How your mouth-breathing is harming your gut and your pelvic floor

Airway health is all the rage these days with the popularity of James Nestor’s Breath and Wim Hoff’s breathing strategies, more and more people are awakening to the power of their breath.

I myself started my own airway health journey back in 2018, when I learned that my tongue was supposed to NATURALLY rest on the roof of my mouth.

Spoiler alert-it wasn’t.

As I studied breath mechanics more deeply I learned that my breathing limitations were MAJORLY contributing to my pelvic floor problems.

Yes. Mouth breathing and pelvic floor dysfunction are linked.
Mouth breathing and gut health struggles are linked.
And of course mouth breathing and pelvic organ prolapse are also linked.

Why?

Here’s the dirt on breathing.

When the tongue comfortably rests on the roof of the mouth, this signals to our nasal passages to open, making nasal breathing easier.
Breathing through the nose has NUMEROUS benefits.

• Stronger immune system and less inflammation. Nasal breathing filters our air, stopping our immune system from having to clean up all the articles we would otherwise INHALE if we were mouth breathing, hello NOSE HAIRS have a purpose! When we don’t filter particulates with our nose hairs, the junk we inhale gets lodged in our lungs and our immune systems need to clear it which keeps them too busy to do other things like clear inflammation in the body well.

• Better core and pelvic floor strength. When our tongue is on the roof of our mouth and we breathe through the nose, this signals to the diaphragm to MOVE when we breathe-if you don’t already know this, the DIAPHRAGM and the PELVIC floor move together to stabilize the torso and give you….CORE STRENGTH! So by simply pressing the tongue on the roof of your mouth when breathing you move your diaphragm and exercise your pelvic floor, it’s Better Than Kegels, which is why I made a FREE course on it.

• Improves Posture. The tongue on the roof of our mouth ALSO sets our posture. Tongue position dictates head position, think tongue on the bottom of my mouth-head falls forward, posture collapses. Tongue on the roof of the mouth keeps the head over our skeleton, neutralizes our posture AND even stabilizes our pelvis (providing we are engaging the back of the tongue as well as the front. (See pics)

• Keeps your gut health and digestion healthy. Mouth breathing is our fight or flight breath. It involves breathing INTO the chest which creates stiffness and lack of movement in our abdomen. This lack of movement slows digestion and leads to constipation, toxic build up of undigested food and can cause SIBO, bloating, cramping and overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria. Breathing through the nose is the type o breath we use when we are in the parasympathetic side of the nervous system, AKA “rest and digest”. Simply breathing through the nose and moving the diaphragm better can be a HUGE game changer for gut health issues as well as any thing else in the body mediated by the nervous system, so like EVERYTHING….

• Calms your nervous system for better sleep and less pain. Some folks have found that by simply taking my free breathing course and dialing in their nasal and diaphragmatic breathing they have been able to alleviate pelvic pain caused to Interstitial Cystitis, hypertonic pelvic floors and pelvic organ prolapse. Why? Because mouth breathing actually changes your body’s biochemistry making muscles more tense and pain more INTENSE.
  
  
  
  

Ok so hopefully by now I’ve at least SOMEWHAT convinced you that nasal breathing is worth trying.
So what can you do to get started?

Sign up for my subscription library and get access to my digital courses, ALL of which teach breath work.

dirtystrength.com

And for MORE information on how tongue and breathing habits impact your health, come and listen to a couple of my Dirty Strength Radio™ episodes on how your tongue is causing your pelvic floor problems.

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!

Can you trust him with this?

I know for certain that my faith in Christ has been the reason why I have been able to move forward and conquer my pelvic health struggles.

And when I say conquer, I don’t mean that there was any miraculous healing or that I am totally free of pelvic health concerns.
Rather I mean that they don’t stress me out or control my mind, my identity, my thoughts or actions in the way that they used to.
For the most part, I move and live confident in my body’s ability to respond well.
I continue to be prudent in my movement and exercise-this means checking my ego, something God probably things is good for me anyways…

I do sometimes fear making prolapse worse.
But overall I don’t live in fear or anxiety of pelvic organ prolapse, because I know that God is in full control of my body and what happens to it and ultimately, I do trust him.

So while I understand that it’s my job to do whatever I physically can in my own flesh to be a wise and responsible steward of my body, I also know that God is in control and his grace covers all my actions.
It is his will that will be done.

