5 benefits of fertility yoga
There are many benefits of fertility yoga and there are many reasons why you might want to start a fertility yoga practice to enhance your ability to conceive and hold a pregnancy.
Have you have recently decided to plan for pregnancy and want to use fertility yoga as part of your preconception preparation? Or is your plan to conceive not happening the way you thought it would and are experiencing difficulty falling pregnant? Are you may be going through assisted fertility treatments and are looking for a way to reduce side effects of the treatments? Whatever the reason, fertility yoga is a way to support your fertility journey.
Lets have a look at some of the benefits yoga has on fertility.
1. Helps to regulate your menstrual cycle
One of the first things to do when preparing for conception is having an awareness of your menstrual cycle. Regulating your cycle is important as you need to have the luteal and follicular phases at a certain length.
The follicular phase is the time for the maturation of eggs and if it is too short there is not enough time for the egg to mature. The luteal phase needs to be a certain length for the progesterone to plump up the endometrial lining for a fertilized egg.
Every woman has a slightly different length of cycle. We may ovulate at different times. By understanding your cycle and knowing when you ovulate as well as knowing the length of your luteal and follicular phases can be empowering in your journey for fertility. There are ways to regulate your cycle and fertility yoga is one tool for this.
2. Increases blood flow to pelvic region
There are yoga poses that boost blood circulation to the reproductive organs. When the blood flows freely in our pelvic region, our reproductive organ function well.
3. May help increase conception rates
A study has shown the women undergoing IVF that practiced mind body techniques, including yoga and meditation, conceived at a rate 3 times greater than that of a control group. 55% of the mind body group conceived compared to 20% of the control group. 42% of the mind body group’s pregnancies were conceived naturally.
4. Reduces stress and supports the nervous system
There has been a lot of research around yoga and stress relief. If you have ever practiced yoga, you may remember the benefits of the reduction of stress and anxiety. A simple way of using yoga anywhere, where you don’t even need a mat, is yogic breathing. Yogic breathing – long gentle deep breaths activate the body’s relaxation response, decreases cortisol in your body.
5. Promotes self-compassion
Self-compassion is having a deep understanding and empathy to ourselves and the suffering we experience. This is like being a best friend to ourselves. You may experience a lot of negative self-talk when you are struggling to conceive and become quite harsh on ourselves. By practicing self-compassion we become gentler and kinder to ourselves and the struggle we face. Yoga is a mindful practice which can help us practice self compassion.
Practicing 30 minutes a day of yoga is a means of improving your fertility, and achieve a sense of well being, reduce stress and anxiety and develop a gentle, kind view to ourselves. This will bring ease and a reduction in suffering while we are on the fertility journey.
For an individualized fertility yoga plan, book an initial consultation to discuss your fertility needs here.
We also offer online fertility yoga classes. For more information on the next course please send us a message.
