Fertility Yoga

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

Has anyone done fertility yoga? I would be interested to hear your experiences. I have done two IUIs and two IVFs without success and wonder if yoga will help. If you have any recommendations for a good place to do it, too, that would be helpful. We live in Bethesda.

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

Unity Woods has a pregnancy yoga class on Saturdays that is open to women TTC, although personally I would find it too hard to be with a bunch of pregnant women.

[Anonymous]

Yoga is very helpful while TTC because it decreases your overall stress level which is good for estrogen production. I did it whil TTC conceive with IVF for my first child and I'm hoping it will help with ttc DC#2

[Anonymous]

I did a fertility yoga class through Pulling Down the Moon. They now have a "holistic center" at SG Rockville which is convenient but they don't take any insurance (for acupuncture) and it feels a bit corporate for my taste. But I took their class at Blue Heron Wellness on Colesville Road in Silver Spring (close to the beltway). It was taught by a wonderful woman named Sara Shelley, who became my birth coach when our IVF cycle worked! Anyway, PDTM also has dvds which I did at home which was helpful, and I enjoyed having my own home practice.
Although you did not ask about this, I would seriously recommend acupuncture. It also helps with stress reduction and studies have shown higher success rates in conjunction with IVF.

[Anonymous]

Thanks to everyone for your responses. I tried accupuncture and for some odd reason it actually made me more stressed out (I am in the minority on this, I believe). I thought I'd give yoga a try.

[Anonymous]

I take a yoga class from Mary Pappas-Sandonas at Unity Woods. It's a regular class, but Mary used to teach fertility yoga at Shady Grove and has gone through IVF herself. She tailors the poses that I do in class to my needs re: fertility treatment and has given me great advice about what poses to do when during various phases of the IVF process. I agree with the PP poster about the pregnancy yoga class. It's a great class, but you are surrounded by pregnant ladies and there is a lot of discussion during class about pregnancy and childbirth. Personally, I would find it hard to attend while TTC. Hope this helps!