Our bodies our like our homes, gifts from God and often a direct result of hard work and investments that we have made.
We wouldn’t not clean our floors, mow the lawn or wash the windows and wait for God to do all that.
But at the same time we know that things like appreciation in value, safety from fire or climatic events are ultimately in God’s control and we have to trust him that whatever happens, his love and grace for us will prevail.

Drawing security from things like homes or bodies strictly based on our own investments and work is flawed logic, because unprecedented things go wrong to perfectly healthy bodies and beautifully kept homes, no matter how responsible we were.


But that doesn’t mean that we should all start living like a bunch of hoarders that trash the place (literally with the house, or metaphorically with our bodies), it just means that we have to resist the temptation to put our faith and trust in creation and ALWAYS focus it on the Creator.

This is the one of the difficult parts of injury, illness and physical catastrophe.

We don’t always know where the line of responsibility and control is.
What is on us and what is on him?
When diagnosed with pelvic organ prolapse (POP), initially I was ready to get to work and find solutions (i.e. I went to PT), but when that didn’t work, I began to give up, mourn, wallow, despair and think that this was going to be my new normal.

There were a few different events and people that crossed my path online that gave me HOPE and inspired me to at least TRY to move forward, but what REALLY helped me to move forward was remembering that God had a plan for my life and I didn’t need to be afraid.
He made my body and my body is smart.
It can in many ways heal itself.
It can be strong.
It doesn’t have to be perfect, pristine or young and unmarred forever to do amazing things.

Not to long ago, someone in my Instagram community reached out to me and asked,
“Where do you go for strength in the Bible when you need to understand why bad things happen to good people? Some days I wonder what he is trying to teach me in all of this.”

Phew!

WHAT A QUESTION! Right?

At that moment I felt such. HUGE responsibility to have a solid, authentic and inspiring answer.
As a Christian, I think that we are often prepared/terrified for the hard questions that will come from non-believers, but the truth is that as members of the body of Christ, we have to ALSO be ready to feed, nourish, love and hash things out with fellow members of the body of Christ.
We all need love, direction, encouragement and hope.
We all need fellow believers that in times of trouble, point us back to Jesus and His word!

And so here was my answer:

——————————————————

“Ahhhh! Such a great question. I struggle with this too! In fact, I just bought a book by Joni Eaereckson Tada (Spectacle of Glory, it’s great!) because I TOO am also working on this and figured, who better to teach me than a woman that became paralyzed in a diving accident and still praises God and does great work!

We live in a culture that tells us everything is for us and about us. Even Christians!
Certain leaders in the Christian world motivate women to take action, but also reinforce the idea that life here on earth is only about happiness and self fulfillment, but there is NOTHING in the Bible that supports that idea.

Our life here is a vapor.
God gives us enjoyment and fun.
He made beauty here and gave us friends, children, spouses, enjoyment health and experiences, but his purpose in making us is for us to worship and choose him, to become holy, even amidst trials and setbacks because life on earth ISN’T THE WHOLE STORY!

Jesus who was perfect suffered here, so we should expect to as well and know that our God will provide what we need to survive and grow.”

Verses that support this:

James 1:2-4 

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Psalm 57:2

I cry out to God Most High, to God, who vindicates me.

Jeremiah 32:19

19 great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to the ways of all mankind; you reward each person according to their conduct and as their deeds deserve.

Job 42:2 

2 “I know that you can do all things;
    no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

Proverbs 16:4 

4 The Lord works out everything to its proper end—
    even the wicked for a day of disaster.

Proverbs 19:21 

21 Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
    but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

Romans 8:28 

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.

Romans 12:2 

2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

“But I STILL struggle with it all and when I do, I mourn and have pity parties.
Then I try to ask God for help and perspective.
I find ways to use my injury and all that it’s taught me to help others and grow my trust in Him.”

————————————————————

The Bible says that we can do ALL things in Christ that strengthens us!
This means that we can EVEN move past our injury or chronic illness.
This is not a guarantee that in this life, on this earth we will be able to reverse or completely health what has happened to us.

I feel very fortunate that my movement practice and lifestyle changes have helped me to come back from things like pelvic floor dysfunction, prolapse and major gut health problems.

