One of my clients told me about a time not too long ago when she was doing yoga at home from a YouTube video. She was stretching and suddenly…. ut-oh…she had a significant urine leak!
She said she couldn’t believe what had just happened and ran to the bathroom to clean up. She was so relieved that she had been working out from home but was baffled as to why this happened, along with being disappointed because she thought it meant she shouldn’t do anymore yoga. And wouldn’t you know, my client thought she had finally found THE type of exercise that she was enjoying in yoga.
This was a first for her and she was totally unprepared. It happened a couple more times before she and I started working together. Knowing she can tell me anything, she asked if I had a solution.
I told my client that maybe if she started doing Kegel exercises every day it would help because it had made a huge difference for me, along with incorporating them into my regular workout and making a few nutritional changes.
I also told her rather than giving up a type of exercise that she enjoyed, it would be best if she worked with a Yoga teacher who could help her with poses and breathing techniques that would focus on strengthening the pelvic floor.
And, since my specialty is food, she and I would focus on the types of food she could add in and those she might crowd out that would help give her the confidence to sneeze, laugh and do yoga without worrying about peeing her pants.
After just a few months she told me how much stronger she felt and that there was a very positive side effect from the changes she had made. She said sex was the best ever!
I guess not all side effects are bad 😊.
Did you know that about 25% to 45% of women suffer from pelvic floor dysfunction and the rates increase with age?
Yet, despite it being a common problem, only 45 percent of women who experience leakage episodes discuss the problem with their providers.
If you’re suffering from urine leaks like my client, it might mean your pelvic floor muscles need to be stronger and you might benefit from a few changes in your food choices.
Anyway, I’ve had several conversations on this subject with clients, which prompted me to add an important episode on strengthening the pelvic floor to my FREE program, Learn How to Reverse Hormonal Weight Gain and Balance your Hormones in Just 5-days which starts Sunday, 9/27. It’s the second episode in the program and I’ll share some nutritional information, then turn the episode over to Anne Hungerford, owner of Ah Yoga here in Connecticut. Anne will talk about:
- How pelvic floor strength starts with the breath.
- Then of course, which yoga poses will help strengthen the pelvic floor and which might make things worse.
- How when we strengthen the body mind connection and become of aware of engaging our pelvic floor muscles during certain poses, the good stuff starts to happen. We show up in everyday life more engaged, stronger and confident.
- How yoga helps us create awareness of what is going on in our body and can help us reconnect with our feminine energy.
- Learning how to soften to strengthen-how to work but not over work the pelvic floor muscles.
- Proper breathing for pelvic floor strength during poses.
I’d like to invite you to register for this free program, even if you have done it before. We’ve got new meals to choose from and I’ll share new information in our daily meetings (by Zoom not in my Facebook group).
You can register here: www.healthymethodswellness.com/balance for free.
If you don’t like it you can quit anytime. You have nothing to lose by learning the basic model that I use to keep my weight where I like it and create a strong healthy body to help guard against becoming a frail old woman.Try it! You will use what I’m teaching for the rest of your life!
Patti