Dear friends,
I have recently attended a weekend Yoga workshop with Annie Carpenter in Seattle at Mother Yoga in the international district. The workshop attracted many local teachers and I am always so inspired when teachers continue to show up and keep learning. I am grateful that Annie Carpenter continues to do the work herself and shares the knowledge she’s attained over her many years of teaching. She is constantly learning and growing in her own practice. She has had to overcome her unique challenges in her own body and generously shares her experience which encourages her students to grow in themselves and give that back to their students.
Annie teaches her students how to find neutral pelvis, using the 3 planes of movement (Sagittal, coronal, transverse). It is a simple and effective way to learn and establish neutral pelvis, which is, in my opinion, so important to practice for whole body health and function. Of course once you establish this awareness of neutral pelvis and what it is and is not – it takes attention and practice to sustain it as one unravels possibly unconscious poor habits and holding patterns.
This is the practice! Paying attention to our posture to enhance our inner connections, circulation, and function in our day-to-day activities. Our bones and structures directly affect our muscles, fascia and inner organs inside to function and work properly!
I believe pelvic placement and awareness is everything as it is the center of our body and affects our whole system. Our pelvis not only connects to our upper body through our spine, but it also connects to our lower body through our femur bones. The pelvis also has 2 sides – a right pelvic half and a left pelvic half and that is significant!!
I made a short video/practice on my YouTube channel if you are interested understanding neutral pelvis where I use the 3 planes of movement. I have also started incorporating this in my Thursday mat classes:)
If you are reading this, you may already know that it is Annie’s focus on the pelvis that drew me to her and her teachings. Annie emphasizes how our femur bones drive pelvic placement, so when we work through the 3 planes of movement to balance and neutralize our pelvis, it is essential that our feet and our legs are integrating into our hip sockets though out our movements too .
As you can imagine, if we are not paying attention, the pelvis, could take many shapes and forms! It could be a combination of either tucked, arched, hiked up on one side and/or rotated too much in one direction. If you are suffering pain or discomfort in your lower back and/or hips, a misaligned, unbalanced pelvis could be to blame.
To clarify, the pelvis is going to move when we move as it is part of the spine and the legs, so its normal for the pelvis to move in and out of a neutral posture. For example, every time we walk we move in and out of tuck/tilt, hike up and down, and we rotate side to side. However, problems arise when the pelvis gets stuck in an unbalanced position and cannot unstick.
When the pelvis is imbalanced, it can directly affect the health and well-being of our pelvic floor. The following are some interesting facts on our pelvic floor to better understand why our physical alignment is so crucial.
1 – the pelvic floor is the base and the foundation of our core.
Its a group of muscles that sit at the very bottom of our pelvis, like a sling or hammock. It supports everything above it – bladder, bowel, hips and spine.
2 – the pelvic floor has openings.
For example – Women – 3
- urethra
- Vagina
- Rectum
These muscles need to open and close at the right times to keep everything moving and working smoothly.
3 – the pelvic floor muscles should lift and lower with our breathing which is why taking deep breaths is soooo very important.
It’s a dynamic! Think of an elevator. When you breath in the elevator goes down and when you breath out the elevator goes up! A healthy pelvic floor should be able to move easility depending what your body is doing! BREATHE
4 – your pelvic floor is 70% fascia and 30% muscle.
Fascia is a stretchy connective tissue that connects our whole body like a web. It relies on the muscles to give it support, as it cannot contact on its own! When the muscles are not doing its job and the pelvis is out of alignment for whatever reason, the fascia can over stretch and as consequence can be weakened. When the fascia is overstretched it can make matters worse as the pelvic floor muscles try to work harder..it can be a vicious cycle. When this cycle continues, the pelvic floor becomes hypertonic and unable to relax as it is working overtime to compensate for the stretched out fascia. This tightness overtime leads to weakness as our pelvic floor never gets a chance to relax! This can lead to damage and several pelvic floor issues – muscle spasms, leaking, straining, inability to empty, prolapse.
I first hand understand this dynamic as I have experienced many of these consequences. Although I did not welcome any of them, they have made me a better teacher and someone that understands the importance of body alignment, especially the value in neutral pelvis!
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