I still have MAJOR considerations when it comes to my diet, lifestyle and exercise practice-that is, I still have to be careful and care for these injuries and health issues, but overall, I mostly live pretty normal, pain and symptom free life.

I know that not everyone that reads this will necessarily have that, but we have to have HOPE

We have to believe that God’s will prevails and whatever is happening in our lives is according to his purpose and will be the best thing longterm.
Life on earth is NOT our entire life, fellow Christians.
Which to me, actually makes me feel less pressure in some ways as I age and see my youth leaving my body, I remember that this body and this world are not my eternal home so I want to make the most of them while I can, but when they disappoint me, I look to him and remember, He is my home.
He is my security.
He is my future.

“Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand.”

I’ll leave you with one of my FAVORITE songs for reminding me of this:

“In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev’ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow’r of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand.”

— IN CHRIST ALONE" WORDS AND MUSIC BY KEITH GETTY & STUART TOWNEND COPYRIGHT © 2002 THANKYOU


Contact me about speaking at your women’s group, church, gym, book club, etc,

 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.

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.

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!

Prolapse symptom increase, WHAT TO DO??!!

Increase in prolapse symptoms? 

Don’t freak out!!!

Read this.

Hey there!

I know ALL TOO WELL how frustrating and fear-inducing an increase in prolapse symptoms can be. 

“Did I make it worse?”

“Are my organs going to fall out”

“What was I doing wrong?” 

are ALL questions that have crossed my mind MANY times. 

What I’ve learned over the years is that:

1. Increase in symptoms does NOT necessarily mean a worsening of your prolapse.

2. An increase in symptoms can teach us something about our bodies. 

3. Sometimes it’s nothing and it passes with no good explanation.

my tips for dealing with an increase in prolapse symptoms!

Check your pelvic floor tension. 

If you have prolapse, chances are good that you have a history of not recruiting your pelvic floor enough, so I know it’s difficult to imagine, but you actually might be OVER-RECRUITING your PF. 

Before you are convinced that your prolapse is getting worse, either see your pelvic floor PT and have her check your pelvic floor muscles, MAYBE do some internal release of those muscles, or if you know how, use your thera wand to do it yourself. 

Here’s a video on that.

Pay attention to your bowel movements AND if you’re still menstruating, your menstrual cycle.

Even if you’ve been having regular bowel movements, are you sure that everything is coming out?
There have been times when after I use the Thera-wand for some release or some Moxibustion (that I ordered through my acupuncturist), a lot of waste, that apparently was hanging around for too long comes out and I have felt to much better!

Other times, a build up of gas from controversial foods or too much fiber has made everythgin feel swollen and uncomfortable for both me and my clients .
So there’s that too. 

When our period is approaching, peristalsis (contractions that move your food waste through your intestines) can slow down which can result in constipation for some women, not to mention that our hormones during ovulation or right before menstruation can ALSO make us more symptomatic. 

Check your digestion and check your calendar to see where you are in your cycle. 

It absolutely could be that!

What about your stress/breathing and movement lately?

It is NOT uncommon for many of us Type A personalities (Hi!) to process our stress by clenching our bellies, tucking our tailbones or tightening our pelvic floors. 
When is the last time you took some time for you and breathed with your diaphragm?

When I start feeling like this-and it happens often, so I’m better at recognizing it, I do some Original Strength resets, PARTICULARLY rocking and rolling because they are such SOOTHING movements. 

I also focus on my breath-more on that here. 

I may even do some belly massage. 

And what about your alignment and movement?

Check those ribs. Are they down? 

Is your pelvic position mostly neutral?

Are you focusing on your inhale/relax your PF and intently as you do your exhale/lift?
If you’re like, “What is she talking about?” or “I need help with this!” grab my freebie on the topic: here.

And then there are always a WHOLE host of other things you can explore with respect to diet, liver health, sleep and more!

If you want to learn about THAT, check out my upcoming Gut Health for Pelvic Health course!!!

The bottom line?

Once you have prolapse, you always have prolapse.
It’s a vulnerability in your body and mine.
Your prolapse may become symptom-free, undetectable and you may never notice it.
Perhaps your symptoms come and go randomly, or it may be that it persists, but you learn lots of ways to manage it.

