Castor oil packs can help clear your skin because they address the root causes of hormonal acne.
Read moreExercise 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:
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.
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.
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:
Exercise with and to combat prolapse for physique changes and feeling amazing in your body
Recover and restore after training
Change your mindset around your body, injury and exercise
Detox your liver for balanced hormones-this plays a role in your prolapse!
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!
Trusting your body again after prolapse!
Pelvic organ prolapse is a nasty shock and will cause you to question everything you THOUGHT you knew about health and fitness while also encouraging hatred of your body.
If you don’t know me, I'm Sarah Smith, mom of three, physical and spiritual strength coach, pelvic floor specialist and PROLAPSE CONQUEROR!
I'm here to tell you with this short video series that TRUSTING your body again IS the way to conquer prolapse, BUT there's a method to earning that trust and I'm sharing my tried and true, three step process for TRUSTING your body again after prolapse!
This is Part 1 in a three part video series on how to trust your body again after being diagnosed with prolapse.
Start with Video 1 below!
To enroll in Better Than Kegels, and learn how to jumpstart your prolapse recovery training, click here!
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!
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?
Individuals with prolapse and pelvic floor dysfunction
Peeps with a history of under-eating
Folks with current or a history of gut health issues
Anyone struggling with exhaustion, depletion and lack of vitality
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!
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.
Stop program hopping and do this instead!
We’ve been trained by fitness culture that we need to find the perfect program that works for our metabolisms, physiques, unique genetic makeup, personality type, you name it.
And while I TOTALLY believe that yes, we need to shop around for the training program and coaches or trainers that best meet us where we are now and are consistent with our values and goals, I have also learned that it’s MORE important that we understand ourselves and how we operate than it is that we program hop until we find the perfect Cinderella shoe-fitting exercise experience.
Like, “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?” is in my experience, a rare sentiment when it comes to most programs. It happens, but not often.
When we take the time to know ourselves, how we operate, our habits, behaviors, work ethics…our truly personally meaningful goals, then we can make almost ANY training program work for us.
Because we modify.
We modify exercises, schedules, expectations, and workouts to BEST suit us.
If you’re an “all or nothing” personality, then you know you need structured movement plan for every day, because without the impetus to keep showing up, you quit.
If you’re a rebel, then you may find being told EXACTLY what to do, makes you feel limited, in which case, you need to learn to adjust your workouts in a manner that empowers you.
If you currently struggle with movement limitations or injuries, then there’s probably NO program that will work exactly for you without you having to make some decisions and modifications while you get to the bottom of your challenges.
The reality is that there is no such thing as a perfect fit and unless you are working 1:1 with a trainer (and even then) it’s difficult to find a program that is custom fit to you.
And what happens when it doesn't fit perfectly?
We quit.
"I guess this wasn't the right program for me...."
Sure sometimes this is absolutely the case, but for my serial program quitters out there, I want to tell you THERE IS ANOTHER WAY!
Today I am giving you permission to STOP waiting for the exercise program that is the perfect compliment to you and START paying attention to how you work and making programs work for you.
You will have WAY more options in movement and exercise, feel empowered AND will become more consistent than you ever have before.
I trained for my RKC by following the recommended RKC training program, but my pelvic floor troubles and CRAZY schedule of a mom with 3 young kids prohibited me from following it exactly.
So I used the framework but MODIFIED, MODIFIED, MODIFIED.
Yes modifying a program also means that we have to modify our exceptions.
I knew how long it took me to become prepared or even the manner in which I would be prepared would be different than someone that did the program EXACTLY as I did, BUT I also know that it was modify or do nothing.
So I chose to modify.
Afraid that you don't have the skills to do this because you're not a trainer?
I get that.
Here are some easy ways to modify a program or exercise even when you have no background in fitness.
These are ALL strategies that I teach my clients to empower them to feel confident in movement EVEN when I'm not there to guide them!
Take more rest
Reduce the weight
Move more slowly
Use lighter weight and move faster
Substitute exercises-overhead work not agreeing with you? Find another way to work your arms
Reduce the effects of gravity-increse the incline of a plank or pushup, squat to a chair, rock on the floor instead of squatting, etc.
Use your pressure management breathing strategies to support your core and pelvic floor
Shorten your workouts so you can be sure to check in daily
Add natural movement practices to an "exercise" program like walking, crawling, rolling, getting up off the floor without using your hands
Carry heavy stuff
The options are ENDLESS once you feel EMPOWERED to make decisions and start funneling your energy into MODIFYING programs and exercises to meet you where you are.
