Guest Blog: Lisa Rosenthal, Reproductive Medicine Associates of Connecticut
When you are in fertility treatment, it’s challenging to know what’s safe to do physically. It’s even more challenging to know what’s healthy and helpful to do, 
to enhance your possibility of conception. Keeping the uterus quiet and calm is one piece. Inviting in gentle blood, oxygen and prana (energy) flow is another. We want to keep the reproductive organs nourished and supported. One excellent way to ensure those things is by engaging in certain, specific yoga poses. If you consider the benefits you are trying to achieve, you need look no farther than the cat and cow pose. If kale and quinoa are super foods these days, then cat and cow would be super yoga poses. Cat (Marajari) and cow (Bitilasana) can be done on hands and knees, sitting cross legged or even in a chair. I’ve even done this pose driving my car! The premise of the pose is simple; the undulation of the spine, creating openness and energy flow. Begin by coming to a neutral back, crown extended, tail bone extended. While you inhale, your belly drops (if on hands and knees), your pelvic bowl tilts, your heart/chest extends and your chin rises. This is cow. As you begin your exhale; your pelvic bowl curls so that your tailbone presses towards the earth, your sacrum/lower back presses up to the sky, your shoulders come towards your ears and your chin comes to rest towards or on your chest. This is cat (think of a Halloween cat, arching its back, hissing). This pose can afford considerable emotional release and relief as well. Closing your eyes while moving through your breath and movement is relaxing and restorative. Do each pose between ten and twenty times. An extra added benefit is that it’s thought to strengthen the pelvic floor. Blessings, Lisa About Lisa Rosenthal Lisa has over twenty-five years of experience in the fertility field, including her current roles asCoordinator of Professional and Patient Communications for RMACT and teacher and founder of Fertile Yoga, a class designed to support, comfort and enhance men and women’s sense of self. Her experience also includes working with RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association andThe American Fertility Association, where she was educational coordinator, conference director and assistant executive director. (Originally Published April 22, 2013)
