The Ganesha Fertility Retreats aim to help couples conceive using holistic methods in a soothing environment. (Photo courtesy of Ganesha Fertility Retreats)
For several years, Alex Perry has helped couples fulfill their wish to start or grow a family. At his clinic in Canberra, Australia, which he opened in 2006, the fertility expert offers consultation and treatment for those who have trouble getting pregnant or are about to start in-vitro fertilization treatment — a process during which an egg is fertilized by sperm outside the body.
Perry, who studied Chinese medicine and human biology in Melbourne said he has always harbored a strong interest in health, and more recently focused on women’s health and fertility in particular, which he specializes on at his clinic.
This week, Perry will travel to Ananda Cottages in Ubud, Bali, where he will be in charge of the first Ganesha Fertility Retreat, a specifically designed program for couples struggling to conceive.
In total, there are 10 retreats scheduled this year, with some of them taking place in January and February, and others set between September and November. Perry talked to the Jakarta Globe prior to his departure to Bali and explained why it is important for couples to get away from their usual environments in order to increase their chances to conceive.
Why did you choose Bali as location for the Ganesha Fertility Retreats?
Initially I just went to Bali with my family on a holiday. We really fell in love with the island and its people, and the environment. It’s such a fertile place; it’s warm, it’s wet, things grow and it’s just stunningly beautiful, particularly in the middle where the rice fields are. It just seems to me like the perfect location for what we want to do.
What exactly do the fertility retreats entail?
The Ganesha Fertility Retreats are based around the symbolism of the Hindu god Ganesha, which centers on removing obstacles.
Over the years I have noticed a few key issues in connection to fertility. We use acupuncture and herbal medicine, and a whole range of other tools to treat the patient, but the biggest thing we really do is help a patient identify the areas that need to be changed and facilitate that change.
It’s very hard when you are in your own environment — when you’re at home, going to your job, take care of your other kids or family. Whatever it is, it is really hard to make a significant change in your environment, so the whole idea of the retreat is to remove obstacles. So we take couples out of their everyday environment and bring them somewhere amazing like Bali, where they really have a chance to reconnect with each other and regain some balance. We can provide some tools and treatments that could help them reach their goal of starting or growing a family.
What kind of tools and treatment are we talking about here?
The retreats take the form of seminars and training; what we usually do at our clinic over the course of 12 weeks, is condensed into a single week. We will provide couples with everything they need to know in order to make sure they do get pregnant. There are different components: the treatment part, during which each couple gets a one-on-one consultation with me to identify their issues.
Then together, we will develop a treatment plan — not just with an eye towards one week, but a future where they can successfully set themselves up to get pregnant, and we will start with that treatment during the retreat. Every other day, the couples get a massage and acupuncture treatments. They also receive advice on diet and nutrition.
One significant difference is that in our Australian clinics, we treat mostly the woman, but in Bali, we are going to treat both partners.
Alex Perry. (Photo courtesy of Ganesha Fertility Retreats)
How has the response been so far?
We have a number of couples booked for our first retreat. It’s a new project for us, but also globally, it’s a unique and powerful approach to fertility, so we are giving ourselves ample time to get this going, but the response so far has been incredible.
It’s a new concept, as far as I am aware, nobody else is really doing this at the moment. In Bali, there are lots of retreats, but they tend to be yoga-focused, so this is the first of its kind that I know of that is focused on fertility.
The beauty of it is that in our clinic, we often only treat patients that are located close to us. But with the retreats, we can have couples come from all over the world; some are from Australia, but we are also going to have couples from the UK and Europe, and the US and Asia.
What are the main reasons for couples not being able to conceive?
There are three key reasons couples struggle to conceive.
The first one is timing. Timing has to do with the woman’s ovulation. Maybe 90 percent of the people who come and consult with me have no idea when they’re ovulating. They are using an app or something but they don’t really know. So it’s very important to get the timing right.
The second one I describe as the hidden fertility factors, and they are hidden because they are factors the general gynecologist or IVF specialist are not that interested in, in terms of fertility; the number one [among them] is always stress. When I talked before about taking someone out of their ordinary environment, it’s about trying to [diminish] the things that create stress in their lives, then give them some space and help to try and change that. We always say that the common threat to all of our patients from a fertility perspective is stress. The core of this program is dealing with this stress and the implications it has to the body.
The third reason is what’s happening with the man — sperm quality, numbers, are they going in the right direction, or is there any kind of toxic load that the male partner is bringing to it. For example, I had a couple coming in today, and nothing was wrong from an IVF perspective, but he smokes and drinks. So if we can make some changes there, it’s going to go a long way in helping to improve fertility.
So what’s the demographics of your patients and the couples you treat?
Couples come from a broad range of ages and backgrounds, but typically couples are in their mid- to late 30s, and some in their 40s. Sometimes, they’ve got children already and they try to have another one, some don’t have any children yet and they’ve been trying for a while and are not having any success, but they want to try naturally, so I want to make sure they maximize their chances of falling pregnant on their own.
Some couples come to us and have known issues, and they may know that they need to use IVF and then use us as a preparation to maximize their chances.
We have heterosexual couples, same-sex couples — it doesn’t matter to us. The only thing that’s important to me is that when a couple wants to have a child, we’re there to help.
And you have a very high success rate?
Yes, we do. Our success rate is enviable. Over the last 18 months or so, 86 percent of the patients that come to our full program — which is a 12-week program — do get pregnant, which is really exciting. I’m often amazed myself just how effective it is, to be honest [laughs].
The couples you have helped — do they keep in touch?
Yes, absolutely. We love meeting babies, so a lot of them come to visit, which is really nice, and a lot of the couples are coming back for their second and third child, which is always very exciting.
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