Yoga for IVF – safety, success rates & key benefits for body and mind

The expert perspective on yoga for IVF

Yoga for IVF is said to be a really powerful support tool. But how exactly does it work to support treatment? And what should we know about success rates, safety, and getting started?

We sat down with the lovely Katie Brown, Senior Yoga Instructor, author, and relaxation expert, and Dr Gavin Sacks, fertility specialist and obstetrician, to dig deeper.

Watch as we cover

• What yoga for IVF is and when to start
• Recommended poses and practices
• Key benefits for you, your body and your mind

We’ll also chat through:

• Common treatment challenges yoga can help you overcome
• The role of stress reduction in the success of treatment
• Precautions and things to avoid, from a medical perspective

This video was made possible by Thrive Journey, our go-to for holistic wellbeing options to pair with IVF treatment and other forms of ART – whether that’s to help manage stress, enhance your fertility outcomes, or just to feel that bit more supported with everything in between.

Keen to get started? Book on to Thrive Journey’s brand new Yoga for IVF course, an on-demand program designed to guide you through integrating yoga practices into your IVF journey and support you and your cycle from week one.

Next on your reading list: How to relax during IVF, with Dr Gavin Sacks

Transcript

Eloise Edington

Today, we are discussing yoga for IVF, safety, success rates, and key benefits for the body and mind. We are delighted to be joined by Katie Brown, who is a senior yoga instructor, author, and relaxation expert, as well as Dr. Gavin Sachs, a fertility specialist and obstetrician. 

Welcome to you both.

Katie Brown

Hello.

Dr Gavin Sacks

Hello, thanks. Lovely to be here.

Eloise Edington

Lovely to see you both across the globe in Australia, so thank you for chatting with us today. We are going to be talking, as I mentioned, about yoga for IVF. We have lots of questions from our readers about the benefits of this, so it’s lovely to have a holistic view over it. 

This video has been sponsored and made possible by the experts at Thrive, an online fertility wellness program that seamlessly brings together yoga, Ayurvedic nutrition, and relaxation techniques with a clinically tested approach to preconception planning.

Let’s start with an introduction to yoga for IVF, something I was very interested in when I was having many rounds of IVF over the past eight years of my conception journey. 

I’d love to ask you both—could you tell us a bit about yourselves and also how and why you specialize in what you do? Starting with you, Katie.

Katie Brown

Right, yes. Well, my name is Katie Brown. I’ve been teaching yoga now for 24 years. I have three children, who are a fair bit older now, and I have a background as a journalist. I found yoga because it was quite a high-pressure job, and I just loved yoga. Now, I teach full-time, and I’m also an author. I’ve combined my writing and my yoga, so I specialize in writing relaxation-based books and visualizations. 

I love all aspects of yoga. It’s something that you just continue to learn—the more you know, the more you realize you need to know. Also, it’s about bringing it into your life, not just when you’re trying for a baby or in pregnancy. As a new mom or when your children get older, it’s a practice you can lean into for your whole life, with so many tools to help you along your life’s journey.

Eloise Edington

Thank you, Katie. Dr. Gavin Sachs, how about you?

Dr Gavin Sacks

Hello there. I’m the Clinical Director of IVF Australia, one of the biggest IVF companies in Australia and the world. I trained in England, and we moved to Sydney, Australia, in 2005, largely for a better lifestyle and to raise our three kids in an outdoor environment by the beach. 

But my real passion, apart from that, is IVF and conception. I’ve always had a deep passion for reproduction—why it’s so important and how it impacts people in such different ways. Some people don’t want to have children, and others sacrifice almost everything to have them. I find that spectrum fascinating and believe in individualizing how people approach it. 

My science background helps me assist them in achieving their goals, which are not always so simple. Sometimes it’s about trying in a certain way or feeling they’ve been on a journey. Although it’s easy to say the end goal is a baby, it isn’t always. I find the whole subject fascinating and do a lot of research. I did a Ph.D. in Oxford and continue researching, but it’s really about people and being involved in their journeys, which captivates me.

Eloise Edington

Thank you for that. So Katie, I’d like to ask you about yoga for IVF. Could you tell us a little about what yoga is for IVF, why you’d recommend starting it, and if there are particular poses or practices you’d recommend to support fertility treatment?

Katie Brown

Yes, I’ll break that down a bit. Yoga for IVF involves specific practices—cherry-picking from yoga to support women during this roller-coaster time with many pressures on top of life’s normal stresses. 

