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Fertility and Flexibility

Yoga When You're Trying to Conceive

By Debora Geary

Barbara* and her husband tried to conceive for more than two and a half years, with no known fertility issues. They tried fertility drugs and insemination. Then they tried something quite different.

"I started doing Kundalini yoga classes in January, and then my husband started coming with me, too," says Barbara of Delano, Minn. "In February, we decided to adopt, and I feel a large part of it was that we were doing yoga together. We were always much more in sync after the classes and much more willing to explore all our options in healthy discussion. We got very excited, picked an agency and started the paperwork. Then, we found out I am pregnant. It's still very early, but this is our first positive test in two and a half years. Amazing." And if that weren't enough good news, Shell is pregnant with twins.

Can yoga really impact fertility? Dr. Alice Domar, researcher at Harvard Medical School, conducted a study that took infertile women (those who had been trying to get pregnant for at least a year) and put some of them into a 10-week mind/body program that included yoga, meditation, nutrition and exercise information and help to change negative thought patterns. Fifty-five percent of participants in this program became pregnant within the next year, compared to 20 percent of women in a control group.

Dr. Domar, who uses this mind/body approach to treat women attending Boston IVF, the biggest infertility treatment center in the country, says that yoga is an invaluable asset in her program and the tool she would least like to lose.

So exactly how does yoga impact fertility?

Dr. Domar has an interesting theory about one of the ways that some women seem to benefit from yoga. "I believe that vigorous exercise may reduce fertility in some women," she says. "We can't predict whose fertility is exercise sensitive. Yoga is something they can do that will reduce stress without impacting their fertility. For really chronic exercisers, my clinical impression is that at least half that stop get pregnant. Yoga is the best tool I have for these women."

Want to see more?

• Check out our Article Library.
• Turn up the Heat! Reshape Your Body with Hot Yoga
• Breathe In, Breathe Out: The Art of Yoga
• Healing the Mind, Healing the Body
• Taking It Easy (When Trying to Conceive)
• The Facts to Relax: Cope with the Stress of Infertility
• Talk about it!