Episode 89: Rolling a Ball from Hip to Hip with Pelvic Floor Awareness

Episode 89:

In today’s short Feldenkrais lesson we will use the pubic bone, the tailbone, and the creases of the hip joints as anatomical places of reference and awareness. This mini lesson is an example of the direction that the lessons will start to take in the Pelvic Floor and Deep Core Rapport Series. 

This lesson continues the process of finding power and grace from your pelvis. What set's this practice apart from other pelvic explorations is the subtlety of it all and the inner connections you'll make from your perineum (the pelvic floor) to your hip joints. For many people, this lesson may help you start to simply sense your hip joints as part of the pelvis. This is a nice lesson to pair with Episode 86: which was a yoga class with Pubic Bone Awareness.

At the end of the lesson I will start to introduce a subtle engagement of the pelvic floor in coordination movements of the pelvis. The function of the pelvic floor has a profound effect on our quality of life. The pelvic floor lies like a flexible hammock at the base of the pelvis. When the pelvic floor is supportive and stable, it acts like an arch that can dome upward.

The pelvic floor is a dynamic system that when healthy will respond to changes of your body, changes such as the diaphragmatic movements of each inhale and exhale. Just like any other muscle the pelvic floor can be contracted, engaged, and very tight, or it can be loose, weak, and hard to sense. These tissues have a dynamic range of tone available to them just like any other muscle in the body. These muscles, at the base of the pelvis, are important for all functional movements, including standing, walking, dancing, and even sitting. Anything that can be done to bring more ease or a higher quality of control in this area can be revolutionary to one’s life.

See the image below for the anatomical boundary points of the pelvic floor. This is a view looking up from below:

Sarah Baumert has been teaching movement and creating Sarah B Yoga podcast classes since 2006. She is a certified yoga teacher, yoga therapist and Feldenkrais® practitioner. This podcast is an intersection of her yoga teaching and training in the Feldenkrais® method. Classes include sensory rich movement experiences for a more resilient and healthy nervous system to help you feel a greater sense of ease and comfort in yourself. Each podcast is an originally crafted class taught by Sarah Baumert. Sarah's teaching is alignment based, unhurried, and rich with somatic inquiries. The cueing is effective, easy to follow, and uses visualizations of postures to allow for unexpected growth and depth. You will find live unplugged versions of her classes from yoga studios, as well as classes that are specifically produced for the podcast medium.

Find more teachings like this class on the Body Matter website, including:

Pelvic Floor and Deep Core Rapport Series
Live online classes
Self-paced courses &
The Body Matter Membership Library

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