I focus on deep relaxation techniques and balancing the hormonal system, giving women the best chance of conceiving, having a healthy pregnancy, and transitioning into becoming a new mom. These are lifelong practices that will support you well as a new parent. 

We focus on restorative poses and tranquilizing breathing practices, like prāṇāyāma, and guided relaxation. At this time, you’d avoid general yoga classes and instead do restorative-type practices. The kind of poses you would be doing are very gentle and nourishing. Classic poses like cat-cow, where you’re on all fours moving with your breath, help you connect with your body and breath. 

Yoga helps you reconnect with your body, especially when we are busy and have a lot going on in our heads—a disconnect can start happening. In our yoga practice at this stage, we are particularly focused on connecting with your body and baby, which can be incredibly helpful during birth. It’s all about coming into those restorative poses that ease muscular tension and help you connect with your breath. By connecting with the breath, we use different practices that help activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which initiates the relaxation response. When we are in that relaxed state, our hormones are balanced, and we feel in a better headspace as we get more oxygen-rich blood to all the organs.

Other poses that we focus on encourage blood flow to the reproductive organs, such as legs-up-the-wall, where you lie on your back with your legs against the wall, arms out to the side, and just connect with your breath, taking the time to be still. I could talk about this for hours, as there are so many benefits, but that’s essentially what we are aiming for.

Eloise Edington

If someone is considering taking up yoga for the first time to support an IVF cycle, would you suggest jumping into this directly or easing in gradually? When would be a good time to start?

Katie Brown

I think that’s the beauty of the Thrive program. I put this together with the Thrive team, and at the moment, we have this 15-week program that you can join. Week by week, it supports you through every stage of your IVF journey and pregnancy. 

During the first 15 weeks, we offer different relaxation techniques each week that support you at that particular time, along with a restorative yoga position and a specific soothing breathing practice. There are 15 different breathing practices, each designed to help you feel very relaxed. Some of these will become your favorites, ones you’ll lean into the whole time. 

The relaxation practices vary in length, allowing you to fit them into your schedule and lifestyle, so they’re not too onerous. 

Eloise Edington

For anyone interested in learning more about the Thrive program, it’s linked in our description and bio here, so please do check it out. 

Gavin, could you tell us about some challenges you commonly see as a fertility specialist when people need IVF? Why might you recommend yoga as a holistic support for their treatment?

Dr Gavin Sacks

So IVF is an unusual thing to suggest to people because the success rate is quite low. These are healthy people entering a challenging treatment process involving injections, blood tests, and sometimes surgery, with an average success rate of about one in three, sometimes even lower if the woman is older. 

So most people going into IVF fail per cycle, which is tough to understand. Most of us don’t assume we’ll be the ones to fail. We often buy a lottery ticket, for example, thinking we’ll be the one in ten million to win, but in IVF, we tend to believe we’ll be the success, but actually, statistically, over two-thirds fail per cycle. 

It’s also a weird thing to tell people to do because of the financial investment; it can cost thousands of dollars. Many people come to IVF after years of trying and doing everything they can on their own, often enduring stressful monthly attempts. There’s a huge weight of past experiences and expectations, with some viewing IVF as their last chance. Women are very aware of the limited time they have to achieve children, in their late 30s, for example, their time is really limited. This adds immense stress from family pressures, watching friends start families, and more, all funneling into this critical IVF cycle point. 

The problem is that IVF by its nature, can’t guarantee an outcome, and it’s an emotional roller coaster through treatment. Things could be good one day and not so good the next, creating real ups and downs. Women often go through this alone, not sharing the emotional toll with friends or family, which makes it harder for them to get through all of this. 

At the same time, they have to do what they need to do. They have to do the injections at the right time and follow their doctors and nurses’ instructions. It’s not simple; there may be multiple injections and different ways to mix the drugs, and there are different times they have to do things. It is complicated, and all of this fits into their busy lives, whether they’re a hairdresser, banker, or whatever they do. Life is busy for all of us these days.

So, it’s a really tough thing that all comes to a head in the usually around two weeks of an IVF cycle. We use the word stress very liberally. It’s easy to say it’s stressful, but I want to explain what that really means. It’s stressful because of all these factors that come into it, and helping people through this is critical for the outcome. I’m hoping for that one in three success, and I need the patients to do what they have to do. That’s really important. I need them to be engaged with our team, to show up when they need to, and to be in as normal and relaxed a state as possible because most of us work better when we’re relaxed.

