Exercise for prolapse

Strength training is ABSOLUTELY the way forward for anyone with prolapse.

We are told to fear movement and avoid it, but as someone that has CONQUERED prolapse and helped hundreds of other women do the same, I can tell you with absolute certainty, you need to strength train to beat this.

The question is HOW?

There are three requirements to using strength training to heal prolapse.

You MUST:

1. Harness the power of the breath-your breath is your core stability system and if you don't use it properly, your weak core will result in your pushing DOWN on your pelvic organs and OUT on your Diastasis recti.
   
   

2. Make room in the thorax. Without sufficient room in the thorax for expansion in movement and breath, we are left shoving too much pressure into the pelvic cavity, worsening existing prolapse. To get the LIFT you need, you have to make SPACE in the compartment above your pelvis, i.e. your thorax.
   
   

3. Stop trying to shed fat and instead learn how to build your body.
   Chasing the same old exercise methods and mindsets is part of what got you into this mess. If you want to overcome prolapse, then you have to ditch the diet and weightless mentalities and focus on BUILDING a stronger, better functioning body.
   Yes, that can and will involve leaning out, but in a holistic and health-promoting way. The binging, over-doing it approach to exercise results in women increasing their prolapse symptoms and sitting on the bench. The sitting out on the bench waiting for a miracle or surgery to fix everything doesn’t work either. If you want the confident and competent body of someone that is in shape, then you’ll have to try a new way that honors BETTER movement patterns, MUSCLE growth, REST and RECOVERY.

Using squats

to beat prolapse is just ONE way we strengthen the pelvic floor, quads and glutes!

If you’re ready to try a NEW thing, then it’s time for you to join Hold Up™ and conquer your prolapse!

In this program you will learn how to:

1. Exercise with and to combat prolapse for physique changes and feeling amazing in your body

2. Recover and restore after training

3. Change your mindset around your body, injury and exercise

4. Detox your liver for balanced hormones-this plays a role in your prolapse!

5. Improve your gut health-essential for better pelvic tissue, routine pooping and reduced pressure in the abdomen and pelvis
   
   And SO MUCH MORE!

Use the code SQUATS for 15% off when you sign up TODAY!
Monthly payment options available.

Heal your prolapse

Exercise, education and the essentials for overcoming prolapse!

This course is closed for enrollment

You've been misled about prolapse. It's not a pelvic floor problem.

It’s not a pelvic floor problem.

Strengthening your pelvic floor, doing all the kegels and even having surgery isn’t going to fix your prolapse.

Why?
Because there are THREE root causes of prolapse

Three causes that will NOT be corrected by surgery.

And the important thing about these three causes is that addressing them will not only allow you to conquer prolapse, BUT will help you to address the other health issues you have as well.

I have helped thousands of women over-come their pelvic floor problems and I can tell you with certainty, I have never worked with a woman that has prolapse doesn’t ALSO have one or more of the following conditions:

Adrenal fatigue

Anxiety

Bloating and cramping after meals

Constipation

Chronic back, sacral, hip or pelvic pain

Diastasis recti

Digestives distress

Difficulty sleeping
Food intolerances

Frequent yeast or urinary tract infections

Hemorrhoids
Hormonal imbalances
Mouth breathing

Neck and shoulder tension

Poor posture

Routine injury
Short fuse

Sagging middle “mummy tummy”-my clients’ term not mine
Thyroid problems

Are these issues related to prolapse?
ABSOLUTELY.

And the beauty of it is that WHEN you address your prolapse in a holistic manner that targets the root causes behind the sinking of your organs, you will not ONLY conquer your prolapse, but you will make your body and mind stronger, healthier and more resilient than it has ever been before!

I’m here to tell you about the THREE root causes behind your prolapse or as I like to call them, the “Three M’s”.

Master the three M’s and NOT only will you conquer your prolapse, but you’ll be stronger, more balanced, vibrant and resilient too!

If you want to learn the THREE ROOT CAUSES of prolapse, take my FREE webinar now!

Is your prolapse a depletion problem?

We all know that prolapse is associated with “weak” pelvic floors.
Most of you here have tried all the kegels.
Many of you have tried *breathing.
Some of you may have even worked on your **biomechanics/movement patterns in daily life and exercise.

If you HAVEN’T tried the ** strategies above those are HUGE rocks for overcoming prolapse, so file that away, we will come back to that!

But NOT many people know that prolapse is in fact a depletion issues.

When our bodies are lacking in energy, nourishment, emotional support and healing, they sink.

Yep they 100% do.

In fact, the Chinese, who have been treating prolapse since the Jin dynasty (266 AD to 420 AD) so I think they know a thing or two about it, focus PRIMARILY on treating spleen chi depletion in the body when prolapse symptoms arise.

They believe that a lifting of the energy lifts the organs and treats the underlying cause of the sinking of which we feel the musckoskeletal consequences.



And while that may sound a little “woowoo” to you, think about it.
Do your prolapse symptoms increase when you feel down, depressed, anxious, heavy from the world, slouch and sad?

I know mine does!

And so let’s talk a little bit more about the indicators that YOUR prolapse is an energy issue and NOT just a muscular one, i.e. you are struggling with depletion!


#1. You don’t sleep well.
If you’re sleeping less than 8 hours a night OR you sleep 8-9 hours a night but its disrupted, then that sleep deprivation could be contributing to your sinking feelings in your pelvic organs.
When we are well rested we are better able to detox appropriately, digest foods, repair tissues, recover from workouts etc., but we also carry our bodies differently.
We have a lifted spirit and a lifted body!

#2. You feel like you’re going to crash late afternoon OR after a workout.

Feeling SUPER low energy in the afternoon especially after a workout is an indicator that your adrenals are struggling.
Your adrenal glands are located at your kidneys and when they are not happy it can be an indicator of poor kidney health, maybe not the kind that sends you to the doctor with urinary issues, but the kind that causes an increase in prolapse problems, including incontinence.
MANY of us type A ladies grow accustomed to using adrenaline to get things done in our lives.
You know that urge to start a new project, solve someone else’s problems, do a hard workout, add more stress to our lives because when we are busy we are more productive?
Yeah, that’s bad for your prolapse-and can also cause over-tightening of the pelvic floor which is not uncommon in women with prolapse!

Spleen chi deficiency and kidney chi deficiency are two forms of energy depletion arising in the body that will absolutely manifest in prolapse issues.

We push, push, push on our bodies and even though many of us have heard about “adrenal fatigue” we don’t really

#3 You have skin and food intolerance issues.

Yes, this is linked to gut health, but if you’ve read my articles here then you know that gut health and pelvic health are 100% linked, like if you struggle with one, you most likely struggle with the other.

But in this case I would say that your liver is the kingpin for issues.
A congested liver makes it difficult for the body to remove toxins and expired hormones.
The result?

