Dr. Laura Erlich

Dr. Laura Erlich Acupuncturist, herbalist, doula, fertility coach, author and leading educator.

Dr. Laura Erlich (DTCM, LAc, FABORM)
Doctor of Chinese Medicine- Women's holistic health expert specializing in fertility, pregnancy & postpartum.
25+ years experience.

Trauma can keep pulling the body out of the present.Even when the mind understands that something is over and in the pas...
08/03/2026

Trauma can keep pulling the body out of the present.

Even when the mind understands that something is over and in the past, the nervous system may still be living in the echo of it.

The body may brace.
The breath may become shallow.
Sleep may feel unsafe.
Digestion may change.
The heart may race.
The muscles may stay guarded.
The system may remain quietly prepared for threat.

This is not a personal weakness- It’s biology.

The nervous system is designed to learn from experience. It adapts, protects, remembers, and responds. But sometimes those protective patterns continue long after they are needed.

Acupuncture offers one way of working with the body, through carefully placed input into a living, responsive nervous system.

From a modern perspective, acupuncture can be understood as therapeutic sensory input that interacts with the nervous system, pain processing pathways, autonomic regulation, and the body’s capacity to shift state.

From a Chinese Medicine perspective, we might speak of calming the Shen (the Spirit), moving Qi, nourishing what is depleted, and helping the body return to balance.

Different languages, rooted in the same body.

The goal is not to force release or to override the body’s protection.
The goal is to create enough safety that the body can finally begin to soften.

Because healing does not always happen through explaining, analyzing, or thinking harder.

Sometimes it begins when the body has a new experience:

I am here.
I am breathing.
I am safe enough in this moment.

And that present moment can be powerful medicine. 🩵

Dr. Laura x

07/29/2026

Got to stop you there...

Endometriosis is not simply tissue growing where it shouldn’t.

It is a complex, inflammatory, neuroimmune condition — and for many women, the pain is not “just cramps.”

It is the immune system, nervous system, hormones, inflammatory signaling, pelvic tissues, and pain pathways all involved in the conversation.

One piece of this that deserves much more attention is the role of mast cells.

Mast cells are immune cells that live in tissues throughout the body. When activated, they can release chemical mediators such as histamine, cytokines, enzymes, prostaglandins, and other inflammatory signals.

In endometriosis, research has shown increased numbers and activation of mast cells in endometriotic lesions compared with normal or matched endometrial tissue.

And that’s really significant.

Because when mast cells degranulate, they don’t just sit quietly in the background. They can release inflammatory chemicals into the surrounding tissue environment — interacting with nearby nerves, sensitizing pain pathways, and contributing to the kind of pain that feels sharp, burning, radiating, widespread, unpredictable, or disproportionate to what someone has been told is “normal.”

This is part of why endometriosis pain can feel so much bigger than uterine cramping.

For patients, this matters because your pain is not something to be dismissed or played-down.
For practitioners, this matters because endometriosis asks us to think beyond lesion location alone.

Yes, imaging matters, and explorative excision surgery can be essential — But we also need to be thinking about the whole terrain this disease is operating within.

➡️ This is exactly where integrative care becomes so valuable.

Not as a replacement for skilled medical or surgical care — but as a way to support the whole person living inside a deeply complex condition.

Endometriosis is not “just rogue tissue.”

And women with endometriosis are not exaggerating.

They are living with a condition that deserves deeper understanding, better investigation, and more comprehensive care 🤍

07/23/2026

“Unexplained infertility” is an incredibly frustrating term.

On one hand, it may be reassuring that nothing obvious has been found.

But on the other hand, it can leave you feeling even more stuck- no clear reason, no clear direction, and no real explanation for why something that seems like it should be simple has become so complicated.

But in my experience “unexplained” rarely means there is no explanation.

Sometimes it means the standard testing has not found one yet.

Fertility is complex. It involves the egg, the s***m, ovulation, hormones, the uterine lining, the immune system, inflammation, circulation, the vaginal and uterine microbiome, thyroid function, metabolic health, timing, implantation, and the body’s overall internal environment.

Sometimes the missing piece is subtle.

🧩 A person may be ovulating, but not optimally.
🧩Progesterone may be “normal,” but not sufficient for that individual.
🧩Sperm parameters may look acceptable, while DNA fragmentation has not been assessed.
🧩Endometriosis may be present without obvious symptoms.
🧩Inflammation or oxidative stress may be affecting egg, s***m, or embryo quality.
🧩The uterine lining may not be responding as expected.
🧩The immune system may be part of the implantation story.

This is where an integrative approach can be so valuable.

In Chinese Medicine, we are not only looking for a diagnosis. We are looking for patterns.

Unexplained infertility can feel like a dead end. But often, it is an invitation to look more deeply.

Not with blame, panic, or throwing every supplement at it and hoping something sticks.

But with curiosity, holistic strategy, and individualized care.

If you’ve been told your fertility challenges are “unexplained,” working 1:1 allows us to look at your history, labs, cycle, symptoms, partner factors, and treatment goals through a more complete lens - and build a plan that is specific to YOU.

