Pelvic Floor Strenghteners

A student of mine is experiencing a prolapsed pelvic floor. Are there asanas that might help her strengthen the area? —Lani

Read Aadil Palkhivala's reply:

Dear Lani,

Before you strengthen the pelvic floor, the weight of the abdominal organs has to be lifted off both the pelvic floor (in yoga, the "perineum") and the inguinal ligament. This is best achieved with inversions. Not having seen your student, and given the sparse information I have, my best suggestion is to have her do prolonged inversions. These should be supported and should include Viparita Karani (Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose), Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog), hanging on a pelvic swing in Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose), and Viparita Dandasana (Inverted Staff Pose) done on a chair with the feet lifted to the same height as the buttocks. These should be held to the student's capacity, aiming for 10 minutes each, two times each day. The student should visualize the organs of the abdomen falling toward the thoracic diaphragm, creating space between them and the pelvic floor.

After a month or more of this quiet practice, introduce Tadasana (Mountain Pose), Trikonasana (Triangle Pose), Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose), and Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose, here with knees bent and feet on a wall), all with a very gentle Mula Bandha (Root Lock).

Advise your student to eat root vegetables and drink water with a little lemon juice and organic stevia extract added to help the body hydrate.

There may be emotional issues to this prolapse, but those would have to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, with a senior yoga teacher supervising you.

Recognized as one of the world's top yoga teachers, Aadil Palkhivala began study of yoga with B.K.S. Iyengar at the age of 7 and was introduced to the yoga philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother at the age of 10. He received the Advanced Yoga Teacher's Certificate at the age of 22 and is the founder-director of internationally-renowned Yoga Centers™ in Bellevue, Washington and the founder of Purna Yoga™. Acclaimed as the "teacher of teachers," Aadil is also a federally-certified Naturopath, a certified Ayurvedic Health Science Practitioner, a clinical hypnotherapist, a certified Shiatsu and Swedish bodywork therapist, a lawyer, and an internationally-sponsored public speaker on the mind-body-energy connection, and director of the internationally-recognized school for yoga teachers, The College of Purna Yoga. www.aadil.com

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