A Goddess, A Cow and A Cat

Until I was pregnant with my first child, I had never given any thought to my Pelvic Floor and how to keep it nice and strong. What...kegels? Don't older women only do them? Then, I took a Bradley Class.

Part of our weekly homework was to incorporate kegels into our daily routine. I believe we started out doing 25 kegels a day and then worked our way up to 200 by the end of our class. The idea is that by strengthening your Pelvic Floor, all that pushing during Labor will be easier and tearing is less likely to occur.

My Bradley teacher recommended incorporating kegels with some daily activity. For example, doing kegels every time you stop at a red light or when you are on the phone.

This time around, I was doing my kegels faithfully until I read this interesting post about a Biomechanical Scientist who recommends strengthening your glutes rather than doing tons of kegels. Now, I've been squatting every time I think about it. As well as doing lots and lots of the Goddess Pose.

Squatting is an easy exercise to incorporate into your daily routine. When I talk to my child, I get down on my haunches and squat. When I am on the computer, I put my laptop on a chair and squat. When I do dishes, I do squats. It's a simple thing to add to your routine and really helps build up your strength.

If you work at an office (where they might look at you funny...if you spent tons of time squatting in front of your computer), why not spent a minute or two doing the Goddess Pose or doing squats every time you go into the bathroom stall? Goodness knows, if you are pregnant you'll already spending a lot of time in there. Why not throw in a little strengthening exercise?

The other two yoga poses I do daily are the Cat and the Cow...both of which help with back pain. Whenever I start feeling a little achy in my back, I try and do both the Cat and the Cow. I immediately feel better. The only issue I have is that when my daughter sees me doing my Cat and Cows, she thinks it's an invitation to climb on my back. It means I just have to do some sneaky yoga!

Hope this helps getting your wheels turning on incorporating some simple exercises into your daily routine, whether or not you are pregnant. Good-luck!



**** Here is a photo of me with one of our numerous Barn Cats. My love of cats began very young, can't you tell?