A healthy pelvic floor: Part 2

What would be a better way to start the week than giving some thought and love to your pelvic floor. One of the most important, sacred parts of our body!

Last post we went through the function of the pelvic floor and how to bring your breath to release tension and improve energy flow to the pelvic floor.

So today we will discuss Restoring and Maintaining Pelvic Floor Function.

Kegels are often the first exercises that come in mind when thinking about pelvic floor exercises but Kegels are not the only ones we want to work with. When doing the kegel exercises some women find it difficult to find the pelvic floor muscles and tend to only activate the back part of the pelvic floor and or even clenching the buttocks instead of finding the right engagement.

The pelvic floor can be both too tight and too loose, both need to be addressed and you may have to find what exercises works for YOU to be able to relax your pelvic floor but still remaining that tone. So we want to strengthen, stabilize, stretch and soften the pelvic floor to create a healthy foundation for all other movements, but also to improve our energy flow to this sacred area of the body.

I wanted to share a few tips on how you can start to Restore and Maintain the function of your pelvic floor.

The first thing we want to do is to become aware of this area of our body.

You can do this lying down on your back.

Scanning through the body, resting your attention around your pelvis and notice any sensations or emotions that arise. Are you holding a lot of tension here? How are you feeling when resting your attention here? Are you feeling a lack of energy or high energy?

Allow your natural breathing pattern to emerge. Feel your belly rising, pelvic floor muscles gentle stretching and expanding with your inhalation. Gently contracts and releases with exhalation. Place your hands on top of your pelvis and breathe into your hands, this can really help if you struggle to breathe deep into your belly and pelvis.

In a standing position start paying attention to your natural posture. When do you tend to keep more weight, towards the heels or the toes?

Start moving the weight towards your toes notice how this changes in your pelvic floor muscles. Then do the opposite, move the weight towards your heels and notice the difference.

Find a stable posture, rooting your feet down, feel the energy moving up through your pelvic floor. Continue the deep breathing here.

This can be done in a few different ways, you can be standing and just move your pelvis around in circles, the formation of an 8, tilting forth and back, etc. It can also be done sitting in a cross-legged position and move your upper body around in circles, leading from your hips. Just allowing your body to guide you. Keep checking in and relax your pelvic floor muscles.

*Some women with very tight pelvic floor muscles may even see a specialist and get a trigger point release from within.

When you have built up this awareness and connection to your pelvic floor you can move forward towards Kegels, contracting and releasing the pelvic floor with your breathing. Learning how to hold and how to relax.

Yoga is a great way to heal, increase blood flow and energy flow circulation to the pelvis and its tissues and organs. Learning how to relax and release, how to breathe and how to create stability without creating tension. Slow yoga, yin yoga and deep hip openers are what I would recommend continuing to maintain the function of your pelvic floor.

Let me know what your experience has been and make these simple exercises a part of your routine.

If you really struggle to relax or to find the connection with your pelvic floor I highly recommend you go and see a pelvic floor specialist like a Somatic Sex Educator.