Your Fertile Power

group fam class in sonoma county, ca

Learn how to chart your cycles using Fertility Awareness for a lifetime of natural contraception, body understanding, and freedom from pharmaceuticals. Step into your power as the person who knows YOUR body best!

fall course runs october 3rd - 31st!

Fertility Awareness Educator in Sebastopol, Sonoma County
Woman in field smiling hugging self in Sebastopol, California

Do you…

  • Want natural birth control with NO side effects and high effectiveness?

  • Want to stopping fearing a late period every month?

  • Or, want to STOP getting your period and get pregnant?
     

  • Wish you knew what short, long, or irregular cycles meant, or why you have heavy periods, spotting, or PMS?
     

  • Keep debating birth control options, going in and out of the clinic trying to figure out a solution other than the Pill and IUD?
     

  • Feel like there is SO much you don't know about your cycle, and like you go round and round asking Google, friends, or maybe even doctors without getting a real answer?

    ⁣

  • Try to figure out FAM from a book but have SO MANY QUESTIONS that aren't covered in the index, and don't know if you're actually charting correctly?

  • Aren’t sure if you’re ovulating, or if your cycles are healthy?

YOUR FERTILE POWER

Group Class

Your Fertile Power is a 4-week group journey held in Sonoma County, CA, that gives you all the tools you need to start charting your cycles with the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) so you can become the expert of your own cycles, avoid pregnancy OR get pregnant naturally, reclaim your cycle as an essential life-giving force rather than something to fear or suppress.  

This is like getting your Master’s Degree in your body. You’ll learn anatomy and physiology, hormones, detailed instructions for how to interpret your unique fertility signs, live practice charting with peers, hormone health support, and the chance to review your very first chart with the group!

What’s included?

  • 4 live group classes

  • 120-page course workbook + 3 blank charts

  • Basal body thermometer

  • Visual aids and demos to help you understand fertility signs

  • Practice charting & tons of sample charts

  • 1 private chart review

  • Lifetime 50% discount on chart review follow-ups

  • 15% discount on additional 1:1 work

  • 3 months free charting via the Read Your Body app

  • Community support and teamwork to help support and motivate you

  • Bonus video tutorials for those wanting to learn the 5 FAM rules for natural birth birth control

Course Syllabus

Class 1

  • Intro to Fertility Awareness

  • Anatomy & physiology

  • Deep dive into how your cycles, fertility, ovulation, and menstruation work

  • Natural cycles vs. hormonal birth control

  • Effectiveness of FAM as natural birth control and preconception planning

Class 2

  • Cervical fluid

  • Basal body temperature

  • Cervical position

  • LH testing

  • How to check each sign

  • Group chart shares

Class 3

  • How to chart your signs

  • How to read a FAM chart

  • Sample and practice charts

  • Group chart shares

Class 4

  • Short, long, irregular, or anovulatory cycles and what they mean

  • Identifying cycle & hormone issues on charts

  • Bleeding that’s not a true period

  • Healthy cycle guidelines

  • Group chart shares

Two women on sidewalk laughing in Sebastopol, California

Who is it for?

This class will give you the foundations of FAM charting no matter what stage of life you’re in. During your 1:1 follow-up session we will discuss how to tailor your charting to what you need - whether that’s going over the rules for avoiding pregnancy, planning for conception, or understanding your hormonal health.

You can use FAM in all stages of life:

  • With regular OR irregular cycles

  • When coming off hormonal birth control or the IUD

  • During teen years

  • During perimenopause

  • For natural birth control

  • For hormone health assessment

  • For optimizing conception

  • For making sense of weird or confusing cycles

"I strongly believe that the education I received in this class is more valuable than my bachelor's degree."

-BAILEY

  • Happy woman named Thea in Sebastopol, California

    Having reached my "no" with the copper IUD and its side effects, I decided to take Caitlin's course to solidify my Fertility Awareness Method skills. My goal was to learn how to confidently avoid pregnancy using FAM and the class has definitely given me the tools to do so. Beyond FAM skills, I have gained a new pathway for honoring, caring, and connecting with my body and myself! Understanding my body in this way is such a gift — I feel like I'm in the driver's seat. ​

  • Happy woman named Katie in Sebastopol, California

    Books and podcasts were a great start, but the personal teaching with Caitlin really gave me the confidence and information I needed to do this effectively. I know my body, I trust my body and now I trust myself. I don't have to worry about getting pregnant and I don't need hormonal birth control to do this. Getting to know my body and making choices using the beautiful information it gives me everyday about my cycle and fertility is one of the best things I have ever done.​

  • Happy woman named Courtney in Sebastopol, California

    Before working with Caitlin, all my pieces about fertility charting were scattered and she was able to complete my puzzle. I had been on multiple hormonal birth controls for 10 years and I couldn’t help but wonder 'how would I feel without the hormones being fed into me?' Through Caitlin I have learned all kinds of facts about my body and how I can be in control. Honestly, what is more beautiful than being in control and aware of your body?!

It’s Time to Reclaim Your Cycle!

Women laying on blanket in Sebastopol, California

Get the education you deserve so you can be in the driver's seat of your birth control & reproductive health.

FAQs about FAM

  • FAM (the Fertility Awareness Method) is a simple daily practice of checking 1-3 physical signs that your own body freely gives you. These are called primary fertility signs: cervical fluid, waking temperature, and, optionally, cervical changes. You observe these signs each day and then record your observations on a special chart. Charting your signs allows you to see many things about your cycles you wouldn't know otherwise. There are actually several different types of Fertility Awareness-based methods (what you're reading about on this site specifically refers to the "symptothermal method," which tracks all 3 fertility signs, plus uses an optional calculation rule). 

