Pelvic Floor Breathing Exercises - it’s time to move Beyond Belly Breath

Non-dualism is the awareness that everything is interconnected, that nothing is separate from anything else. The experience of non-duality is the feeling of wholeness.

There was a period of time last year when I was going through a particularly rough patch. Anxiety was high, and all of the regular holding spots in my body were feeling tight.

My entire pelvic girdle and the surrounding areas were all bound up. My low back hurt, my second-best hip (my right hip) flared up in the way it does sometimes, and my digestion was out of whack.

I was walking to the bathroom when I sneezed. And I peed a little.

WTF?!

Dinacharya is a Sanskrit word that means the “Daily Rhythm”. The 24-hour day is divided into six segments, and each of the three Ayurvedic constitutional types/doshas is dominant during two of the six segments. The elemental effects of each dosha are heightened during the corresponding times of day. 

The two doshas that are dominant during the majority of our morning hours are the Vata Dosha and the Kapha Dosha:

• The Vata Dosha’s effects are greatest from 2am-6am

• The Kapha Dosha’s effects are greatest from 6am-10am

Evolution is not linear. There are ups and downs and sideways turns.

A growing edge that’s awake and alive in my life right now is the practice of trust. Trust in my own knowing. Trust in my body. Trust in my nervous system. Trust in my intuition.

Recently I found myself in a situation where I lost connection to my intuition. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that I didn’t understand her right away. The wisdom my body speaks was tamped down by my thinking mind.

Last year my plantar fascia became very vocal. I had incorporated some different exercises into my routine (lots of jumping) and whewie! My body had some stuff to say!! More specifically my body was communicating its needs, albeit loudly.

For many weeks in the mornings you could find me hobbling around the house in my white tiger fuzzy bathrobe, irritably whispering “ouch!” or “ugh” under my breath, and basically ignoring my feet until things started working themselves out enough for me to be a functional, upright-walking human.

Without travel and other distractions, I’ve felt the voices of the seasons, the moon, and the sun differently than I had before. There’s a wisdom in the rhythm of nature, as she ebbs and flows. The season of the year, the cycle of the moon, the rise, and fall of the sun… even the hours of each day have their own energies.

For many of my younger years, I didn’t understand that. I pushed through minutes, days, and months of my body asking for rest, even when I had the time to slow down. The pulse of nature, my body, and its rhythms weren’t aspects of life that I was taught to listen to. Rather, my body’s needs were something I attempted to overcome through will and intellect.

When we breathe through the left nostril, we activate the right hemisphere of the brain. This is responsible for present moment awareness, access to compassion, kindness, appreciation and equanimity, and promotes parasympathetic nervous system function. This pranayama also enhances the flow of prana through the Ida nadi, the energy channel/nadi which ends at the left nostril. Ida has the qualities of feminine, lunar, cooling and receptive.

Chandra Bhedana is a calming and cooling pranayama suited for times of stress, distraction and overwhelm.

Begin in a tall seat, and quiet your eyes by softening your gaze downward or closing your eyes.

Place your L palm face down on your L knee.

Look at your R palm and bend your index and middle fingers down.