Like a Natural Woman - 1 - Feel Your Floor
Torso by my cousin Suzanne Posner Katz
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®
The pelvic floor has five major functions:
Movement of the body: legs, hips, trunk
Continence
Sexual function
Prevent prolapse of abdominal organs
Support circulation in the legs
“In Eastern traditions, the pelvic floor is known as the root chakra—it’s where we tend to literally “hold” fears, specifically fears around primary instincts such as our health, our family’s safety, and our financial security. It is a “stress container,” in that it’s where we process the emotion and house our fight or flight reactions.”
Pelvic Diaphragm Muscles image source: goop.com
The pelvic floor system is the key to fine tuned athletics, posture, balance, continence, confidence, posture - to name a few connections.
Restoring the pelvic floor system is usually about relaxing. In fact, most of us are too tight in the pelvic floor, which means that we are actually weaker than we want to be. One approach to developing the pelvic floor is to learn to sense and manage tension and lean into relaxation.
The pelvic floor is more than just the ‘trampoline’ muscle lining the bottom of the pelvis. The system includes the lower abs (obilques) and low back, the inner thighs, the glutes, and the diaphragm (the breath.) Learning to coordinate these components and distribute the work of holding the abdominal organs up and in the proper place.
Amanda Olsen also has information about the pelvic wand
Genova Premium Yellowfin Tuna in Olive Oil, Wild Caught, Solid Light, 5 oz. Can. image source: amazon.com
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.
Ever-curious students who have explored the previous series will find this an opportunity to go deeper (bad, bad pun) and and experience more subtle gradations of pelvic floor awareness.
For new students, no better time to start than RIGHT NOW! Your future self is thanking you.
Set Up:
Lying on your back with support for head, knees, back as appropriate
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
How you might feel after this lesson: Tuned into your root chakra/pelvic floor, Connected from pelvis to shoulder blade, with a sense of the analogous structures; New sense of the coordination of breath and pelvic floor contraction and release; Sense of the pelvic floor as a muscle group; Ready to take on the plethora of YouTube Australian fitness instructors teaching kegel repetitions with weights and Yoga asanas.
New Student Registration for the series. Continuing students use ongoing login. $40/month or $15/individual class. PayPal or Venmo: jackisue@aol.com. Or Jacki Katzman, PO Box 116, Bethlehem, NH 03574