Bad skin. Bad gut. Bad hormones. Bad feelings.

Spleen chi is directly impacted by the liver as well so if your liver in working overtime either because your 1. disrupted sleep interrupts your detox cycles, 2. your stress prevents adequate digestions which creates toxicity in the body OR 3. because your life style leads to intestinal permeability (over-exercising, consuming toxins, under-resting), your prolapse is a depletion issue.

#4 You have a short fuse.

Maybe not all of the time, but if often you find yourself snapping at your kids or hubs, losing it when a glass get’s broken or just feeling so much stress and tension in your body when something goes wrong, that can be a sign you’re emotionally and energetically deplete!

You may feel that perhaps your frustrations with your body are causing you to be ill at ease and that if you could just get your body back, you would be calmer and feel more like yourself, but the truth is that a spleen that is struggling, a liver that is congested and a body that is deplete may actually be the source of your issues!

#5 Your hormones are erratic

I don’t care if it’s strong mood swings, sadness, the need to sleep, painful periods, irregular periods, STRONG emotional responses to things at certain times in your cycle, or just other common indicators of hormone imbalances, your hormones acting wacky is a sign of depletion!

When our livers are congested, they become stagnant and negatively impact the health of the spleen, gut and gall bladder.
The energy imbalance that ensues can cause tight jaws, muscle aches, headaches, sciatica and so many other issues, but the important thing to know is that hormonal imbalances almost ALWAYS indicate a liver health issue and a liver health issues means energy in the body is blocked.

Without that energy flow we sink and our organs sink with us.

What to do about it?

One of my FAVORITE aspects about God’s design for the human body is that there are MANY ways to heal, many roads in to the root cause of pain, discomfort and sub-optimal functioning.

If you’ve made it this far in the article and you’ve said, “Yes, this is me,” to any or all of these indicators, then you need SMART programming.
You need more than just kegels and core-training exercises, you need to learn how to STOP sinking!

I have an entire program designed do help women address this issue called, Hold Up!
Hold Up! is a digital course that will help you change the 5 habits behind your prolapse, address the depletion we talked about in this article and teach you how to USE EXERCISE to heal your body and CONQUER PROLAPSE.

***But before you’re ready for that program, I want you to try two things for me!

1. I want you to start practicing breathing with your diaphragm three times per day for 5-10 breaths minimum!

If you don’t know how to do that, please take my FREE digital course.
I will teach you how to breathe in the most effective way possible to start supporting and lifting your body.


What students are saying about my course:
”I feel like I’ve gotten more oxygen in these past 36 hours than I have in my whole life!” -Archi

”Makes so much sense. I have suffered from burning in the bladder for so many years. Tried so many diets, nothing has worked. Using the breath and focusing on relaxing my pelvic floor is the first time anything has worked to relieve the pain and make me regular in the mornings. Thank you Sarah, I’m so glad I have found you.” -Julie

”Single most powerful things I have done in my life!
Thanks to you and 2020 for calming my nervous system.” -Sam

It works and it will get you some early wins to help LIFT your body and support your liver, gut, hormones and nervous system to help you feel less like you’re drowning.

2. I also want you to take Epsom salt baths 3x a week to help detox the body and calm your nervous system.
BONUS points if you practice your breath IN the bath tub!

STAY tuned for Hold Up! coming soon!

In the meantime, tune into Dirty Strength Radio™ for more support, love and free coaching!

I was afraid and paranoid because I was ignorant

When I look back now to my prolapse diagnosis and weird pelvic floor sensations I had after baby #3, I can see now that IGNORANCE was my biggest problem. 

I was afraid of my body and what it would do, because I was ignorant, ill-informed...in the dark...clueless. 


Everything was, 
"Is this gonna make it worse?"
or
"Am I just going to feel this way forever?"
"Do I have to just avoid putting any pressure on my pelvic floor permanently now?"
"Is it too risky to hold my baby?"
"Am I doomed to gain lots of weight and lose my fitness forever?"
"What happens next??!!" 



I thought like this because I didn't know better. 
I didn't have the information I needed to understand WHAT had happened to my body, WHY it had happened and HOW I could move past it. 


The courage I needed to live life again came from EDUCATION that empowered me and got me MOVING AGAIN.

Education helped demystify what the heck was going on with my body and why it wasn't wholly a bad thing, but a SIGN that I needed to change my habits.

Empowerment came from that education and understanding of how my female physiology functioned and how to accept/nurture it to live my life agin!

Movement helped me see that my body still was capable and competent, that I wasn't broken, that pressure in the vagina and organs falling out of my body didn't have to be my new normal....I had options and strategies. 


But I can at any moment quickly transport myself BACK to that place of fear when I forget all that I've learned about the pelvic floor, all that I know now about what it does, how to support and strengthen it, how to honor my body. 



When I was ignorant, I feared worsening prolapse, I feared surgery, I feared people finding out I had prolapse (I have to laugh at that one since now thousands of people know about it now.)

When I was ignorant, I didn't even understand really where my pelvic organs were, or how posture to poop, lift or vacuum was impacting my symptoms.....or how my Type A personality and rubbish breathing habits had been causing me trouble LONG before babies even came into the picture. 

When I was ignorant, I was afraid of all the unknowns because there were OH SO MANY!


Education is the key to moving forward.
It casts out the fear, because it removes ignorance. 

Once you're engaged in your body and get what it's doing, you can work WITH it.
You can trust yourself to move and even EXERCISE again. 
You can make INFORMED decisions about future pregnancies, physique goals, lifestyle and habits, interventions when necessary.


Kick ignorance to the curb and come and learn ALL ABOUT your pelvic floor, core and female physiology!!!

Your postpartum body and all the new sensations do NOT have to be scary.
In fact, they won't be, once you understand them and have the tools to deal with them. 


Conquering your fear and your actual pelvic floor issues starts with getting WOKE about your health.
Ignorance is the enemy.
Wisdom through education is the way forward!

Enroll in Hold Up! and use the code BODYLOVE for a discount today!

Exercise and education

Conquer your prolapse!

Learn more

Detoxing your liver to support your pelvic floor

It’s NOT uncommon for the women I work with to in addition to having pelvic organ prolapse or pelvic floor dysfunction, to ALSO struggle with poor gut health.

It’s SUPER important to address gut health if you want to experience pelvic healing, BUT you can’t TRULY heal the gut and restore health to your vital organs if you don’t ALSO address your liver.

Your liver’s job is to produce bile. Bile helps your enzymes break down fats so you can extra energy from them and prevent them from clogging the digestion process.
Livers also filter your blood and removes toxins (ahem, booze) and old expired hormones.
It also stores pieces of protein (amino acids) can synthesize fats, break down cholesterol and store sugar for energy to be used when necessary.

