I was turned off by the focus on older, "professional" infertile women and lesbian couples. Why not give examples of a more average type of woman? I understand that these minority groups need support and perhaps their stories exemplified what the author was trying to convey, but I just couldn't relate to them. I also have a hard time believing that the mind is to blame for all ailments. One example is a woman with "hard" eggs who became a softer person and got pregnant. Please! Perhaps unbalanced hormones are caused by an unbalanced psyche but I hesitate to blame my "family patterns" for my fibroid, polyps and blocked tubes.
I tried doing the suggested exercises but found myself yawning and procrastinating. Hopping on the wings of a butterfly...all I could think of was that the butterfly's wings were going to break and I would fall to my death in the lovely meadow below.
I would only recommend this book to women who have unexplained infertility, especially older women.
(While she's helped hundreds, if not thousands, of women become pregnant, she doesn't reveal the percentage of her patients who've successfully given birth. She says that all her clients are given a new ability to heal themselves, which makes the process of adoption and other parenting alternatives--including the choice of not having children--easier to consider for those women who eventually come to terms with their infertility.)
Because the emotions that affect fertility have roots as far back as childhood, Payne's program--a "healing journey"--is very thorough and requires a great deal of self-exploration and analysis. What are your attitudes toward childbirth? How has your past molded your present? Have you fully mourned for past abortions, miscarriages, or stillbirths? How have repressed emotions contributed to your infertility symptoms or other female health problems?
While Payne's book focuses on women's fertility, she also includes information about how the mind-body program can apply to men. She also includes copious recommendations for additional reading and resources for biofeedback equipment, lists of holistic medical doctors, and addresses and phone numbers of foundations and associations for further help and support.