The pelvic floor muscles are increasingly becoming recognized as an important focus for our regular exercise and fitness activities.
Proper work of strengthening, stabilizing, stretching, and softening the pelvic floor helps to create the correct foundation for each movement in the body.
Yet what is most prescribed as a catch-all cure is “just do your Kegels.” A healthy pelvic floor is more than doing Kegels. A healthy pelvic floor is more than doing mula bandha. These practices are under taught, misunderstood and can sometimes lead to more problems.
A strong pelvic floor helps keep the pelvic and abdominal organs healthy as we age. But “strong” also means flexible. Think of your torso as “a tote bag” for your organs. The pelvic floor is the bottom of the tote bag.
Someone with a weak pelvic floor (too loose or too tight) has a tote bag that is about to have the bottom fall out! Prolapsed organs, incontinence, and pelvic pain are common in over fifty percent of women.
In this 7-part series with Leslie Howard on Pelvic Floor YogaTM, learn the essentials for how yoga can help strengthen the pelvic floor. Learn how to tone the pelvic floor muscles in a balanced and integrated way to lay the foundation for a strong core.
What You Will Learn:
- Anatomy-focused yoga practices to help you get in touch with the pelvic floor muscles
- Loose and weak vs. tight and weak? Learn how to feel the difference and how to target your yoga practice to each type.
- How to stretch and release the pelvic floor muscles, as well as the best ways to strengthen and stabilize the pelvic floor and reinforce their connection to the abdominal muscles.
- How breathwork helps facilitate correct and healthy movement of the respiratory and pelvic diaphragms,
- How to approach the pelvic floor and the energy body with an inquiry-based practice of asana, breath, and mudra work.