Again, I don’t like the word relax because it’s also very general. What does that mean? I want people to just be who they are. I’d like IVF to happen on the side while they live their full lives. That’s what I call relaxed. The pressure is to try and make this happen, and that’s my goal and the goal of my team. Every individual is different, and everyone needs a different approach. I would say yoga is one of the ways that this might help some of our patients.

Eloise Edington

Okay, so key benefits and success are what everybody wants to focus on when pursuing any treatment, and holistic support, too. 

Katie, could you tell us a little more about the success and how yoga for IVF can help with stress levels? As Dr. Gavin mentioned, this is something people want to try to avoid when having treatment, but as you said, saying “reduce stress” can make you more stressed. Please tell us more about these benefits.

Katie Brown

Absolutely. When we are stressed, we tend to have more cortisol and adrenaline running around. This obviously affects our energy levels, our vagus nerve, and just how we function. It affects every system of the body. It can also interfere with things like progesterone, which is really important for fertility and for the IVF process to have a successful pregnancy.

Yoga targets coming into the parasympathetic nervous system, and it doesn’t have to be too complicated. Simple things like focusing on the exhalation can help. The inhale is energizing, while the exhalation is generally relaxing and releasing. There are some simple key things that people can do to really come into that relaxed state. I guess I’m using the word “relax” because that’s what we all understand. 

In that relaxed state, we feel more grounded and centered. Our body is in that parasympathetic activation state, which is very healing. That’s the state we talk about with rest and digest, but it also helps bring more blood flow to the reproductive organs and to the internal systems of the body. It’s going to help us be in the optimal state for becoming pregnant and maintaining that pregnancy as well.

Eloise Edington

Great, thank you. What about you, Gavin? What would your view be on supporting success?

Dr Gavin Sacks

I’d really like to go back to what Katie said earlier, which resonated with me. A lot of our patients, in fact all of them, become completely obsessed in their own heads. They get really fixated, and it’s quite fascinating to observe. I don’t think that’s good for their general health or for the IVF process to work best. It’s not good for their decision-making either. I feel that trying to get them out of their heads, as Katie beautifully described, is a huge gain.

I try in my consultations to counsel them out of the obsession with how many eggs we have and the doses. They get very particular about things that aren’t actually helpful for them. They’ve got to get through this whole process. Yoga could be a fantastic way to help them do that. 

The physiology that Katie described definitely would have potential benefits. It’s hard to know, in scientific terms, whether that actually produces what it’s meant to produce, but it might. We all know that people who are in a good state—meaning they are at the top of their game—will do better. They will not just make better decisions; they’ll perform better physically, and probably their physiology and the things needed to help a pregnancy will be better.

I definitely advocate for this approach. The obsession with IVF, which most patients have, is something we need to help them overcome. Sometimes introducing a new pursuit, like yoga, for some of these patients can be a fantastic idea. Not everyone will want to do yoga, but it opens up a whole world that can be a fascinating distraction or a new interest that takes you somewhere else. I think that’s really helpful for most of us.

A lot of people think, “I can’t do this or that because I don’t have time. I can’t take up yoga or learn the guitar.” I think we all actually have time for the things that are important. Yoga could be one of these things where we think there’s no time, but if you get into the world of what yoga can be, patients can find this extra time in their lives. I love how Katie described lying with your legs up on the wall. I could imagine doing that right now—who wouldn’t want to? Sometimes, we all just need permission to do that. If yoga does nothing else, it gives us that permission.

I think if we all took 20 minutes to sit with our legs against the wall, there would be enormous gains for all of us. We often need permission to do that, and I feel yoga could provide that, too.

Katie Brown

Absolutely. I just wanted to add that it’s an investment. It really is. For me, when I became a new mom, I certainly found my sleep was affected. I was exhausted. I used to have between 2 and 3 as my Yoga Nidra time, and I would do a relaxation. I now do that throughout my whole life. Even if it’s just 10 minutes, I feel so energized. It makes me feel like I’ve had about two hours of sleep, and it certainly helps me now post-menopause. These things are real-life skills you can sprinkle into your life, and also you’re being a role model for your children when you have them as well.

The other thing I was going to mention was that feeling of control. For me personally, as a new mom, it was really difficult to relinquish that feeling of being in control. We know that this whole journey is about letting go of that control. You just have to go with the flow, and that is what our yoga practice really supports us with, so we can feel centered and grounded and just move with whatever life throws at us. From a perspective of feeling strong, in yoga we talk about strength and softness. This strength is resolve, where you feel strong enough to deal with whatever life throws at you, but you’ve also got this softness and lightness about you.

