When I was seeing clients as a yoga therapist I “specialized” in pelvic floor health. Yoga Therapy is so vast and since I was already teaching Pilates, pelvic floor seemed like a natural pick for me to focus on.
Pelvic floor awareness is an intimate practice.
I found a lot of women soaked up learning more about how to strengthen their pelvic floor. And, it seems very logical to approach our pelvic health from this perspective. Because this is a multi – level subject, at least to me, so I am writing 2 blog posts.
This first post will focus on our physical pelvis health, the second will be more focused on the emotional and energetic aspects.
First becoming aware of your pelvic floor, then exercising regularly through the multiple methods – that I go into depth in my membership – strengthens and increases blood flow thus making our tissues more resilient. Most of us know that sounds good, but the additional benefits are increase bladder control and a lot of improvement in our sex life.
Doing too many Kegels and done incorrectly… creates weakness.
Usually, the first form of exercise that comes to mind is Kegels – which we are told to practice after having a baby, but often there is not much education around to the how’s. And, Kegels may or may not be what you need and too much can actually backfire. If done incorrectly, they actually can make the pelvic floor – weaker. What???
The practice is a bit more involved, it isn’t just holding the flow of your urine and hoping for the best. One other key component to a strong pelvic floor is first learning to relax the muscles, then incorporating glutes (buttock) muscles strengthening as well.
Squeezing, clenching and curling…
In regards to doing Kegels “too much” and the result of weakness is because short and tight muscles are actually weak, not strong. Hence, my earlier mention about relaxing first. And, finally if Kegels are done by “curling” and squeezing you create clenched and a curled sacrum thus leading to less range of motion and eventually women will experience low back pain.
Ok, I know this may seem like a lot. And, you may be thinking where do I start. Well, in the interest of not making this post toooooo long, or longer then it is.
I put together a PDF – Creating Pelvic Health – with some exercises. Please keep in mind learning these exercises from a document is just an introduction.
If you want more one on one connection and help please reach out to me at info@darcyneumann.com.
Finally, I am super excited to announce I am adding an online 4 – week pelvic floor course to my Membership;
Creating Pelvic Health & Power for Menopausal Women / Starting in April, 24
If you are interested please email me info@darcyneumann.com and I will send you details.
