PSA 1: The Pelvic Floor
Here’s my PSA (Paula Service Announcement) for today:
I have stored a LOT of EVERYTHING in my pelvis for nearly 68 years.
Whether by design or
assumption;
by inculcation or modeling,
I don’t know.
Or can’t discern.
And does it matter?
I have held onto
tension and tightness
of all kinds—physical, mental, emotional, spiritual—
and, in recent years,
this “holding onto” began manifesting as pain—
in my butt,
my lower back,
my groin (I was convinced it was my hip.)
I’ve learned (and am learning)
that hormones (or rather the diminishment thereof)
play a huge role
in the appearance of pain
in my play of “Aging…with Grace, Joy, and Human-ness.”
When I was a younger woman,
hormones supported the compensatory behaviors that
my body was able to do (We ARE walking miracles of movement and compensation,
we humans!)
Because of hormones,
my body was able to shift and support
and avoid pain.
Now that the hormones are fading/have faded,
the body parts
that had submitted to compensation
are now clamoring for attention.
Because everything is connected,
until the source is addressed,
as in “cared for,”
the other pains can only be temporarily soothed.
The source for me
(and I’m learning, for many women)
is the pelvic floor—
much ignored,
much maligned,
much over-simplified,
much over-generalized to
“Kegels for everyone.”
Not so fast.
When a body-mind-spirit
has been holding in
and holding onto
physical tension,
emotional upset,
ancestral challenges,
the nervous system (which this is all part of)
keeps the body tense and tight
in order to protect this body-mind-spirit.
It doesn’t need “toning”
or strengthening.
What body-mind-spirit
needs
requires
is crying out for…
is ease
and softness.
We have muscles that cannot be stretched
but need to be softened in order to lengthen
and function optimally.
Our nervous system works overtime to keep us safe.
Keeping the pelvic floor muscles tight
protects our energies,
protects our body,
protects US.
We have so many parts that move in synchrony
that the body works to KEEP them in synchrony
even if it takes a-synchrony (compensation) to keep it moving.
When we have so much tension
built up over time,
“toning” is the OPPOSITE
of what we need.
So,
this is my PSA—my Paula Service Announcement:
1. Listen to your body FIRST,
not exclusively but FIRST.
2. When your Personal Trainer is pushing you to work
to tighten, to stretch,
ask YOURSELF, “is this the best idea for ME
right here, right now?”
When your Yoga Teacher is encouraging you to
do mulabandha in your malasana pose (squat pose),
ask your SELF, “How does this FEEL for and in ME?”
And opt out
when it doesn’t feel right to YOU.
3. Seek out a qualified pelvic floor therapist
with the knowledge and experience to help YOU,
not everyone and certainly not using a “tried and true”
series of exercises.
Ayurveda (the ancient approach to health and well-being) has been telling us
for millennia:
We are each unique in this world.
It helps to have help.
But ultimately WE are our best advisor.
WE know our answers,
the answers that feel right for us.
Cultivate your power
and FEEL your body,
and LISTEN TO your body…
NOT as an intellectual exercise
(as me how I know this!)
But as genuine awareness of sensation.
What do you FEEL—physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually
and WHERE do your FEEL it in your body?
Blessings,
Paula.
