feel into—to the subtle whispers of our own biology, to the ebb and flow of our hormonal cycles, to the cues and messages our bodies constantly send us, and to the messages encoded in our physical sensations as our bodies intake the world around us. In this process of deep listening, we begin to recognize the body as a sacred vessel—a temple of wisdom that holds the keys to our fertility and vitality. If you want more information on this, I have a course called “Back to the Bodymind” that you can check out.

Just as the earth moves through cycles of birth, growth, death, and renewal, so too do our bodies follow a rhythmic dance of fertility. Fertility awareness invites us to honor these seasons of life—to embrace the fertile times as moments of abundance and creative potential, and to honor the infertile times as periods of rest, reflection, and introspection. Nature offers us a wonderful example of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. These seasons are also reflected in our beings and in our lives. If we learn to sync or even mirror the essences of these times of year, we can create more equilibrium in our bodies. In doing so, we come to see our own lives as part of a larger tapestry of existence, woven with the threads of birth, life, death, and rebirth.

In many spiritual traditions, the feminine is revered as the embodiment of creation and fertility. Although culturally there is a shift towards a spectrum rather than isolated binary points, which I honor, we still exist in a reality of duality. Fertility awareness offers a powerful opportunity to reconnect with the Divine Feminine—to honor the wisdom of our bodies, to celebrate the cycles of the moon, to reclaim our innate creative power, to tap into our intuition and to embody the qualities of creativity, empathy, and nurturance. By embracing the ability to create and hold life as a sacred and Divine gift, we reclaim our agency and sovereignty as creators of life.

In the conversation about fertility, the weight of the blame is often put on the one with the uterus. By practicing fertility awareness together, couples, can deepen their intimacy and connection, cultivating a profound sense of trust, communication, and mutual respect. In honoring each other's fertility, they honor the sacred bond of partnership and co-creation. When it comes to family and loved ones, practicing effective communication and boundaries can help to mitigate and unnecessary frustration that may arise.

Even for those who have yet to bear their own child or whose own child is taking their time in the ether manifesting in your womb, we can always honor our fertility in the seeds that we sow into the children and members of our community (as well as with strangers we do not know). We can create more fertile grounds by creating space for and supporting those that are pregnant and/or are already with children. We can create more fertile grounds by being generative and nurture the abundance we already have access to.

I hope these reflections resonate with you and perhaps offer some inspiration for your own journey of self-discovery and spiritual growth. I would love to hear your thoughts and insights on this topic.

Introspective questions:

Have you ever thought of fertility and conception as a spiritual or energetic process?

In what ways are you abundant?

What are boundaries that can be created to protect your peace around your fertility journey?

Affirm:

I embody fertility because I am abundant.

I am fertile.

I easily create healthy boundaries that protect my peace, my fertility, and my body.

With warm regards,

Jaz

For more fertility, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum education, please visit A Nurtured Birth and hire me to be your personal support.