How often ‘should’ I do my Kegels or pelvic floor exercises?
First of all, I generally like to refer to pelvic floor practises or exercises rather than Kegels. There are so many ways to engage with the pelvic floor and we have done it way before Mr Kegel came along.
Think of your pelvic floor exercise as an awareness practise. An awareness of how you use your body, how you move it, how you sit and stand. Apply that awareness specifically to your pelvic floor. We move the pelvic floor all the time. Even when we breathe. But if we are sedentary, in the same position most of the time, if we don’t breathe properly or digest well then our pelvic floor suffers.
Think of your pelvic floor exercise as an awareness practise.
There are many ways to explore and move the pelvis floor – just like the rest of our body. But the great thing specifically about a pelvic floor focused practise is: you don’t need any specific equipment, no yoga mats, no specialist clothing. You can do it anywhere: whilst brushing your teeth, sitting in a meeting, while you exercise, while you watch the telly and during love-making.
When to practice pelvic floor exercises
Try to explore practising and bringing awareness to the pelvic floor in all different situations.
Apply the following practises:
Learn to release and relax the pelvic floor muscles.
Work with the slow twitch muscle fibres for endurance by holding the Kegel, or engagement, for a few breaths.
Then try to relax the pelvic floor muscles for a few breaths.
Move it with the breath.
Try quick pulsation of the pelvic floor.
Explore the different parts of the pelvic floor.
So how often “should” you practise your pelvic floor exercises?
Rather than thinking of a specific sequence or count of Kegels do a little but often. And always remember that you need to focus on the relaxation too. To learn what you need to focus on you might want to see a therapist who is qualified to do an internal examination or educate yourself on my sacredpelvis.com online course. Here you learn how to bring awareness to your pelvic floor and find where you need more strength or more release. Then we learn how to both strengthen and relax any tension. And you get plenty of variations on practises you can enjoy.
If you practise a little across the day you have practised a lot.
The more you become aware of how you and your pelvic floor muscles move it becomes a natural part of your daily wellbeing and routine. You notice your sacred pelvis when you do your shopping, sit in a meeting (is it tight and contracted, strong and stable, relaxed?), when you slouch in front of the computer or sofa perhaps your pelvic floor muscles contract and tighten (and not in a good way) and does it move when you move and when you breathe?
Start to play around with it and let it become part of your everyday awareness. Remember a little but often is a lot. So just enjoy and have fun.
Play around with it and have fun.