Like the Earth’s core, the Pelvic Floor Muscles are the epicenter of the body - effected by all thoughts, movements, and changes of the environment. Whatever happens in the brain happens in the PFM, and whatever happens outside the body also happening inside in it. Better yet, as above so below, as the universe so the soul. Being that our breath affects the function of the nervous system, the breath and Deep Core Pressure Management System will be the necessary foundation to cultivate true strength. Remember, the DCPMS are the first muscles your nervous system roots into. First baby breathes, they stress, then their nervous system is regulated so they can recover and rest. Keep stressing and recovering, aka regulating, and you’ll continuously heal and grow. The stronger your breath, the stronger your DCPMS, and therefore, the more stable your nervous system. In other words, you can capitalize off the control of your holes! So imagine what happens when you prioritize your breath and deep core connection throughout resisted movement...I’ll tell you – by optimizing your inner most layers, they’re then more likely and better able to integrate with the superficial layers, like your six-pack muscles, obliques, glutes and shoulder muscles. You’ll have better neuromuscular control throughout movement, and a safer base of support from the inside-out. The Q-angle (quadriceps angle): the angle formed by drawing a line from your hip bone to the middle of your kneecap. Females typically have a much higher Q-angle than males because we have a wider pelvis...because we carry the babies. Our hips and legs are designed to provide the most support. This also means our hips and legs need the utmost strength. Men have wider shoulders. Their support and strength is mostly provided by their upper half. Not that women should not be strong in their upper half and men in the their lower half...but are you seeing the equal and opposite, perfect Divine Design here between the sexes?

Simply put, better breath, better sex! The pelvic floor muscles specifically are responsible for sex. Your ability to desire, find pleasure, become aroused, have an erection, reach orgasm, conceive, and create, all comes from the balance of your breath, the PFM and your nervous system. Sex may hurt so good sometimes, but unmanaged pressure overtime increases tension, which can lead to pain with sex, lack of desire or libido, inability to orgasm and painful orgasm, even fertility issues. And I want to be careful here because some of these symptoms fall under perimenopause. However studies have confirmed that hormones will fluctuate, and pelvic floor dysfunction can present anywhere from 0-7 years after your last birth. In other words, (and I think you'll be happy to know) this is your body’s natural response to having a baby. Medication may lessen symptoms, but it would be in every mother’s best interest to not overlook the function, strength and support the pelvic floor muscles can provide at this time. Kegels will not save you. That’s just creating more tension...and remember too much tension limits pleasure in every capacity. Like any muscle in the body, the PFM need to lengthen and contract to provide support and for you to give and receive...and actually enjoy it. When the pelvic floor muscles are strong, they provide blood flow, and communications to and from the brain, encouraging hormones necessary for support, sex, continence control, peak performance, and the desire for more. That part about communication is especially important for trying to conceive women. Your labs might come back normal, but if your PFM are not communicating with your brain, your brain won’t tell your hypothalamus and pituitary glands to tell your ovaries to produce hormones necessary for reproduction. Rather, they might continue to produce androgrens, like testosterone, throwing your hormones off balance, increasing tension, and mind-body stress. Your breath and connection to your sex muscles stabilizes and regulates your nervous system. Meaning the PFM help rid the body of unnecessary energy and tension. When your NS is stable, your brain receives an important message: You are safe.

For the most part, breath is involuntary. However, it is the voluntary practice of breath that aligns and stabilizes both the mind and body. The breath divinely connects to four breathing muscles, together known as the Deep Core Pressure Management System. This is your diaphragm, multifidus, transverse abdominis, and pelvic floor muscles. These are the first muscles your nervous system touches and communicates with. And when these muscles lengthen on inhale and contract on exhale, as they were so divinely designed, the nervous system stabilizes. Your inhale is the on switch: fight or flight Your exhale is the off switch: rest and digest [more on breath manipulation and optimizing nervous system power later] Seasons where pressure is rising, like aging, illness, injury, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, can limit our ability to breathe efficiently. Inefficient breath reinforces the fight or flight stress response, increasing mind-body tension and inevitably the risk of injury. In order to manage increasing pressure, because stress, change, pain, and unpredictability cannot be avoided, we have to start with breath. We must return to our inherent divine nature, calm to think and move with efficiency. Remember the stress-recovery cycle I mentioned when I spoke on Divine Design: Birth last week? Only when completed do we receive rest, and the powers to heal and grow. It won’t happen when we’re stressed, or remain in fight or flight. However, when we move out of fight or flight and into our divine nature, calm, which connection to the DCPMS does for us, alignment improves, pain sensitivity lowers, and risk of injury lowers. Only when the nervous system is stable do we feel safe, and are we able to increase mind-body efficiency, longevity, and pleasure. We'll discuss how the DCPMS and nervous system affects sex and pleasure next time. For now, I'd love to know how breath technique has supported you in high demand seasons. Drop a comment below 🤍

Birth is hard and painful no matter which way it goes. However I’m told it can be “orgasmic”, beautiful, soul-opening, and down right easy with the right tools. My first year as a Pregnancy Postpartum Strength Expert God revealed those tools to me. If the pelvic floor pulls pressure up when you close it, it must allow pressure to shift down when you leave it open. So I reversed the diaphragmatic breath. I had my clients do this in every posture just like we do while strength training. Several positive client reviews later and I was teaching these tools to the other coaches. Six and a half years later and I’m proud to give women the tools they need to meet change, pain, and unpredictability with confidence and trust. I’m proud to remind women that they can birth with ease no matter what others have experienced or their own previous experience. A question I get at least once a year is, “How do you train women for birth when you’ve never given birth before?” I used to respond with “Well has your orthopedic surgeon had shoulder, knee or hip surgery?” I was a bit green and defensive then...now I say, “How does an athlete train for their first triathalon? They practice. They move and eat with intention. They increase their strength. They remove what is not serving them. They remember the goal and their divine design. Training mothers and soon to bes for birth is the same. Well kind of...we talk a lot more about vaginas, but you get the idea.” Truthfully training pregnant women came more natural to me than training athletes, birth being what our body is built for, and the fact that I want at least 7 babies myself...yes you read that right...as many babies as this body and God will give me. Yeah I’ll be stressed, life will be messy as ever, but to me that’s the idea. I will live this life to the fullest and make the most out of every breath I take. You might have thought the first thing you did Earth-side was cry, but in fact the first thing you did was breathe. You took a deep breath in, and that inhale activated your sympathetic nervous system, “fight or flight” stress response...and then you cried.

Truthfully, I'm not introducing you to anything new, but rather imploring you to remember what is inherently yours. Divine Design is how you're built, what makes you who you are and keeps you ascending physically, spiritually and emotionally. Everything from birth, breath, sex, strength, stress and recovery. All that has been gifted to your spirit, all that honored will Ground, Build, Lift the spirit, AndBeyond. The ancients understood breath as a life-giving, spiritual, and connective force. Since the beginning of time, breath-work has been known to increase our strength, and then reconnect and return us to our divine nature, calm, where healing and growth takes place. What would happen if you maintained that calm while under load… What does nervous system regulation have to do with your pelvic floor… What does birth and sex feel like when you know how to control your holes… How is breath a strong indicator of well being? The very first thing we did on earth was breathe. The breath is your life force. If you honor what gives you life, then you live a better balanced, longer life. Over the next few weeks I’ll be breaking down our Divine Design. And we start where it always starts — with birth. Which discussion are you most excited for?