LIKE A NATURAL WOMAN
A Whole Body Approach to a Stronger Pelvic Floor
An Intro to the Pelvic Floor Seriesa whole body approach to balanced, low-stress strengthening for better posture, internal organ support, continence and ‘performance.’ Based on the work of Physical Therapists, Feldenkrais Method® Trainers, and Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais
Like a Natural Woman - 1 - Feel Your Floor
Lift A Weight And Activate (The Tuna Can Lesson)
Based on “Pelvic Floor Health and Awareness” series by Deborah Bowes, PT, GCFT®
In this first lesson, a little bit of weight is the ticket to sensing pelvic floor activation. Have a couple of light, easily-held weights at hand. I like tuna cans, but you can use anything with a comfortable amount of heft. Lifting the cans towards the ceiling and then back to the floor activates the pelvic floor and sets up the series.
Set Up:
Lying on your back with support for head, knees, back as appropriateLif
Sitting on an armless, flat-bottom chair, with knees and hips level
Have a small, light weight - like a tuna can or 1/2 pound hand weight
Like a Natural Woman - 2 - Count to 8 Left and Right
Finding the Pelvic Floor with the Breath, a Groove, and A Little Help From the Legs and Abs|
Based on a lesson in “Pelvic Floor Discovery” series as taught by Deborah Bowes, GCFT®
Employ an 8-count, a rhythmic foundation for structuring the lesson, slowing down the breath with side-to-side sensing to strengthen the pelvic floor. The weight of the legs, the power of breath and the vibration of our own voices are our learning tools.
Set Up:
Lying on your back on a mat with the support you like for your head and back
Sitting on a flat bottom chair with knees and hips level
(Optional) Support to go from floor to standing at beginning and end of lesson
Download the Healing Sounds Chart here
Like A Natural Woman - 3 - Let It Flow When You Want It To
The Sensitive Topic of Continence
Based on “Pelvic Floor Discovery - 3 - Front and Back” as taught by Deborah Bowes, GCFT
This week’s lesson is dedicated to leak prevention. Did you know that a healthy stream lasts 8-15 seconds? Less than that, and you are peeing too often. You might need to recalibrate your nervous system for less frequency. Over 15 seconds and you are waiting too long.
Pelvic rocking establishs a kinesthetic sense of the pelvic floor. Then the sensing and strengthening come in, first with the abs, then gradually with contractions of the anus and ureter. This is the first step towards letting if flow, or not, as you want.
Set Up:
Lying on your back on a mat with the support you like for your head and back
Sitting on a flat bottom chair with knees and hips level
(Optional) Support to go from floor to standing at beginning and end of lesson
Download the Healing Sounds Chart here
Read the full lesson notes with Science Nerd Candy Bowl links
Like A Natural Woman - 4 - Arms to Abs to Floor
Connecting the upper body and pelvic floor
The Chanukia/Candelabra Lesson for Pelvic Floor Awareness
In this variation, we seek same-side and diagonal connections from the arms and shoulders to the pelvic floor. The connections develop quietly, but powerfully, as arms turn the torso, and the pelvic floor responds and supports.
Set Up:
Lying on a mat on the floor with knees bent and arms extended at shoulder height, with support for head and knees as needed
OR sitting on a firm chair with knees and hips level, with possible support for arms at shoulder height
Like A Natural Woman -5 - Arms and Legs to Floor
Using the ends to find relaxation in the center
Another Chanukia/Candelabra Lesson variation for Pelvic Floor Awareness
Consciously allow pelvic floor to relax so that we can eventually strengthen. This lesson uses the weight of the arms and legs to amplify the sense of relaxation and opening - and - to sense into the moment when you begin to activate the pelvic floor system.
Set Up:
Lying on a mat on the floor with knees bent and arms extended at shoulder height, with support for head and knees as needed
OR sitting on a firm chair with knees and hips level, with possible support for arms at shoulder height
Like A Natural Woman - 6 - Soft Lips
Soften the lips, soften the system - Bring a Cork!
Based on “Pelvic Floor Workshop - Lesson 5 - Cork in the Mouth” by Mara Fusero
For habitually used muscles, softening is the precursor to strengthening. This is another lesson is sensing tension and softening. This time, lips are where we begin.
Explore the connections between mouth and pelvic floor ring muscles. A cork between the lips amplifies the sensations. Blow on the cork, kiss the cork, move it in all directions. In time, the pelvic floor’s ring muscles begin to harmonize. You may find yourself walking around the house, cork in lips, practicing your Mona Lisa smile and Marilyn Monroe air kiss.
Set Up:
Lying on mat with a standing scan at start and finish.
Or sitting on flat bottom chair so that thighs and hips are level
Have a clean, wine-bottle sized cork or comparable object
Peggy Lee, sultry at all ages
Like A Natural Woman - 7 - Lift a Leg a Little
Finding the long back and independent breath to support a free pelvic floor
Based on “AY 97 Optimal Lifting of the Knees” by Moshe Feldenkrais
Use the weight of the legs to help strengthen the abs and pelvic floor by slowly lifting the knees, allowing the feet to follow, and tracking how the back, breath, abs and pelvic floor adjust until lifting is effortless and graceful..