It’s a WONDER of an organ.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine , “stagnation of the flow of liver qi frequently disrupts emotional flow, producing feelings of frustration or anger. Conversely, these same emotions can lead to a dysfunction in the liver, resulting in an endless loop of cause and effect.” (link)

And did you know that the LIVER is a PRIMARY organ involved in your menstrual cycle?

When your liver isn’t functioning properly, emotional problems, rib pain or fullness, dizziness, headache, cramping, tendon problems, menstrual problems, jaundice, weak or blurry vision, and digestive disorders can ensue.

**Attn: pelvic floor peeps,

The liver stores blood when you’re resting and releases its to your tendons when you’re active.
When liver blood becomes limited due to congestion and stagnation in the liver, one can experience “tightness” in the tendons of the pelvic floor and throughout the body, neck, shoulders, etc.
So you can see why it’s worth devoting some attention, right?!!

Your liver is directly connected to your gut via the portal vein.

If we are suffering from gut dysbiosis, inflammation and toxin overload or toxic microorganism build up in the gut, that vein can directly transport these issues to the liver via that vein.

For example, lipid polysaccharides (toxin released in large numbers by bacteria in the gut) are one of the major culprits and that causes liver damage and inflammation in the body.

Poor liver health results in:

• hormonal imbalance

• gut health and digestion struggles

• nutrient deficiency

• muscle tightness and restricted blood flow

• low energy

• and more!

If you want to learn more about why gut health, nutrient deficiency and hormones impact the pelvic floor, then head here and here.

So what to do?

There are TONS of supplements and “cleanse diets” on the market to help “flush out” your liver and help you lose weight and I would caution you to be super discerning when they come across your path.

Many people rightfully find some of these approaches ridiculous.
After all, the liver detoxes, you don’t need to “detox” the liver.
Right??
Well, yes and no.

As I mentioned above, livers in bodies that have been struggling for a while DO in fact benefit from some support.

Individuals with adrenal fatigue, hormone imbalances, chronic gut health struggles or all three, DO in fact benefit from some liver support, when applied gently.


So today I’m sharing my THREE favorite ways for you to support your liver!


But first, who should consider trying these strategies?

1. Individuals with prolapse and pelvic floor dysfunction

2. Peeps with a history of under-eating

3. Folks with current or a history of gut health issues

4. Anyone struggling with exhaustion, depletion and lack of vitality

5. Those that take or have taken a lot of prescription medications or routinely drink alcohol

Dandelion Root Tea

I’ve talked here before about the benefits of bitters for your liver and digestion ( read here!)

Sipping on dandelion root tea throughout your day is a gentle way to detoxify your liver because it gently stimulates your liver to produce bile to help remove toxins from the body and get digestion moving again.

I’ll warn you, it kind of tastes like dirt, but then again, so does coffee.

You can purchase bags of dandelion root tea, loose tea versions OR you can simply find dandelion in your yard and make your own which is the MOST effective form of any herbal tea, IF you’re up for the challenge!

Additionally, Dandelion root is used for the treatment of muscle aches, loss of appetite, upset stomach, intestinal gas, gallstones, joint pain, eczema and bruises. It also increases urine production and serves as a laxative to increase bowel movements.

Some people use dandelion to treat infections, especially viral infections and even cancer. It’s also used as a skin toner, blood tonic and digestive tonic. (Dr. Axe)

Milk Thistle

Milk thistle is a member of the daisy family and probably my FAVORITE liver supplement. I take milk thistle nightly in the form of a pill.

It’s incredibly mild so unless you decide to start taking 3 pills a day or more, you’re not going to experience much of anything, but may start to notice some changes in liver-function related symptoms of the body.

Sleep for example improved for me when I started taking milk thistle.
Wakefulness at night, particularly waking around 3 or 4 am is often related to your liver detoxing.

Milk thistle is SO pretty and such a cool looking plant, that I’ve decided to cultivate it in my garden in order to make my own extract. But a simple over the counter supplement made by a trustworthy supplier is certainly adequate for getting started on your liver support journey!
**discuss all supplements with your healthcare provider, I am not prescribing it or diagnosing conditions. This is purely educational information.

Liver

Interestingly enough, one of the BEST things you can do for your liver is to consume LIVER.
Yeah, I’m not really a fan of the smell, taste or consistency of it, but organ meats have LONG been contributing to the health of humans on this planet and I do think it’s a shame that many of us have lost our palate for them.

Fortunately there are FREEZE-dried pill options that don’t taste or smell at all!!
And that’s more my jam.

But IF you like liver, then I would say start there.

Fried chicken livers are quite popular as is beef.
Just be sure to choose organic and or pasture fed versions.
There’s no sense in you eating the liver from an animal that is chock full of antibiotics, pesticides and herbicide from their GMO feed.

Movement and breathing

Can movement help your liver?

100%!

Your lymphatic system is part of your circulatory system but unlike the the circulatory system if doesn't have a pump like the heart, it’s pump is YOU, you’re movement and your breath!!!

It’s job is to remove toxins from the blood and help them exit the body.

The lymphatic system of the liver is not super well understood, EXCEPT that we know lack of movement and stagnation is BAD for liver function.

When you take my Breath Like A Bad Ass, It’s Bettter Than Kegels, course OR Connect Your Core and Pelvic Floor ™ you will learn how your BREATH and movement practice creates a PUMP effect that moves and massages your vital organs in your abdominal cavity, liver included!

When we stop moving and breathing fully with the diaphragm, then the lymphatic system is stalled and can become stuck, contributing to congestion of the liver.
So if you want to keep your liver healthy and functional to improve sleep, pelvic health, digestion and detoxification, you BEST move your butt AND your diaphragm!

Learn to breathe, strength train AND care for your liver all in one digital course!

Check out HOLD UP!

Conquer prolapse by getting to the root cause of your problems in one simple, self-paced digital course!

Learn more

Sarah Smith is a Functional Pelvic and Gut Health Educator Level, Strength Coach, Original Strength Pro, Level 2 Russian Kettlebell Instructor and postnatal fitness specialist and functional pelvic floor and with a Masters in Soil Science and Agriculture.

She helps women feel confident, capable, content and STRONG in their bodies. As someone with pelvic organ prolapse, Sarah understands the mental and physical challenges of over-coming this condition speaks frankly about the most progressive strategies for moving forward and finding your strength IN SPITE of prolapse and pelvic floor problems!

Sarah is a published author and has a decade experience conducting research at The National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, University of Arizona and North Carolina State University.

She uses evidence-based strategies to help her clients grow strong, and conquer their pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic organ prolapse, diastasis recti and gut health complications and other injuries or health conditions. 

