By Ali Handley

When you are pregnant and postnatal you need to find a much deeper connection to your pelvic floor than purely a kegel type squeeze.

The pelvic floor is an incredible system, consisting of three separate layers that criss cross and connect within the pelvis to provide support for the abdominal organs and your spine.

During the course of your pregnancy your goal is to strengthen the muscles to support the growing uterus, then in labor we ask these muscles to stretch and change so much that a baby can come out! They undoubtedly deserve your TLC but working out how to activate them can be really challenging.

Here are a few images that might help you identify with the activation and engagement that not only squeezes, but pulls together and lifts – Please just flow with me here – some might seem far fetched but you don’t know what will work for you!

1. The Blossoming Flower 

INHALE – through your nose and imagine a flower blossoming out from your vagina.

EXHALE – slowly and evenly out your mouth and imagine drawing the petals and leaves, and the entire flower back inside you.

2. Pea up a Straw

INHALE – through your nose and imagine there is a little pea right in between your vagina and your anus.

EXHALE – slowly and evenly out your mouth and imagine sucking that little pea up a straw

3. Pick a Penny up

INHALE – through your nose and imagine you are sitting on a penny that is on it’s side.

EXHALE – slowly and evenly out your mouth imagine pulling the two sides of your pelvic floor around the penny and lifting it up inside of you.

4. The Hammock

INHALE – through your nose and imagine there is a lose hammock that hangs from your pubic bone to your tailbone

EXHALE – slowly and evenly out your mouth and imagine lifting the hammock and making it taut and tight.

5. The Elevator

INHALE – through your nose and imagine your pelvic floor is an elevator on the ground floor.

EXHALE – slowly and evenly out your mouth and imagine the elevator lifting up and through the tummy.

6. Diamond Hold

INHALE – through your nose and imagine you are sitting on a diamond. A diamond shape is quite a good representation of the actual shape of the pelvic floor and it’s connections.

EXHALE – slowly and evenly out your mouth and imagine drawing the diamond up and inside of you.

Give them all a go – you never know what might work for you and hopefully it’s all of the them!

Check out the Demo Videos for all the above exercises that form part of the Bodylove Mamas Prenatal Fundamentals.