by Jasmine | Oct 1, 2015 | Alternative Health, Prenatal Yoga, yoga fertility, Yoga Health, yoga infertility
Breathing and Conceiving? Yoga and Fertility
Breath is Life. The first thing we do when we are born is inhale, the last thing we do when we die, is exhale. Our lives are made up of all the breaths in between. Breathing is essential to life, but it is also essential to creating life.
Stress and Infertility – How Yoga Helps Infertility
When we go through infertility we are often stressed, we breathe shallowly and our body starts to hold inside all the disappointment, hurt and fear. Both physical and emotional pain gets stored in our bodies as stress. When we are stressed-Cortisol is released in the brain, which impedes our ability to conceive by affecting the hormones that are responsible for ovulation and healthy gynecological function. Yoga teaches us to open the body with the breath, creating the ability to arrest the stress response, balance hormones and return the body, emotions and mind to a relaxed state.
You can literally learn to “breathe to conceive” as breath affects your state of being on every level, you learn to receive life literally and figuratively. The breath is the most effective tool we have to stop the “fight or flight” stress response of the sympathetic nervous system and return it to “the relaxation response” of the parasympathetic nervous system.
Improved Physical Health
Yoga can also impact the general reproductive health of women trying to conceive. Yoga tones and strengthens the muscles that support reproductive organs and improves spinal alignment, enabling better circulation and improved capacity and quality of respiration. For women who are taking infertility drugs, better breathing can also help the body fight off the toxic effects of those drugs.
Reducing the Physical Effects of Stress
Yoga is perfect for dealing with one of the most pervasive mind/body fertility challenges: stress, often stress caused by the inability to get or stay pregnant. Women experiencing infertility are often stress- and pain-filled, saddened and angry. These emotions generate chemicals in the body that weaken immunity and make for a less hospitable environment for a new life. Yoga, because of its use of relaxation breathing techniques, combined with the flushing out of physical toxins, provides an antidote to the negative physical impacts of anxiety, anger and depression. It also helps to change your perspective to a more objective, detached state of mind so you start to view your challenges with more calm and control.
To treat infertility with yoga there a some basic steps you can take to get you started. This first thing is to reduce your stress level. Stress can cause your hormones and organs to become off balance. When you are not in balance your body is not working to it’s full potential. Yoga breathing will help calm the body and mind replacing the negative thoughts with positive.
There are specific poses in yoga that focus on your reproductive organs and pelvic area to increase blood flow and stimulate energy. There are also poses that soften the abdominal area clearing tension from the uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes which will increase their productivity. Where are Fertility Yoga Classes in Philadelphia? Does meditation help infertility?
Yoga will bring balance to your body, mind, and soul specifically your hormone levels. These poses will improve your glandular function which will stabilize hormones. In order for the reproductive process to occur your hormones must be in balance. What are the best Yoga Fertility Poses? Can Infertility be helped with Yoga?
Yoga and Fertility, Infertility – Not the Cure-all
This is not to say that yoga is an instant fertility potion, or that it works for everyone. It is not a quick-fix. It does aid to keep your inner peace, which can be very hard when struggling with infertility due to the frustration, anxiety, sadness and despair that infertility can produce.
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by Jasmine | Apr 16, 2015 | fertility health, Prenatal Yoga, yoga fertility, Yoga Health, yoga pregnancy
Often women that are pregnant discover yoga since it is a way to heal, gain body awareness and nurture oneself. Yoga when you are pregnant helps to strengthen the body for child bearing and aids in relieving the common discomforts the body experiences. Yoga helps you find the time and space to look within yourself, allowing you to openly explore your own intrinsic knowledge about the cycles of life. It is an opportunity to come together with a circle of women to share and connect with some of the dreams and scares that pregnancy brings as well.
A prenatal and postnatal yoga practice can help you
- Support your health before and after pregnancy
- Connect you with other parents who are at all stages of pregnancy
- Improve your postpartum recovery
- Helps to strengthen the body for child bearing and aids in relieving the common discomforts the body experiences.
Best and Worst Yoga Poses to do When You are Pregnant
- Alleviate many of the discomforts of pregnancy such as nausea, constipation, varicose veins, swelling, back pain and sciatica.
Cautions about practicing yoga while pregnant:
Since nausea is common during the first part of pregnancy it may be helpful to practice in a well-ventilated room. During the second trimester your growing belly will require modifying some poses. Use common sense and avoid putting too much pressure on the abdomen in poses like Head To Knee Postures, Seated Forward Fold, as well as Seated Spinal Twists. You may choose to reduce the amount of vinyasa if generating heat in the body makes you uncomfortable.