Sarah is a mom to three wild boys and one English Bulldog.
She loves kettlebells, leisure walks, chickens, soil, coffee, not folding laundry and watching people move-in a non-creepy way.

Women need different programming than men

women have different training needs than men do!

On a basic level we have different sized Type 1 and 2 muscle fibers than men do, making us better adapted at using fat for fuel than men.

We recover faster within a workout from all-out effort training than men do.

We can do lots of low rep, high weight strength training and while we will add on some bulk in the form of muscle, we MOSTLY increase the power and efficiency of our muscles.


We lose weight more slowly than men and hold on to more fat (it's how we fuel physical exercise) than they do.

Women need longer recovery periods between training than men do, because we use stored glycogen more slowly than men do.

We perform differently over the course of a month when we menstruate.

Post-menopause we lose our ability too metabolize fructose.


But I think the MOST important truth about fitness training for women is that biologically, exercise and physical ability ISN'T the body's priority.
Keeping us fertile and ready to make babies is.

And it doesn't matter if you aren't planning on becoming pregnant.
It doesn't even matter if you are past menopause.

There are biological implications to the fact that we are equipped to grow, birth and feed babies and THAT my friends means LOTS of different things for our fitness practices, but the one common theme that I have learned from studying hormones, pelvic floors, gut health and the nervous system is that all female bodies need to feel something in order to perform well and that something is

SAFETY.


If you want to ask your body to do things for you, you FIRST have to communicate to it that a it is safe.

When it doesn't feel safe, then it tells your body-"HEY, shut down the reproductive hormonal pathways and brace for stress."

The problem is that women of child-bearing age NEED all of these pathways like ovulation and menstruation to be in working order in order to respond well to exercise and training.
They are a non-negotiable, regardless of our reproductive plans and priorities.

Safety=performance
We need the body to feel safe, challenged, sure, but SAFE!

How do we do that?

Well I'll tell you how we DON'T do it.

We don't starve it.
We don't beat on it.
We don't let it sit around sedentary creating mechanical stress.
We don't fill it with alcohol and other toxins that it struggles to process.
We don't let it grow accustomed to sitting and then march it to the gym and tell it to perform like a movement-accustomed athlete.
We don't hate it.


There are LOTS of programs out there that unfortunately encourage women to do a number of these things, but mine are NOT amongst them.

In fact I see that the KEYS to helping the body feel safe in fitness and exercise are the following:

1. Calm the nervous system with effective diaphragmatic breathing BEFORE and after exercise and as often as possible.

2. Learn how the body functions well enough so that you can recognize red flags an respond to them appropriately and respectfully.

3. Value QUALITY of movement over quantity all of the time.

4. Rest and recover adequately

5. Build balanced strength and muscle


These are attributes can actions that I'd like to see you value and prioritize as well as you embark on fitness journeys today, next week, next year!

These and many other female-specific themes so happen to also shape my programming and my coaching style.



Today all the sales on my programs are ending.
So grab them NOW to get to work in a manner that repeats your unique and powerFULL female physiology!

Want to strength train?

Kettlebells For Cool Kids™ is my kettlebell instruction course that teaches you everything you need to know about training with kettlebells in a manner that honors PROPER technique, your core and pelvic floor needs (hello! women are different and we need to talk about this.Vaginas, births and hormones are game changers) and respects your BUSY schedule.

You don't need to know ANYTHING about kettlebells to do this course, but you do have to have a CAN-DO attitude and a willingness to work on skill-based training that makes you feel bad-ass.

You get 3 workouts per week ALL of which are designed to teach you the skill of training with KB's.

Oh and DON'T forget all the 90's themed PLAYLISTS!!!!

**Kettlebells For Cool Kids is for women that have been CLEARED by their pelvic floor PT for exercise and understand how to manage pressure, have neutral alignment and can lift weight without symptoms.
If that is NOT you yet, then grab Connect™ FIRST and learn how to strength train with that program.

This program is ALSO majorly on sale right now through Monday (12/2) at midnight.
Learn more here

Want to strength train, but FIRST attend to your core and pelvic floor needs?



Connect Your Core & Pelvic Floor™ is for the woman that has core and pelvic floor problems. Weakness or over-recruitment, we are addressing them BOTH.
Prolapse or leaking.
Movement is NOT off the table for you.
You just need to spend some time learning and understanding what it happening with your body now so you can work WITH it and confidently train it to be strong and powerful again OR for the first time.

You get instruction and education on re-building core and pelvic floor strength AS WELL was a movement and strength training program to get you started with your return to movement.

Learn more about Connect™ here. Enrollment AND major sale pricing go away Monday (12/2) at midnight.
Use the code HOLIDAYHEALTH
Connect Your Core and Pelvic Floor™


Not ready to grab my course but you’re hungry for MORE?

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 About Sarah…

Sarah Smith is a Functional Pelvic and Gut Health Educator Level, Strength Coach, Original Strength Pro, Level 2 Russian Kettlebell Instructor and postnatal fitness specialist and functional pelvic floor and with a Masters in Soil Science and Agriculture.

She helps women feel confident, capable, content and STRONG in their bodies!

Sarah is a published author and has a decade experience conducting research at The National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, University of Arizona and North Carolina State University.

She uses evidence-based strategies to help her clients grow strong, and conquer their pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic organ prolapse, diastasis recti and gut health complications and other injuries or health conditions. 

Sarah is a mom to three wild boys and one English Bulldog.
She loves kettlebells, leisure walks, chickens, soil, coffee, not folding laundry and watching people move-in a non-creepy way.

Did you know these were solvable symptoms of an over-recruited pelvic floor?

Have you ever wondered why intercourse often feels burny or painful?

Or why you struggle to keep a tampon in or why it’s painful to insert?

What about spasms in your pelvis?
Painful feelings in and around the vagina?

Tailbone pain?

Constipation?

ALL of these symptoms can present together or alone and can be indicators of an “over-recruited” pelvic floor.

What does that mean?

Your pelvic floor muscles in organic pink. The magenta signify from top to bottom, your rectum, uterus and urethra attached to your bladder) Image used with permission from Pelvic Guru.

Well, basically it means that the muscles of your pelvic floor are working too hard, too often or in an imbalanced manner.
This can be due to breathing habits, nervous system stress, inflammation in the body, movement mechanics, and other stressors.

In a sense, your pelvic floor is lifted, tight, tense and it needs to relax.

In fact, your pelvic floor needs to relax and recruit, move UP and DOWN like a trampoline, all day long everyday.

That’s called “moving through its full range of motion”.

When it can’t relax, insertion of anything (tampon, etc.) will be painful.

There is also a persistent tugging on the tailbone/sacrum that can start as pain during sitting and then radiate all the way down the lef.

