PELVIC FLOOR RELEASE
This work is for the pelvic floor of women
The layers of the pelvic floor can hold our deepest contraction. Like any muscle it can tighten from stress, trauma, emotions, abusive childhood, and many more issues. The good news is, it can also be released through a gentle and healing touch, which very few women know about.
Our entire pelvic bowl can develop painful symptoms from over tension in this area that many women live with daily.
These can include:
- Urgency and pain during urination and bowel movements
- Constipation and strain during bowel movement
- Pain during intercourse, dry vagina, painful orgasms
- Unexplained and constant pelvic and lower back pain
- Vulvodynia
- Vaginismus
and the list goes on
Firstly to understand what Pelvic Floor Release is and what it can do we must gain an understanding of the anatomy of the pelvic floor.
There are 3 layers to the Pelvic floor muscles.
The superficial layers wrap around the anus, vagina and urethra and the deeper layer is for organ support. This would explain how over tension can cause the problems in the list above.
When it comes to the deeper pelvic floor bowl, this sling of muscle is designed to hold a lot of weight, such as a baby, placenta and fluids, and can therefore hold an extreme amount of tension.
In a ‘pelvic tone obsessed world’ it is easy to confuse tone with tension. It is recommended to release all tension before focusing on toning all the muscles as ‘toning exercises’ can make the problem worse if there is already hypertonic pelvic floor muscles.
Pelvic Floor Release during Pregnancy
After 33 weeks of pregnancy it is recommended to ‘Prepare the Passage’ a term coined by my beautiful teachers Jenny Blyth and Fiona Hallinan. Both very knowledgable home birth midwives who taught me this very much needed technique.
The pelvic floor tissue is assessed and released through the lightest touch in order to prepare the passage for the baby. The cervix is avoided.
I personally believe many c-sections can be avoided from receiving this work, especially when ‘the baby was not descending’ or ‘getting stuck’.
Even after a c-section it is recommended to receive treatment as the pelvic floor can retain the tension from labouring without vaginally birthing and the emotions that can bring to a woman.
Any and Every Woman
Through this work I have seen that the Pelvic Floor Release work isn’t just for the pregnant woman. In fact every woman needs to examine herself for tone and tension.
Some tips to avoid pelvic floor problems:
– No pushing when urinating
– Avoid straining during bowel movements
– Quit running on hard surfaces, especially during menstruation
What to expect in a session?
After an initial discussion a ‘womb steam’ or bajos is prepared. This is a bowl of cooked herbs where the woman sits over to help relax and purify the layers of the pelvic floor from congestion.
Then we move to the table.
It is here that I need to make it clear that the treatment involves an intravaginal examination. By inserting one finger I move very slowly and gently with the lightest pressure to assess the tissue. Occasionally you might be asked to squeeze and relax, so I can determine the muscle strength and ability to relax.
The environment is very nurturing and caring and as a result sometime emotions can arise. We just move through them together and in your own time.
The session is held in an extremely respectful and sacred space and it is yours to fall apart and come back together.