There’s a very simple practice that I teach to all my yoga students about how to promote lifelong function and tone in their pelvic floor during and after their pregnancy. And if you read my earlier post you probably know that it’s not Kegels!

It’s actually how to find balanced alignment between the abdominal diaphragm and the pelvic floor so these two internal domes can mirror one another and become responsive in their movement to one another.

I mentioned it in the earlier post but contrary to what it seems every picture on the internet shows, the pelvic floor does not drop downwards in the pelvis, it actually domes up! The images we see are pictures of the pelvic floor after death, but in a living body the pelvic floor domes up into the pelvis. If we then look at the top of the abdominal “soda can” we see the same upwards dome mirrored in the abdominal diaphragm. I even made a Reel about this relationship!

What this means is these two muscle domes can influence one another. When they are balanced one above the other and we take a breath in, the abdominal diaphragm moves down, pulling air into the lungs and also pressing the abdominal organs down towards the pelvis. The pelvic floor in response descends slightly, receiving the weight and supporting it as it moves. On the exhale the process reverses, and the abdominal diaphragm moves upwards creating a subtle vacuum effect which pulls the abdominal organs and pelvic floor up along with it. Think of a jellyfish swimming. It spreads out at the beginning, but then domes up strongly to swim upwards. For our pelvic floor it is a similar movement. This is reflexive, and not something which requires conscious engagement. We shouldn’t have to squeeze our kegel muscle every time we sneeze.

So why then doesn’t it always work smoothly (and why did our grandmothers and many postpartum women feel they needed Depends or that it was inevitable they would pee their pants?) Well, truth be told we could use better overall coordination between the muscles surrounding our pelvic floor (ie glutes, hip flexors, TA, and so on), and the first place that comes into play is in our modern posture.

If we are sitting in a slouched position (think bucket car seat), or thrusting our ribcage forward (think aggressive walking), we don’t maintain the mirror relationship between the two domes, and the result is they don’t influence one another as they are intended to. Constantly tucking the tail? Then the pelvic dome is rocked backwards, and the abdominal dome doesn’t push down on the same spot. Think of the jellyfish only spreading one side of its dome and then trying to swim straight up. It would wind up going sideways. On the flip side, if the ribcage is thrust forward, then that dome is out of alignment, and now it presses into a different part of the pelvic floor and abdominal wall on an inhalation. Again, unbalanced movement, and ineffective function.

And we haven’t even touched on the possibility that the muscles around each of these diaphragms can have their own imbalance of tension. As one example, the psoas muscle connects both to the abdominal diaphragm (the tendons run alongside one another) and then drapes across the pelvis inserting below the pelvic floor. Tension in this muscle group means the diaphragm is restricted in how deep a breath it can take, AND the ribcage may be thrust forward just from the tension along the spine. Both inhibiting the dance between the diaphragm and the pelvic floor.

So how do we want to be aligned? If we are talking sitting posture, the pelvic floor wants to rest perpendicular to the line of gravity, which means the weight should rest on the front of the sitting bones with the pubis slightly dropped. That’s the pelvis. For the abdominal diaphragm if we think of the ribcage as a large bell, we want the bell to be resting in the middle, not swinging forward or back. For most people this means lifting the chest, but simultaneously dropping the front ribs, so the whole bell floats upwards.

Truth be told, Sitting isn’t often the easiest position to find the balance between the 2 diaphragms. There are too many postural patterns in play to easily feel a neutral balance. For students truly looking to discover reflexive and functional movement in the pelvic floor, I often recommend beginning in constructive rest.

Constructive rest is one of those postures which looks like it isn’t doing anything. But as a good yoga friend of mine once said, in order to see clearly, we first have to undo what we thought was the right way. For constructive rest, begin by lying on your back with the knees bent and the feet resting on the floor. If your back ribs pop up in this position you may want to put a folded blanket under your head. But also note that your lower back should be light on the floor. The spine is meant to curve, and if your lumbar is pressing into the floor you are tucking your pelvis. Turn the toes slightly inward so the knees can rest against one another.

From this position, here’s the hard part. Just rest. ;) Focus on allowing the upper-inner thighs to release, right where the legs meet the pubic bone. This is the insertion point of the psoas, and this posture begins to unwind chronically held tension along this deep front muscle line. Now from releasing the inner thighs (and really that was just a letting go- you didn’t actually do anything), focus on your breathing, and invite the breath to move lower in your body. Put your attention on the space between the sitting bones and see if you can imagine the jelly fish deep inside, spreading on the inhale, and then swimming towards your head on the exhale. Again, this isn’t an active movement. It’s actually quite subtle, but subtle doesn’t mean insignificant.

For those who can’t lie on their back- I’m looking at my 3rd trimester pregnant people here- try feeling the movement in a seated position, making sure your knees are slightly below the level of your hips. It can also be helpful to put yourself against a wall, so you can feel if the back floating ribs are pushing forward or releasing back. Again, the goal with this exercise isn’t to squeeze the kegel muscles. It’s to simply feel their natural movement, and link up the reflexive actions built into our physiology. Then we might be able to make subtle adjustments in our everyday posture that help bring about better coordinated function, and start us down the road to lifelong pelvic floor function.

Key takeaways:

The pelvic floor is a dome that is mirrored by the dome of the abdominal diaphragm. These two diaphragms affect one another when they are in good alignment.

Strength in the pelvic floor requires the ability to release as well as to contract. Kegels often only focus on contracting, so these are not always the best way to gain lifelong pelvic floor function.

Breathing in an aligned position can help the domes move so they influence one another and promote better overall function.

Once the diaphragms are moving in harmony together, we can begin addressing the surrounding muscle tension and imbalance which shifted them out of alignment and begin finding overall better body balance and strength for life.