How Can Yoga Help When Trying to Get Pregnant?
Whether you are trying to get pregnant, have had difficulty getting pregnant or are going through fertility treatments, the practice of yoga can be a great tool to support you on your fertility journey. The physical and emotional demands during this time are often elevated and require a special level of self care. Practicing Fertility Yoga can help to embody a sense of well being as you attune to your body’s needs during this special and exciting time.
Using a series of restorative asanas, or yoga postures that are supported with props, enable you to hold the postures for a longer period of time, which helps to reset your nervous system and can assist you in a number of ways throughout this process.
On a physical level, the practice will help to prepare the hips, low back and groins, areas of the body that will expand throughout pregnancy. Directing attention to these areas of the body helps to clear energy and channel intention, setting the stage for a practice of mindfulness.
The pranayama, or breathing techniques, are tools used to help increase vitality and calm the mind. Chances are if you have had difficulty getting pregnant or are going through fertility treatments, you are stressed out and your body is sending all of its resources to respond to stress, which is taxing on your system. There is a direct correlation between the quality of the breath and the effect it has on the mind. Breathing in a slow, methodical manner helps to lower cortisol levels, which relieves stress, enabling you to channel your body’s resource to other areas of your body.
Combined together, the asanas and pranayama set the stage for a profound practice of mindfulness and gives you tools to support you on your fertility journey.
If you are going through fertility treatments, it is often recommended to avoid high impact activities, as well avoid heavy lifting. If you have a regular yoga practice, you want to avoid hardening, tightening or compressing the abdomen, as it can cause undue stress on your body, which can compromise your body’s ability to respond to treatment. During IVF treatments, the follicles within your ovaries are expanding. It is possible that too much pressure or impact on this area of the body can cause tubial torsion, which is when the ovaries twist and surgery is needed to correct any damage that may have occurred.
This is an exciting time, a time to celebrate. The restorative postures in Fertility Yoga creates fertile soil to plant the seeds of patience, kindness, compassion, discernment and a sense of humor, which are virtues we take with us and practice not just on the path to becoming a parent, but also in our day to day activity and interaction with others, as our daily life unfolds.