This is recorded by Dr.
Adele Stewart for Nuna Medical Practice.
This is a sitting pelvic relaxation.
So starting with finding yourself a comfortable seated position,
Ideally on a chair,
Dining room chair is ideal.
Sitting comfortably with your bottom and back into the back of the chair.
And starting with a little bit of contraction of the muscles.
Sometimes if we contract the muscles we can feel them relax easier.
So starting off by tightening the feet,
Curling the toes,
Curling the feet,
Feeling the tension build,
Build,
Build,
And then release.
And starting from the feet again,
Tightening the feet and the ankles,
The lower legs,
Straightening the knees,
Tightening the thighs and the buttocks.
Tight,
Tight,
Tight,
Tight,
Tight.
And release.
And again,
Starting from the feet,
Tightening the feet,
The whole of the legs and buttocks.
And now the belly,
The chest,
The fists,
Arms,
Right up into the shoulders.
And release the whole body.
And the final one,
Starting from the feet,
Tightening the whole body up,
Including the face,
Scrunching up the face,
Tightening the muscles in the forehead and the scalp,
And release the whole body.
Seeing if you need to alter your posture at all so that you're sitting comfortably again.
And see if it's possible to soften,
Relax your legs,
Your bottom,
And your belly.
Now starting off with pulling in your back passage.
If you were trying to stop passing gas,
Be pulling it upward and forward towards the pubic bone,
Imagining a diagonal line.
And now see if you can let it all down.
And again,
Tightening up that back passage,
Diagonally forward to the pubic bone,
And letting it all down again.
Really releasing those muscle fibers in the pelvic floor.
Think of those sit bones spreading apart as you relax all the way down.
We're going to add in a bit of breath now.
So again,
Soft belly,
Soft bottom.
Placing the hands gently on the lower belly.
Taking a deep breath in,
Feeling your hands rise,
And breath out,
Feeling them collapse in.
And repeating this a few times.
So keeping the belly soft,
Feeling up the belly on the breath in,
Allowing the hands to rise up,
And on the breath out,
Allowing the belly to deflate,
The hands to lower in.
As you breathe in,
Expanding that belly,
Maybe visualizing that the diaphragm is being pushed down on the breath in,
And just spontaneously rising back up on the breath out.
And again,
Filling up the belly,
The soft belly on the breath in,
The diaphragm descending,
Going down,
And breathing out,
Allowing the diaphragm to rise spontaneously.
Now this time as you breathe in,
Imagining that the breath in is pushing down that diaphragm,
And that diaphragm's also pushing down and releasing those pelvic floor muscles.
And as you breathe out,
Contracting them again.
Try this again,
Breathing in,
Imagining the breath in the belly is pushing that diaphragm down,
Which is pushing down those pelvic floor muscles,
And breathing out,
Pulling the muscles in.
If you're having any trouble feeling what's happening,
You can lean forward a little,
But make sure you're still reasonably upright and not slouching,
Because we really want that alignment so that the diaphragm's almost acting like a piston,
Pushing down that pelvic floor on the breath in.
So breathing out,
Contracting the pelvic floor again,
And breathing in,
As you feel the belly and the diaphragm descends,
You might be able to feel a little bit of pressure between the legs,
And that's the cue to see if you can soften and relax the pelvic floor even more,
Spreading those sit bones again.
So pulling in the back passage on the breath out,
In that diagonal line to the pubic bone,
And as you breathe in,
Softening and relaxing the pelvic floor.
So it's great if you can practice this lots,
With or without the audio,
And if you're having some problems with the anatomy,
Then check out the other leaflets in the drop box.
And you might want to turn the audio off here,
But I'm just going to finish with some of the metaphors that other health professionals and patients have come up with that might help.
Let's have a listen and see what might resonate,
And if you have any good ones,
Please contact me,
And I can add them to the audio.
So a lot of people find the metaphor of the sit bones coming together as the pelvic floor is contracted,
And then separating as the pelvic floor relaxes really helpful.
Another one is dropping a pebble in a still pond,
Watching the concentric circles going out as the pelvic floor softens.
Some people like the idea of melting,
Like butter or wax melting.
A rose going from a tight bud to a soft bloom is a very common metaphor.
And flowers that close at night and open during the day when they're warmed and softened in the sun and light can be a nice one.
The C anemone can be quite a helpful one,
Particularly when there's a little bit of frustration when the muscles just don't seem to want to relax.
The C anemone likes to close when it feels like there's any danger,
And it will only open when it feels safe.
So maybe you can imagine the pelvic floor or the vagina as the C anemone,
And it's only going to open when it feels safe.
And sometimes,
We don't know why,
But subconsciously,
It's not feeling safe.
So being kind when that happens.
And a couple of other classic metaphors are the lift or the elevator going up to the top floor and down to the basement.
Maybe even imagining the lift doors opening as the vagina opening.
And also the warm sand on a trampoline as the pelvic floor descends and softens.
Or the weight on a hammock as the pelvic floor descends or softens.
Please just ignore the metaphors that don't work for you and I hope you continue to practice.
