To break the stress cycle, a regular yoga practice may be your best weapon.
When months—even years—go by and a woman still isn’t a mother, breaking the cycle of anxiety and disappointment can seem all but impossible. That tension is made worse in knowing that stress takes a toll on the body, and reproduction is definitely not immune from its impact. Fortunately, it seems that yoga can break the stress loop, allowing your body to truly relax. Studies show yoga engages the parasympathetic nervous system—the one that allows us to turn off the evolutionary fight-or-flight response that can be at the root of chronic tension.
While no research has looked directly at whether yoga makes it likelier you’ll get pregnant, the Chicago-based Pulling Down the Moon yoga studios recently found that nearly three-quarters of the 130 women who responded to the center’s survey had conceived within six months, and a quarter of those got pregnant without medical help. One of the reasons may be that yoga poses improve blood flow and are especially good at easing tightness in the muscles surrounding the groin and hips. That allows blood to more easily reach the reproductive organs, says Tami Quinn, co-author of Fully Fertile: A 12-Week Holistic Plan for Optimal Fertility (Findhorn Press, 2008) and co-founder of Pulling Down the Moon. “Blood is important in carrying hormones throughout the body and in building the uterine lining.”
Getting Started
Beginning a yoga routine can be as simple as paying attention to your breathing. “If you want to affect the way you’re thinking, the feeling that you’re stressed out and your life is out of control, the bridge between the mind and body is the breath,” Quinn explains. Focusing on slowing down your inhalations and exhalations—in a yoga class as well as in life—is far more important than doing any pretzel-like poses.
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If you’re new to fertility yoga classes, try to tune in to your body and breath throughout the class. “Yoga is appropriate for everyone, and the majority of people we see are novices and have never done yoga before in their lives,” Quinn says. Some yoga teachers lead a calm, quiet class in which you’ll relax deeply into each pose; other classes are more active. Some emphasize community, where you’ll get to know other women also trying to conceive. Aim for at least three or four classes a week. If that’s too much, “take it in bite-size pieces,” says Anna Davis, Ph.D., a Seattle yoga instructor and neuroscientist. “Doing something small every day is better than trying to fit in a big chunk and being disappointed when you don’t get it in.”
Balancing Act
Once you find a class you like, you might be surprised at how quickly you feel better. “[My students] are visibly relaxed, and their speed is slower when they leave,” says Natalie Engler, director of restorative yoga services at the Domar Center for Mind/Body Health in Massachusetts. Engler’s sessions emphasize a gentle, passive stretching of the entire body, and quieting the nervous system with the support of blankets and bolsters. “That sets the stage for balancing the emotions, whatever they are,” she says. “It’s calming the mind and then accessing the inner wisdom, facilitating the body’s innate capacity to heal.”
While you’ll likely learn poses specifically aimed at improving fertility (there are four to try on the opposite page), your teacher may also encourage you to think about your life energy—what’s called prana in Sanskrit, the language of yoga. “How much prana do you bring into the process of fertility? How much do you drain?” Quinn asks. “If you spend most of your free time Googling about fertility, that may deplete you of energy. Maybe that’s time better spent in nature, going for a bike ride, or calling a friend up for tea.” The peace and calm that yoga can bring can’t ensure conception, but they’ll definitely make the path toward parenthood a little easier.
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 For More Videos on Infertility Yoga go to PullingDownTheMoon.com |
4 Poses For Fertility
This classic sequence is a wonderful warm-up for the low back and hips, Quinn says. Start in Table Pose (on hands and knees), take a deep inhale and then exhale, rounding your back like an angry cat, then sit your bottom back to your heels (Child’s Pose). With your next inhale, return to Table Pose. Take your time as you move between Table, Cat, and Child’s Pose, feeling your spine as it rounds and the muscles of your back become warm. Move through at least four full inhalations and exhalations, following your breath to set the pace.
This posture is good for the low back, opening the hips, and loosening the muscles surrounding the groin, which brings blood flow into the pelvis, Quinn explains. From a standing position, with your feet slightly wider than hip-distance, slowly come into a squat. (If your heels don’t touch the floor, roll a blanket underneath them). Using your elbows to spread your knees apart, place your hands together in front of your heart. Start by holding Malasana for 10 inhales and exhales, gradually working up to holding the pose for one to two minutes.
Sit up straight with the soles of your feet touching, knees apart. (You can sit on a folded blanket if it’s too difficult to sit on the floor with a straight spine.) The farther you place the feet from the groin, the easier it’ll be to fold forward. Take hold of your feet with your hands. Then inhale, sit up straight, and exhale as you fold forward. Keep your spine as straight as possible as you hinge from the hips. Take five to 10 full breaths here.
A version of this article originally appeared in the Fall 2008 issue of Conceive Magazine.
Related Topics: Boost Your Fertility; Fertility Health; Fertility Nutrition; Fertility Threats; Stress and Fertility
