Did you know being able to relax your pelvic floor is just as important as strengthening it? Sometimes we can experience weakness which can be due to the muscles not fully relaxing. This is often referred to as an overactive pelvic floor where the muscles are tight and less effective. It’s important that after we do some strengthening, we also work on release so that our pelvic floor supports us and functions correctly. But how do we relax it?
There are many ways you can do this - here are just a few. Focus on relaxing those pelvic floor muscles as you do them.
Happy Baby - Lie on your back and grab your feet. Relax completely and breathe.
Childs pose - Kneel with the knees wide and toes together. Rest the forehead down and take the arms long to the top edge of your mat.
Reclined Bound Angle/Butterfly - Lie on your back with the soles of the feet together. Let the knees relax out to the sides. Relax and breathe.
Breathing - This is key. Breathe down into your belly focusing on relaxing your belly and pelvic floor completely. Inhale let the belly and ribs rise, exhale let it fall. (No contractions here!) Try in child's pose to really feel this into your pelvic floor.
Try to reduce some stress in your life, even if just by adding in yoga and deep breathing into your routine. Keep checking in with yourself during the day to see if you are holding tension anywhere in your body. Even tension in the jaw can link to tension in the pelvis so do a body scan and try to relax each muscle as you bring it into your mind. Make sure you can fully relax your pelvic floor before starting to add in strengthening.
Please see a women’s health physio if you’re experiencing any ongoing weakness or pelvic health dysfunction/constipation or if you think you might have an overactive pelvic floor. It’ll be well worth your effort.
You can find on demand videos including pelvic floor focus/yin relaxation, or my women's yoga class timetable here https://www.hummingtreeyoga.co.uk/womens-yoga
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