breath, throat, pelvis

The intense stress and fast pace of our lives is often reflected in tremendous tension in our jaw. And as above so below, we hold tension in our pelvic floor as well.

A woman’s center of gravity is in the lower half of her body. But our lives ask of us to bring more attention and energy to our upper half. It becomes increasingly more difficult to relax and access our full pleasure.

A combination of movement and relaxation practices has always been my fastest way to connect to myself and to access my pleasure. I don’t pay special attention to breath as I trust that my body knows if she needs shallow or deep breaths.

However conscious breath is a beautiful way to regulate our nervous system.

I have used it for that purpose on occasion. But that was it.

I am the daughter of a singer though for whom conscious breath was the foundation of her sound.

I like to sing, loud and without pitch when no one can hear me, and I harbor a secret wish for a Karaoke machine. Simply so I can sing along with text to music I like. Truthfully where I would do that, I’m not so sure. Down by the Olive trees perhaps? I would certainly scare all the sheep away….

Then my neighbor hosted a class called: When Breath becomes Sound.

If we sang all of three notes, it was a lot.

Yes, it was about breath and how it sustains a singer, but it was also about connecting and deeply listening to the signals of our body.

It was slow and increasingly relaxing work which allowed for my breath to deepen and expand in unexpected ways. Organically I found the tone frequency that is innate to my body. And it was higher than I thought.

There were so many points of connection to the somatic movement I usually work with! It made me very happy because I love finding, what I call the red thread, that weaves through seemingly different things.

I’m going to pursue this for sure as it fits so beautifully with my work!

There is much I could tell you about this intricate engagement, but I’ll keep it to the one that surprised me most.

While sitting I was asked to bring my attention to my baseline. My physicality in space and the support I was receiving from my feet up through my legs and my bottom on the chair.

And I noticed how NOT relaxed I tend to sit although I think I am relaxed. I hang in my bone structure, and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t deepen my breath.

This shape or pattern of how I sit blocks the free flow of breath and relaxation.

Through slowly moving my body I could detect tension and relaxation in my body. And every exhale, with a relaxed jaw and the tongue just resting gave me an unexpected gift of letting go. It’s like I got in right relationship with gravity.

My whole body became a sponge for air.

My jaw, my throat, my whole body softened.

My pelvic floor didn’t have to clench to hold me up. Every muscle worked without strain and with minimal effort.

Most surprising was the connection between my throat and my pelvic floor. The more relaxed my jaw and throat became through the breath and some gentle sound, the more I was able to unwind the tension in the muscles in my pelvic floor.

And I remembered a drawing that I had seen once of the connection between the vocal cords and the pelvic floor, showing the hammock-like diaphragmatic muscles that support the throat and the pelvic floor.

Artwork by Luise Alexandre

Those muscles move in tandem with our breath.

Sound not only relaxes our throat. It softens our pelvic floor too!

Sing. Hum. Moan. Groan. Take deep sighs. Exhale. All with a relaxed jaw (your mouth will be slightly open and the tongue heavy behind your teeth).

Your pelvic floor muscles will relax and with that your access to pleasure will increase!

Why not start with the throat and the breath to give our strained pelvic floor muscles some reprieve.