In today's episode of Health Youniversity, Dr. Susan Fox sits down with Ashley Statchon — yoga teacher, fertility and prenatal specialist, oncology yoga instructor, and director of Metta Mama — for a conversation that starts with the nervous system and ends somewhere most fertility conversations never go.

Ashley came to yoga as a competitive gymnast looking for a physical challenge. What she found was something that would reshape how she understood the body entirely — and years later, when a breast cancer diagnosis at 43 put everything to the test, it was breath, movement, and the practices she'd been teaching that carried her through. Today, she brings that lived experience into fertility yoga, prenatal care, postnatal support, and oncology.

This episode is about what yoga actually does to and for the body as a nervous system intervention. Why cortisol timing matters. Why 70% of the information flowing through your central nervous system travels from body to brain, not the other way around. And why trying to think your way out of a stress cycle is, biologically speaking, unlikely to work.

You'll learn what fertility yoga is and why it's relevant - whether you're just beginning to think about conceiving or deep in an IVF cycle. You’ll also understand healthy cortisol rhythms — and how most of us derail those rhythms before breakfast. You’ll learn that the psoas, hamstrings, and pelvic floor hold the stress cycle in the body long after the moment has passed, what legs up the wall actually does physiologically. Ashley shares how breath, meditation, and visualization stabilized her liver enzymes during chemotherapy — and what that taught her about the body's capacity to respond,. We discuss that research shows infertility carries the same measurable stress load as a life-threatening diagnosis — and what ahimsa — nonviolence — looks like when you turn it toward yourself.

This episode is for you if you've been wondering if yoga improve fertility beyond flexibility and relaxation, if you're navigating IVF or IUI and want to know what you can do in your own body to support the process, if you feel chronically wired but exhausted or if, you or someone you love is navigating a cancer diagnosis alongside a fertility journey. If you're in the Bay Area, attend Ashley's in-person eight-week fertility yoga series at Metta Mama.

💻 About Susan Fox: https://www.healthyouniversity.co/about

Take your 5-Element Fertility Quiz: http://yourfertilityquiz.com/

Detox to De-Stress: View the FREE Masterclass on the importance of detoxification to prepare for a healthy pregnancy: https://susanfox1.easywebinar.live/gentle-detox

Learn about our program entitled Your Fertile Health: https://www.healthyouniversity.co/programs

Schedule a Fertile Health Assessment: https://www.healthyouniversity.co/your-fertile-health-call

Let us journey with you as you navigate your fertile health. Connect with me:

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