There are so many things that you can weave into your life. 

Dr Gavin Sacks

I really love what you just said. In fact, I’ve spent today consulting with a lot of people who have a real control problem. They come into IVF and reproduction generally, thinking they can control everything. Reproduction, by its very nature, is a creative thing; every baby is completely unique, and therefore it’s a new experiment in the history of the world. It’s not something you just manufacture. There is a massive underlying randomness behind it all, which is the beauty of it, but it does mean that you can’t really control it in the way that we control other things. Our patients have real problems relinquishing that, which they have no choice but to. It creates a lot of friction in IVF when they think they can cover every aspect and it doesn’t work.

That can be really stressful, so,I love the way you said that, Katie, because I try to find ways to help them understand. In fact, I use those exact words you used with patients today about going with the flow. There is a real importance in doing a good cycle of going with the flow and just moving with how it is rather than being rigid. For example, wanting eight eggs creates such rigidity and stress. It’s better to go into an IVF cycle wanting a baby at the end. We’d love a baby, and however many eggs we get, we hope one will be the baby would be a better approach. Yoga could help that side of things; that would be just incredible.

Eloise Edington

What about key milestones, for example, egg retrieval and transfer? How did yoga support these milestones in a fertility treatment cycle? 

Dr Gavin Sacks

Firstly, those are just stressful moments, and if you’ve already got a little plan going on in your life of putting your legs against the wall or doing poses like downward dog, if you just do things that you’re used to, that helps. It’s really good to have something underlying to help you be calm when you’re approaching these things.

These milestones are where we really don’t want there to be so much stress on specific things and going with the flow. As Katie beautifully described, we want the whole body to change in a way that allows them to go with whatever happens rather than having a forced expectation, which can be really stressful. The outcome can be altered too. 

One of the biggest determinants of IVF outcome is what happens during the embryo transfer. It’s a strangely easy thing to do compared to many other surgical things we do, but every doctor has different success rates, and every cycle can be influenced by many factors. There have been many studies looking at all kinds of things, such as mindfulness, having a comedian in the room, acupuncture, and patients eating certain foods. 

There are all kinds of things that seem to impact outcomes in some way, and I think the bottom line is that it helps the body be in a good state somehow. Everyone is different in what they need for that, and I think yoga can definitely have a real positive impact during that time of the embryo transfer.

Eloise Edington

What about safety? Are there any precautions that people should consider from a medical standpoint or in terms of poses or anything to do with the treatment cycle? 

Katie Brown

We actually don’t recommend general yoga in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. In the fertility realm, it’s all about conserving energy. It’s about stepping into your body and allowing yourself time, especially if you’re busy with normal life stresses. I would not be doing strenuous poses or breath retention. You kind of want to see and feel as if you are pregnant; treat yourself as if you are pregnant at that point.

So, no strong stretches, just being very kind and gentle to yourself. Avoid high-impact exercises. The yoga is more restorative, focusing on relaxation and soothing, tranquilizing breathing practices, along with mindfulness, as meditation and visualization are a part of yoga too.

Eloise Edington

What about you, Dr. Sacks, what would your advice be? 

Dr Gavin Sacks

Obviously, we don’t want people to start doing something that could injure themselves. It’s really good if they’re going to do it to work with yoga instructors who know they’re pregnant or about to be pregnant. That sensitivity is really important. 

A general yoga class may be inappropriate for some people, and we definitely don’t want anyone to get injured. Some people can overfill their lives with stuff. Everyone has a different way of living, and some patients hear about what might be good for them and fill their lives with 20 herbs, supplements, acupuncture, and nutritionist visits.

You can add in so many things, and yoga can be just another thing that can make life more stressful. It’s a matter of choosing what’s good for you. We should all ideally be doing yoga, but sometimes there isn’t time to get into it. It’s important to appreciate what would be good for you, and it’s not always yoga for everyone.

Katie Brown

I just wanted to say, you don’t have to think of yoga as a long class as well. Some of the practices in the Thrive program are just 5 minutes of breathing or a 10-minute relaxation. It’s not just on the mat; you have tools you can incorporate into your life. For example, while waiting in line at the bank, you could do some breathing practices or just feel grounded with your feet connecting to the earth, helping you to come out of your head. 

