Yoga is a great way to stay fit — both mentally and physically. There is increasing evidence stressing the link between yoga as a form of improving fertility chances in couples struggling to fall pregnant. Below are a few of the ways in which yoga can help you on your health and fertility journey, as well as a few poses that ScreenMe recommends.

1. Helps with stress

Yoga is a brilliant way to relieve stress. Through learning how to control your breathing, practise mindfulness and positive reflection, yoga really allows you relieve some of the symptoms that come with chronic stress — including trouble sleeping, weight changes, and poor diet — all of which negatively impact your fertility. Yoga has been proven to significantly reduce the psychological stress that is associated with infertility, improving fertility outcomes for women.

2. Hormone balance

By managing your stress levels, you are better able to regulate your hormones. Cortisol is a big influence on your response to stress, and vice versa — so by regulating your response to stress, you are able to balance this hormone and improve fertility. As cortisol is made from the same thing (cholesterol) as the sex hormones of oestrogen and testosterone — by balancing this hormone you may be better able to also balance your sex hormones.

3. Better Bloodflow

Yoga poses increase your blood flow, helping you with circulation and therefore bringing more oxygen to all parts of your body. By reversing the blood flow in this way, you are better able to decompress veins in your legs and remove stagnant blood. This is brilliant for your general health and wellbeing, and as a result is beneficial for your fertility.

4. Strengthening of muscles

By taking your body through a range of motions, yoga is a low impact way of strengthening your muscles and joints. The gentle nature of yoga allows you to build your strength in a gradual way that is not too shocking for your body. Strengthening your whole body will allow it to function in a much better way. There are particular poses that are beneficial to strengthening your uterus and super easy including:

• Yoni Mudra
  • Stay seated with crossed legs and your spine remaining uprightBring your hands onto your knees, and press the thumbs and middle fingers together
  • Feel this pressure and practise your breathing — focusing on expelling all of the air from your lungs and diaphragm on the exhale (through the mouth), and taking in as much air as you can on the inhale (through your nose).
• Paschimottanasana (Seated forward fold)
  • Stretch your legs out in front of youAs you exhale slowly bend forwards and try to press your upper body onto your lower body, reaching your arms forward
  • Feel the opposition in your body and you continue to move further downwards on exhalation

5. Immune system benefits

Movements in yoga help to drain the lymphatic system. This allows your body to be better equipped to fight off infections and remove toxins from the body, thus reducing your chances of falling ill, which of course can impact your fertility chances.

Overall, yoga helps to heal your body from within, impacting on all aspects of your health and wellness. Fertility chances are therefore improved as a by-product of this, but also your general happiness, stress, blood pressure, and much more, are likely to improve — making this a brilliant form of exercise.

Jessica Hobbis