I'm Chanel,
And I have a great practice for you today focused on the pelvic floor.
So this is a good practice for you if you find things are not as tight down there as they used to be.
This will help hold everything in,
Including pee.
If you have a little sneeze pee,
None of us want that.
So this is gonna help with that and any other issues you've got with the pelvic floor.
So let's go ahead,
Before we get started,
In our breath practice,
I want us to focus on the Mula Bandha.
So Mula Bandha is,
Tightening those areas of the pelvic floor.
So as you inhale,
Go ahead and pull everything in with your exhale.
These are the muscles if you were going to the bathroom,
You're midstream,
And something happens outside and you need to quickly get off the toilet,
Go help someone.
Help a child or a teenager or get the door,
Whatever is happening at your house.
You tighten those muscles so you can get off and be done.
So,
This is also a good exercise to practice in the bathroom.
Go ahead and tighten those muscles with every exhale.
Let everything release,
Including the belly,
Including the pelvic floor,
The mula bandha.
And as you exhale,
Tighten those muscles.
This is the Mula Bandha in yoga.
It's called the root lock.
So we'll do a couple more like that.
Inhaling,
Release.
This is an important part of it.
Let everything release.
And as you exhale,
Pull everything in tight.
That includes your core,
Which is your Uddiyana Bandha,
Your core lock,
And then your root lock is your pelvic floor lock.
Now,
As we go throughout class today,
We're gonna focus on the breath,
But with each breath,
I want you to think of your Mula Bandha,
That tightening of the pelvic floor.
That's gonna help.
These poses are specifically designed to help strengthen the pelvic floor and keep your Mula Bandha while I'm talking to you.
Bye.
This will especially help to strengthen your pelvic floor as you work intentionally on that Mula Bandha,
That root lock.
All right,
Let's get started in Hero's Pose.
So coming here to hero's pose,
Roll the shoulders back,
Inhale,
Reach the arms up,
Exhale and twist to the right.
As you exhale,
The Mula Bandha is engaged,
The root lock.
Inhale,
Reach both arms up.
Exhale.
Mula bandha,
Tightening through the pelvic floor.
By the way,
If this hurts the knees,
You can pat it up or just sit in an easy seat.
In health center.
Exhale to the right,
Tightening through the pelvic floor.
One more time,
Inhale,
Center.
And exhale to the left.
Good.
Inhale,
Center.
And then come to cat-cow,
Hands and knees.
Hands under shoulders,
Knees under hips.
Inhale,
Let the belly drop,
Full release on all of those muscles in the pelvic floor,
In the core,
And as we exhale,
We squeeze everything tight.
Inhale.
Letting the belly drop,
Letting the head and hips lift,
Paying attention to that full release.
And now as you exhale,
Tighten through the pelvic floor.
Feel the core engage as we press away from the earth.
One more time,
And cat inhale.
Full release,
Let everything go.
And then exhale,
Press away from the earth.
Squeezing through the pelvic floor.
Come to neutral and let's come over onto our back.
Moving slowly and mindfully here.
As we come into bridge pose.
The feet are about hip width apart.
Directly under the knees,
We inhale,
Release through all those muscles,
And as we exhale,
We press into the feet.
And squeeze through our mula bandha.
We're gonna hold here.
Now,
I want you to pay attention.
Our muscles are still engaged.
We're pressing into the feet.
We can feel our legs,
Our glutes activated.
And yet,
With each release,
Each inhale,
We can release that Mula Bandha and really target that here.
So we exhale,
Squeeze into the pelvic floor.
And inhale to release.
One more breath here in our bridge pose.
Inhale.
Releasing everything.
And exhale,
Tightening all the muscles of the pelvic floor.
And slowly coming back down.
From here,
Let's come to our happy baby pose.
Hug the knees in and then reach the feet up toward the floor.
So feet are flexed.
If you could touch the ceiling,
You'd be walking on the ceiling right now.
Now you can hold on wherever is comfortable.
So maybe backs of knees,
Or maybe the outsides of the feet,
Or even hooking the big toes here.
And again,
With our breath,
Using this opportunity to strengthen the pelvic floor with each and every breath.
Deep inhale.
Slow,
Steady exhale.
Now bring the soles of the feet together for reclined bound angle pose.
We're going to let the feet come to the floor.
And the knees will kind of hover.
If that doesn't feel comfortable,
Support the knees,
Put pillows or something under the knees.
Alternatively,
You can bring the feet a little bit further away from the body and it'll be less intense.
So that might feel better as well.
And then pause here to just let everything release on your inhale.
And as you exhale,
Tighten your root lock,
Your Mula Bandha.
And bring your hands to the sides of the knees to bring them up.
From here,
We're gonna go into legs up the wall pose.
Now you can use a wall if you have one handy,
Or you could just do this right on the floor.
This is a gentle inversion,
So we lift both feet up.
A couple of options here.
If you have a block or a pillow,
You can put it under the hips.
If you have a wall,
You can turn so that your legs are up the wall,
Or you can stay just like this.
Still getting the benefits,
Letting the energy flow,
The blood flow the opposite way.
Still keeping our root lock.
Practicing the lock and release with every breath.
And gently hug the knees into the belly.
Give yourself a little squeeze here.
Letting the spine release.
And then stretch out for your final Shavasana.
Palms face up.
Find a comfortable place on your mat,
And then let everything release,
Including your root lock,
Your mula bandha.
And just relax.
Let's gently wake the body,
Adding in some gentle movement.
Maybe moving the head,
The fingers or toes.
The wrists,
Our ankles.
And when you're ready,
Roll over to your right side.
The eyes stay closed.
Pulling everything in,
Curling up into a comfortable little ball.
And just feeling everything,
All the effects of your practice.
Give yourself a moment to just let it sink in.
And when you're ready with the eyes still closed,
Push up to seated.
Hands at heart center.
Namaste.
