Helping Infertility Treatment Succeed 

These are reports from two Indian origin couples who were unsuccessful in conceiving a child in spite of multiple aggressive infertility treatments. From their reports we come to know that the women’s all round stress made the treatments ineffective. In case of 'Couple One' the strained relationship between the partners caused a lot of stress on the wife. Once their stress was significantly reduced by practicing the 'focusing on breathing' and better handling of their thoughts and emotions, both of them conceived and gave birth to happy babies.

Couple - One (Sept 2009)

Wife -  "I am now pregnant after 9 frustrating years!"

“I have been married to a wonderful person for 9 years. We had everything in life but didn’t have any kids. We consulted at least 6 different doctors and had several tests. All the results came out normal. We went on vacation, did lot of spiritual things and ate the things recommended in Google search. Nothing worked. As the years passed by, we got tense and frustrated. On the suggestion of my primary care doctor, we went to the IVF clinic for 6 months, did 2 IUI procedures (intrauterine insemination) but nothing happened. We took a break. Then in 2009 I had two IUI again but they still failed. We were totally heart broken. The social pressure from our parents and relatives for getting a child was adding to our stress. We were fighting with each other because of all this tension. My fertility doctor then told it was better to do IVF. By this time, my husband saw a brochure on the ‘Focusing on breathing’ technique (www.countingbreaths.com) displayed at the Albany Hindu Temple. He attended the weekly classes on this technique (1) offered by Suryanarayana Chennapragada (CS). Within 3 months I saw a tremendous change in his health as well as behavior. He became very gentle, handling things smoothly, even when I fought with him. This really surprised me, especially because I was all the time a tensed character. I suffered from insomnia, lying awake up to 2 am and getting thinner and thinner. My husband suggested that I should also attend those classes. I was very skeptical as in the past I attended 3 meditation programs without any success. I used to meditate during those classes but skipped the practice at home, as I felt that I didn’t have the peaceful time or mind to do it. I also felt that it was tough. My husband forced me to attend one class along with him. He told me that if I didn’t like it, I would not go further. I gave it a try, especially on seeing my husband change. I immediately liked the class. I didn’t see any change in myself in the first month. As my practice continued, I felt a tremendous change. My insomnia disappeared and I was sleeping like a baby! We attended these classes for 6 months. Both our stress levels came down. 

We restarted the fertility treatment. To our surprise, my fertility specialist showed a chart showing a tremendous change in my hormone level over the 3 months that I was attending the classes. Another big change we noticed was that we both became very calm, and were taking everything cool, like we used to be, once upon a time. This was really wonderful.  We realized how stress could affect a person. Reducing stress was the main thing we were focusing in the breathing classes. As planned, I had the IVF treatment. I am now pregnant after 9 frustrating years! We could not ask for anything more in life. Our teacher CS helped us change ourselves completely. We are so grateful for that. These breathing classes were totally unique. This technique is so simple that even a child can do it.  I do it regularly now. I gained weight. We got our life back and we are once again a very happy couple."

This woman delivered a healthy baby girl in Dec 10. Both mother and baby are doing well.

Husband - "My personal relations improved at work and at home"

Due to work stress and being a short-tempered person, I had difficulty in sleeping and also not able to spend time happily with my wife. I was interested in learning stress management techniques and yoga for better health.

I happened to see a brochure about “Focusing on Breathing”. I wanted to learn from a teacher so that I will learn the right technique. I attended classes by CS at the Albany Hindu temple. During my initial practice I could not stick to a planned schedule as there are no ‘rules’ in this technique. But this aspect proved to be good.  Due to the full flexibility given in the practice, it created curiosity and offered more opportunities to practice at different times of the day. As the practice continued, I felt more relaxed and enjoyed better sleep. My personal relations improved at work and at home. My stamina in long distance running improved.

Apart for improving health, the whole process helped me and my wife spend more time together and share the experiences of inner peace and happiness at work and outside.  When we spent more good time together, we had a more harmonious relationship, which helped a lot when we planned for a child. Initially, due to work stress and other reasons, we had some medical conditions that delayed the pregnancy. As our practice of the techniques continued, we could see good results in the medical tests. Finally my wife achieved pregnancy!

We are very happy to share the success from the ‘Focusing on breathing’ practices and the way they changed our personal lives. We encourage everyone to learn this technique which helps not only in getting good sleep, but also in improving the overall personality, leading to a stress free life.  We are thankful to CS for making a big difference in our lives.

Update from this couple in 2014 after more than 4 years

“Thank you for all your great teachings and opportunity to learn the breathing exercises. I try to follow whenever I have difficulty sleeping or upset.  It definitely changes mood for the better, and feel more relaxed.  My wife who attended your classes also conveyed her thanks and good wishes.”

This first couple were friends with another couple who had similar failure of fertility treatments. After experiencing the benefits of meditation and counseling they suggested the second couple to follow the same route who contacted me in a few months.  

Couple Two (May 2010)

Wife - "Within a month, I was blessed with pregnancy"

Myself and my husband were trying to have a child for more than six years. We tried all the treatments in US and India. Some were so severe that I had to stay in the hospital for a month. Nothing good happened from these treatments. On the other hand, I suffered from stress and depression. I blamed myself for not having a baby.  At some moments, I even thought what was the necessity to live in this world.  Then, my husband convinced me to take a break from all those horrible doctor visits and blood work.

After six months, when we were planning again for the treatment, one of our friends introduced us to Mr. Suryanarayana Chennapragada (CS)  who was teaching  ‘Focusing on breathing’ (www.countingbreaths.com).They said his classes were helpful for their own infertility treatment. We joined the classes, In a couple of classes, the teacher made me understand that worrying and building up stress was not doing any good for me or for my treatment. He taught us different modes of focusing on breathing which helped me relaxed a lot. He also helped me question and resolve the recurring negative thoughts I had about myself. I started seeing a change in myself and gained some confidence that I would have a baby of my own some day. After a couple of months, my fertility specialist me on a mild treatment. I combined it with a lot of breathing practice and prayers. Within a month, I was blessed with pregnancy. I am so happy that we took the classes on ‘Focusing on breathing’.

Husband - "My wife was pregnant with the least aggressive treatment"

"After 2 years of our marriage, we started planning for a child. As the result was not coming, we began fertility treatment. Since then, every year passed by without success, building up frustration on top of the pain caused by series of most aggressive treatments (10 on a scale of 10).  After a while, we realized that we had been under treatment for many years, without any success. We stepped back and took a break for an year.

Then one of our friends introduced us to the classes on “Focusing on breathing’ offered by Suryanarayana Chennapragada,(CS) as they helped them for a similar problem. While attending these classes, we were able to practice the technique along with a series of Yoga based stretching movements, fully focusing on breathing. We were able to practice them regularly with a little adjustment in our daily routines. We felt lot of changes in body and mind – felt relaxed and experienced positive thoughts.

After we practiced for a couple of months, we were ready for the fertility treatment again. This time, our doctor started with the least aggressive treatment (1 on a scale of 10). In a few weeks, we received the long awaited good news that my wife was pregnant. I want to continue practicing these techniques as part of my daily routine, as a little effort everyday goes a long way in helping the body and mind work at their full throttle."

Good news: They had a healthy baby boy and all are doing well.

These couples reduced their stress in three phases.

Phase1

Practicing ‘Focusing on breathing’ at bedtime, on waking up and any other times.

Phase 2

Practicing some basic Yoga based gentle stretching movements matching with appropriate breathing.

Phase 3

The women were coached to critically question and resolving some recurring negative thoughts about own selves and/or partners.

Related pages

Stress and infertility – Article from WebMD