Mamas need your personal opinions...

[Om Girl]

I'm a yoga teacher and I specialize in perinatal yoga. I've been offered training as a fertility yoga therapist, but I need some personal opinions from moms who've dealt with infertility/fertility issues.
Thank you so much. Please feel free to message me or add comments on this thread.
I'm not soliciting business, just trying to figure out if this would be a good thing or if it would be something helpful.

[biomama]

I've actually thought about asking my yoga teacher about fertility-enhancing poses, but I'm not sure I want her to know I'm TTC. If there were a separate TTC yoga class, I'd definitely take it, since it would imply the teacher is sensitive to the issue, and would help me meet other women TTC in my area, which would be nice!

[Ruthla]

It sounds like a very non-invasive way to handle fertility issues. Even somebody skeptical of it working would likely give it a shot because it's also unlikely to do any harm, and is likely good exercise/ stress reduction even if it's not "effective".

[YummyYarnAddict]

I would say do it only if it's something that YOU have a passion or special interest in. It should be something that has meaning for you as the instructor and a way that you think that you think that you could touch lives. It's not something you should be in for the money as, even with insurance coverage, I spent close to six figures over the course of ten years of infertility treatments and something like yoga is something I would view as an "extra" and a luxury and not something I could commit to on a regular basis unless it was clearly affordable and I imagine that many would be in this position. Clinical studies have shown that stress is not a cause of failed ART cycles so I wouldn't do it to up my success rate (getting pregnant with IVF isn't so much my issue as staying pregnant is and I most certainly don't believe that yoga would have helped me stay pregnant but it certainly would have helped my mental health!).

I also think that a commitment to doing this would go beyond the training as a yoga instructor and would include a lot -- a LOT -- of reading and education and senstization around the issues involved in (in)fertility to have some sort of inkling as to what's involved in undergoing treatments and the emotional issues involved. So it would be quite an undertaking.

I know that when I did my trainng for my perinatal fitness certification, it was before I had children (but three years into ttc), and part of my training involved going through a full length fitness class with a prosthetic pregnant belly and breasts attached to me so that I could have an inkling as to what my clients would feel. ... something like that, but not quite is what I mean here. But a lot of education that goes beyond the yoga itself.

It's hard enough to find a doctor who "gets it" and friends who "get it" and an acu who "gets it" that I honestly don't know how I would feel about a yoga instructor who puts herself out there as a fertility instructor unless hse makes a considerable effort to indicate that she cares and "gets it."

[avocada]

I think it's a great idea, and I'm curious about the training. I'm an Iyengar-based yoga instructor, have been practicing for 8 years, and have been seeking fertility-friendly poses for my own practice. I expected Geeta Iyengar to have something out there but I haven't found it. Nearest I've come is Bobbie Clennell's "Woman's Yoga Book," which is EXCELLENT, guiding the student through all phases of the menstrual cycle, but which does not specifically address TTC at all. However, by her details on each pose you can go through the book and make a list of all of those asanas that increase circulation to the pelvic organs and specifically the uterus, those that specifically relax those areas and organs, poses that open the hips, etc.... I've also read a little in "Yoga as Medicine" about John Friend's approach, involving discovering chronic gripping of the uterus and how to relax that. So I'd be very interested to hear more. If you're willing to send me a note on the side we can talk more about it.