From the category archives:

Personal Experience

Conceiving in Your Forties

by mroth July 27, 2010

This is a guest post from our good friend Cindy Bailey from The Fertile Kitchen. After being given a 2% chance of naturally conceiving, Cindy completely changed her diet and was pregnant within four months. Motivated by this life-changing experience, she set out to write about her fertility diet research and, along [...]

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Intentions for Fertility

by Joanne July 20, 2010

A few weeks ago, we posted some daily intentions for fertility. Lately, I have taken to writing down my intentions for the day on a simple index card. Whether it relates to my work, my family, my spirituality, or my health, it enables me to distill my focus in one area that stays [...]

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What if We Could Talk About Infertility?

by Joanne July 15, 2010

“Infertility is where breast cancer was in the 1970s—completely in the closet.”- Lindsay Beck, Fertile Hope
Thank you Jennifer Wolff Perrine for this amazing article in the August issue of Self Magazine. It explores the fact that there are so many women having trouble conceiving, but nobody feels comfortable talking about it. As a [...]

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Waking Up Feeling Refreshed – It’s Possible!

by Joanne July 7, 2010

When creating our Energy for Empowerment Program, I did a lot of research on the effects of lack of sleep on our body.  Turns out, lack of sleep can be the first domino in a chain of events that can wreak havoc on all aspects of your well-being.  When you do not get enough sleep, [...]

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Happy 4th of July and Our Blooper Video

by Joanne July 2, 2010

Working from home most of the time allows me to feel centered with a more well-rounded perspective with Circle+Bloom, my husband and kids. I’m truly fortunate to be able to do this, and LOVE what I am doing day in and day out. And this is speaking from a woman who only a [...]

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My Intentions. What are Yours?

by Joanne June 30, 2010

Having a list of intentions – or some people like to call affirmations – can be life changing. Here are mine. I would love to hear yours.
We would LOVE for this to be a “wiki” list of intentions. Please add your own in the comments section.
I will dare to always be honest [...]

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The Windy Path of Adoption

by Joanne June 28, 2010

This post dedicated to my closest friends who are going through the process of adoption that I admire and love so greatly.
There was a bag packed full of brand new baby boy clothes and tiny diapers. A breast pump. An infant car seat.
Our closest friends were within a few days of adoption. [...]

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How to Deal with Insensitive Comments

by Joanne June 22, 2010

I remember getting very upset when folks would try to give me advice while I was trying to conceive.  One person even told me after I had miscarried that “I was lucky to have one healthy child…you should leave it at that.”  While you are going through the very difficult and painful process of trying [...]

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Mixing It Up

by Joanne June 8, 2010

I have a love affair with interior design. Since launching Circle+Bloom, however, I have had no time to dedicate to it except to stumble across a few blogs here and there. Today I came across this image and it really struck a chord deep inside. Here is the image:

What I see is [...]

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The Beginning of a Life Style Change

by Susan June 6, 2010

I have had an amazing couple of weeks, a beginning of a life style change that I know will help me live my life to the fullest. I joined Joanne at Circle + Bloom because I wanted to make more of a difference in the world. That might seem odd, but something stirred [...]

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Energy for Empowerment

by Joanne June 3, 2010

Tired all the time? Check. Overworked and overstressed? Check. Can’t get a good night’s sleep? Check.
Don’t we all suffer from low energy levels? Does low energy impact your levels of fertility or other health related issues in your life? I have always struggled with energy levels – even [...]

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3 Steps Towards Creating a Mind-Body Habit Everyday for Pregnancy

by Joanne May 18, 2010

Whenever I approach the challenge of creating a new habit – whether it is start a new exercise routine or to eat better – I have found it’s always easier when others before me lead the way and provide advice on how best to do it. Our intent with this post is to do [...]

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The Power of Forgiveness

by Joanne May 10, 2010

I fundamentally believe we can all benefit from letting go of anger, whether repressed from childhood, or something we are dealing with now. Anger can be like walking through life with an anchor on your back, slowing you down and tiring you out, with the only person that is being affected is you.
I am [...]

