Power to the pelvic floor

The pelvic floor can impact your whole wellbeing, writes Lauren Roxburgh.

The pelvic floor is a key area of men’s and women’s bodies. Anatomically, it is a hammock of layered muscles that connects the pubic bone, the “sitting” bones at the bottom of the pelvis and the tailbone, as well as supporting the bladder, uterus and bowel.

It is deeply connected to our physical and emotional health. When it is in a healthy state it can result in amazing benefits, such as increased flexibility, decreased lower back pain, better metabolism, a stronger core, improved digestion, and even improved sex drive and stamina.

Women are usually more aware than men of its key functions, as it can be affected by childbirth. But, as we age, having a more resilient pelvic floor is beneficial for men and women as it can impact how we feel physically and emotionally, and how we deal with stress.

In my book, The Power Source: The Hidden Key to Ignite Your Core, Empower Your Body, Release Stress, and Realign Your Life, I introduce “the five power centres”. Much like the energy centres, or chakras, these power centres start at the pelvis (the root chakra), and work their way up through the body to the head (the crown chakra).

These five interconnected parts of the body are the areas where accumulated stress gets “stuck” and where tension builds.

The power centres are the pelvic floor, the deep core, the upper core, the heart and shoulders, and the head. While focusing on all five is important to our body’s wellbeing, the pelvic floor is perhaps the key, for a number of reasons.

First, it is connected to our entire body. As a result, many common ailments, such as lower back pain, pelvic pain, tight jaw, incontinence, discomfort during sex, and even negative emotions such anxiety, stress and fear, can be traced to a tight, weakened and over-clutched pelvic floor.

Building resilience and connecting to the pelvic floor can help reverse these ailments. In fact, I have noticed that focusing on pelvic floor health tends to have a trickle-down effect on many of my clients’ lives.

When someone’s pelvic floor is in a state of tension, their emotional state also tends to be tense. They might be completely stressed out, trying to force or control things too much, be emotionally blocked, or have difficulty turning off the noise in their lives, which can affect their ability to relax.

The reason for this, especially when it comes to stress, is the pelvic floor is connected to the nervous system and, when our bodies are in constant fight or flight mode, we tend to white-knuckle our way through life, which means clenching our pelvic floor in an unhealthy way. Clenching aside, it’s clear strengthening our pelvic floor can have a lasting impact on our physical and emotional wellbeing.

But when we think about strengthening the pelvic floor, Kegel exercises are key flexing the muscles you would use to stop pee midstream. But while Kegels can strengthen the pelvic floor, it’s only one part of the equation. Think about it this way: if you were to flex your bicep and never fully let go, that muscle would become weak and disconnected from exhaustion. The pelvic floor is no different. Instead of focusing only on tightening this key area, think about expanding, stretching and releasing as well.

You can get started today on rehabilitating this area by doing simple exercises such as deep squats, side lunges, and bouncing on a mini trampoline. Search “pelvic floor ” and “Lauren Roxburgh” on YouTube.com for a video demonstration of exercises that will strengthen this area.

Lauren Roxburgh is a wellness educator. She has a degree in nutrition and exercise physiolog y.