Congratulations on taking the first steps toward learning about yoga and fertility! If you’ve read Chapter 1, you already know how yoga can help improve your fertility and overall well-being. If you have never taken a yoga class before, this book will help you learn how to use yoga to help enhance your fertility while learning how to safely come in and out of the poses and cultivate greater mind-body awareness. The basic routines in Chapters 4 and 5were developed to be used by yoga practitioners, as well as by people with little to no experience with yoga. Please read through the yoga sequences carefully before beginning a routine. The pictures are there to help you see what the basic form should look like. Keep in mind that the models in the photos are seasoned yoga practitioners, so your poses may not look exactly the way they do in the book.
This book is organized around your monthly cycle, so there are chapters that are dedicated to helping you understand what is happening in your body and what yoga practice would be most beneficial during that time. Chapter 4 provides both a basic and intermediate yoga routine for the first half of your cycle. These routines are best performed after the heaviest flow days of your period are finished, up until ovulation. The yoga poses in this chapter are designed to help stimulate the ovaries, as well as provide more blood flow to the pelvic region. Chapter 5 provides both a basic and intermediate yoga routine for the second half of your cycle. These routines are best performed after ovulation up until the start of your period, if you have not conceived. These poses are also designed to provide more blood flow to the pelvic region and to help thicken the lining of the uterus for implantation. These poses are more calming and less stimulating than the first half poses, and are also safe to practice if conception has occurred. Chapter 6 provides yoga routines that can be used for other conditions like when you are menstruating, early pregnancy, and a stress relieving practice that can also be used during an ART cycle. Chapter 7 explores more practices to support your fertility such as meditation, visualizations, affirmations, and mantras. Chapter 8 looks at how lifestyle changes can impact your fertility, while Chapter 9explores other complementary practices like acupuncture and fertility abdominal massage. Chapter 9 also gives you information on using yoga with ART (assisted reproductive technology) and advice on how to discuss your situation with friends and family. Chapter 10 provides case studies of women who have used yoga for fertility to help them achieve their goal of becoming a mother. We encourage you to thoroughly read this getting started chapter before moving ahead to the yoga routines. However, this book is not necessarily linear, so feel free to skip around and read what piques your interest the most.
GETTING STARTED
Before you begin the yoga routines in Chapters 4, 5 and 6, make sure you have considered the following:
1. You have a quiet space in your home where you can fit a standard size yoga mat which is 24” by 68” inches. Hardwood floors are great but low pile carpet works fine too.
2. You have a wall that is free of pictures, heaters or any other obstructions that you can use to help balance and use for Legs Up the Wall pose.
3. You might want to play some relaxing music during your yoga routine. Remember to turn off your phone so you are not interrupted during this time.
4. Recommended additional equipment: yoga strap (or a scarf), yoga block, wool or cotton blanket. Optional equipment: bolster (or a cushion, pillows, or extra blankets), eye pillow (a scarf or article of clothing can also be used to cover eyes).
5. You have not eaten a heavy meal within the past 2 hours. Light food like fruit or granola can be fine within an hour of class, but it is best to practice on an empty stomach.
6. You are wearing loose comfortable clothing including yoga or fitness apparel that is stretchy, not tight or restrictive.
7. You have nothing on your feet. Socks can be worn while practicing the restorative poses, but it’s best to practice yoga in bare feet.
8. You do not have any medical conditions for which yoga practice is contraindicated. You are advised to check with your physician if you are unsure whether it is safe for you to do the yoga routines in this book.
9. You have read through this chapter so you know where you are in your cycle and know which routines are best suited to you.
10. You have committed to taking whatever time you have to be completely present with yourself and your practice. Even if you only have 10 minutes, dedicate this time to nurturing yourself through yoga.
DECIDING WHERE TO BEGIN IN THIS BOOK
The yoga routines in Chapters 4, and 5 are organized around your menstrual cycle. If you have your period, you should consult the yoga routine in Chapter 6. If you are toward the end of your period and have not yet ovulated, you should practice the basic yoga routine in Chapter 4. Many of the poses in this chapter are meant to help stimulate the ovaries to help optimize ovulation. If you are not sure if you have ovulated yet, take a look at the box below for help in determining when you are ovulating. If you are still not sure of the exact time you ovulate, just use your best judgment. The yoga sequences in each chapter are all fertility enhancing poses, so it’s fine if you are a little off with the timing. The most cautious approach would be to choose the second half routines if you are not sure where you are in your cycle, or if you think you may have ovulated already.
