Yes, gentle yoga can often be practised during IVF, but your practice may need to change at different stages of your treatment. Always follow the individual advice given to you by your fertility clinic.
If you're going through IVF, you've probably found yourself questioning almost everything you do with your body.
Can I exercise? Can I twist? Can I lie on my stomach? Can I do yoga after embryo transfer? Could I somehow do something that affects the outcome?
I know because I've been there too.
After four years of trying to conceive and going through IVF myself, I know how easy it is to become frightened of doing the wrong thing but your yoga practice doesn't need to become another thing to worry about.
Yoga during IVF may look different
IVF isn't one single stage. Your body can feel completely different during ovarian stimulation compared with before treatment, after egg collection or during the two-week wait. Your yoga practice doesn't necessarily need to stop, but it may need to change with you.This isn't the time to worry about how strong, flexible or consistent you are.Some days you might want gentle movement. Other days you might want to lie on your mat and breathe.
Both count.
Yoga during ovarian stimulation
During ovarian stimulation, your ovaries become enlarged as multiple follicles develop.
This is a time to be particularly mindful of how you're moving your body, and your fertility clinic should always be your first source of guidance about exercise during your individual cycle.
For me, this isn't the stage for strong flows, deep twists or pushing your body. Instead, think slower, gentler and softer.
Your yoga practice can become somewhere to breathe, gently move your body and take a little time away from thinking about follicles, measurements, injections and your next scan.
Yoga after egg collection
After egg collection, give your body permission to recover. You may feel bloated, tender, tired or simply not like moving very much. Listen to that. You don't need to get straight back onto your yoga mat.
Rest can be part of your practice too.
Follow the advice your clinic gives you after your procedure and give yourself the time your body needs.
Yoga after embryo transfer
This can be the stage where the fear really creeps in. After everything it has taken to get to embryo transfer, it's completely understandable to feel protective of your body and question every movement. Gentle movement may be appropriate after embryo transfer, but always follow your clinic's individual advice. Most importantly, your yoga practice does not need to be about helping the embryo implant. You don't need to find the perfect pose or do anything special with your body.
If you choose to practise, let it simply be somewhere to breathe, move gently and find a little calm amongst all the waiting.
Yoga during the two-week wait
The two-week wait can feel anything but calm. One minute you're hopeful. The next you're analysing a twinge, checking your symptoms or wondering whether something you did earlier could have affected the outcome. This is where I think yoga can offer something really valuable.
Not because it can make the outcome go one way or another but because it can give you somewhere to put all of that nervous energy. Gentle, restorative movement. Slower breathing. A few minutes where you don't need to Google another symptom or work out how many days it is until test day.
Just a little space to come back to yourself.
What does fertility yoga at Calm Conception look like?
The fertility yoga practices inside Calm Conception have been created specifically with TTC, infertility and IVF in mind. They combine mindful movement, breathwork and relaxation, with different practices for your menstrual cycle, the two-week wait and different stages of your fertility journey. I created them using both my experience as a yoga teacher and teacher trainer and my own lived experience of infertility and IVF. There are no promises about pregnancy or claims that a particular yoga pose will improve your chances because I don't believe your body needs another thing to get right.
Sometimes your yoga mat can simply be somewhere you feel like you again.
Want support that meets you where you are today?
Inside Calm Conception, you don't have to follow a programme or keep up with a schedule.
You can simply log in and choose a practice depending on how you're feeling, where you are in your cycle or what you're going through that day.
Maybe your mind won't switch off during the two-week wait. Maybe your period has arrived and you need something gentle. Maybe you're going through IVF treatment and want to move your body without pushing it. Or maybe you just need five minutes to breathe.
You'll find fertility yoga alongside meditations, breathwork, Calm Companions and emotional support. Everything is available on demand, whenever you need them.