Set Up:
Lying on your back on a mat with the support you like for your head and back
You might want something a little slippery behind your head
Sitting on a flat bottom chair with knees and hips level
Read the Full Post
Like A Natural Woman - 8 - Pelvic Floor Makes Leg Lifting Lighter
Legs lift lightly when the pelvic floor is working wisely
Based on “AY 97 Optimal Lifting of the Knees” by Moshe Feldenkrais
The spine’s ‘strong support’ configuration, where the vertebrae are stacked, the low back is relaxed and the neck is long, comes into play here. The teaching tool is the lifting leg; its weight helps rock the pelvis forward to set up and spotlight the stable spinal configuration.
Set Up:
Lying on your back on a mat with the support you like for your head and back
You might want something a little slippery behind your head
Have additional head support for the side-lying part
Sitting on a flat bottom chair with knees and hips level
Like A Natural Woman - 9 - Glute Grab
Find support and balance - Use what you got; let the big muscles do their thing
Based on “The Half Ass Lesson” as taught by Julie Casson Rubin, GCFT®
Bring it into gravity. This will be a supine lesson with some chair sitting. The goal is to strengthen the pelvic floor in coordination with the glutes, and to do so while breathing easily. Connect the glutes, pelvic floor and breath to help emphasize the stacked, elongated spine and lift “your tips.”
Set Up:
Lying on your back on a mat with the support you like for your head and back
You might want something a little slippery behind your head
Have additional head support for the side-lying part
Sitting on a flat bottom chair with knees and hips level
Like A Natural Woman - 10 - More Glutes, More Floor (the headlight lesson)
Find support and balance - Use what you got; let the big muscles do their thing
Based on “Balancing the Buttocks” as taught by Deborah Bowes, GCFT® in “The Pelvic Floor: Discovery, Integration and Power”
This variation of the candelabra lesson has us lying, sitting and kneeling to test the relative power of our left and right glutes, and sense how the glutes connect to the feet.
Set Up:
Lying on your back on a mat with the support you like for your head and back
Extra padding for prone and kneeling segments
Something for ‘headlights’ - a pair of knitting needles, chop sticks, pencils
Sitting on a flat bottom chair with knees and hips level
Like A Natural Woman - 11 - Stand and Sit From the Floor
Putting it to the test - feeling the floor in the real world
Based on “Dynamic Sitting with Front and Back of the Pelvic Floor ” as taught by Deborah Bowes, GCFT® in “Pelvic Floor Health and Awareness”
Bring the whole series into reality. The test is on. Can you sit and stand and sit again with full pelvic floor engagement?
We build up gradually, from the familiar sit bone rocking front and back, coordinated with the breath, to bringing increased pelvic floor awareness. As the movement amps up, we bring in all the elements covered in this series: the lower abs, low back, upper back, thoracic spine, cervical spine and sternum, feet, inner thighs, feet, knees, and rhythm.
Like A Natural Woman - 12 - Stand in Awareness
Putting it to the test - another way of feeling the floor in the real world
Based on “Sitting to stand with different placement of feet” or “The $100 bill lesson” by Alan Questel
This lesson breaks the craft of standing from a chair into tiny steps, each an opportunity to refine your elegance is rising from your seat or exiting your vehicle. All the elements of the series are here: long spine, activated glutes, engaged abs, lifted sternum, connected feet, aligned thighs, shoulders melting into the hips while the ears levitate upward.
Set Up:
Sitting on a flat bottom chair with knees and hips level
Like A Natural Woman - Extra - Great Hip Balancer
Strengthening, Balancing continued
Based on “AY 268 Hip joints by way of lengthening” by Moshe Feldenkrais
Again, we use an elongated leg to weigh down - constrain in Feldenkrais talk - the pelvis in order to explore how to move the pelvis easily. That means using the foot, back, ribs, breath, as support, without gripping. And perhaps narrowing in on how the pelvic floor can support the leg.
This supine lesson also strengthens the abs and the pelvic by using the weight of the leg to amplify the sensation in the abs, ribs, glutes and deep within the hip socket. But you’ll get just as much out of it, differently, if you support the leg in a way that your elongated leg fully connects in the hip socket.
Set Up for supine lesson with leg lifts:
Lying on your back with the support you need. Support for knees might be helpful for some.
If lifting a leg might be difficult for you, set up a foot support - such as a low stool, chair, even a big ball - so you can fully extend your leg and have the foot on the support.
Like A Natural Woman - Extra Extra - Great Hip Balancer/Opener
Strengthening, Balancing continued, with internal leg rotation
Based on “AY 269 Hip joints by way of lengthening” by Moshe Feldenkrais
The first look emphasized the relationships between the tops of the legs and the hip socket. Last week, that developed into noticing the outward rotation of the legs and how the chest opens and public bone drops in that orientation.
This week, it’s the inward leg rotation and its relationship to the spine. In this case, the low back flattens, the public bone rolls in, and the movement waves up the spine to the skull, catching the ribs and shoulder blades if you let them.
Set Up for supine lesson with leg lifts:
Lying on your back with the support you need. Support under knees might be helpful.
For the final variations where the foot slides back, you might want to lie on some extra slide, if that’s easy.