➡️ Comment ‘READY’ to get started with personalized 1:1 fertility support.

Dr. Laura x

07/21/2026

If natural, holistic approaches to health and wellbeing are important to you- you have my full support.
I’ve worked with enough women in the past 25 years to know that nothing is harder to accept for someone that’s very holistic than the decision to do IVF- and I know it’s highly likely you will be feeling opposition, guilt, despair and maybe even some shame in feeling like you’ve had to abandon your beliefs and turn to conventional medicine.

Please hear me when I say this- there is a time and place for both. It never needs to be a question of one or the other, conventional medicine Vs holistic medicine. Using one to SUPPORT the other is not a reflection of weakness- it’s empowering.

This is why I practice integrative medicine.

Deciding to do conventional fertility treatment does not mean you have failed your body.
It does not mean you didn’t try hard enough naturally.
It does not mean you are less connected, less intuitive, or less committed to your body.

In fertility care, I don’t believe in making women choose between “natural” and “medical” as if one is pure and the other is a compromise.

That kind of thinking places far too much pressure on people who are already carrying enough.

The goal is not to win a philosophical argument.

The goal is to meet your baby.

This is where integrative fertility care can be so powerful.

Alternative and reproductive medicine do not have to compete.

Acupuncture, herbal medicine, nutrition, nervous system regulation, cycle support, and whole-person care can sit alongside labs, imaging, medications, retrievals, transfers, IUI, IVF, and pregnancy monitoring.

There is a place for both.
Traditional East Asian Medicine can help:

* Prepare the body before treatment.
* Support the nervous system during a very stressful process.
* Helps address cycle patterns, inflammation, digestion, sleep, or blood flow.
* Give you a place to feel held while you move through something incredibly tender.

So if you’ve decided to do IVF, then you are a person making the best decisions you can, with the information, resources, body, history, and circumstances you have.

And you deserve care that respects all of that 🩵

07/15/2026

So many women assume this monthly pain cycle is normal.
A little heaviness or mild discomfort can happen. But pain that makes you cancel plans, miss work, rely on painkillers every month, feel nauseous, curl up with a heating pad for hours, or dread your cycle is your body trying to tell you something.

In Chinese Medicine, pain often points to one very important concept:

Something isn’t moving freely.

That might mean the smooth flow of Qi is constrained. It might mean blood is not circulating as well as it should. It might mean there is cold, tension, stagnation, inflammation, or an underlying pattern that is making the uterus work harder to release the menstrual blood.

Think of it like this:

Your period should move and flow.

When that flow is blocked, stuck, forced, or restricted, the body may respond with cramping, clotting, pressure, sharp pain, lower back pain, digestive changes, mood shifts, or exhaustion.

And while painkillers may help you get through the day, they do not always answer the deeper question:

This is where Chinese Medicine can be so helpful.

We can help manage the pain, but we’re also asking:

Why is the pain there?
What is the pattern underneath it?
Is the body cold or overheated?
Is there stagnation or deficiency?
Is the cycle struggling to move smoothly?
Is there something that needs medical investigation, like endometriosis, fibroids, adenomyosis, or another underlying condition?

Painful periods are not “just part of being a woman.”

They’re information that signals something needs attention.

And when we listen to that information carefully, we can start supporting the body in a much more meaningful way.

If your period pain is affecting your quality of life, you deserve care that looks deeper than symptom management.

Working 1:1 allows us to understand your cycle, your symptoms, your history, and your individual pattern — so your treatment plan is actually built around you 🩵

Dr. Laura x

07/13/2026

TCM associates Summer with the Fire element — Centering around the Heart, joy, connection, warmth, and the Shen (Spirit)

But the Heart is not alone.

Its paired organ is the Small Intestine.

In TCM, the Small Intestine is said to “separate the pure from the impure.” On one level, this speaks to digestion: sorting, absorbing, transforming, and letting go of what the body does not need.

But like so much in Chinese Medicine, there is a deeper wisdom here too.

The Small Intestine teaches discernment.

What is nourishing?
What is depleting?
What belongs to me?
What am I carrying that was never mine?

This is a pattern I often see in women who are overextended, emotionally responsible for everyone around them, or trying to conceive while holding an enormous mental and emotional load.

They are not only managing their own body.

They are absorbing opinions, timelines, fear, family pressure, medical appointments, partner emotions, work stress, and the invisible weight of “holding it all together.”

And the body feels that.

In TCM, when discernment becomes difficult, the Heart can become overwhelmed. The Shen may feel unsettled. Sleep may become lighter. The nervous system may feel more reactive. The cycle may feel more sensitive to stress.

This does not mean emotions are bad.

It means the body needs space to sort.

To digest.
To release.
To come back to what is true.

For fertility and hormonal health, this matters because the body is always listening to the internal environment.

Sometimes support looks like nourishment, acupuncture, herbs, and rest.

And sometimes it also looks like turning inward to look at what's truly yours to carry. Because discernment is medicine too 🤍

07/08/2026

When we talk about fibroids, it’s easy to let the conversation become purely structural.