Also, just noticing your posture, which is another benefit from yoga; since once you have good posture, you have better breathing, which helps our respiratory system and immune function, and starts to flow into effect.

Dr Gavin Sacks

I agree, and think patients should get initiated into this long before their IVF cycle. Maybe when people see a fertility specialist, that should be the point where we begin thinking if IVF would be a good option.

 I do think it’s something that provides beautiful benefits in many ways, and it’s hard to imagine those benefits in a one-off acute situation. It needs a bit of learning and time, ideally. I would really advocate for this to be early on, so we can support better living frameworks in a person’s life before the actual IVF, and yoga would be a huge part of that.

Eloise Edington

Could you tell us more about the Thrive program? You mentioned that it’s nearly four months long, which is an incredible opportunity to support people, especially if they are going through multiple cycles. Tell us more about the program and other holistic approaches as well. 

Katie Brown

Absolutely. We’ve got fertility specialists involved, and it’s designed to hold your hand through the whole journey, going beyond the four months as well.

For the yoga that I’ve put together, I’ve been teaching prenatal for years. I have three children and I’m a qualified massage instructor and counselor, among other things. I’ve used all of these experiences to create a supportive program designed specifically for each stage of the journey. 

There will be things like restorative poses, such as a reclining butterfly, and breathing exercises like the golden ribbon breath, where you breathe in through the nose and then lightly part the lips to let the breath release through the mouth, imagining that breath as a golden ribbon of light unraveling into the distance. This helps you focus on the exhale, drawing the breath back in through the nose and repeating the process.

Each time, you feel yourself sinking into the props used in restorative yoga. These don’t have to be expensive; they can be cushions, pillows, and blankets. You’ll feel like you’re supported by the Earth, which helps you let go into that support. When you’re on the roller coaster journey of IVF, you want to feel a sense of control, but you know you’re out of control.

Having the ability to just have a big sigh and know that you’re supported by Mother Earth allows you to let go into that support. We integrate different breathing practices into various poses, and from there, the idea is that you can do a relaxation if you have five or ten minutes or then you can do the relaxation for that particular week. Then you’re already in a relaxed state, and you might even fall asleep and stay there for an hour, which would be amazing. There are different times for each of the relaxations, so you can work it into your schedule.

Eloise Edington

Dr. Tax, what would your advice be when looking at more holistic approaches to support fertility treatment? 

Dr Gavin Sacks

Everyone is different, and everyone needs different things to help them on their way in life. Listening to Katie, everything you describe is beautiful, and it makes me think everyone should do yoga all the time. It’s a beautiful way of putting it.

There are other ways to achieve balance, and people do it in different ways. One alternative I’m involved with is acupuncture, which I find interesting. We don’t know exactly how it works, but it’s clear that the needles do something to people. After their sessions, it’s evident that it has an impact. 

It’s a little more passive than yoga; you go there and just lie there while someone does something to you. I find I really like the proactiveness of yoga. I like the engagement and the way Katie described how you engage with your body, and that’s a great concept.

Acupuncture would be another option. I think some people also go into naturopathic supplement lifestyles, which suits some people. For me, I feel that it gives an illusion of control. If they take enough of these supplements, they’ll cover all the bases, but I’m not sure how helpful that is in terms of what I’m trying to achieve with my treatment. I really like yoga for everything we’ve discussed today, but those are the main alternatives. 

There are people who try other things. I had a patient today asking me about cupping as a way of trying to reduce stress, and people do massage. I think things like that, and even going to the gym, could be thought of in a similar way. We all have to do what makes sense to us; it’s quite personal. 

I’d encourage people to think about what would be best for them personally rather than just what they’ve heard. There’s always a danger when we think, “Well, that person did that; I want to do what they did.” It’s better for us to really focus on what we need. Yoga is a brilliant way of helping with that decision, as it encourages us to really consider ourselves.

Eloise Edington

It’s been such a pleasure speaking with you both today. Thank you very much for your insight and expertise. I’m sure everyone listening will be grateful. 

As we said before, please check out this amazing new Thrive program for IVF, which is linked in our bio and through the description. Their brand new yoga IVF program is designed to guide you through the integration of yoga practices into your IVF journey and supports you and your cycle from week one. 

Thank you both very much for your time today. It’s been a pleasure chatting with you.

Katie Brown

Thank you! 

Dr Gavin Sacks

Thank you so much! Goodbye!