Breath and Balance: Mindful Practices for a Healthy Pelvic Floor in Yoga
Contents:
- Posture, balance and your pelvic floor
- Improving body alignment and pelvic health with Yoga
- Conscious breathing to enhance your practice
- Getting Started
- FAQs
Posture, balance and your pelvic Floor
Posture and balance go hand in hand and yet many of us don’t often think of it in that way. When I explain to my clients the deeper concept of how it all comes together, I have found that using the concept of a game like Jenga useful to explain the core fundamentals of how everything clicks into place.
Like the game of Jenga, stability is achieved when each block is precisely aligned over the one underneath it, creating a sturdy and upright structure. This analogy can mirror the human body's requirement for alignment to maintain physical equilibrium and strength. The pelvic floor especially benefits from such alignment. If our skeletal structure is not properly aligned from the top of our head to the base of our spine, we can experience unnecessary downward pressure on our pelvic floor.
Improving body alignment and pelvic health with Yoga
Over the years Yoga has become an excellent tool to help improve body alignment and there are many yoga poses that focus on doing this. The poses that help “open-up” the body such as the hips and shoulders are brilliant to enhance body alignment. This opening is crucial as it allows for a more effective 'stacking' of the skeletal system. When the hips and shoulders are without restriction, the spine naturally aligns more easily, promoting better posture and taking away the strain on the pelvic floor. Doing a yoga practice a few times a week with these types of poses not only improves flexibility and strength but also results in better overall body alignment and therefore the health of the pelvic floor.
When it comes to focusing on body alignment and incorporating these opening techniques, I like to incorporate two key poses in my classes Child's pose and Happy baby poses. These two poses are great for the pelvic floor as they help to stretch and relax the pelvic area, providing relief and promoting elasticity in the pelvic floor muscles. If you have a hypertonic pelvic floor, where the muscles are overly tight, then integrating these poses into one's yoga practice are especially useful.
Conscious breathing to enhance your practice
To enhance your yoga practice, it is important to also slow down your mind by consciously focusing on your breath. Regulating your breathing enables a more mindful approach to yoga and movement as you become more aware and in tune with your body’s needs and reactions. Deep, mindful breathing also injects oxygen into your body and calms the mind.
Using specific Yoga poses with mindful breathing can offer a diverse range of benefits for the pelvic floor that will promote alignment, flexibility, and help your nervous system regulate. By incorporating these types of yoga poses and breathwork into a regular routine, perhaps 2 to 3 times a week, you can significantly nurture your pelvic floor health and overall wellbeing.
Getting started with Hypopressives
For the Hypopressives classes it is important that you learn the Breathing/Apnea technique properly so that you can get the most out of the classes and the time you invest in yourself. Each week Simone runs Fundamentals sessions on Zoom where she explains the technique and guides you through all the steps.
She will also give you feedback to make sure that you're doing it correctly. For some, the technique may come more quickly than others. Some of her clients, who are tighter in the ribs and thoracic spine do tend to take a little longer. And here's the golden rule - for impactful change, Simone recommends at least three 15 to 20-minute workouts per week. Consistency is your best friend on this journey towards wellness.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How does Hypopressives differ from more traditional core training and Pilates?
Pilates is an excellent technique for bringing stability back to a destabilised postpartum body, but a lot of the traditional Pilates exercises, specifically curl ups (used often in mat-work repertoire) can be detrimental if pelvic floor dysfunction and diastasis recti are present. Unfortunately, at the 6-week postnatal checkup these issues are not properly assessed, and many women may not even realise they themselves are affected by these concerns.
There is a general acceptance of pelvic floor dysfunction with mothers often accepting that they may leak when running, sneezing or coughing. Also, the term “mum-tum” leads many women to unwillingly accept their new relationship with their bodies. LPF is a completely safe way of working a postnatal body and many of the women I work with have managed to reverse prolapse and drastically improve a diastasis.
What was your personal experience of Hypopressives after having children yourself?
I did the LPF training before having my second child and started practising postpartum after my second child. The difference in my recovery after my first labour where I only did Pilates was markedly different to when I practised LPF with my second. Within a few weeks my core was stronger than it had been before being pregnant with my second, and my pelvic floor was as strong as it was pre-kids!! If I hadn't seen the change with my own eyes or felt it in my body, I wouldn’t have believed it. It literally felt like the more I practised the more internal strength I developed. This was something I hadn’t felt since I was a professional dancer. I also loved that the technique doesn’t require hours of training. Only 10-20 minutes, three times a week will get visible results.
How many weeks postpartum can I begin?