Elimination is also difficult. The pelvic floor needs to relax in order for stool to exit the rectum.
Without that routine relaxation that makes regularity happen, stool hangs around, becomes dry and more difficult to excrete.

I know. I know. You’ve been told that a “tight” vagina is a good thing, “strong” pelvic floors are better for sex and for not peeing your pants.

But the truth is that supple, responsive, pelvic floors that move their their full ranges of motion (recruit AND relax) are what you want for good sex, strong bodies and insurance against incontinence.

Why it’s time to take action!

Let’s be real here.
If you are dealing with ANY of the above listed symptoms, your quality of life isn’t what it could be.


I’ve worked with MANY women that shy away from becoming intimate with their spouses because they just can’t seem to enjoy sex.
They often blame themselves or on occasion, their partner’s inability to make sex enjoyable.
But either way they are avoiding sex because let’s face it, it stinks.
Which puts that aspect of the relationship in an awkward place.
I mean enjoyable sex and sustainable intimate relationships HAVE to be based on a “give and take” system.
White knuckling it and tolerating sex just to get through it even though it’s really uncomfortable and not enjoyable is just one giant problematic elephant in the room.


I also have clients that find sex can be incredibly painful and uncomfortable due to constipation.
Gas, bloating, and discomfort that is associated with constipation or sluggish elimination causes us to lose confidence in our bodies and not wish to be touched in any way.

But EVEN if you can push all that suffering aside, the truth of the matter is that your ENTIRE body relies on a healthy pelvic floor.
The pelvic floor is the BASE of your torso.
It stabilizes that body all day long every day and impacts the health of everything from your neck to your ankles.
Think of your house or apartment.
If you found out that the foundation was over-stressed and incapable of it’s job of supporting everything above, would you feel confident and safe?
Would you continue to invest in the house by say remodeling your kitchen, when you knew at any time you could have MAJOR support and balance problems?

The longer pelvic floor problems persist the more likely it is that you will begin to experience problems up and downstream from them.
Shoulder injuries, foot pain, ankle and knee issues can ALL stem from a torso that’s struggling to move and stabilize well, which stems from a pelvic floor that ain’t going its job.

What to do if this is you?

Step 1. See a pelvic floor physical therapist.
This is a type of PT that specializes in muscles of the pelvic floor.
She will evaluate your hip and glute strength, check your posture to help you understand some possible reasons why your pelvic floor is working overtime.
She can also manually release those tight muscles to give you instant relief.
You can search for one local to you here.

No access to a PT?
Check out this program!

Step 2. Watch this video to learn more about why you may be over-recruiting your pelvic floor!

Step 3. Take action and begin to change your breathing and movement mechanics.
The BEST way to start down-training and relaxing your pelvic floor is with your BREATH!

Breathing deeply with the diaphragm will:

• calm your nervous system

• begin to relax your pelvic floor while moving it through its full range of motion

• increase your core strength so your pelvic floor isn’t doing all the work..
  
  I know that breathing seems soooo simple and you may thing that it’s not enough action to make big change and impact your pain/
  But you’ve GOT to TRY IT!:

  
  Set an alert on your phone and spend 3-5 minutes practicing your diaphragmatic breathing 3 times a day and take note of your symptoms.
  For you focusing on the INHALE/ RELAX part of the breathing cycle will be ESPECIALLY important.
  
  
  Don’t know how to breath with the diaphragm?
  Click here! To Grab my Breathing For Pelvic Health Jump Start Guide to start TODAY!!!

 About Sarah…

Sarah Smith is a Functional Pelvic and Gut Health Educator Level, Strength Coach, Original Strength Pro, Level 2 Russian Kettlebell Instructor and postnatal fitness specialist and functional pelvic floor and with a Masters in Soil Science and Agriculture.

She helps women feel confident, capable, content and STRONG in their bodies!

Sarah is a published author and has a decade experience conducting research at The National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, University of Arizona and North Carolina State University.

She uses evidence-based strategies to help her clients grow strong, and conquer their pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic organ prolapse, diastasis recti and gut health complications and other injuries or health conditions. 

Sarah is a mom to three wild boys and one English Bulldog.
She loves kettlebells, leisure walks, chickens, soil, coffee, not folding laundry and watching people move-in a non-creepy way.

"Free in Three", a three day formula to change your body and your mindset around exercise

There are seasons in our lives when it seems IMPOSSIBLE to make exercise happen!
Funny enough, those BURSTING at the seams periods of our lives are often when we need the stress release and health benefits of movement MOST!

What if taking care of our bodies with movement doesn’t have to be all or nothing?
What if we don't need to hit the gym 2-5 days a week to get results and feel good?
What IF we could have a simple three day formula for movement that we could adapt to our weeks as needed.

Here’s how it works:

All we have to do is find THREE days a week that match up with the formula, a day for walking, a day for resets (gentle movement) and a day for strength training.
And on GOOD weeks, maybe we repeat the formula to get 6 days of movement.
Other weeks, maybe we don’t even get in the full three day formula, but the important thing is that we have OPTIONS to help us check that movement box, remain consistent and become persistent without the crush stress of “conventional” exercise programming OR the guilt, for that matter.

Have I piqued your interest yet?
Check out the formula below!

DAY 1 Leisure Walk

For many people, Day 1 is Monday.
If you always struggle to “get back on track” on Mondays, switch things up.
Make Sunday your Day 1.
On Day 1 we walk for a minimum of 30 minutes, but you main goal is to walk as long as possible! Grab a friend, pet or family member and MAKE IT HAPPEN.
Even if climate is a factor, get creative about making this happen.

This is NOT about steps.
This is NOT about burning calorie. It’s about:

• calming your nervous system with contralateral movement (walking)

• balancing hormones - leisure walks positively influence blood sugar, cravings and digestive (gut) health

Day 2 Build Strength

So now you have some movement momentum (or movementum, as I like to call it!)
Today we are challenging our bodies with some SUPER simple, yet challenging strength training.

Complete 4 rounds (should take about 20-30 minutes, rest as needed!) of the following:

• 15-20 bodyweight squats-you can also do them weighted

• 10 get-ups, this means you lay down on the floor and try to get up to standing with minimal assistance from your hands - notice if you favor one side and try working BOTH sides

• 6-8 pushups OR plank for as long as you can **see my video on pushups!

• 60 seconds of blanket shakes (rest as needed) ** see video

• 60 seconds marching in place or skipping (REALLY SWING THOSE ARMS!)

Day 3 Press Reset

One of my FAVORITE movement habits that I have cultivated is #pressingreset with Original Strength!

Movement that changes your body is SO MUCH more than exercise! In fact most of us regular people that are not professional athletes or competitors do not have the time or resources to support exercising hard every single day.

