The pelvic floor is a figure 8 of muscles that lie between the anus and the vagina and provide support to those structures also. This is the muscle plate with the highest tone in the human body. Think about everything that by gravity could fall out that is above our pelvic floor. Every step we take, it supports us. Due to modern living, childbirth, bowel and bladder issues, it can suffer wear and tear and loose some of its tone, or all of it. Loving it and supporting it are important. Keeping the digestive system working well, so we have healthy bowel movements, keeping our kidneys and bladder healthy by drinking lots of water, and keeping our female and male organs healthy through massage (see arvigotherapy.com) all help to support our pelvic floor. Gravity, pressure from above, in particular through straining, too many abdominal exercises, jogging on hard surfaces, and carrying heavy loads can all contribute. Prevention is the key, and below find exercises for this area of the body. You know you should exercise all your other muscles. Don’t neglect these. Enjoy and it will reward you. See kegelqueen.com for the true expert support.

Step 1: First find the correct muscles that you are working to tone that make up your pelvic floor:

Lie on your back on a bed or the floor with your legs stretched out and one hand beneath your buttocks toward the side and the other hand have two fingers touching the area between your vagina and your anus. This is the pelvic floor.

Now contract the muscle under your two fingers. Pretend you are in an elevator and trying to prevent gas from passing. This area should contract even just a tiny amount. More important the buttocks under your other hand should not contract. Once you can do this, take the hand from under your buttocks and put it on your abdomen and contract the pelvic floor again. You want only the pelvic floor to contract, not the buttocks as you have already tried and not the abdominal muscles either. Also your inner thighs should not move either, on either side of the hand touching your pelvic floor.

Step 2: Now that you have found the muscles, even if they only contracted a little you can do some great work:

Wash your hands and insert your index finger into your vagina. If this is painful, check with your health care provider.

Now contract your pelvic floor without contracting the other muscles as you learned in step 1.

What did you feel around the fingers in your vagina? A great Kegel is feeling the fingers being pulled in and up. That is your goal. Rating yourself helps you to see progress, which can take a few weeks. Don’t get discouraged.

Try to hold whatever contraction you can do for as long as possible. Set a goal initially of 10 seconds.

Set aside time each day to do this work, just like you would do any other form of exercise or meditation. Try 2 minutes twice a day. You can get muscle fatigue if you try for too long at one time.

Watch yourself improve. How much stronger is your contraction? How much longer can you hold it?

Step 3: The next step is to see if you can do the same while doing activities around the house.

Step 4: Another important step is to see how long you can hold it and breathe during the Kegel also.

The next time you are trying to make it to the bathroom with the great urge to go, doing Kegels and breathing, with your focus on this, rather than on the bathroom door, will help you to get there without leaking or flooding. The next time you feel a sneeze coming on or want to jump on the trampoline, your urine with stay put, as those pelvic floor muscles stay contracted.

The best support for this work/exercise/self care is:
kegelqueen.com – Alice is a wonderful nurse and expert, and offers a great support network without leaving home.