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There are so many reasons to love yoga.
But so many women hear the word “yoga” and picture having to twist into a pretzel or stretch their leg above their ear. And for other women, Yoga can exacerbate pelvic issues like leaking, pain, and pelvic organ prolapse.
I’m here to tell you that for most people, that’s not what yoga’s about at all.
Yoga is a gentle and relaxing muscle-building exercise regimen.
But it’s also more than that.
So in much the same way yoga can help tone your back or arm muscles, it can help your pelvic floor muscles. This is great news, because keeping these muscles strong and supple is one of the best ways to prevent and heal prolapse, end leaking, and put an end to pelvic pain.
Focusing on the breath is a huge part of effective yoga practice, and proper breathing engages the pelvic floor. Furthermore, many yoga poses are pelvic-centric if they are performed in the correct way.
Many yoga exercises if done correctly center around keeping your core strong and they provide a well-rounded approach to strength training that doesn’t simply focus on contracting your muscles.
Yoga helps to elongate and soften the pelvic floor, in addition to tightening, as we do with Kegel exercises. It’s a wonderful compliment to any pelvic floor self-care — especially if you spend a lot of time sitting or suffer from pelvic pain, leaking or pressure.
Preliminary studies have actually suggested that yoga is a safe and feasible way to improve urinary incontinence in women. (2,3) The emphasis here is on safe and feasible — because many of the incontinence remedies that are suggested to women are neither. Looking at you, pessaries, vaginal mesh, surgery, painkillers, and injections…
And more than just pelvic health, yoga has also shown to be effective at lowering heart rate, blood pressure, and anxiety. (4,5) It’s also been studied as a way to reduce inflammation and improve sleep quality. (6-10)
Yoga is without a doubt, one of the best ways to exercise your entire body, including your pelvic floor. And it’s a great mental workout, too.
But it’s not something you can learn to do on your own. You really need to have someone teach you the right techniques and proper form. Plus, many traditional yoga poses can overwork the pelvic floor muscles, and cause more harm than good.
You see, the pelvic floor muscles need to be stretched, strengthened, and stabilized. And while many yoga moves are ideal for this process, some can serve to work against your goals.
Any of the belly lock poses, boat poses, and even some plank poses can damage your pelvic floor if it’s already compromised.
Additionally, yoga poses that aim at prolonged holding and gripping of the legs, gluteal, and core muscles can damage our lady parts or, worse, throw us into a flare. The truth is that there’s a trend for hard yoga, and it’s hurting women more than helping, so we need to be careful with the type of yoga we decide to do, especially if we suffer from leaking, pelvic organ prolapse, or pelvic pain.
Because of this, I’ve created a yoga program specifically for the pelvic floor that not only strengthens the body but also balances and strengthens our lady parts. It is called PRESS yoga, and it’s already helped hundreds of women who want to have happier and stronger lady parts. It’s also ultra-safe for women who have back pain as well.
There’s a little-known truth about traditional yoga: women are encouraged to grip their pelvic floor muscles with the Mula Bandha.
This over-gripping in Yoga weakens women’s pelvic floor muscles and putting them at risk for pain, pressure, leaking, and weak orgasms. I’ve personally come out of a Yoga class in a flare, and so have many of my patients. This is the reason that I created my PRESS yoga program, which is pelvic-floor-safe.
The truth is that all women desire to have strong pelvic floors, but before women can strengthen their pelvic floor muscles, they must relax and keep them flexible. This is where my PRESS yoga comes into play. We live in a culture where we grip our abdominals, vaginas, and butt muscles. This tendency to over-grip keeps women weak in their pelvis because the muscles are over tensed and weak. The truth is that women need a more balance yoga program that is designed for women and is pelvic floor safe but there are very few yoga programs that are specifically engineered for a women’s body. The constant gripping and holding that happens in most yoga classes is actually a major cause of too much tension in the vaginal muscles causing weakness and pain.
The Child’s and Mountain Pose are my go-to yoga exercises for all women who want to balance and have strong pelvic floor muscles and they are experts from my PRESS yoga program.
WHAT TO DO:
What to Do:
Many local yoga studios aren’t familiar with pelvic floor therapy, and that’s why many women with pelvic issues cannot participate fully in a class even though they want to.
Which is exactly why I created my P.R.E.S.S. Yoga program.
This program incorporates every drop of knowledge I’ve gained in my 20 years as a pelvic healer. Every single pose that I included in the PRESS yoga program was chosen by looking at the pelvic floor muscles with biofeedback. Basically, I wanted to know what was happening with women’s pelvic floor’s so an internal sensor was inserted into the pelvic floor and then we could see exactly which poses were good or bad for women’s pelvic floor.
I formulated each and every move with your pelvic floor in mind. Each pose is modified to reduce stress on the pelvic floor muscles and lower back. Every pose benefits women’s pelvic health and the mind-body connection. Plus, there is no forward being in PRESS yoga, a big plus for women who suffer from pelvic floor dysfunction, back pain, and pelvic organ prolapse.
It’s completely adaptable to your specific skill level and can be completed either sitting or standing.
And it incorporates all of the things that make yoga so beneficial for the entire body — including proper breathing techniques and mindfulness.
What’s more, this series of exercises can be performed in a small space, and you don’t need any fancy or expensive equipment to start reaping the benefits.
Plus, it costs less than a fast food dinner for the family and is way more affordable than a membership at your yoga studio.
If you’ve been suffering from pelvic floor dysfunction of any sort, and you haven’t given yoga a proper try, now is the time.
Learn more about the P.R.E.S.S. Yoga program and how it can change your life here.
Isa Herrera, MSPT, CSCS is a New York City-based holistic women's pelvic floor specialist, author of 5 books on pelvic health, including the international best seller Female Pelvic Alchemy, and the ground-breaking self-help book, Ending Female Pain, A Woman's Manual. She has dedicated her career to advancing awareness of pelvic floor conditions so that more people can find relief from this silent epidemic that affects over 30 million people in the US alone. Ms. Herrera holds a BA in Psychology and Biology from Fordham University and also a Masters in Physical Therapy from Hunter College.