Pressing reset is a simple concept and doesn’t have to take a lot of time (set aside 10 minutes, but work longer if you feel good!)
There are three major rules to it:

• Breath with the diaphragm

• The eyes move the head, the head moves the body

• Work across the midline (the imaginary line that runs down the body splitting it into right and left)
  
  
  

There are LITERALLY countless ways to press reset, but I’m sharing some of my favorite below.
There is no require number of reps, just do the movement for as long as feels good, then move to the next! Try to make it through 3 rounds of this suggested circuit, but feel free to play with the movement and make adjustments!

• Head nods (video)

• Rocks (video)

• Bird dogs (video)

• Crosscrawls (video)

Sound too simple?
It totally is simple, but that doesn’t mean that it will be easy and it doesn’t mean that it won’t get you results!

Complete this three day movement protocol TWICE a week for a total of 6 days of movement and watch what happens to your mindset and your body!

This is the same approach that I use with my clients to get them MORE consistent, STRONGER, BALANCED and more CONFIDENT in their bodies than EVER!

These movements are NOT complicated, but that doesn’t meant that these circuits aren’t challenging.
And the RESULTS?
They come from CONSISTENCY.
So you GOTTA , you just GOTTA made this a PRACTICE.

The good news is that these approaches to movement will help you to find enjoyment and peace in cultivating a routine movement practice and that is everything.
That is where all the results are!

**If you want a DOWNLOADABLE PDF version of Free in Three as well as an additional more advanced Strength Circuit, tips on how to REV up this protocol for more results and HOW to measure your success, click here!



Sarah Smith is a Functional Gut and Pelvic Health Educator and she’s on a mission to help women conquer their pelvic health struggles and build STRENGTH and SKILLS! 

Sarah is a strength coach, RKC2 Kettlebell Instructor, Original Strength Pro Instructor, certified personal trainer, postnatal fitness specialist and pelvic floor and gut health advocate with a Masters in Soil and Agricultural Science. Sarah works online and in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

She loves her boys, soil (good thing because her life is full of it), her bulldog, Bella, coffee and not folding laundry.

If you want MORE information about YOUR pelvic floor and why you shouldn’t settle for incontinence, tailbone pain, discomfort and pain in intercourse, constipation, pelvic pressure and the feeling of organs in your vaginal canal DOWNLOAD THIS FREE GUIDE! 

Did you know that your tongue habits effect your pelvic floor?

The hypoglossal neurons that innverate the tongue are coordinated with the phrenic neurons that control the diaphragm. 

The hypoglossal neurons that innverate the tongue are coordinated with the phrenic neurons that control the diaphragm. 

What the heck does that mean?

It means your tongue, it’s position and activity throughout the day has the power to automatically or deliberately activate the diaphragm, signaling it to lower so you can breath better!

Struggling with to breath with the diaphragm, place your tongue on the roof of your mouth behind your teeth!
Then it can better tell the diaphragm, “Hey dude, contract so you can suck air into the lungs.”

Using our diaphragm to breath all day long ALSO tells the pelvic floor to move up and down through IT’S full range of motion.

What happens when we don’t breathing with the diaphragm?
Shallow breathing up into the neck and shoulders tells the nervous system to RAMP UP, making muscles twitchy leading to more pain and tense, stiff muscles, increased symptoms too!

This ALSO causes neck and shoulder pain and tightness.

SO if you have pelvic floor problems, and if you don’t, one of the BEST things you can start doing is practicing keeping your tongue the roof of your mouth throughout your day to become a more effective nasal/diaphragmatic breather.

By facilitating better breathing through the nose and with the diaphragm you help your pelvic floor move through it’s full range of motion so that it remains supple and responsive to better support your organs (ahem, prolapse peeps) and reduce tension and pressure in the pelvis (ahem, over-recruiters/Type A peeps).

It also calms the nervous system, which positively impacts digestion, mood, strength and symptoms, more on that later!

#themoreyouknow

Learn more! Click here.

Sarah Smith is a Functional Gut and Pelvic Health Educator and she’s on a mission to help women conquer their pelvic health struggles and build STRENGTH and SKILLS!
Sarah is a strength coach, RKC2 Kettlebell Instructor, Original Strength Pro Instructor, certified personal trainer, postnatal fitness specialist and pelvic floor and gut health advocate with a Masters in Soil and Agricultural Science. Sarah works online and in Raleigh, North Carolina.
She loves her boys, soil (good thing because her life is full of it), her bulldog, Bella, coffee and not folding laundry.

If you want MORE information about YOUR pelvic floor and why you shouldn’t settle for incontinence, tailbone pain, discomfort and pain in intercourse, constipation, pelvic pressure and the feeling of organs in your vaginal canal DOWNLOAD THIS FREE GUIDE!

No access to pelvic floor PT? Here's what you can do!

What can you do if you don’t have access to a pelvic floor physical therapist (PFPT)?

I talk with women all over the world that suspect that they have pelvic floor and core problems, but have no access to a pelvic floor physical therapist.

I’m a HUGE proponent of everyone seeing a PFPT even if it means taking a road trip.
WHY?
Over-recruited and under-recruited pelvic floors can cause similar symptoms, but are different problems that to a certain extent require different rehabilitation programming, so it’s REALLY helpful to work with a PT because they can examine you, check your muscle recruitment and help you understand exactly where your pelvic floor and core are today.

BUT, sometimes that just isn’t in the cards.

So if we don’t have access to PT OR we only have limited access, does that mean we can’t do anything?

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Whether you are in pelvic floor physical therapy or NOT here are some things that we ALL need to be working on

Breathing.

Get that tongue on your roof of your mouth and breath with your dang diaphragm.

Loosen your waistband and whip off that sports bra if need be to get a FULL BREATH!
Your core and pelvic floor will NEVER be as strong and powerful as they could be if you don’t learn how to RELAX those muscles and MOVE your diaphragm through it’s full range of motion.

Relaxed muscles can recruit better.

Body mechanics.

HOW you hold and move your body impacts the neurological signaling and muscle recruitment that happens AUTOMATICALLY in the body.
Basically, you are training your body how you want it to move and respond to movement all day long every day.
Just sitting holding your phone in your dominant arm with your back rounded and your head hanging throughout the day is like doing 100, maybe 1000 reps of that movement.

Whether you know it or not you are telling your body, MOVE LIKE THIS.

There are body mechanics and alignment habits that are MORE conducive to optimal recruitment of your deep core and pelvic floor muscles.
There are positions that help your incredibly important stabilizing muscle, the DIAPHRAGM move and communicate BEST with your abdominal and pelvic floor muscles.

And the best part?
We can work on these things ALL DAY LONG EVERYDAY!

How to get started?
Grab my “Connected and Fit” core and pelvic floor freebie here.