The reality is that there’s a LOT about the body, hormones, inflammation, muscles, ligaments and the nervous system that we are still learning, so while there may not be a perfectly OBVIOUS cause and effect relationship between your symptoms and something else that is taking place in and around your body right now, we may one day soon discover MORE branches of the body and lifestyle that impact prolapse symptoms.
In the meantime, if you experience and increase in symptoms, try my recommendations above, do the things that typically make you feel best and give is a little bit of time.
These things happen sometimes.

Managing prolapse is LARGELY a mental process, but I’m here to HELP you!!
Amiright??!!

Before you freak out that this is your new normal, throw in a pessary-if you have one, to give you an extra lift, make an appointment with your PT to get checked and go do something that makes you HAPPY!

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.

Zooming out from our health problems to get perspective, answers and real solutions!

I'm sort of on a roll this week with blogs posts and emails, but I have so many things that I want to share with you, that I sort of can't even help it!

Today I want to chat briefly with you about perspective. 

In the West, our healthcare system is largely one based on treating symptoms. 
We experience a problem in a specific part of the body and both we and our healthcare providers often problem solve as if the problem originated in said part.
Consequently, the treatment is solely focused on this one area. 



For example, if you go to the doctor with persistent knee pain, they will typically recommend you:
take an anti-inflammatory,
wear a knee brace, 
receive steroid shots to the knee
and if all else fails, get knee surgery. 


But ALL of theses solutions are about STOPPING the uncomfortable symptoms that are coming from the knee, which is in actuality a RESPONSE to other issues taking place in the body. 


Anything from the hips, to the ankle, toes, pelvic floor or head position....
diet, stress management, shoes, movement habits and lifestyle...
is IN FACT OFTEN behind the knee pain, but we are often so ZOOMED in on the location of problem and consumed with stopping the symptoms that we fail to realize that the knee's current state is not because of the knee at ALL, but due to many other factors. 




I see this same problem a LOT with the pelvic floor. 
I receive emails and DM's all of the time from people that had prolapse corrective surgery and how find themselves having symptoms again. 


This is because the surgery only took care of the symptoms of a larger problem of strength, stability, pressure management, lifestyle and tissue health. 
 

• Surgery doesn't change the health of your gut microbiome, which determines the health of your pelvic tissue and hormones.
   

• Surgery doesn't stop constipation, change your breathing habits or how you regulate intra-abdominal pressure. 
   

• Surgery doesn't sustainably lift your tissues or teach you how to move in a way that activates your pelvic floor as needed. 

And so because surgery is often just a big ol' expensive bandaid, we find ourselves back in the same ol' pickle. 

**There are absolutely instances when trauma merits surgery and or situations where we need surgical intervention to stop or slow damage to the body. But even with surgery, it's imperative that we not see it as a solution, but as something that is staving off problems...and the problems will return if we don't change how we live!



THIS is why I advocate that we all take a step BACK from our health problems and try to better understand the many other aspects of health in our body, to which our problems can be related. 


When I hurt my shoulder, I tried stretching it and resting it...but I never got any healing or was able to move past the chronic pain until I sought out someone that understand how my shoulder was responding to my ENTIRE body's movement mechanics. Shoutout to Kate Galliett!



And when I developed prolapse, my breakthrough moment that lead to progress and healing was when I began to understand that my prolapse was only sort of about the pelvic floor, but was MORE about how I was carrying my body around all day long every day...
how I was breathing....
how my body was struggling with major gut dysbiois and this was resulting in malnourished tissues and elimination struggles
and lastly
how my stress and failure to take care of my body was increasing my stress response and worsening symptoms. 


And so today, whether it's pelvic health, knee pain, food struggles or motivation to move and train your body, I want to encourage you to zoom out!
Whatever narrative you've created about your pain or condition, I want you to put it on the shelf today. 


Instead of "I have a bad back", consider that your back pain is a message to you that something or things in the body aren't functioning optimally. 

What is it connected to or impacted by in the body?
Your hips, abdominal muscles, glutes, shoulders, feet....

How often do you "train" your back to be strong and able to do the things you need it to do?
Even standing or sitting up straight takes energy and work!

Do you simply stretch it, or do you build it and its capabilities?

Is back surgery or pain reliever going solve the root cause of your problem?

If you stick your finger in the back pain "hole in the dike" will the water start coming out another area of the body? 
Chances are pretty great that it will. 


