Yoga for egg freezing – I froze my eggs at age 37 & these are the practices that helped me through
So, you’re thinking about freezing your eggs. You’ve probably got a list as long as your arm of things to weigh up.
And if yoga is already part of your routine (or you’re curious about trying it to support your journey), you’re almost certainly wondering: can I still do yoga during egg freezing?
For the expert perspective, I caught up with Hwee Hwee Koh, Senior Yoga Teacher at Thrive Journey, who knows this particular combination of yoga and egg freezing from very personal experience. She recently froze her eggs at age 37, and found herself adapting the way she moved, exercised and looked after her body throughout the process.
Here because you’re looking to bring yoga into your own egg freezing journey? Thrive Journey is our go-to online women’s wellness platform for all things fertility and wellbeing, and their next Yoga for Egg Freezing live workshop taught by Hwee takes place on Sunday 27th September 2026 at 3pm SGT / 8am UK. Book in here, to secure your spot.
Exploring yoga for egg freezing and the start of Hwee’s journey
Hwee was 37 when she froze her eggs. Single and wanting children in the future, she wanted to give herself more time without feeling pressured.
“I knew that I wanted kids and the biological clock is ticking, but I don’t want to be rushed by it and just find any man to settle down with. My eldest sister, who had done IVF, helped me decide to do egg freezing so that I could buy time for myself.”
As a yoga teacher, Hwee was already practising daily, but egg freezing quickly showed her that her usual flows weren’t going to work.
Ovarian stimulation left her feeling pretty uncomfortable, and even a return to weightlifting between injections ended with her feeling sick.
“My boobs were swollen, you know, my womb, my belly, everything was swollen, bloated and painful,” she shared. So she changed tack.
So, can we do yoga during egg freezing?
In short, yes – but the type of yoga matters.
Before your injections start, Hwee says yoga is generally fine. During treatment, however, she recommends moving towards gentle and restorative practices rather than anything particularly active or energetic.
That makes sense when you consider the swelling, bloating and tenderness many of us experience alongside stimulation.
For Hwee, yoga during egg freezing is about finding low-effort positions and practices that feel good, and way less about achieving a particular pose. And that can be a useful mindset to take into your own cycle.
Let’s unpack this in a bit more detail:
3 gentle yoga practices for egg freezing
1. Supported butterfly pose
Lie on your back and bring the soles of your feet together, allowing your knees to fall gently outwards.
Hwee recommends supporting the knees with cushions or a bolster rather than letting them drop all the way towards the floor.
2. Supported rest with straight legs
Another position Hwee used was simply lying down with straight legs and support beneath the knees.
And this is perhaps one of the nicest things to remember if you’re wondering how yoga fits into egg freezing: you don’t have to do a full yoga flow for it to count.
3. Conscious breathwork
These positions can then be paired with gentle breathing for deeper relaxation. Hwee recommends the following:
- Deep belly breathing
- Bhramari pranayama (the humming bee breath)
- Alternate nostril breathing
Hwee can walk you through these poses and practices live – Book in here for Thrive’s Yoga for Egg Freezing live workshop on Sunday 27th September 2026 at 3pm SGT / 8am UK.
3 yoga poses to avoid
1. Lying flat on your belly
This one is pretty straightforward: if your abdomen is swollen and tender, lying directly on it probably isn’t going to feel great.
So, give the belly-down poses a miss while you’re going through stimulation.
2. Closed twists
Hwee also recommends avoiding twisting poses, particularly closed twists where your legs are crossed and your spine rotates.
Again, think comfort first, and don’t force anything.
3. Core work
Crunches, strong abdominal work and positions that compress your belly are also best avoided.
Hwee specifically recommends steering clear of movements that bring the belly towards the thighs, such as lying down and pulling your knees into your chest, because they just won’t feel comfortable.
What about hot yoga and egg freezing?
Love a sweaty hot yoga class? You might want to press pause during stimulation.
Hwee recommends avoiding hot yoga while you’re having treatment.
