Breathing and Our Pelvic Floor: A Beautiful Partnership

One thing that really drives me mad is when I read stuff online about our pelvic health that just isn’t true. What angers me the most (sorry for ranting) is that social media and Dr Google have such a significant influence over people’s lives nowadays that by incorrect information being allowed to float around cyberspace, we are scaremongering and tearing hope away from people.

Every single woman, has the ability to recover in some way. I find myself constantly reminding those in my community that even if they can’t recover in full – because our bodies can experience a lot of trauma – most of us will, at a minimum, see a considerable improvement in our symptoms with the proper guidance and a lot of determination. I put determination at the top of my reasons for being symptom-free 99% of the time…and that’s after three children and significant pelvic health concerns.

In this blog, I will discuss something that I talk about a lot in my community; in fact, it has been a massive focus of my attention for some time now. And that is the vital connection between our breathing and our pelvic floor.

Did you know that one had so much influence over the other? Most people I speak to are shocked. Because Dr Internet (yep, I’ve got a chip on my shoulder about the internet as an unmonitored reference source) tells us that we just need to do pelvic floor exercises. Now, don’t misunderstand what I am saying; Kegels are an effective form of remedial action for prolapse and incontinence – and I am an advocate for them if done the correct way, and when combined with the appropriate relaxation techniques…no one wants to add a hypertonic pelvic floor to their list of concerns. But there is much more to building a functioning pelvic floor than Kegels alone. Recovery from prolapse and incontinence takes a whole-body approach. I could list a million things that we should all be doing every day to manifest a dream vagina, but I would be here all day; instead, I wanted to focus on one key thing that can have a massive impact on our symptoms: our breathing.

I want to start with some hard-hitting facts. Did you know that…

Fact 1: If you are suffering from stress and tension, you need to get out of fight and flight mode and into rest and digest mode. Easier said than done, right? This means moving from the Sympathetic Neural Circuit into The Parasympathetic Neural Circuit. If you are confused, then everything will become clear. Just bear with me!

Fact 2: If you are stressed like a huge percent of us in modern-day life, it is also likely that you are shallow chest breathing at a faster rate than you should be, meaning that your diaphragm is likely weak and restricted…not something that any of us want.

Fact 3: As you all probably know by now, as I constantly harp on about it, the diaphragm and the pelvic floor are closely linked and must work in synergy to create a healthy pelvic floor. As we inhale, the pelvic floor should expand, and as we exhale, our pelvic floor should contract. It sounds pretty simple and something that you would presume would happen naturally, but sadly, over time, our lifestyles can create a ‘new norm’ which is not a healthy one. In fact, we often don’t even notice the change until someone points it out.

The combination of these three small things means one big thing: you need to work on your breathing to help your pelvic floor.

Have a go now…

Start by closing your eyes; place one hand on your belly and one on your chest. Where can you feel the breath? In your chest or your belly? The mind is the control centre for the whole body. All our feelings, emotions, and symptoms have to go through our control centre to be processed before we can interpret them. For example, consider urine urgency. It might feel like your bladder is controlling your life, but actually, it's your mind controlling your bladder. Releasing too early or at an embarrassing moment can often be due to misinterpreted signals your brain has received. Once we understand this, it opens us up to a new world of possibilities.

Our mind is also often to blame for conditions that present as a tight pelvic floor. Stress and tension in the mind get transmitted to the muscles in our body, commonly our neck and shoulders, and for many of the ladies in my community, their pelvic floor muscles, too. The mind is responsible for triggering different neural pathways in our systems, and more often than not, we are activating our fight and flight pathway rather than our rest and digest pathway, leading to far too much tension and stress on our pelvic floor.

It's all about baby steps…

So, how can we control our minds? How can we switch our system from fight and flight to rest and digest using our breath alone? It might seem like a daunting task and a journey without any end, but I refuse to allow any of you to have that defeatist attitude! You can, and you will make the changes that are needed to achieve a happier and healthier life. If you find you are a shallow chest breather, you may struggle to extend your exhalation. It is common, so please don’t panic. Let’s work together to change things; I am here to help. Try these three basic tips to see if they help increase the length of time you can exhale. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain:

1. Hum - for some reason, humming helps you control the rate of exhalation better, supporting you in building stronger diaphragm control. Although you might want to wait until you are alone… (The vibration of the hum actually effects your vagus nerve at the back of your neck, helping to calm it )

2. Blow through a straw - this little magic trick provides some resistance to the airways, creating a longer out breath. Try for a couple of days, and then see if you can do it without the straw. You will hopefully be pleasantly surprised.

3. Try taking a prolonged inhalation, then a short sharp inhalation, before releasing on a long exhalation. Taking two inhales and one long exhale reduces CO2 levels, slows your heart rate, and leaves you feeling calmer, less tense, and more focused. It’s a win-win situation, really.

The more time we can keep our bodies out of fight and flight and in rest and digest mode, the healthier we will be. And with health comes happiness. Surely, that’s a goal that we all want to achieve. If you would like to learn more, then head over to our fantastic community, where I harp on about this quite a lot…because I am so passionate about making a difference. I changed my life, which means you can too!

Join us over at The Pelvic Power Movement Community. Facebook Group

or check out our free breathing resources at Esther.Health Free-resources