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Yoga for Fertility Care
Class is designed to support preconception: TTC naturally, egg/sperm retrieval, IVF, menstruation.
Class Description
This yoga class is designed to holistically foster fertility, promote well-being, and support preconception on your family planning or formation journey – lifestyle improvement preparation, preserving your fertility, egg or sperm retrieval or freezing, trying to conceive, IVF and other fertility treatments, embryo freezing, treatment recovery, embryo transfer, or waiting periods – using the 8 limbs of yoga. This class also supports monthly menstruation. Yoga for fertility over 6 weeks was shown to reduce anxiety by 20%. (Jasani, 2016) Class Benefits • Reduces stress and cortisol levels naturally by engaging the parasympathetic nervous system, which may boost egg quantity or quality and implantation • Promotes circulation to reproductive organs and reduces discomfort from treatment side effects through safe yoga postures and dynamic movement • Aids in maintaining physical strength, mobility, energy, and focus on and off the mat • Eases tension and reduces anxiety by providing a supportive community nurturing fertility, creating a comprehensive experience that promotes physical and emotional well-being • For those with ovaries: Excludes inversions, twists, or high-impact pelvic movement so you can maintain practice while reducing risk of exercise-induced ovarian torsion Class includes yogic tools such as fellowship (sangha), yamas (restraints), niyamas (observances), asana (posture), pranayama (breath, life force), pratyahara (sense withdrawal), dharana (concentration), and dhyana (meditation). Preparation • Wear Comfortable clothes, layers if you run cold • Bring a yoga mat, water bottle, two yoga blocks (or books), and a yoga blanket (or bath towel) • Ground floor studio, bathroom, lounge • Register ahead, class package available Who Should Attend? This preconception class is open to all sexes, genders, and levels of experience with yoga. This class can be beneficial to students seeking to, • Manage stress or balance hormone levels, even when not trying to conceive or preserve fertility • Foster long-term fertility years in advance of trying to conceive, egg freezing or fertilization • Practice in community whether forming family naturally or with the help of science • Benefit from yoga during egg/sperm donor selection, embryo results or implantation waiting period, surrogacy, adoption • Support monthly cycles, menstruation, pelvic floor If you are pregnant, please join prenatal sessions (Privates) with Rowena instead of attending this class.
Upcoming Sessions
Cancellation Policy
Students can reschedule a class reservation no later than 12 hours in advance to maintain the class balance. Students may cancel a class reservation no later than 24 hours in advance. In all other cases, such as no show, classes are non-transferrable, non-exchangeable, and non-refundable.
Class Location
1605 Church Street, San Francisco, CA, USA
Save With A Package
For students committed to yoga practice and fertility care with the added benefit of 10% off per class.
Keywords: Egg freezing, Embryo freezing, Egg fertilization, IVF, In vitro fertilization, Egg retrieval, Sperm retrieval, Fertility care, Fertility treatment, Oocyte Stimulation, Stimulation cycle, Ovary, Ovaries, Follicles, Follicle, Egg, Eggs, Sperm, Family planning, Family formation, Family building, Fertility preservation, Preconception, Trying to conceive, TTC, Reproductive health, Male infertility, Male fertility, Female infertility, Female fertility, Women’s health, Menstruation, Heavy menstrual bleeding, Menorrhagia, Menstrual pain, Dysmenorrhea, Bloating, Water retention, Circulation, Stress management, Cortisol
About the Instructor
Rowena Mittal, MS, PhD, CYT
Dr. Rowena Mittal blends her passion for women’s health and her Indian & Chinese heritage with her deep understanding of human physiology and her experience building women’s health biotechnology to share the wisdom of yoga in tangible language. To Rowena, yoga is a life practice that changes our lives and the lives that we serve off the mat for the better.
After multiple rounds of egg retrieval procedures and nowhere but home to continue her nurturing and safe yoga asana practice; Rowena's mission has been to create a space we can go before, during, and after treatment with shared experiences and needs. While she is grateful for support from her acupuncturist and therapist, she needed more weekly support during an isolating time -- and hears the same unmet need from her students, friends, and colleagues.
And thus, Yoga for Fertility Care was born. Rowena's goal is to share the powerful 8-limbed yoga practice that nurtures fertility while fostering the whole self, enabling continuity of yoga practice and community when we need it most, promoting mental and emotional wellness, and honoring safety.
Rowena has been teaching yoga since 2014 across San Francisco through public classes, workshops, private lessons, corporate wellness programs, and yoga teacher mentorships. While her first exposure to yoga was in the 1990s, Rowena’s regular yoga practice began in 2008 at the suggestion of her physicians and physical therapist amid a struggle with chronic back pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, and systemic inflammation.
In 2014, Rowena enrolled in yoga teacher training with long-time teacher Rusty Wells at Urban Flow in San Francisco, CA to demystify the practice while honoring its eastern roots. At this training, she got to study with Jason Crandell, Wah!, Amanda Moran, and more. Rowena completed continuing education with Rusty Wells, Stephanie Snyder, Nichol Chase, Susannah Freedman, and Charisse Balance, DPT, as well as mentorship with Stephanie Snyder and Neil Wadhawan.
In 2023, Rowena completed prenatal and postnatal yoga teacher training with renowned yoga teacher and former midwife, doula, and childbirth educator Jane Austin. Rowena’s training and experience includes bhakti flow, vinyasa, ashtanga, Iyengar, hatha, yin, restorative, accessible, chair/seated, and prenatal/postnatal yoga asana; injury prevention, pranayama, meditation, ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, pelvic physical therapy, non-violent communication, and the art of physical assisting. Learn more about Rowena's yoga teachers and mentors here.
Rowena obtained her BS in Chemical Engineering from MIT with a minor in Biological/Biomedical Engineering and two humanities concentrations in Women & Gender Studies and French Language & Studies. She has her MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
At MIT, Rowena was a dancer and exec member of the performance group, MIT Dance Troupe. At CMU, she was part of a performance dance group, Dancer's Symposium, where she had the pleasure of dancing with and for professional dancer and choreographer Raymond Ejiofor. In addition to DS, she was a dancer, exec member, and choreographer of a competitive South Asian dance troupe, Tanah, fusing Bharatanatyam and other Indian dance genres with western dance styles.
Rowena's teachings seamlessly blend physical, meditative, and spiritual practices, delivered in English and Sanskrit, with a focus on pranayama (breath practice), alignment, meditation, bhakti (devotion), optional hands-on assists, sutra (philosophy) and a step-wise approach to balancing the body or building new asanas (physical pose practice). Students share that through her class structure, music, and voice, they leave her classes feeling stronger and energized, restored and at ease – empowered with knowledge that extends far beyond the four walls of the studio.