Where are they?
How big are they?
How many are there?
Are they submucosal, intramural, subserosal?

And of course, all of that matters- Imaging, location, symptoms. And medical and surgical options absolutely have their place here.

But from a Chinese Medicine perspective, I don’t want us to stop there.

Because the fibroid is not occurring in isolation. It is developing within a particular terrain.

And that terrain can tell us a lot.

When I’m working with someone with fibroids, I’m not only thinking, “How do we address the growth?” I’m also asking what the body is showing us around it.

Is there a long history of constraint? Is Qi not moving freely? Are we seeing pelvic congestion, PMS, breast tenderness, frustration, or a cycle that feels tense and obstructed?

Is there blood stasis? Fixed pain, clots, dark menstrual blood, a sense of heaviness or pressure in the pelvis?

Is there dampness or phlegm accumulation? A body that feels burdened, swollen, sluggish, inflamed, congested — where fluids are not being transformed well?

Is there heat driving heavier bleeding or a more inflammatory picture?

And underneath all of that, is there deficiency? Because often there is. The body may be overworked, undernourished, depleted, or struggling to regulate and transform in the way it needs to.

This is why two people can both have fibroids and require completely different treatment strategies.

Chinese Medicine can be so valuable — not because it ignores the structural diagnosis, but because it asks what kind of internal environment is surrounding it.

Fibroids are common, yes.

But common should never mean dismissed. And it does NOT mean we stop asking deeper questions.

If you’re navigating fibroids, heavy bleeding, pelvic pressure, pain, or fertility concerns, individualized care matters.
➡️ In 1:1 work, we can look at your imaging, your cycle, your symptoms, your constitution, and your fertility goals — and create a plan that actually reflects YOUR body. Comment ‘READY’ for individualized 1:1 care.

Dr. Laura x

07/06/2026

When you’re trying to conceive, there can be a misconception that fertility prep is complicated.

The perfect supplement routine.
The perfect protocol.
The perfect stack of powders, pills, and “must-haves.”

And while targeted supplements can absolutely have a place, sometimes we need to come back to something much simpler:

Food.

Kiwis are a beautiful everyday fertility-supportive food because they’re naturally rich in nutrients that support the wider internal environment your eggs are developing in.

They’re especially known for their vitamin C content — an antioxidant nutrient that helps protect cells from oxidative stress. They also provide fiber, potassium, vitamin E, folate, antioxidants and other phytonutrients. The NIH has widely publisised that vitamin C functions as an antioxidant and supports collagen synthesis and iron absorption.
And in fertility care, these things matter.

Because contributing fertility factors like egg quality are not separate from the body as a whole- they're influenced by circulation, inflammation, oxidative stress, blood sugar balance, sleep, stress physiology, nutrient status, and the body’s deeper reserves.

Vitamin C has also been shown to be valuable in increasing progesterone AND decrease cortisol levels. Another bonus.. kiwis are rich in folate, and studies show that consuming 600-800 mcg of folate daily has been associated with higher luteal phase progesterone levels. Folate is also key when it comes to preventing neural tube defects that can occur in the first month of pregnancy.

This doesn’t mean eating kiwis is a magic fix... but combined with other small day-to-day habits it's a good reminder that sometimes less is more when it comes to fertility prep.

Sometimes it starts with returning to the basics: colorful food, steady meals, enough protein, deep rest, nervous system support, and daily nourishment that your body can actually receive and rely on.

So if you’re TTC and feeling overwhelmed by all the things you “should” be taking, let this be a gentle reminder:

Simple is powerful.
Food still matters.
And your body doesn’t need perfection — it needs consistent support and routine.

Dr. Laura x

In Chinese Medicine, the mind is not seen as one single thing.It is a living constellation of spirit, emotion, instinct,...
06/27/2026

In Chinese Medicine, the mind is not seen as one single thing.

It is a living constellation of spirit, emotion, instinct, thought, grief, willpower, memory, imagination, and presence.

These are known as the Five Spirits of the Mind.

Shen resides in the Heart.
It governs our consciousness, emotional presence, clarity, connection, and ability to feel settled within ourselves.

Hun lives in the Liver.
It gives us vision, direction, dreaming, creativity, and the ability to imagine a future.

Po belongs to the Lungs.
It connects us to breath, embodiment, instinct, release, and grief.

Yi is rooted in the Spleen.
It governs thought, focus, study, digestion of ideas, and our tendency toward worry or overthinking.

Zhi sits deep in the Kidneys.
It is will, courage, endurance, survival, and the deep inner drive that helps us keep going.

This is one of the reasons Chinese Medicine can feel so profound.

It doesn’t separate the emotional body from the physical body.
It doesn’t treat the mind as something disconnected from the organs.
It asks where the spirit is unsettled, where the body is depleted, and where emotion has taken root.

For women navigating hormones, fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, or deep life transitions, this framework can offer a completely different way of understanding the body.

Not as a collection of symptoms — but as a story.

And Chinese Medicine gives us a language that allows us to listen and understand on a deeper level.

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