Yoga and Fertility. a Journey to Health and Healing

Description

Yoga and Fertility: A Journey to Health and Healing offers a wealth of information for women who are trying to conceive, whether or not they are already yoga practitioners. Jill and Lynn are highly experienced yoga teachers and practitioners, who have been teaching yoga for fertility classes and workshops for many years.

The book clearly shows how yoga can help with fertility, as well as explaining specific benefits of the yoga poses. Yoga practices are offered in a useful, practical way with plenty of photos and clear descriptions. Readers will easily be able to do these simple but effective practices at home, regardless of previous yoga experience.

In addition to yoga routines, the authors suggest approaches such as breathing practices, visualizations, affirmations and the use of complementary medicine modalities to improve fertility. They also discuss other factors which may impact fertility, such as stress, nutrition, body weight and exercise, and provide an overview of recent research on these topics, as well as positive suggestions to address these areas.

Personal anecdotes and stories, including students' success stories, are woven into the text. Women who are interested in learning about natural ways to enhance fertility, or who are currently dealing with with fertility challenges will find this book

Personal anecdotes and stories, including students' success stories, are woven into the text. Women who are interested in learning about natural ways to enhance fertility, or who are currently dealing with fertility challenges will find this book invaluable.

Yoga and Fertility: A Journey to Health and Healing:

• Offers yoga practices that women or couples struggling with fertility can do at home, or can use to modify their current yoga practices to better support fertility
• Helps women better understand some of the impediments to fertility, and how yoga practices can help overcome these
• Motivates women and couples to use simple yoga, breathing and meditation practices to reduce the stress involved in fertility challenges
• Briefly discusses other ways to support fertility, including diet, lifestyle, exercise, and complementary medicine such as acupuncture and massage

Contents

Introduction. Who We Are and Why We're Writing this Book, Chapter 1. What is Yoga for Fertility?, Chapter 2. Getting Started, Chapter 3. First Half of Your Cycle, Chapter 4: Second Half of Your Cycle, Chapter 5. On Your Period, Chapter 6. The Positive Pregnancy Test, Chapter 7. More practices for Fertility Support, Chapter 8. Hormones and Energy Centers, Chapter 9. Lifestyle and Fertility, Chapter 10. Other Modalities for Fertility Support

About the Authors

Jill Petigara is an Anusara-inspired yoga teacher and a member of the Yoga Alliance. Her classes draw from several different traditions including Iyengar, Vinyasa, and Anusara Yoga. Jill has taught yoga in a variety of settings including schools, studios, nursing homes, and corporate fitness facilities. She is a certified elementary school teacher, and has experience teaching yoga to children and teens. She hosts a tele-seminar Yoga for Fertility for RESOLVE the national infertility association and was one of the yoga teachers that was interviewed for a NY Times article on the subject .

Lynn Jensen, RYT, MBA, offers Yoga for Fertility classes, workshops, retreats and private instruction in Seattle and Bellevue. The classes are designed for women or couples who are currently trying to conceive, either naturally or through assisted reproductive treatment programs. To date, Lynn's classes have helped over a thousand women and couples on their journey to parenthood. In addition to teaching Yoga for Fertility and all levels of Hatha Yoga, Lynn co- teaches the Mind/Body program at the Northwest Center for Reproductive Sciences in Kirkland, and the Pacific Northwest Fertility clinic in Seattle. In 2006, she developed and taught the yoga curriculum for a University of Washington study, funded by the National Institute of Health, researching the effect of yoga on hot flashes. She has been a regular presenter at the annual RESOLVE conference on infertility for the past 6 years.