I was joined by a wonderful group of women again today for the second session of our Yoga for Fertility course.  We spent time at the beginning of the practice talking about the stress around trying to conceive, and shared what specifically makes us feel anxious. It’s so lovely to be able to come together, making our feelings, anxieties, fears feel ‘normal’ when we meet others in a similar situation.

There is a recent study out of Harvard University which analysed how much time we spend thinking about other things rather than being engaged with what we are doing. It turns out that it’s 47% of the time. (Think of it, that’s nearly half our lives!) Most of these thoughts are not additive, in fact, they make us feel worse/more anxious/insecure about ourselves.

Yoga can help us to manage these feelings by helping us to breathe deeply, and through our breath we can become mindful. When we are stressed we tighten our bellies and breathe from our chest. By moving the breath into the belly we are able to turn on our parasympathetic nervous system, our rest and digest response. Our mindful breathing practices remind us to observe our thoughts as a witness, and to try not get involved with the emotion of the thought. We observe and let go, observe and let go. This is so important, particularly for those of us doing fertility treatments. We constantly think of past and future – the period we had last month, the one we hope we’re not going to get next month. Infertility can cloud every aspect of our lives…even the good bits. Being mindful reminds us that even though we we have this terrible stressor in our lives, it’s not the only thing.

I’m often asked what is the difference between ‘normal’ yoga and Yoga for Fertility?

Well, it’s a gentle style of hatha yoga – the practice is slow and mindful to encourage softness, roundness, a sweetness. Imagine that beautiful round pregnant belly, well this is the yoga equivalent. It’s a combination of a gentle flow which moves the blood flow around reproductive organs, opening the hips and pelvis and balancing reproductive hormones, and restful restorative poses that allow the body and mind to soften and ‘let go’.

In yoga we believe that wherever we focus our attention that is where the energy moves to. In our Yoga for Fertility practice we breathe into our reproductive organs, our pelvis and our hips. We work with our breath, our bodies and most importantly our minds to release negative feelings and bring in positive emotions that help make every day life a little easier…

My 6 week Yoga for Fertility course starts this Sunday 14th July. Please click here for more information and to sign up.