Proper breathing plays a crucial role in strengthening the pelvic floor and enhancing the health of internal organs. Yet, many overlook these connections. In this post, we will explore how proper breathing can help strengthen your pelvic floor and gently massage your internal organs.
Let’s explore the profound connection between breath and pelvic floor health.
In Module 5 of the “Free The Belly: Abdominal Scars & Restrictions” course, I demonstrate the importance of diaphragmatic circumference breathing and how to align your body so that circumference breathing occurs reflexively. Watch this video, which shows the considerable movement of the internal organs with a full breath. That’s 30,000 massages to the viscera every day, just from proper breathing! This visceral slide helps the organs function properly and reduces the chances of abdominal adhesions forming. It’s also my favorite pelvic floor tip!
Here’s another cool video that shows how full inhalations elastically load the pelvic floor vs shallow upper chest breathing. This is a good thing! As you breathe in, the pelvic floor elastically loads. As you exhale, the pelvic floor and the uterus lift slightly due to the attractive force of the diaphragm. It’s like a built-in sump pump aiding in the fluid dynamics of the pelvis. A tight short pelvic floor is not a strong pelvic floor! To strengthen the pelvic floor, it must be responsive, not static.
Somehow, we got it into our heads that the pelvic floor muscles only work and are strongest when they are concentrically contracting, so people tend to hold too much tension in the pelvic floor. Eccentric contraction offers strength and stability while lengthening.
An eccentric contraction is the motion of an active muscle while it is lengthening under load.
A concentric contraction is a type of muscle activation that causes tension in muscles as they shorten.
The respiratory diaphragm and the pelvic floor work together to provide stability, strength, visceral mobility, and optimal fluid dynamics. How we breathe matters!
In addition to abdominal massage, I also teach pelvic floor exercises and the use of breath to maintain proper function of the organs and pelvic floor in my online abdominal courses.
Author's Bio
Barbara Horsley has more than 26 years of experience as a licensed massage therapist. She specializes in abdominal massage and Visceral Manipulation™ and is an NCBTMB-approved educator. In addition to being certified in abdominal massage, she also studied biomechanics and restorative exercise. She is also a Certified Women’s Herbal Educator and a graduate of the IWHI Perimenopause & Menopause Certificate Program.