The Danger We Cannot See

I spent this weekend studying pelvic floor health and position with Rebalance Pilates. As always, these trainings reinforce my understanding of how breathing patterns can lock us up or unlock space in the body: “Breathing is the origin of all movement patterns,” as Jason Masek, a PT at the Hruska clinic, says.

Earlier this week, one of my mentors and physical therapist Dr. Locatelli Rao shared the fable of the boiling frog. If you place a frog in an already boiling pot of water, it will immediately sense the danger and jump out. But if you place a frog in a pot of tepid water and slowly heat it up, the frog will not perceive the danger and will be boiled to death.

Because we take 25,000 breaths a day, we aren’t adept at noticing the patterned breathing that can stress or ease the load on our pelvic floor. We worry about acute injury that can be debilitating to our lifestyle, but we frequently right off daily indications off pelvic floor dysfunction - constipation, diarrhea, leaking urine, pelvic or low back pain. And yet there is strong correlation between pelvic floor dysfunction and shortened lifespan. Oftentimes it’s the danger we cannot see, which we allow to build over time, that is most detrimental to our functioning.

If you’re interested exploring and understanding more about the pelvic floor, check out my in-person and virtual classes in the next few weeks as I incorporate even more awareness of the pelvic floor and internal pressure systems into group and one on one movement opportunities.