Dr. McCormick and Sherry Longbottom, RN Discuss “Fertility Yoga Classes Designed for Women Who Want to Conceive”
Many women do yoga to keep fit, but some are turning to alternative measures in hopes of conceiving a child.
Kerri Bonner said she has miscarried a few times. Her husband recently deployed to Afghanistan and he won’t be back for a year.
“We have frozen his sperm, and over the course of the next year, I will undergo IUIs or artificial insemination to continue the process,” said Bonner.
She is also turning to fertility yoga and acupuncture to help in that effort.
Dr. Betsy McCormick of The Reproductive Medicine Group says these kinds of alternative treatments are great to help reduce stress.
“They still can’t correct a tubal issue or necessarily correct an egg issue, but what they can do is help someone get through that process,” said Dr. McCormick.
The instructor of fertility yoga, Sherry Longbottom, is also a registered nurse with 20 years of experience.
“We focus mainly on relaxing and reducing stress and relaxing the reproductive area, the pelvis area and increasing the blood flow and circulation to that area, also balancing the hormones,” said Longbottom.
Longbottom said fertility yoga is different from traditional yoga.
“When they do come to my class, many of them are already on meds or maybe they’re waiting to hear back for that positive pregnancy test, but a lot of time, if they are on meds, their ovaries are enlarged, so that’s why I recommend they come to a specialized class,” said Longbottom.
She added, “There are certain poses they would want to avoid during certain stages of treatment, such as downward dog, or any twists that are deep. And they want to avoid prolonged yoga poses, so they don’t want to get physical. They just want to walk away with a stress release.”
Longbottom says she has many clients who have become pregnant while using modern and alternative medicine together. Kerri hopes to be the next mother-to-be.