Sarah Smith is a Functional Pelvic and Gut Health Educator Level, Strength Coach, Original Strength Pro, Level 2 Russian Kettlebell Instructor and postnatal fitness specialist and functional pelvic floor and with a Masters in Soil Science and Agriculture.

She helps women feel confident, capable, content and STRONG in their bodies!

Sarah is a published author and has a decade experience conducting research at The National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, University of Arizona and North Carolina State University.

She uses evidence-based strategies to help her clients grow strong, and conquer their pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic organ prolapse, diastasis recti and gut health complications and other injuries or health conditions. 

Sarah is a mom to three wild boys and one English Bulldog.
She loves kettlebells, leisure walks, chickens, soil, coffee, not folding laundry and watching people move-in a non-creepy way.

Three Damaging Pelvic Floor Rehab Myths

With increased awareness around pelvic floor problems, we are seeing more and more information on social media and even in the mainstream media about solutions to pelvic organ prolapse, incontinence and other dysfunctions of the pelvis.

For the most part this is a GREAT thing!
The more commonly discussed the topic, the more likely it is that women will feel less shame and embarrassment around the topic, but also that they will find SOLUTIONS!

But, as is often the case, drifting amongst lots of helpful and positive information is some misleading concepts and myths that will work AGAINST YOU as you try to rehab your pelvic floor.

Let’s check out some of the most popular ones in circulation!

Myth #1 Focus On The Floor!

I LOVE me some pelvic floor talk, but I have concerns. In insisting that the pelvic floor be considered, we have to be mindful of the message we are communicating.

We can’t ignore or forget it’s part of the whole, because...

IT’S PART OF THE WHOLE.

And we have to treat it as such.

•

In my personal experience and my experience working with clients I have observed that truly “strong” pelvic floors are the ones that work well and know their place.

They do their job, and ONLY their job.

They are surrounded and supported by strength.

They know how to relax.

They know when to work and how hard.

•

An anxious body, a dysbiotic microbiome, a pressure management system that is out of sync, or an imbalanced nervous system will all wreak havoc on a pelvic floor no matter how many kegels we do.

Let’s remember to #zoomout and acknowledge that pelvic floors have their own unique jobs that we want them to do well. They are supported and operated by our endocrine, neurological and microbiological (gut) systems, they have to work well with others and they can’t work alone.

Gosh, so much we can learn from these pelvic floors, eh??!!

Myth #2 Pilates and Yoga Are the ONLY Safe Forms of Exercise

For whatever reason, Pilates and gentle yoga have earned the reputation as the safe and ideal forms of exercise for postpartum moms and anyone struggling with prolapse or incontinence.

Like “Do your kegels, and then go do your Pilates and all your problems will resolve!”🤔🙄

If Pilates and yoga are your jam and you can find ways to do them that support your unique rehab process, i.e. they help you re-establish reflexive core stability, breath with the diaphragm, coordinate your PF with your diaphragm and recruit your pelvic floor optimally, then YAY!

But don’t kid yourself in thinking that these modalities are guaranteed to solve all of your pelvic health problems, because they ain’t.

And if you’re like me and you don’t want to be limited to those forms of movement and exercise, that is absolutely ok too!

•

You see, I’m all about that iron, particularly the kettlebell! To me it represents functional whole body strength and they are fun as heck to train with.

Besides that, there are countless exercises you can do with the kettlebell to build your body and support your core and pelvic floor.

Kettlebells come in many different weights, so you control volume and intensity of your movement. And with a handle that lends itself to all sorts of cool carries to help you train not just for sport, but for utility, because, hello, we have to carry stuff! Carrying kids, groceries, even just my body used to  increase my POP symptoms, until I started TRAINING how to be strong and manage pressure WITH kettlebells!

•

I’m not saying kettlebells are the End All Be All of fixing your pelvic health problems. They are no more of a panacea than #kegels are.

But they are an incredible tool that when applied well, can re-build strength in movement for clients of ALL ages and fitness capabilities.

And this can be said for MANY other forms of training besides yoga and Pilates.

Let’s stop limiting people to what has been deemed “safe” and let’s find things that inspire and address weaknesses!

Myth #3 Tight and Tense= Strong

We put emphasis on the need for pelvic floors (and vaginas) to be “strong” but many women hear “tight” and “forceful” and so they practice squeezing and contracting.

•••

But the reality is that the optimal heath of the pelvic floor is SO MUCH MORE complex and wonderful than that.

Exclusively focusing on what we perceive to be “strength” can be insufficient for optimizing pelvic health and often times causes harm.

The pelvic floor has jobs to do and a range of motion to move through.

•••

If you define “strength” as the ability to do your assigned job well, then sure, let’s make our pelvic floors STRONG.

BUT if you think a “strong” pelvic floor is one that is tight, lifted, contracted, tense and/or rigid, then read this graphic a few times.

Now grab my Pelvic Floor Freebie with this link.

Sarah Smith is a former athletic coach, personal trainer, level two Russian Kettlebell Instructor, postnatal fitness specialist and functional pelvic floor and gut health advocate with a Masters in Soil Science and Agricultural. 

She works online and in her garage gym in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

Sarah is a published author and has a decade experience conducting research at The National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, University of Arizona and North Carolina State University. She uses evidence-based strategies to help her clients grow strong, confident and capable in their bodies-even when struggling with pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic organ prolapse, gut health complications and other injuries or health conditions. 

She is a mom to three boys and one English Bulldog. She loves kettlebells, leisure walks, chickens, soil, coffee, not folding laundry and watching people move, in a non-creepy way.

The first steps to healing after prolapse?

For months after my pelvic organ prolapse diagnosis I was distraught, frustrated, depressed and angry.

I was afraid to move, lift, sneeze, squat, bend over, pick up my kids….

I felt lost with absolutely NO direction for how I should go about my days.
Sure my physical therapy had provided me with exercises, but how do I MOVE? How do I LIVE??

There were months of wrestling with all this, up late at night searching on Google, reading forums and articles on prolapse in which all of the information was so doom and gloom….providing no hope whatsoever…
One evening, I was on my computer in middle of night searching furiously for answers or a glimmer of something positive and stumbled upon a forum in which a Crossfitter was posting about prolapse.

She was explaining how she too had prolapse, but had figured out strategies that allowed her to continue training.

I stopped dead in my online tracks.

Someone with prolapse was STILL TRAINING?
Not only that, but they were doing CROSSFIT?

But I had been told not to lift anything, not to walk downhill???
What the heck?!


I immediately felt hopeful, relieved even.
This sparked a desire to become innovative, so that I could get back to lifting!
I started to consider that prolapse, although not really a solvable problem, it was something I could tackle and work with, around or through.

I went to bed that night with feelings of peace and determination, knowing that tomorrow, I was going to start doing things differently.
And so I did.
I stopped researching prolapse and got to work researching the pelvic floor, it’s function in life and fitness.

