"Modern Yoga: Everything You Want to Know About the Pelvic Floor" is your handy guide to understanding all things PF - what it does, what can go wrong, and how yoga practitioners, teachers, and any human being with a pelvis can work with their pelvic floor for optimal health.
💡82 pages of practical and condensed knowledge
🧠 Information about the complex and multi-functional nature of the pelvic floor and how it relates to breathing, your posture, sex and orgasms, and more
🤔 Information about pelvic floor disorders and why Kegels are not all they're cracked up to be
🏋️♂️ 5 tips & 6 functional movement exercises to help improve your pelvic health
💆♀️ Learn how to RELAX your pelvic floor with pelvic diaphragmatic breath work and reverse Kegels
🔥 Practical recommendations for yoga teachers & explanation of why the "lift your pelvic floor” cue is outdated (goodbye, Mula Bandha!)
👩⚕️ Q&A with a pelvic health physiotherapist
👩🎨 Original illustrations by Canadian artist Ksenia Sapunkova
What our readers are saying:
I have a whole new level of respect for my pelvic floor after reading this ebook. It opened my eyes to the important role it plays outside of being a part of the core muscle group. Roles and functions I'd not even thought about connecting to it! A valuable resource for all students of Yoga.
- Jo Smith, @jobadjujuyoga
In my constant search for more information, this book is exactly what I needed! I learned so much about my own body and feel more prepared to use it wisely both on the mat and off. Who knew the pelvic floor could be so fascinating!!
- Sarah Dittmore, @autobiographyofanadventurer
I just finished it and used some inspirational nuggets in my prenatal class this afternoon! Sooo good! So informative and digestible and applicable. Thank you!
- Sarah Jane, @findalittlespace
- Nick Combs, @nursenickyoga
Just read "Modern Yoga: Everything You Want to Know About the Pelvic Floor" from Shut Up & Yoga re: the pelvic floor. As a teacher trainer, I appreciate demystifying Mula Bandha, as many people cue this and aren't exactly sure what it means.
This book is AMAZING! A must for yoga teachers.
- Tracey Soghrati, @traceysoghrati
I finished reading this morning and highly recommend your book as an invaluable resource for all bodies (all genders, yogis/nonyogis, with pain/no pain at present, people who meditate and do breath work, any person who wants to better understand human movement, sexual health, elimination health, and more). So much knowledge (some of it counter to commonly held beliefs) and wisdom (re: bio-psycho-social model of illness and disease). The writing is crisp and clear; the organization inviting; and the illustrations illuminating. Thank for this labor of love offered at a very affordable price.
- @woodlandyoga
Who Are We?
ELY BAKOUCHE
Editor
Ely is the editorial director at Shut Up & Yoga magazine. She’s also a writer, yoga teacher, world traveler, life student, and absolute language nerd. She believes in the power of change, and likes to look at it through words & ideas.
KERRY MCINNES
Author
Kerry is a Canadian yoga teacher and student of Physiotherapy. She completed her Master’s of Science in physiotherapy research (rehabilitation research) at Dalhousie University in 2016 and learned to value an evidence-based approach to understanding human movement.
KSENIA SAPUNKOVA
Illustrator
Ksenia is a Canadian artist and entrepreneur, born in Eastern Europe. Her art practice straddles the fine art and commercial art worlds and includes painting, fashion design, videography, and illustration.
JAIMEE HOEFERT
Editor
Jaimee discovered the transformative power of yoga during the final years of her PhD in molecular biology, and owes her degree to her practice. She is currently a grant consultant, yoga student and yoga teacher living in Minneapolis, MN.
Author's Note
Dear yogis,
I take it you want to learn more about the pelvic floor (PF), and you have come to the right place. The PF has become a hot topic in the movement world, so the time is ripe to learn more about it. It is a fascinating region of the body to explore because of the complex and multi-functional nature of the muscles that support our nether regions. While these muscles might be famed for their ability to control our bowels and bladder, PF function goes much further.
In this book, we dive into the functions beyond the obvious. We explain:
• How the PF responds to your every movement to maintain your overall stability and posture
• How the PF relates to breathing AND how we can use breathwork to encourage the PF to relax
• How the PF is involved in sex and orgasms
• How PF health is so closely related to psychological health via the mind-body connection
When you take a step back and begin to appreciate everything the PF does, it is really rather astounding! So astounding, that I believe the PF needs to be honoured, appreciated, and worked with. And guess what — this book offers a set of tools for helping improve your overall pelvic health. What’s more, since we believe in consulting experts, we also provide a Q&A with a pelvic health physiotherapist who specializes in this area of the body.
As movement enthusiasts — and more importantly, as human beings with a pelvic floor — I think it is so important to educate ourselves about pelvic health. This is precisely why we made this book.
I hope you enjoy learning about the PF as much
as I enjoyed writing this book!
— Kerry McInnes