Know Your Body 🌿

A hammock of muscles, ligaments, and connective tissue stretching from your pubic bone to your tailbone. It supports your bladder, uterus, and bowel, controls continence, plays a major role in sexual function, and stabilizes your core.

• Bladder & bowel control
• Core stability and back support
• Sexual sensation and comfort
• Pregnancy support and postpartum recovery
• Reduces risk of prolapse (organs shifting downward)

• Leaking with cough, sneeze, jump, or laugh
• Urgency or frequent urination
• Heaviness or pressure in the vagina
• Pain with sex or tampon insertion
• Lower back, hip, or tailbone pain
• Constipation or straining
• Postpartum recovery (every birthing person benefits)

1. Find the right muscles: Imagine stopping the flow of urine midstream or stopping yourself from passing gas. That lift is your pelvic floor. (Don't actually do this while peeing, it's just for locating.)
2. Get comfortable: Start lying down to remove gravity. Once comfortable, you can do them sitting or standing.
3. Squeeze and lift for 3–5 seconds. Imagine drawing the muscles up and in, not bearing down.
4. Fully relax for 5–10 seconds. The relax is just as important as the squeeze.
5. Repeat 10 times, 2–3 sets per day.
6. Don't hold your breath, clench your butt, or tighten your thighs. Just the pelvic floor.
7. Build to longer holds (10 seconds) and add quick "flutter" reps (1-second squeeze-release).

Important: If you have pelvic pain, leaking, or symptoms of a tight (hypertonic) pelvic floor, kegels can make things worse. Relaxation work and pelvic floor PT are the right starting point.

• Gentle kegels support the growing uterus and prepare for birth
• Practice relaxing the pelvic floor (the "reverse kegel"), crucial for pushing
• Diaphragmatic breathing: inhale and let the pelvic floor expand; exhale and gently lift
• Avoid breath-holding strain, protect the pelvic floor from heavy downward pressure

• Start with breath work in the first week, no formal kegels until cleared
• Begin gentle kegels around 1–2 weeks postpartum if comfortable
• See a pelvic floor PT at 6–8 weeks postpartum (standard of care in many countries, advocate for it)
• Avoid heavy lifting, running, and high-impact exercise until cleared
• Treat diastasis recti and scar tissue (C-section or perineal) with guided rehab

• Glute bridges, co-activates glutes and pelvic floor
• Squats with breath, inhale down (relax), exhale up (lift)
• Bird dog, core and pelvic stability
• Happy baby and child's pose, release a tight pelvic floor
• Deep breathing, 5–10 minutes a day, hands on belly and ribs

• Any leaking (urine, stool, gas), even small amounts
• Pain with sex, tampons, or exams
• Pelvic pressure, heaviness, or visible bulge
• Persistent pelvic, low back, or hip pain
• Postpartum recovery, every postpartum body benefits
• Pre- and post-gynecological surgery
• Painful periods or endometriosis