It is recommended at least 6-8 weeks after a vaginal delivery and 12 weeks after a c-section.
How often should I practise weekly to see results?
You will start to see results by practising 2-3 weekly sessions of 10-20 minutes. It is safe to practise daily once your body has adjusted to the practice which will take around 2-4 weeks.
How re-centre works
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Progress to more advanced levels at your own pace
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What our members say
The best post-partum class, it really helped with my recovery. Simone is a great teacher, so knowledgeable and kind. I recommend her classes to all my friends who had a baby. Thank you Simone!
Anna
1/11
I’ve only been doing Simone’s classes for a short time but have noticed huge improvements in my core strength and posture. Great value and high quality recordings combined with live classes make it really easy to fit into your life. Highly recommended.
Clare
2/11
I cannot say enough good things about Simone’s classes - they have been really transformative for me. Her explanation of what are often unusual and specific techniques is so good that you never feel lost, and she has a wonderful way of connecting with the class on a really human level, as well as being a real expert in her field. Her classes are challenging, mindful, and have helped amazingly with my pelvic floor issues - I started seeing results after only 4 weeks of classes! Highly recommend.
Millay
3/11
Simone's classes are amazing. She combines her skills in pilates, yoga and hypopressives to provide a very holistic practice. I've seen a great improvement in my postnatal body thanks to her classes. I would recommend her to any woman who has had a baby.
Jazmin
4/11
I love Simone’s Low Pressure Fitness classes, they have helped with my prolapse symptoms and are something I turn to daily if I’m having a hard day. Simone is a great communicator and teacher, she explains everything very clearly and I have no trouble participating in the class even over zoom.
Jerry
5/11
Simone and re-centre were a saviour for me over lockdown. A great chance to just be in my body and switch on to what I was feeling. As a pelvic health physio I can highly recommend Simone and her method as a great form of rehab for many postnatal conditions.
Maternity Physio
6/11
I got to know about Low Pressure Fitness through Simone, in a workshop that I'm so lucky I attended. It was about 2 months after giving birth and I felt really weak, thinking that I could never get back to my strength before the pregnancy. Simone's help completely changed my perspective and with her brilliant classes slowly I got back my confidence and strength. I was worried that these exercises will be tricky with online classes, but she has been great in giving clear instructions and adjusting poses for everyone based on their needs. I don't know how she does it but she even gives individual feedback and helps you correct your pose in a group online class. Thanks Simone!
Sarah
7/11
Simone's classes and on-demand videos are excellent. She's such a good teacher, always learning new things herself to expand her teaching horizons. Would most definitely recommend to anyone with a postpartum body regardless how long it's been since you gave birth.
Ana
8/11
Simone is a great teacher, I highly recommend her work. Her online platform is well curated and excellent value and she gracefully manages to teach & give individual attention in her live Zoom classes.
Clio
9/11
I attend re-centre classes with Simone weekly and have noticed a huge improvement in my core strength and tone. Simone has a thoughtful and inclusive approach to her classes, they vary which means I stay focused and the relaxation time at the end is much needed in the life of a busy mum!
Alice
10/11
Simone is a brilliant teacher, she takes the time to check in with her students and work through exercises to fit individual injuries. She’s also really knowledgeable and supportive for post natal bodies. Doing hypopressors are a total life changer and I love the way this is incorporated into Pilates and stretching.
Beela
11/11
Learn the technique and get started
Hypopressives is an effective technique toward relieving symptoms related to Pelvic Organ Prolapse, Diastasis Recti and Urinary Incontinence. Hypopressives also improves poor posture, pelvic floor weakness and back pain. I offer a flexible approach to memberships and a 14-day free trial.
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About the Author
Simone Muller is the founder of re-centre and has over 22 years of teaching experience across Pilates, Low Pressure Fitness and Yoga.
She launched the online platform to make Low Pressure Fitness and Hypopressives more accessible to more women around the world so that they can become the strongest and most functional versions of themselves.
As the first level 3 instructor in London, she has witnessed transformative postnatal rehabilitation results in clients, addressing issues like Diastasis Recti, prolapse and incontinence.
Simone has written articles for the re-centre blog 'Kegels not Working?', 'The connection between menstruation and prolapse symptoms' and 'Why I love teaching postnatal rehabilitation?'.
Simone has also written guest posts for The Shala 'What is Low Pressure Fitness', Yana Active 'Prioritising your Pelvic Floor Health After Giving Birth and Nurturing the Core' and for The Pelvic Academy 'Empowering Women's Health - The Power of Collaboration Between Hypopressives, Physiotherapists and Osteopaths'.
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