Fertility Yoga: Six pose sequence featuring Anjaneyasana during the Menstrual Phase

Click the gray Play button below to listen along to this sequence:

Start with downward dog.

Here we’re focusing on replenishing the kidney energies. So feel that spreading of your low back. This allows qi and blood to flush through your pelvic tissues, freeing up blood flow. Press your thumb and forefinger into the mat as you then roll out your shoulders. Yes. Flesh out your low back, lengthen the spine, and support beneath your underarm. Knees lifted. Heels sink. Feel one line of energy from crown to tailbone. Find one still point and keep your gaze there. Still mind, still body. Because your head is lower than the rest of your body, this is a very calming pose. And allow your kidneys – which includes your uterus- and your low back to flush and refill and be supported.

Float your right leg up into the air and brush the sky.

Now bring it between your hands. Left knee to the floor. Interlace your hands behind you and lengthen your spine here.

Climb up all sides of your spine, and coil up through your belly. Heart leads. This is a deep lunge and sometimes the hips need more time to open. So let’s pulse here and let them open. See what it feels like to go a little deeper into this lunge while lifting up through your center. Hip opening pulsation activates the liver meridian to gently vitalize qi and blood and encourage the menstruation to flow.

Bring both hands to the mat, inside your front foot.

Knee falls open, foot rolls to the outer edge.

Make sure your back leg is straight out behind you, and not sneaking into the midline. Right arm snakes up to the sky and you rotate into a gentle twist. Come to your fingertips or onto your fists if you need to. This is not your maximum twist here. Gently twist, nudging on the contents of the womb.

And now frame the front foot and lift the hips to downward facing dog. Fingers spread evenly into the mat, spine lengthens. Drop the head. Release the pelvic floor and exhale  “ahhh.”

Float your left foot up. Reach through your toes and stretch.

Now bring it through and place between your hands.

Interlace your fingers, rise up through the spine and pulse. Offer your heart into a gentle backbend here. And turn to your breath. Your Ujjayi breath is the fuel for your practice.

Going a little deeper into this pose your hands come to the inside of your front leg. Back leg and front knee reach away.

Front knee and foot drop open.

Now reach up with your left arm, gently twisting up and to your left.

Open circulation through the lower abdomen to allow the complete release of its contents. Twists unravel our layers that keep us blocked from the present moment. Open all of that up.

Now lift your hips and return to downward dog.

Danurasana (Bow) – Fertility Yoga Pose

Use the player below to listen to this sequence so you can practice along.

This pose is a wonderful one to practice during the follicular phase of your cycle. During this time yin and blood are gathering and refilling. Ultimately, a peak will be reached and the ovulatory process is triggered.

Begin by laying flat on your belly. Bend your knees. Reach your arms back and grasp the outside of your ankles or feet. If this is tight or uncomfortable in any way, you can go into a modified pose: Provide support by moving your elbow and forearm under your chest, and then grasp a single leg at a time. I started to practice this way, holding just one leg, releasing, and then the other. Over time my body opened and I was able to take the full pose.

From here, inhale and lift your chest, exhale press your feet back against your hands, and on your next inhale lift your thighs. Big toes and knees hug the midline. Relax your glutes here; they often like to take over the whole pose. This is important as it lets qi and blood flush into your kidneys, creating a great internal massage of your own kidney system. Feel your womb press into the floor and allow your energy to concentrate there. Hold this for two more breaths. And slowly release, cheek to the floor. Come all the way down and take rest. Release.

Now do one more round. Grasp your ankles or feet. Remember, it’s okay to take one at a time. Inhale and lift your chest, exhale kick your feet back against your hands, inhale lift your thighs. Now let’s arch a little more deeply. The backbends get better the more you do them. This time let’s gently rock forward and back onto your womb and ovaries, bringing good circulation there. Bring your attention there, activating your pelvic energy. Our energy is moving toward the midline, so our knees and feet are moving together. Continue to rock and gently vitalize the womb, where the endometrium is thickening and follicles are maturing. Soften the glutes, concentrate on the womb, and bring your knees down. Lower your feet and release, resting your opposite cheek to the mat.

Feel the surrender, the nourishment of yin energy as you are held by the earth. Tune into the quiet power. Soak it in.

The backbends we just did can be very vitalizing so take this restful pose to deepen your breath and turn inward. It’s easy to see how back bending activates yang qi. It’s both heating and stimulating, which is so necessary when we’re gathering yin in the follicular phase. We do need to circulate the yin qi and that’s exactly what we are doing in this pose of Danurasana.