Instead of, "I have always been a fat kid" or "I can't help but binge at night", "I don't like moving or exercise," 

Stop blaming yourself or your body and find all the tiny or big threads that are attached to these actions and tendencies and see where they lead you?
What is this behavior a RESPONSE to?
What is it telling you about yourself and your life and what's ONE little thing you can do today to try to address the LARGER issue?

And most importantly, where can you find someone that can HELP you get perspective and zoom out??!!


For ease of understanding and discussion, we have split up the body into lots of little pieces and given those pieces names. 
But make no mistake, EVERYTHING is connected. 
Zooming out from your problems is going to give you PERSPECTIVE and OPPORTUNITY to find LOTS of different solutions and areas of impact in t he body to calm your pain and give you LASTING healing. 


Which reminds me, you are invited to join my seminar on mindset strategies I employed to finally get some healing from my pelvic health struggles!
If you're struggling now, still battling the same level of symptoms you had when you were diagnosed or WORSE, then you're going to want to attend. 
It wasn't until I got my MIND right around my prolapse, that I was able to find solutions, strategies that worked and healing!
Come join us!

SIGN UP HERE



xoxo,
Sarah Smith 

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.

From bitters to breathing, here are FIVE things I bet you're not doing to help your gut and pelvic health struggles

The gut (pink area #3) and the pelvis (green, #4) are CLOSELY related neighbors.
When once is in suboptimal condition, often the other suffers!

These two important parts of the body are so tightly linked to one another as well as OTHER systems in the body.

Therefore it’s in our best interest to “zoom out” , stop hyper-focusing on our pelvic floor struggles, begin to look for other problems that we can address in the body to improve the health and function of our pelvic tissues.

Today I’m giving you FIVE action steps you can take to improve gut and pelvic health and restore balance to the body!

Let’s start with adding more bitters to your diet

Photos from Country Living Magazine

What are bitters?
Bitter greens like chicory, dandelion, arugula, radicchio, endive and burdock.
Licorice, gentian root, artichoke leaf, mugwort, black walnut leaf, sarsaparilla and there are manyY more!

What do they do?
We are STILL learning about the many benefits of bitters, but the quickest explanation is that because they have a strong and pungent taste, like a poison, but do not have an poisons properties, the brain signals to the digestive tract to GET TO WORK!
The liver begins to detoxify and digestive juices start flowing to help the body process what’s coming down the pipe.
Bitters are “cooling” so they help to reduce inflammation which can results in anything from a reduction in stress to pain!

Why are the beneficial?
Consuming bitters stimulates the release of gastrin, a digestive hormone that signals to the body to secrete saliva, hydrochloric acid, pepsin (a digestive enzyme that breaks down food), and intrinsic factor (responsible for vitamin B12 absorption).

The liver and the gallbladder produce and secrete bile in response to bitters, ALSO helping with the digestive process.

If you’ve read my other blogs on the gut/pelvic floor connection, then you KNOW that digestion is DIRECTLY related to the health of the pelvic floor.
Tissue health confers structural stability and responsiveness to neural signaling and requires adequate nutrient absorption and nourishment.
The better we digest and absorb nutrition from our diet, the better our tissues and muscle health.
When we are malnourished, we see muscle wasting and a lack of regeneration of tissue.

Additionally, sluggish, inefficient digestion causes constipation or a viscous cycle of diarrhea and constipation.
Straining in the bathroom applies lots of pressure to the pelvic floor.
Anyone struggling with rectocele OR an over-recruited pelvic floor, knows how important, easy, routine elimination is for their pelvic health and comfort.

Bitters stimulate the liver and therefore help it to better do its job!

Because bitters are a “cooling” chemical, which means they can fight inflammation that is causing your pelvic or abdominal pain. (reference)

For more reading about the benefits of bitters click here and here.

How to incorporate bitters?
First! Always ask your healthcare provider/functional medicine doctor before starting any supplements.

1.Drink dandelion root tea daily. This is a SUPER mild and low dose of bitters that you can easily incorporate into your diet. There is such things as too much of a good thing, so read the box to see how many cups per day are recommended and START slow!

2. Eat more bitter greens! Arugula, radicchio, chicory, and artichoke leaf can all be easily added to a salad and grown in your own yard or container garden on a balcony!

