"Placebo is not fake," Dr. Nair told me over video call. "Placebo is the most powerful drug we have. When a woman believes she is in a sacred womb, her cortisol drops. Her oxytocin spikes. Her fallopian tubes relax. That is fertility medicine. The valley doesn’t cure azoospermia or blocked tubes. But it removes the stress that makes those conditions worse."

Here’s a solid informational piece on the (Hindu Fertility Valley), which most commonly refers to the Ganges-Yamuna Doab region in northern India — though the exact phrase is sometimes also linked to the Valley of Flowers or the spiritual-mythological landscape around the Ganges River .