Kegels and Belly Dance: A magic combination

The Pelvic Floor and Raq the Barre

“What is a Kegel?”

This question blows my mind. It’s part of my mission to make pelvic floor health common knowledge, so when I hear this question ladies, I jump.

A Kegel is a pelvic floor exercise where we focus our intention on the lifting of the pelvic floor.

This is usually “so” easy before we have kids that we don’t even have to think about it. But any injury (anywhere in the body), abdominal surgery, pregnancy, childbirth and even trauma can affect our pelvic floor function as we age.

Did you catch that? Any injury anywhere in the body has the potential to throw off our pelvic floor. That’s because everything is connected through fascia. So if you hurt your shoulder (or your hip or your knee, etc) and walk goofy for awhile, your pelvic floor may compensate and end up functioning differently even after the initial injury has healed.

This is why I work so hard to promote this understanding among women. It’s not just peeing when you sneeze as we age. It’s preventable and treatable. Even if you don’t know why your pelvic floor is weak or tight, there are stretches and exercises that you can do at home.

So, now that I have your attention, let’s chat!

You know in Raq the Barre, we talk about the Lift, Lock, Drop posture? Once we bend our knees, our hips have a lot of potential. They can go forward and backward, they can go side to side, they can swivel in circles and figure 8s.

Let’s talk about adding a Kegel to your forward and back motion, also known as tucks.

We’ll start in our neutral position. We are going to go slower than normal at first. Take a deep breath and intentionally relax your pelvic floor. Now, when you tuck your hips forward, add a Kegel. Feel that? Now there is an immediate bonus to your workout already!

Take a moment to sense that movement in your body. Did it seem natural? Did it seem balanced? If you have scar tissue, you may notice one side is easier to contract than the other. That’s ok. For now, just take note.

Push your hips back to neutral position and relax the Kegel. Now really relax the Kegel. It’s easy to want to hold the Kegel halfway. Make sure you really let it go. The pelvic floor can get tight if we are constantly squeezing it. So use this moment to breathe and double check that you really relaxed it.

You know what’s great about adding Kegels to dance? You are training your body to do these exercises while you’re moving. Once you feel confident here, you can add these quick flick Kegels to many of your belly dance moves!

Kegels can improve the strength and endurance of the pelvic floor. Training them in different planes of motion by incorporating them into your belly dance practice can help improve the quality of your every day life…which is why we dance in the first place!

Thank you for reading! If you found this helpful, please share with your friends and family. It is my mission to share this life-changing health information with all women!

Coming soon: work out with me online 24/7 at www.4play.fitness

The site will be up very soon!!

Source:

Kegel Exercises: Benefits, How To & Results