If you have already ovulated and are in the two-week wait, it is best to perform the basic yoga routine found in Chapter 5. The poses in this routine are focused on increasing blood flow to the pelvic area and thickening the lining of the uterus. These poses also have more of a Yin (calming/passive) quality to them, so they are perfect for this time in your cycle.
We recommend that you start with the basic routines even if you have been practicing yoga for a while. The basic routines are a great introduction to fertility yoga, so it’s a good idea to practice those routines first, before moving on to the intermediate routines.
How to Tell if You are Ovulating
1. Consult the calendar. A typical cycle lasts approximately 28 days, and we usually ovulate right in the middle of the cycle, so in the case of a 28-day cycle that would be at around Day 14. Your cycle may vary from 28 days, however, so the best way to know your fertile days is to use one of the methods below.
2. Chart your temperature. Keep track of your BBT (basal body temperature) using a basal body thermometer. Your basal body temperature is taken first thing in the morning before you have gotten out of bed. When you keep track of your BBT for a couple of months, you will begin to see patterns that can help you determine ovulation. After ovulation, you will see a rise in your BBT that stays steady until your period. The day before your body temperature rises would be the day that you are ovulating.
3. Pay attention to your body. If you are like 20% of women, you may get a slight cramp in the lower abdominal area on one side when are ovulating. This cramping is referred to as mittelschmerz, which is German for “middle pain.” This slight pain or series of cramps is thought to be caused by the release of the mature egg from the ovary during ovulation.
4. Check your cervical mucus. There is a change in the consistency and appearance of your cervical fluid leading up to ovulation. Cervical mucus becomes slippery and stretchy, with a consistency similar to raw egg white just before ovulation, so it can carry the sperm to the ovum. (For more information on this, see No. 6 below.)
5. Buy an ovulation predictor kit. Ovulation predictor kits will check your levels of LH (luteinizing hormone) and tell you the best 12 to 24 hours to try to conceive.
6. Get a copy of Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler. This is a very comprehensive and detailed reference book that can help you learn about your cycles, determine ovulation timing, and even point out irregularities in timing that may be impacting your fertility.1
HOW MUCH TIME AND HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU DO THESE ROUTINES?
Each of the yoga routines in this book is designed to take between 30 and 40 minutes, depending on how long you stay in each pose. We do make recommendations for the number of breaths you should take in each pose, but the time it takes you to take those breaths is really quite individual. The breaths should be slow and deep, and you can decide how long you want to stay in each pose. If you do not have 30 to 40 minutes to dedicate to your practice every day, choose one pose like Legs Up the Wall and stay in it for 5 or 10 minutes rather than doing nothing at all. Any time of day is fine to practice, but try to get into a consistent routine if possible. Yoga does have a cumulative effect on the body, so the more you do it, the better, but don’t allow this to be another thing you have to add to your To Do List. If you can dedicate three times a week to the 30–40 minute practice and then do between 10 and 20 minutes on the other days that is a great place to start.
KEEPING A JOURNAL
As you begin your fertility yoga journey, we recommend that you begin to keep a journal to keep track of how your practice is going as well as write down goals, affirmations or any emotions or feelings you want to release on paper. Your journal can be used to keep track of your cycle and how it changes with the fertility yoga program and other modalities you might be trying like acupuncture or fertility abdominal massage. You may also decide to make some lifestyle changes like altering your diet, and a journal is a great way to record the changes you are making and how they might be impacting how you feel. Free-form writing can be a wonderful way to get in touch with yourself and help you to determine in which direction you need to go when faced with challenging decisions. There is no right way to keep a journal, so keep in mind that you can use it in any way that feels right to you.
Exercise to Help Open the Body-to-Mind Communication Channel During Yoga
In our classes, we encourage students to pay attention to what they are feeling in their bodies as a result of the yoga poses, in order to get practice at body-to-mind communication. Some questions you could ask yourself as you do the routines in this book include:
· Where am I feeling this pose in my body?
· Does the second side of pose feel the same as or different than the first side?