  • Our fertility signs are in direct correlation to our hormone levels. Under the influence of estrogen leading up to ovulation, the cervix begin to produce cervical fluid, the cervix changes in height and texture, and our body temperature stays in a low range. Under the influence of progesterone after ovulation, the cervix stops producing cervical fluid, the cervix closes, and our body temperature rises to a high range. Pretty amazing how your body talks to you in the form of fertility signs, isn't it?

  • Cervical fluid is a very special and remarkable substance produced inside the cervix that allows sperm to survive for up to 5 days. Without cervical fluid, sperm will die within a few hours! Cervical fluid is made only within the fertile window of our cycle (about 7 - 10 days of each cycle). "Discharge" refers to unhealthy and abnormal secretions, such as a yeast infection. 

  • Every morning, before getting out of bed, you take your temperature (1 minute). Throughout the day, you check your cervical fluid (10 seconds). Optionally, you can check your cervix (10 seconds). Recording your signs on a special FAM chart takes another 20-30 seconds and can be done at the end of the day.

  • Learning FAM requires an initial investment (somewhere between $50-$500 depending on the teacher) but once you know it, you have the information for the rest of your life. After learning, all you need to do is print paper charts (or you can use a FAM app to chart) and buy a thermometer. Then you're all set. Your body provides fertility signs each and every day for FREE.!

  • No, not at all. FAM and the Rhythm Method are completely different. Rhythm is based on rudimentary knowledge about the menstrual cycle from the 1930s and relies on trying to calculate when your fertile phase will occur each cycle. It doesn't require you to look at the signs your body is actually giving you. FAM is based in modern science and relies on looking at your physical fertility signs to tell you each day if you are fertile or infertile. 

  • FAQ: “I've heard that sperm can survive for several days inside the vagina, and that we can ovulate multiple times at any time in the cycle. Does this mean FAM doesn't work for birth control?”

    Answer: Yes, sperm can survive several days. A core concept of FAM is understanding sperm survival within the vagina and cervix, and there are specific rules that take this into consideration so sperm and egg never meet. We observe cervical fluid to know exactly when sperm could survive (no cervical fluid = no sperm survival; cervical fluid = sperm can survive up to 5 days). Regarding ovulation, we can only ovulate once per cycle - not at any random time - and again, there are specific rules that allow for the possibility of 2 eggs released during ovulation. 

  • Yes! Regularity and predictability is not an important part of this method. Instead, you check in with your own body daily to see what's going on. If you want to use FAM for birth control, know that irregular cycles may have more days that are unsafe for unprotected intercourse - meaning more days that you will need to abstain, use a barrier method or withdrawal, or have non-penetrative sex - but you are still covered by the 4 FAM Rules. A great benefit of practicing FAM is you may even see the cause of your irregular cycles on your charts, and take steps to smooth things out for better cycle health. 

  • FAQ: “I've heard that sperm can survive for several days inside the vagina, and that we can ovulate multiple times at any time in the cycle. Does this mean FAM doesn't work for birth control?”

    Answer: Yes, sperm can survive several days. A core concept of FAM is understanding sperm survival within the vagina and cervix, and there are specific rules that take this into consideration so sperm and egg never meet. We observe cervical fluid to know exactly when sperm could survive (no cervical fluid = no sperm survival; cervical fluid = sperm can survive up to 5 days). Regarding ovulation, we can only ovulate once per cycle - not at any random time - and again, there are specific rules that allow for the possibility of 2 eggs released during ovulation. 

  • Most people agree that once you learn it, FAM is as easy as tying your shoes. Like any other skill in life, such as learning to ride a bike or drive a car, FAM requires an investment of time and energy to master. Checking your fertility signs every day is a habit that takes a bit of time to establish, but it's really just a matter of adding on to things you already do every day: taking your temperature when you're already laying in bed in the morning, and checking cervical fluid when you use the bathroom. 

  • FAM is the most scientifically advanced, modern technique to know what's happening in your cycle. Our fertility signs have been studied for nearly 150 years. We know that:

    • The absence of cervical fluid means that sperm cannot survive more than a few hours, and that ovulation is not impending

    • The presence of cervical fluid indicates increasing levels of estrogen and that ovulation is getting close

    • Ovulation is an event that occurs once per cycle (with two eggs occasionally released within 24 hours of each other)

    • A sustained shift in temperature means that progesterone is present, indicating that ovulation has passed

    • We are unable to get pregnant once we confirm, via the temperature shift and change in cervical fluid, that the  fertile window is closed and no more fertility will occur this cycle

  • Fertility Awareness is not a new thing. Amazingly, temperature and cervical fluid were verified by scientists in the 1950s-60s at the exact time that the Pill made its world debut! Guess which method got more recognition? There are a few different reasons that FAM is still relatively unknown: 

    • This method has been taught and practiced largely in a Catholic context since the 1960s, leading to the perception that FAM is only for those who have large families, who don't mind an unplanned pregnancy, or who have certain morals

    • Since FAM does not offer much profit to pharmaceutical companies, it has never found the same footing as hormonal and device methods of contraception

    • The public, the medical community, and large health institutions still believe FAM to be the ineffective Rhythm Method

  • Certain apps, such as Kindara, Sympto, LilyPro (and others) are legitimate Fertility Awareness Method programs. However, most apps that call themselves "fertility trackers" or "period trackers" are nothing more than the Rhythm Method since they don't require you to check what is actually going on in your body from day to day. Ditch the trackers and come learn with me! 

  • Anyone from menarche to menopause can use FAM and can benefit from knowing how to understand their cycles and fertility. Unlike NFP, the non-secular branch of this method, you don't have to be heterosexual, engaged, married, in a traditional relationship, or adhere to a specific gender role to use FAM.