The Fertility-Boosting Benefits of Yoga

If you don’t want to stop seeing your doctor for Western medicine but still want to do as much as you can to increase your odds, practicing yoga will not interfere with any drug or hormone therapies you choose to do. Most fertility specialists encourage their patients to get plenty of low-impact exercise while trying to conceive, and yoga fits the bill nicely.

It doesn’t matter if you are doing treatments or going all-natural, in your early 20s or mid-40s, stress is never good for your fertility. Yoga has long been proven to help people of all gender identities and ages relax, unwind and focus inward. Releasing stress and tension not only relaxes your muscles and improves blood flow, it allows your body to regulate your hormones. In times of stress, your body puts out hormones that make conceiving difficult. This is, in part, the truth behind the old wives’ tale that those who stop worrying about getting pregnant often do. Adding yoga to your routine will allow you to nip stress in the bud, which will help you feel better overall and increase the likelihood of conception.

If your ovaries have increased in size due to stimulating therapies, you may find poses such as the downward facing dog uncomfortable, so don’t be afraid to adapt your routine. Never force yourself into a pose or holding a pose if it is painful. If you’ve received an intra-uterine injection (IUI) or are trying in-vitro fertilization (IVF), ask your doctor when it’s safe to resume yoga. If you do become pregnant and have a history of miscarriage, ask your doctor if you should stop exercising all together for awhile to ensure you do nothing to endanger the pregnancy. Yoga does not have the power to correct scar tissue in your Fallopian tubes or cure Poly-Cystic Ovarian Disease (PCOD) or endometriosis. What it can do is work with your existing plan to help you conceive by keeping you active, increasing blood flow through your pelvis and, most of all, decreasing your stress level. If you want to try out a yoga class specifically tailored for those trying to conceive, speak to you fertility specialist or OB/GYN for assistance.