· Am I able to breathe freely and evenly in this pose? (If not, try backing out of the pose a bit and see if that improves the breath.)
· Where is my mind at this moment? (If it is somewhere else, see if you can just invite it back to your yoga mat, without judging yourself.)
BASIC YOGA PRINCIPLES
Before you begin, we would like to share some of our basic principles about practicing yoga for you to think about as you are doing the routines. These might be characterized as underlying attitudes that we believe are important to bring to a yoga practice, and that will help you get the most value from your practice.
1. Work in your comfort zone. Do what you can do; never force it. Stretch only as far as feels comfortable. The point of the poses is not to do the maximum possible in any given pose. It would be much better to find a place to be in the pose where you can breathe and stay focused. Remember that in yoga the journey is more important than the destination—you might even say that the journey IS the destination.
2. Accept and respect what you can do without judging. This principle carries with it three very important principles of yoga: acceptance, respect for yourself, and letting go of judgment. This may be the most difficult principle, because we are so used to doing the opposite.
3. Don’t worry about how you look in the poses. As we mentioned earlier, the models in the book are very experienced yoga practitioners. Your poses may not look much like theirs in the beginning. However, the form is less important in the poses than the ability to breathe and move energy. Although it may be tempting to practice in front of a mirror, and this may be valuable sometimes, it would be preferable not to do this. We as a culture tend to be very visually and externally oriented. In yoga, we try to cultivate a more internally oriented frame of reference.
4. Listen to your body. This is a particularly important skill to practice when you are trying to conceive. Our body has important messages for us, but we have to be paying attention in order to hear them. As you try the yoga poses, see if you can tune in to the feedback your body is giving you for each pose. Notice where you feel each pose, and which poses feel best to you.
5. Be present. In order to listen to your body, you will need to keep your mind and your body in the same place at the same time. This is perhaps the most difficult practice to implement because we rarely do it. Try, as you do the poses, to have your mind present and focused on what you are doing. If you notice your mind wandering—which you will!—simply notice that and bring it back to focus on the pose you are in, and notice any sensation you are feeling in the pose. Let go of any self-judgment. Even very seasoned yogis struggle and find their minds wandering pretty frequently!
As you work with this practice, you will find that it reduces stress and promotes a calm, centered feeling. This is because 98% of our stress comes not from the current moment, but from worries about past or future events. Giving ourselves a break from being drawn into the past and future has big benefits for de-stressing.
6. Breathe fully and deeply. Each routine begins with a breathing practice. This is a way to remind the body to take full advantage of the available breathing space in the body, so that, as you go through the poses, your breath will continue to be full and deep. Pay attention to your breath as you are in each pose. The breath is a good clue to how you are doing in the pose. If you notice you are holding your breath, or unable to take nice, deep inhales and exhales, you may be pushing yourself too far in the pose. Back out of the pose a bit, and see if you can get back to a place where you can take smooth, even breaths.
7. Rest as you need to. There is no benefit whatsoever in getting through the routines quickly. Take your time in each pose, and rest between poses if you feel the need to do so. It is also not necessary to do the entire routine. If you are unable to do the whole routine, you can simply choose a few poses to do.
8. Yoga should feel good! Come out of the pose if it feels really uncomfortable or painful. You may feel a stretch in a particular set of muscles, and this kind of “discomfort” is fine. But if a pose really feels uncomfortable or painful, it would be better not to do it at this point. Particularly if you have injuries, pay attention to those, and don’t do poses that exacerbate them. We need to release our Western idea of “no pain, no gain,” because it doesn’t apply to fertility yoga.
9. What you focus on expands. Pay attention to what you focus on as you practice. If you focus on the discomfort, it will increase. If you focus on the breath, it will expand. This is also a good life principle to practice: be careful what you focus on, because that is what will expand in your life. If you are always focusing on negative things, you will draw more of these kinds of things into your life. If you choose positive things to focus on, that is what you will draw to yourself.
Our Basic Principles of Yoga Practice
· Work in your comfort zone.
· Accept and respect what you can do without judging.
· Pay more attention to the breath than to how you look.
· Listen to your body.
· Be present.
· Breathe fully and deeply.
· Rest as you need to.
· Yoga should feel good!
· What you focus on expands.
Now, you are ready to begin your yoga for fertility practice!