Join Pranamaya Wisdom in a conversation about the pelvic floor with master yoga teacher Leslie Howard. Leslie is known as “The Pelvic Floor Lady”   here she discusses the importance of the Pelvic Floor keeping it healthy and what can be done to keep it tone through yoga. She also discusses popular misconceptions and the use of bandhas in yoga. Listen in and get valuable information on this rarely talked about topic that is so important for women’s health and wellness.

Here’s some wisdom from Leslie’s website about why  you should care about the Pelvic Floor.

A Healthy Pelvic Floor and Pelvic Floor Yoga®

Proper work of strengthening, stabilizing, stretching and softening the pelvic floor helps to create the correct foundation of each movement in the body. It is a basic tool to avoid loss of energy from this important area. A strong pelvic floor helps keep the pelvic and abdominal organs healthy as we age. But “strong” also means flexible. Think of your torso as “a tote bag” for your organs. The pelvic floor is the bottom of the tote bag. Someone with a weak pelvic floor (too loose or too tight) has a tote bag that is about to have the bottom fall out! Prolapsed organs, incontinence and pelvic pain are common to over fifty percent of women. Yet what is most prescribed as a catch all cure is “just do your Kegels.” A healthy pelvic floor is more than doing Kegels. A healthy pelvic floor is more than doing mula bandha. These practices are under taught, misunderstood and can sometimes lead to more problems.

The female pelvis and the pelvic muscles are an under appreciated region of the anatomy. Important not only for sexuality, the pelvic muscles are crucial for optimal functioning of the body. The pelvic muscles begin at perineum and are complex arrangement of muscles that create a “bowl” for the lower organs. Common problems that are related to the health of the pelvic floor are lumbar spinal problems, sacroiliac, hip or sciatic pain, bladder weakness, prolapse of the uterus or the bladder, and digestive, menstrual and sexual difficulties. This area can be too gripped, or too weak and sometimes both. Many women have a lack of tone due to age, lifestyle, bearing children or hereditary tendencies. What is less commonly known is that about 20-25 percent of all women have a chronic holding and tightening of the muscles of the pelvic floor. Sometimes an unhealthy holding pattern can start in early age or perhaps develop as a result of a fall, an accident or sexual abuse.

For online courses with Leslie visit www.pranamaya.com