Finally the word is getting out there about the importance of preconception health. Having a baby is probably one of the greatest miracles in life we could ever imagine. We all dream of having a healthy baby. From couples who are expecting you will commonly hear “I don’t mind what we have; as long as it’s healthy”. This couldn’t be more true, because it’s just so heartbreaking to see newborns with an illness or disease. So it makes sense to do as much as we can so our children inherit healthy genes and a strong constitution.
To explain in more depth; we are all born with a substance called Jing. Jing is one of the three treasures we are blessed with at birth, along with qi (our energy), and shen (our spirit).
Jing is often translated as our primal life force, it is our essence – the substance that is responsible for our immaterial (soul) and physical being (body). It is our genetic stock and determines the power of our life.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Taoist philosophy speak of both Pre and Postnatal Jing, which is very much a part of the foundations of both disciplines. To acquire healthy and strong prenatal Jing, both parents must be living a healthy lifestyle. Healthy on all four levels – physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. As we know, emotional energy that is blocked or repressed presents as disease too, so working through all systems is important.
To ensure our Jing lasts a long life we must avoid depletion and focus on ways of enhancing it. Diet and lifestyle factors have the biggest impact on our Jing. Events such as major traumas, stress, sadness and illnesses depletes Jing along with drinking coffee, alcohol and smoking. An imbalanced lifestyle where we work hard and play hard without self-care also depletes our Jing.
Prenatal Jing is like a trust fund, our health inheritance, which has to last you your whole life. So if you feel like you were born with deficient Jing, the good news is we can enhance it. This is called Postnatal Jing. We can gather post-natal Jing through the air we breathe, the foods we eat and the environment we live in.
So at the magical moment of conception, whatever state of health or ill health you are in, will have a direct impact and dictate that child’s wellbeing. When an egg meets the sperm in the womb, at that very moment the baby’s health is imprinted in the Jing, cellular memory or DNA.
Those who are lucky enough to be born with strong, healthy Jing generally have a strong and energetic constitution. Jing dictates growth, development, physical and mental evolution, energy, immunity ect ect.
So, how long to build good Jing? The longer you live a healthy lifestyle the more Jing you will be accruing and be able to gift to your baby.
It only takes two microscopic cells (females egg and males sperm) to untie and create an embryo. However these cells have been in the making for a lot longer than one month, what many people are lead to believe.
In fact, female eggs have a very long life, some eggs have been lying dormant for decades as immature eggs. It’s not until they receive a signal (a hormonal signal to create ovulation) that they begin the process of maturing and developing fully. This process takes around 120 -150 days.
And for the guys, it’s not an overnight affair to have healthy sperm. Fully developed sperm takes approximately 72 days to grow from a tiny cell to a mature sperm cell.
Often herbs and supplements can be prescribed to enhance both the quality and quantity of a female’s egg and males sperm. It’s important to ensure all preconception vitamins and mineral levels are at optimum levels to achieve the healthiest little embryo, which will thrive to develop into a joyful, happy bundle of delight.