Relaxation

The Body Scan

One of the first steps I always teach my clients when we start a pelvic floor programme is becoming more aware of the body in general, and the pelvic floor and tummy in particular (we'll talk more about this when we get to the section on posture 😉)

Having better body awareness has lots of benefits for us all including:

• Better posture
• Improved coordination & balance
• Better ability to pay attention to our body's signals
• More success with maintaining a healthy weight
• Improved mental health

Having better pelvic floor awareness can help with:

• Decreased tension & pain around the pelvic region
• improved ability to notice the body's signals - in particular bladder & bowel signals
• More success with pelvic floor exercises
• Improved coordination & function of the pelvic floor muscles

How do we improve our body and pelvic floor awareness? Well I start with a body scan relaxation which you can access below this section.

I recommend you practice this relaxation at least twice a week, more often if you feel you have a lot of muscle tension or if you just love it!

Don't worry if you find it difficult to 'let go' any muscle tension you find you have; awareness is the key and with practice, you'll get better at releasing and letting go of that tension. It may be there due to habits or things that are going on in your life or your mind so it can take time to really change things in your body.

I've purposely left the relaxation session without backing music so that you can use your own. if you have a song or music that really resonates with you and helps you to relax (preferably without words), put it on low in the room as you practice your body scan.

Enjoy!

Louise X

Pelvic Floor & Body Awareness

We've worked on awareness of our 'outside' muscles - the gluteal and abdominals mainly, but can you feel what your pelvic floor is up to right now?!

And why is it important to be aware of your pelvic floor and your body in general?

Before you can squeeze a muscle, you need to know if it's already squeezed already right?

If it is, then when you try to squeeze, you'll feel nothing (or very little) happening. If it's relaxed before you begin to squeeze then it's more likely you'll feel a bigger, better squeeze (that's not to say bigger is better, but more on that later!)

So, you've been practicing more awareness of what happens with your pelvic floor muscles when you breathe in and out. You've also been paying more attention to what your pelvic floor, tummy and bum muscles are doing when you're not really thinking about it. So you now know how to RELAX these muscles.

Now let's take our breathing exercises we've been working on and build a little on those.

Audio of abdominal breathing with pelvic floor release.

Let me tell you something that very few mums know about pelvic floor exercises (kegels) before they have their babies:

The relax is AS IMPORTANT as the squeeze.

And something else!

For most people, learning the relax is HARDER than learning the squeeze.

So if you've got this far and you can feel whether your pelvic floor muscles are relaxed or not, then you have done the hardest part already!

If you're still not sure, here are some ideas for you to try:

• Sit on a hard chair and think about relaxing your perineum (the area between your vagina and back passage) towards to seat of the chair.

• Sit on the toilet to empty your bladder. Notice the way your pelvic floor relaxes as you begin to pee. (This is assuming you pee normally and don't need to 'push' your pee out.)

• Squeeze your pelvic floor muscles if you can. Then release and relax them. Then relax them a little more. That second relax is what we're looking for. If you find you can relax a bit more that second time you try, you may be holding a little tension in your pelvic floor a lot of the time. If you relax the first time and then try to RELAX the second time and can't, then it probably means you're pretty good at relaxing your pelvic floor fully and completely.

• Try sitting with your legs stretched out (maybe on your bed or with your feet on a footstool). Place your fingers on your perineum either through clothes or not. Breathe in right down into your tummy as deeply as you can. Try to relax your pelvic floor so that your breath allows the muscles to move downwards even more. You'll feel this movement underneath your fingers.

• Visit a women's health physio who'll be able to do a vaginal examination. Sometimes it just takes someone to put their finger on your pelvic floor and say 'relax under my finger' and you'll have that Aha! moment where you realise you were able to do it all along and just couldn't figure out what it should feel like! Once you get it, that's it! You're usually ready to progress to the next stage!