Holding Tension?
Your tension-holding patterns may be causing your pain.
Have you ever heard, “You carry your tension in your shoulders?”
Yeah… well, the same thing can happen in the pelvic floor… and it happens more than you might think!
You may be holding pelvic floor tension if you…
Never feel like your bladder is fully empty
Penetration hurts
Have lower back pain in a thong distribution
Get constipated often
Have persistent “zaps” of pain after surgery
So what’s the fix?
Finding awareness: Can you even feel your pelvic floor? What’s causing the tension? (trauma, stress + emotions contribute!)
Fixing bad habits: Are you straining? Doing exercises wrong? Having a posture issue?
Breathing + stretching to expand the pelvic floor: The pelvic floor expands when you breathe in
Strengthening weak points to break the tension patterns once and for all: Usually some combination of hip, core + pelvic floor exercises
If you have to choose one thing to start with, make it daily box breathing (any video on YouTube works!).
And I mean daily, as in every single day ;)
Questions? My inbox is always open.
PS: If you want the nerdy side of things... Our bodies hold tension where we have lots of nerves. Our richest nerve beds are in the neck and pelvis!
This is why people hold tension in places like their jaw, neck, shoulders, low back, and pelvic floor.
It’s also why healing is about SO MUCH more than JUST your pelvic floor… you need to consider the nervous system in your healing. This means full body movement but also being able to relax, film a calm state, and break tension-holding habits.