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How Are You Taking Care of You?

by Susan April 22, 2010

I had a chance to attend a panel discussion on Mind-Body medicine. A women’s group I recently joined – which has been very rewarding for me personally – organized it. It was established to bring together women who want to make a difference and connect with others that have this same mindset. [...]

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How to Apply the Art of Meditation

by Joanne April 19, 2010

Lately I have been learning the art of meditation for extended periods of time in solitude.  We sometimes refer to our mind-body programs as a fertility meditation – but I think of the study of meditation as more an umbrella term for any exercise when we quiet our mind for a certain uninterrupted period of [...]

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The Condensed Guide to Being More Positive

by Joanne March 22, 2010

Like Leo from Zen Habits, my life has undergone a complete shift by making a conscious decision to be more positive in life.
It has taken me on a new path, a new journey, and has empowered me to live my dreams, and I couldn’t have started Circle+Bloom without this new mindset.
When you [...]

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How Acupuncture Works to Improve Fertility

by Joanne March 11, 2010

Recently, I was treated with acupuncture for the first time to more fully understand what patients experience when they use this treatment option for fertility. I went to Patti Safian, who has a center in Montclair called the NJ Acupuncture Center for Fertility and Reproductive Health. She is an acupuncturist who specializes in [...]

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What does the new business book “Linchpin” have to do with Fertility and Health?

by Joanne January 22, 2010

How do you deal with problems? Do you lean into them, or do you lean away? Or simply run in the opposite direction?
Seth Godin defines leaning into a problem as follows:

“You lean into a problem, especially a long-term or difficult one, by sitting with it, reveling in it, embracing it and breathing it in. [...]

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Using the Other 90% of your Brain

by Joanne January 13, 2010

Whether or not the claim that we only really use between 5 – 10% of our brains is true, we know that we can always improve our mental well-being for purposes of increased focus, better sleeping and overall improvement in health and energy levels. I have found over the past three years that [...]

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A Special Note to 2009: Thank You.

by Joanne December 29, 2009

As I reflect on the accomplishments this past year while thinking about the goals for 2010, I am truly overwhelmed with gratitude for all that has happened, and more importantly all that I have learned. One of the most important lessons is finding that the more thankful I am, the more I accomplish – [...]

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Infertility and Negative Self-Talk

by Joanne November 9, 2009

Right after my second miscarriage, we attended the wedding celebration of a very dear friend who was already about four – five months pregnant. She had on this stunning cream colored dress and her baby bump showed just enough that she looked curvy and round in a beautiful, almost primitive way, like one of [...]

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Congratulations Mary!

by Joanne September 9, 2009

Mary is a patient with a highly regarded IVF center in the NY metropolitan area, whom we have created a partnership to give our program to a handful of their patients to test outcomes. 
Here is Mary’s story**:

My husband and I had been trying to get pregnant for a year on our own with [...]

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The Courage to Adopt

by Joanne September 7, 2009
Thumbnail image for The Courage to Adopt

My dear friend, Stephanie, who has been our source of inspiration – our “muse” – used our program for one full month, got her period and started using the program again the next month.  About 10 days into the following month, however, she was stuck with powerful intuition from her body while using the program. [...]

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The Team.

by Joanne August 20, 2009

One of the most enjoyable parts of building this company has been witnessing the excitement that the Circle + Bloom™ idea generates. From highly-educated professionals in the fertility world, to best-selling authors, to colleagues, friends and family – the response has been incredible.  And now I can add notable and highly successful business executives with [...]

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Pain + Triumph

by Joanne August 12, 2009

What is the connection between pain and triumph? Does the human condition make it necessary to go through the former to obtain the latter?  Here is a video about two high school kids who not only have nothing but one is almost blind and the other lost his leg in a tragic accident. Do they [...]

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