Best and Worst Yoga Poses to do When You are Pregnant
The third trimester will require you to continue to adapt and even omit certain postures. Standing poses like Extended Triangle Pose, and Extended Side Angle Pose can help relieve back pain. And a simple inversion such as Legs-Up-the-Wall-Pose can help to relieve puffy ankles. Some poses might require additional props or support. Through each trimester the most important thing is to tune in to what your body is telling you and alter your practice accordingly. During and after pregnancy, try not to be attached to your level of flexibility. Pregnancy is a great time to learn how to emotionally, spiritually and physically release.
Other words of wisdom for pregnant women interested in yoga: Linking yoga postures with breath will lead you to new discoveries, bringing awareness to the mind, body and soul, and also the spirit of your growing baby. Your practice will help to foster a sense of calm and acceptance as well as strengthen the uterus and pelvic muscles, aid in digestion, exercise the spine and increase overall comfort. Yoga can also alleviate many of the discomforts of pregnancy such as nausea, varicose veins, swelling, back pain and sciatica. Being in a community gives you access to a safe circle so you can freely discuss any issues, from discomforts and concerns, to the wonderful new changes your body and baby are experiencing. It is very important to inform the teacher of any complications (current or past) or any treatment that you are receiving.
During pregnancy ligaments around the joints become loose and soft. Care should therefore be taken not to overstretch the body. The abdomen should remain relaxed and soft at all times to allow room for the baby.
Pregnancy can make you feel more tired than usual. It is essential to be aware of this and try not to do things to the point of fatigue. If you feel tired after yoga or any other physical exercise, it means that the practice has been faulty or that you have done too much. Signals such as pains, stitches, cramps, nausea, dizziness, headaches and contractions should never be felt during or after yoga practice. Yoga generates energy, rather than dissipating it.
by Jasmine | Apr 4, 2015 | yoga fertility, Yoga Health, yoga infertility
-Increase Circulation to the Reproductive Organs
-Balance Hormones
-Reduce Stress
You made have already heard that inversions like headstand and shoulder stand are powerful fertility aids. Those positions didn’t make our list for one simple reason: they should be done with proper supervision. These poses made our list of the five best yoga positions to aid fertility because they don’t need supervision. In fact, they can be done in the safety and privacy of your home with no risk.
1. Supta Baddha Konasana – Reclining Goddess Pose
This pose has the ability to soften the internal organs, open the pelvis, unburden the heart and calm the mind. I like to use one or two bolsters, but you can use a bolster and a block, four blankets or a combination of the above to create your own cozy haven for relaxation. Set up a block or bolster for height crosswise. Then lay (for the spine) a bolster or blankets perpendicular to the first. You should have a gentle sloping ramp where the head is highest, then heart, then pelvis on the ground. Your torso is supported at an angle, your hips are on the floor and you can lean back, draw your heels in, soles touching, and relax. If your groins are overly tight or loose, you may benefit by a block, or pillow under each knee to soften the groins and support the pelvis in relaxing.
The key is that once you are settled to stay and breathe deeply, allowing the mind to scan the body for tension and release it breath by breath. I also like to infuse the internal organs with white light as you inhale, and allow yourself to release any tightness on the exhale, creating more space internally with each breath. You can stay for 5-15 minutes in this pose for the greatest benefit. Put an eye pillow or eye covering on. This is also a great pose for PMS.
2. Double Pigeon – Seated Legs Bound Cross-Legged
If your hips are very tight see Reclining half pigeon below as an alternate pose. Double pigeon helps to release stored emotional trauma in the periformis muscle, which guards the gateway of energy in the hips and pelvis. The hips are the sister hinge to the jaw and when released, tension, emotional pain and chronic holding get released, allowing increased blood flow, and energy to the reproductive organs in the pelvis. Double pigeon is a seated pose where one shin stacks perfectly on top of the other, and creates an equilateral triangle from the shins to the pubic bone.
Feet are flexed, spine long and pubic bone threads back so that the hips can release up and over the bent legs. Breathing is key in honoring your body’s edges of resistance and allowing it to open when it’s ready, establishing trust. You can extend the arms straight in front, with your elbows on the floor and create prayer pose with your hands and place your thumbs at your third eye, fore fingers on the forehead or extend the fingers on the ground and walk the hands out until your arms are straight. Breathe until the discomfort softens, and then change sides, alternating opposite foot on top of knee. Shins parallel.
If doing this doesn’t help, try sitting in a chair and crossing you ankle over your knee and let gravity take it down to soften the hip. Hinge forward from the hips and breathe.*
3. Reclining Half Pigeon (Seated Thread the Needle)
A safer version for the knees is to lay on your back. Hug both knees into your chest. Lower your left foot to the floor and stack your right ankle on top of your left knee. Reach through the center hole and clasp your left shin. Flex the top foot and soften the bottom ankle. Gently pull the leg in to activate the periformis on the right side. Breathe deeply and visualize more space where you feel the tightest. Breathe until it softens. Change sides. Be aware of added unnecessary tension in shoulders, jaw and face, keep breathing deeper to soften any reactions to the sensation. Make sure you’re resting your head on the floor.