“I would say avoid. I cannot put a pinpoint on whether the heat affects fertility, but definitely being in a hot room during treatment makes your heart rate go up and the body just doesn’t adapt well to it.”
What exercise can I do during egg freezing outside of yoga?
If you’re usually a runner, gym-goer or tennis player, Hwee’s advice is to notch that intensity right down during your egg freezing cycle.
“Definitely no running, no tennis, no squats…nothing that gets the heart rate up because the body is going through a lot with all the hormonal injections. Gentle walking is fine, but really just [keep it to] a stroll down the park,” she shares.
For Hwee, walking also gave her some valuable headspace. She found that having fewer physical distractions created an opportunity to slow down and reflect on what she was experiencing.
Can yoga improve egg quality?
It’s a big question. Can yoga improve egg quality? The answer is, potentially – as part of a wider support picture.
Egg quality is influenced by multiple factors. Age is the biggest one that impacts egg quality decline, but research also tells us that nutrition, hormonal balance and even stress levels, could play a role.
Hwee’s thinking is that yoga can support the wider picture of wellbeing, particularly by helping you relax and manage stress during your freezing cycle.
“When we are in a better wellbeing state, and our nervous system is in the parasympathetic nervous system mode, everything, including our hormones, our digestion and our mood, are more balanced.”
“Being in a good wellbeing state and having good mental health is very, very important, and yoga can play a big part in reaching that state,” she says.
Yoga before egg freezing – when can we start?
Hwee separates preparation from the treatment itself.
“I feel like if people are just starting their treatment, that’s really not a time to try any new exercises. If they want to get healthy or think about improving anything, [they should] do it before they start the treatment, not during the treatment.”
Her biggest takeaway here? Don’t wait until your injections begin to suddenly overhaul your practice. In fact, it’s at this time that you need to be slowing down.
Yoga after egg collection – when can we get back on the mat?
Egg collection is a whole procedure, so this is definitely a time for rest. Hwee took two weeks off following her own retrieval.
“After the egg collection, I would recommend people not to do any hip opening stuff. Nothing that opens up the pelvic floor muscles,” she says. That includes poses like happy baby, deep squats and lizard pose.
When you’re thinking about yoga after egg collection, Hwee suggests waiting for swelling to go down, your pelvic floor to feel normal, and also your energy levels returning, before hopping on the mat again. Essentially, listen to your body.
Hwee’s 3 gentle reminders for this journey
- Know why you’re doing this – For Hwee, remembering her own reasons for freezing her eggs helped her through the harder moments.
- Listen to your body – This one comes up again and again in Hwee’s approach. You don’t need to earn rest. You don’t need to push through because you’ve always been someone who exercises four times a week.
- Believe in yourself – For her, this mindset helped her through an experience that pushed her outside her comfort zone.
Ready to try yoga for egg freezing?
If yoga is something you already love, or you’re simply looking for a gentle way to reset and switch off during your egg freezing journey, Thrive Journey, our go-to online women’s wellness platform, has created a special live session for this exact stage.
Yoga for Egg Freezing, hosted by Hwee, takes place on Sunday, September 27 at 3pm SGT / 8am UK. Register here, to secure your spot.
You’ll be guided through a gentle yoga practice, while Hwee shares more about her own experience of choosing to freeze her eggs and how she prepared both her body and mind. Sharing that experience matters for her because she remembers how it felt when she was considering egg freezing.
“There was no support group. I didn’t know anybody else doing it. So it was pretty, lonely in that sense, and confusing.”
She hopes that opening up about her experience can encourage other women to feel more comfortable talking about their choices, asking questions and stepping outside their comfort zones.
As she puts it:
“…reminding myself that I’m only on version one helps me to get out of my comfort zone and take the first step out, and it does not have to be perfect the first time […] and that’s fine.”
Want to hear more from the Thrive Journey team?
- Hop over to IG and follow Hwee here, as well as Thrive Journey’s official page
- Read this one next: Fertility yoga – expert pointers and poses for when you’re TTC
- Learn at your own pace with their on demand classes: Dive into their extensive library here