Moving on to training the parasympathetic nervous system…

Market Watch .com

I can not stress enough how important it is to train your body to spend LESS time being stressed.
I have ALL of my clients train activating the parasympathetic nervous systems throughout their days and in their workouts!

Many of us, especially those with Type A personalities like me!, are living our lives in a chronically stressed state.
We have shallow breathing patterns.
We tense our bellies.
We clench our jaws.
We go, go, go until we crash.

You and I, we need to train ourselves to spend MORe time in the parasympathetic mode of our nervous system, rest and digest, vs. FIGHT OR FLIGHT!

Why is this important?
When we are in the sympathetic mode of the nervous system (fight or flight) our body chemistry changes. We create more acid, cortisol, and adrenaline.
This makes our muscles tense and twitchy. We are over-stimulated and often times have difficulty being present or mindful of our decision.
Blood flow is diverted away from the intestines to the heart, muscles and brain so that we can ReSPOND quickly, but health of the gut, digestion and nutrient absorption suffers.

When we chronically produce adrenaline and cortisol, over time the body becomes LESS sensitive to them and we then have to resort to stimulants like caffeine, sugar, lots of exercise and taking on more and more projects to feel good and energized.

Why does this impact pelvic health?
Well it impacts your pelvic health in any number of ways.

1. Digestion and elimination is compromised which again causes lack of nourishment to the tissues and elimination struggles like constipation.

2. The health of the gut microbiome suffers too because the loss of blood flow and constant stress kills your good bugs. Your good gut bugs reduce stress and inflammation in your pelvic tissues and hormone regulation. Without them you can experience and increase in pelvic pain or symptoms of prolapse.

3. Fight or flight mode means shallow, short breaths and the diaphragm is NOT moving through its full range of motion. This impedes adequate relaxation and recruitment of the pelvic floor, pelvic position and core stability (check out my handout here) which will increase or worsen you symptoms, stall your rehab!

What can you do?

In extreme cases, some individuals (and this is becoming more and more common) need vagal nerve therapy. The vagus nerve is what tells the body whether it should be in the parasympathetic or sympathetic state of the nervous system.
When it comes disregulated from trauma, surgery or chronic stress, sometimes it needs to be “reset” so that the body can re-learn how to move smoothly in between the two modes of the autonomic nervous system.

But let’s say you don’t have signs of vagus nerve dysfunction, here are THREE more things you can do YOURSELF to stimulate the parasympathetic mode of the nervous system.

3. Stomach massage

Massaging your own belly and manually moving around abdominal contents can help to relieve stress, and tension and relax the body.
Massage in a counter-clockwise direction and don’t every push on anything painful.
Working with a bodywork specialist and having them demonstrate how you can self-massage is a GREAT idea!
Click here for more info!
Bonus, if you’ve been struggling with digestion or constipation this should help!
If you are experiencing an increase in prolapse symptoms or over-recruitment, this can help to relax the tension in the belly and pelvic floor and take pressure off of your pelvic organs too!

4. Diaphragmatic breathing practice.
Breathing with the diaphragm (tongue on the roof of your mouth, inhaling through the nose) is a sure way to calm the body and get into Rest and Digest mode!

If you are prone to stress, it’s a good idea to do some diaphragmatic breathing right when you wake up, before you go to sleep, before your workouts, and periodically throughout your day. Set an alert on your phone!!

When I feel symptoms of pelvic floor tightness or prolapse OR feel like my digestion is suffering, breathing has ALWAYS helped to decrease the symptoms and calm more mind and body.

If you’re never practiced it, start here and here.

5. Start ROCKING daily!


Rocking on all fours creates space in the pelvic and abdominal cavities. It calms and soothes the body and it’s how you learned posture and alignment in the first place as a baby!
Rocking can be a TOTAL game changer, if you do it consistently.
It will calm you AND set you up for future diaphragmatic breathing success, because of how well it aligns your body and facilitates the movement of the diaphragm.

Get started with it here!

If you’re ready to get serious about your pelvic floor problems.
If you’re trying to avoid surgery but are tired of this subpar existence that has you sitting on the sidelines and struggling to feel POWERFUL in your body.

Then you have to check out Hold Up! The strategies I teach in this course address the root causes behind your prolapse and will help you find HEALING while conquering your prolapse!

Come and learn more!

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.

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.