I realized that if I could better understand how it was supposed to work, then I could try to solve my prolapse problem and at least decrease my symptoms and get back to what I loved, which was lifting.


That lightbulb/hopeful moment for me was in 2016 and it sparked a cascade of mental and physical events.

• Five months later I earned my Russian Kettlebell Certification.

• Six months after that, I found boldness around this issue and a passion to help other women feel less alone and started speaking out about pelvic organ prolapse and pelvic health struggles publicly online and in my business.

• And in another 6 months I earned my Level 2 Russian Kettlebell Certification, an incredibly challenging and physically demanding two kettlebell certification
  
  
  
  
  

There was a lot of physical work, healing, rehab, re-learning of movement that went into rehabbing my pelvic organ prolapse and earning my kettlebell certifications, but the single most IMPORTANT change I made in my life was changing how I thought about my prolapse and my body.

Even now, when I have bad days, symptom flare-ups, regrets and frustrations about what COULD HAVE BEEN, it is the MENTAL work that makes ALL of the difference in my life.

And so I’m sharing the FIRST TWO steps from my FREE seminar, Kettlebells Over Kegels: mindset shifts for conquering pelvic organ prolapse.

This seminar is about how I shifted my movement and mental strategies from a place of FEAR and FOCUS on prolapse to a place of PERSISTENCE, DETERMINATION STRENGTH and a SYSTEMATIC understanding of my prolapse in the context of my whole body!

This is the system that worked for me.

Step 1: Stop looking back.

Anyone with prolapse can tell you that anxiety about prolapse intensifies symptoms.
Our fear and feelings of regret ABSOLUTELY fuel these anxious feelings and not only limit or stall our rehab process, but can even make things feel WORSE!!!

You don’t ACTUALLY know what caused your prolapse.
Sure tearing during birth, long labors, gut health and elimination struggles, interventions like forceps and and vacuum suction, high BMI, diabetes and insulin resistance, poor tissue health and hormone struggles are risk factors for prolapse, but what caused those things to happen to us?
Movement mechanics before and during pregnancy?
And inability to relax the pelvic floor before and during labor?
Antibiotics, pathogens, stress or nutrition habits that recked our gut microbiome?
Lack of support during our birthing process??

We could drive ourselves MAD trying to tease out the ACTUAL cause and the reality is that there was most likely a cascade of events and risk factors that got us where we are now.
And we can’t go back.
We can’t reverse time or prolapse.
BUT we CAN absolutely move PAST it and work WITH it!

Looking back and fixating on what was or what should have been, prevents us from moving forward.
It limits our growth because our goal, the direction we are trying to move in, it’s in the past.
It’s an impossible destination.

I think you’re getting that now.

It was when I STOPPED obsessing over mistakes, anger about ALL the things no one ever told me and ALL the things I shouldn’t have done or could have done, that I began to make progress.

I started to funnel all that energy into creating and working towards are new goal: getting back into to movement with prolapse and reducing my symptoms as much as is possible, taking it one day at a time.

I decided that I could blaze a NEW trail, not just for myself but for ALL WOMEN struggling with prolapse!

Because at the end of the day we know two things:

1. There is NOT enough research on prolapse, the causes and or what ultimately happens to women with the right support,training and therapy.
   
   
   

2. We, the women of 2019 that have pelvic organ prolapse, we are writing history. We are defining the future of prolapse for ourselves and for others.
   
   
   We HAVE to believe that.
   We HAVE to live that as best we can.
   We have to surround ourselves with others that share this belief, so that when we feel like we are floundering, they can ground us.
   
   
   
   
   

Step 2. Zoom out, Stop hyper focusing on the pelvic floor and begin to understand the system in which it operates.



For me, laying on a table, kegeling with a machine attached to my body, hyper-focusing on forcing my pelvic floor, all by itself to return to its previous state was NOT working.
In fact, it was making things WORSE.
In the days after my PT, I would experience more symptoms and feel more depressed about my progress, than ever.
This is NOT because PT was bad, but because what I did in physical therapy wasn’t making up for how I was living my life outside of the PT office.

The pelvic floor, just like EVERY OTHER PART OF THE BODY, does NOT work in isolation from itself.
And if you’re like me, even before prolapse, it wasn’t working so great, by itself or with the other parts of my body.

This is why I named this seminar “Kettlebells over Kegels” because to me kettlebells are symbols of:

1. Functionality

2. Whole body communication and recruitment

3. Strong and mindful movement

And THAT’s the approach that informed MY HEALING!
Understanding and working towards improving the functionality of my pelvic floor required that I understand it in the context of my whole body and that I become mindful about how it responded to and supported my daily movements, both in and out of the gym!

Kegels aren’t bad, they’re just like isometrics in exercise.
They have a place and a benefit for teaching your body where you want it to go, but they are only one strategy and they should only be used to teach a particular part of the body what you want it to do in the context of the whole entire system.
They are only one part of the story and for some people, they have no business being in the story at all.

Kegels are ONLY helpful for women that have difficult recruiting their pelvic floor, but not every women with prolapse has that exact problem.
Some women have been kegeling their whole life and still have prolapse.
Some women have SUPER active parts of their pelvic floors while others are weaker and non-responsive and a Kegel alone is not going to help that. It can even make things worse.

Zooming out was an empowering (although a little overwhelming) experience because it helped me to see all of the OPTIONS I had for restoring health and function to my pelvic floor.

If you’ve been spending all of the time since your diagnosis zoomed in on the pelvic floor, trying to force it to comply with your desired for healing and reduction in symptoms, try taking a step back and thinking about ALL the other pieces of health that connect to your pelvic floor.

• Diet, nutrition practices, digestion and elimination (pooping)

• Stress, anxiety, depression

• Breathing habits

• Hormone struggles

• Daily movement practices

• Alignment habits

All of these pieces of your health impact your prolapse and vice versa!
If you’ve hit a wall with your prolapse therapy, try looking at these issues either on your own or with a professional to see if there’s some work that you can do to improve the overall function of your WHOLE SYSTEM.
Everything is connected!

To continue learning about mindset shifts for conquering your pelvic organ prolapse, pre-register for my online seminar here.

Sarah Smith is on a mission to help women conquer their pelvic health struggles and build STRENGTH and SKILLS!
She is a strength coach, RKC2 Kettlebell Instructor, Original Strength Pro Instructor, certified personal trainer, postnatal fitness specialist and pelvic floor and gut health advocate with a Masters in Soil and Agricultural Science.
Sarah works online and in Raleigh, North Carolina. 
She is a Believer, wife to her best friend, Jeremiah, a mom to three boys and one English Bulldog.
She loves soil, coffee and not folding laundry. 
Come follow her on Instagram or Facebook.