Oh and by the way, great coaches are GREAT at offering you modifications.
So you get what you pay for when you buy an exercise program or course.
Keep that in mind!
Ok, so what can you do today to modify that DVD, PDF or past email with a free workout circuit from me to make it possible for you to get it done?
Need a modifiable kettlebell workout?
Download onehere!!!
Not into kettlebells? I got you. Click here for a 3 Day Exercise Formula that you can MODIFY!
xoxo,
Sarah
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!
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, and published author with a Masters in Science. Sarah works online and in Raleigh, North Carolina.
She loves her boys, her Savior, soil (good thing because her life is full of it), her bulldog, Bella, best friend and husband Jeremiah, 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.
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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.
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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!
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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!
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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.
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.
Three ways the gut impacts the health of your pelvic floor.
✅Tissue regeneration-your cells are dying and regrowing all of the time.
Without adequate nutrient uptake, they don’t have the necessary building blocks to build the best new tissue possible, the muscle tissue that makes up your pelvic floor, core AND your biceps!
Nutrition matters, we know that, but a diversely populated gut microbiome that is adept at processing your food and helping you extract the nutrition from it while keeping food particles from getting into the the blood stream via leaky holes in your intestines is also key!
✅Inflammation-can occur for LOTS of reasons.
It can be a response to those food particles and other toxins leaking out of the gut into your blood stream where they are attached by the immune system leading to a chronic state of inflammation..
It can also become a consistent state that occurs because one of the chief jobs of your gut bugs is to help clear oxidative stress-a normal outcome of chemical reactions taking place in the body...
But if they ain’t there or they aren’t healthy and numerous, they can’t clear the stress and BOOM we got inflammation 🔥🔥🔥
And this inflammation doesn’t just stay in the gut my friends, it can be in the brain, the joints, the pelvic tissues...
✅Elimination
You know, like how and how often you poop?
THIS is mediated by the bugs in your gut as well!
They have NUMEROUS jobs that help to make your stool the right consistency for it to EXIT consistently.
You need fiber to poop well not just because it adds bulk to your stool, but because the microbes that are process and package your poop up to exit the body LIVE on fiber.
But when you have a compromised gut microbiome, eating foods high in fiber leads to bloating, cramping and LOTS of discomfort.
Without the bugs and their food source we can find ourselves in vicious cycles of diarrhea AND constipation or just constipation/dry, hard, difficult to eliminate stools
Constipation is a HUGE problem for both folks with #pelvicfloordysfunction and #pelvicorganprolapse.
In fact in my experience, my clients with an over recruited #pelvicfloor, aka #pfd, both constipation and inflammation are an issue.
Any of my clients with #prolapse, particularly, rectoceol, are WAY more symptomatic when they are constipated due to that extra pressure and straining or the presence of old expired estrogen and toxins that are being resorbed instead of exiting in their stool.
The gut is SOOOO important for our health and the health of our pelvic floors, don’t leave it behind when working to improve your pelvic health!
Listen to my podcast on how your GUT work and what you can do to care for it by clicking here AND use the search function to read the other articles here on gut health and pelvic health!
Do you leak when you lift? Are you afraid you're making your prolapse worse? Here's a simple strategy!
Hey there!
I LOVE teaching women how to lift heavy things, but I ESPECIALLY love teaching them to LEVERAGE their breath and power to accomplish any physically challenging task.
You see, your breathing cycle is more than just about getting oxygen into your lungs (to oxygenate your tissues) and getting carbon dioxide (expired air) out, it’s part of your body’s natural ability to MANAGE PRESSURE.
Do you struggle to manage pressure?
Here are some clues that you might:
You leak when you exercise (sneeze, cough or laugh too)
You see bulging or doming in your core when you exert yourself
You hold your breath and brace to feel strong when lifting something
You feel pressure in your vagina after a long day or exercise session
You have chronic low back pain and feel loose in your core
While learning to manage pressure is a concept that is covered IN DEPTH in my upcoming course, Connect Your Core and Pelvic Floor, today I am showing you some breathing cues to help you perform deadlifts AND kettlebell swings withOUT bearing down on your organs to brace yourself and feel strong in movement.
Check it!
Training with kettlebells can either help OR harm your core and pelvic floor. It all comes down to how you manage pressure and move your body. Check out this video on how to breath during the deadlift AND kettlebell swing!
To PRE-REGISTER for my Connect Your Core And Pelvic Floor course and have access to DISCOUNT pricing, complete the form below!
