Yesterday, I taught a pop-up class on the pelvic floor and the core in yoga. Because this area of the body is so complex, we focused on two takeaways:
1) Breathing
2) Reducing and recognizing intra-abdominal pressure

With helpful cues and specific movements, we practiced connecting with the core and pelvic floor in yoga in a way that may help reduce symptoms, heal, empower and make practice enjoyable.

I didn't have time to include one of my favourite pelvic floor meditations, so I thought I would share it today. Most of us can conjure up an image of a jellyfish and how they move, but did you know this graceful marvel could help us understand the connection between our breath and our pelvic floor?

Let's try it.

1. Sit comfortably on a soft prop, like a blanket, fit ball, or cushion, on which you can sense tactile feedback against the base of your pelvis. Feel your body in contact with the prop. Sit up tall with a neutral spine to ensure ease of breathing.
2. Close your eyes. As you inhale, picture a jellyfish expanding and floating gently down. Your rib cage expands three-dimensionally, your respiratory diaphragm moves down, your belly gently expands, and your pelvic floor moves down, just like the jellyfish.
3. As you exhale, visualize the jellyfish gently propelling, retracting upward like the pelvic floor. The belly deflates, the diaphragm moves upward, and the rib cage returns to neutral as the breath leaves the body.
4. Repeat this visualization with your breath several times. As you inhale, the jellyfish flattens and descends; as you exhale, the jellyfish propels upward into a dome-like shape. Use this visualization to picture the same movement in your pelvic floor as you breathe.

Photo by Jeffrey Hamilton on Unsplash