The mystery muscle - YogaCity NYC

The Mystery Muscle
“Engage your mula bandha," I hear from the front of the room.

Oh no, Not again. “Pretend you really, really have to pee"— one teacher will say. “Do a kegel," saysa another. Exactly what am I supposed to do and why, I can’t help thinking.

Mula bandha has been a mystery to me for years, as both a student and teacher of yoga. Likening this action to doing a kegel isn’t just a disservice to the longstanding tradition of yoga; it’s also an oversimplified and potentially detrimental explanation many teachers fall back on. Another is simply offering the Sanskrit translation—“root lock"—with little context. “That ‘lock’ word I find a little heavy handed," says Bill Gallagher, yoga therapist and master clinician in integrative rehabilitation at Mount Sinai Medical Center. “Learning to engage the pelvic floor and lift it up can help people learn to let it go."

The physiological benefits of mula bandha are many, but letting something go can’t happen if you don’t know exactly what it is you’re holding onto in the first place. The pelvic floor is several layers of musculature stretching between the sitting bones side to side and from pubic bone to tailbone front to back, says Amy Matthews, Body-Mind Centering teacher and managing director at The Breathing Project,.

Just how many layers comprise the pelvic floor is a point of contention among yogis. While some believe there are three layers, others make the distinction of only two. But regardless, acknowledging that there are multiple layers of muscle is important. “Let the bottom layer be about grounding and downward moving energy and the upward layer about upward lifting energy," says Matthews.

This awareness is not just important for women after childbirth and in old age. “It’s important for everybody who has legs and walks, for everybody who has a spine and has a body that moves around," says Matthews.

Why? Incontinence is the simple answer—being able to manipulate the muscles that control the flow of urine. But there’s more to it than that. The levator ani—a muscle that stretches across the base of the pelvic floor—translates to mean “elevator of the anus," says Jonathan FitzGordon, creator of the FitzGordon Method core walking program and yoga teacher at Prema Yoga in Brooklyn. “It’s an upward lifting muscle that supports the organs."

Try this: lift up the muscles of your pelvic floor as if you have to pee. Then attempt a full deep breath. It’s hard, isn’t it? The ability to contract and release the pelvic floor is critical in allowing us to choose the way we breathe. “This quality of responsiveness is what our goal should be," says Matthews.

When we inhale, the diaphragm moves down, increasing pressure on the organs below it. When the pelvic floor is gripped, it cannot respond to this intra-abdominal pressure, says Lara Kohn Thompson, who teaches at Kula and Bend & Bloom. “There’s pressure from upstairs when we breathe and when we move," she says. “It’s like a dance of diaphragms. They are interconnected."

When and for how long one ought to be engaging the pelvic floor is debated in the yoga world. In certain practices, like Ashtanga, we’re instructed to engage mula bandha throughout our practice. This makes sense when you are trying to maintain core stability during rigorous activity, another reason mula bandha is important. “It’s a way to preserve the back, to stabilize the spine," says Gallagher.

Often, some of the more superficial muscles of the lower back or abdomen jump in when we are looking for stability, which can overwork those muscles and lead to strain or postural problems, says Thompson. Finding stability from all of your deeper core muscles gives you a more solid foundation. It’s the difference between a building’s internal structural beams and its scaffolding.

But keeping the pelvic floor firing all the time is also problematic. Constantly gripping mula bandha can lead to sacroiliac pain because the back of the pelvis is in a position that can create a sheering force between the sacrum and the rest of the pelvis, says Gallagher. “If you are very strong and flexible, but have no awareness of the pelvic floor, that’s a problem."

Others believe properly positioning your pelvis is key in accessing mula bandha. FitzGordon says that finding a true mula bandha in which the line of energy runs from the base of the pelvis up the spine is only possible when the pelvis is in a neutral line. “Once you tuck your pelvis, mula bandha is gone," he says.

Still others believe engaging mula bandha is appropriate only after the body has been cleansed properly, removing toxins that develop from the cycles of digestion and metabolism.

While opinions in the yoga world may differ, what’s undisputable is that developing awareness of the pelvic floor is a critical first step in accessing mula bandha. “Strength requires motion. It’s the capacity to respond efficiently and with mobility," says Thompson. “It takes time to bring awareness to the body and mind."

-By Jane Porter

Moving from the Inside Out - Yoga Sleuth, spring 2012

Moving from the Inside Out with Lara Kohn Thompson
Bend and Bloom
708 Sackett Street, Brooklyn

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, this Yoga Sleuth found herself sloshing through the early summer rains to attend a lunchtime express class with Lara Kohn Thompson at Bend and Bloom in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Lara teaches many workshops on the pelvic floor around the city and having read about them, I was eager to check out her style and hear anything she had to say about this still somewhat mysterious (to me anyway!) region of the body.

Arriving a few minutes early, I placed my mat down underneath a window in the spacious, airy studio and waited for class to begin.

We began seated as Lara took us through a few simple movements to locate the breath, our connection to the core and our pelvic floor. She emphasized moving from the front of the spine, deep in the core of our body and allowing our focus to settle internally.

Almost immediately, I found my awareness drawn very deeply inward. Beginning by taking the time to deeply link my breath to the center of my body I found a level of focus and attention that carried me through the entire practice.

After spending a comfortable amount of time centering our focus on the breath and the spine, we made our way up to standing. Lara encouraged us to imagine that our legs were drawing energy up from the ground and our arms were drawing energy down from above.

Helping us to locate our shoulder blades, she said, “imagine that you have wings" to allow the arms and shoulders to work together.

Following that powerful image up by saying “and if that doesn't work for you, throw it away and try something else," giving each one of us the freedom to connect with our own practice and our bodies in a way that worked for us.

As we began to move a little more quickly and into more complicated postures Lara continued to remind us to let the movement emerge from that central core at the front of our spine and radiate outwards. She led us through a sequence of lunges, standing twists and a few variations on Warrior III.

In our asymmetrical standing poses she instructed us to “broaden the back of the pelvis" which created an enlightening sense of space and stability for this sleuth. Reinforcing the image of the legs lifting support out of the ground and the arms drawing downwards created a sense of lightness in the limbs as we moved through the flowing practice.

Time passed almost imperceptibly and before this sleuth knew it we were making our way down to the floor for Bridge pose. Lara offered Urdhva Danurasana as an option for anyone looking to take a deeper backbend.To counter the backbend we ended with a Paschimottanasana before making our way down into Savasana.

As we came down into our final rest Lara let us know that there was no class coming in immediately and we were welcome to stay in Savasana as long as we liked.

As I let my body settle into the stillness and the practice fall away, what remained was that deep sense of connection with my core and a lightness in my limbs which traveled with me out into the rest of my day.

Express Drop-in classes are $14, regular classes are $18. New student special - 3 classes for $30.

--Alex Phelan for Yoga Sleuth

Metro NYC - Best of 2012

DEC 21st 2012 - NY Metro Paper's Best of 2012

"Best yoga studio for postnatal, prenatal and everything in between: Bend & Bloom Yoga

Most yoga studios like to think they are inviting, welcoming locations for those who want to connect with their inner om, but few (especially in ultra-competitive NYC) actually are. Bend and Bloom is the real deal — a comforting place for low-key pre- and post-natal classes. Not on the mommy track? They have plenty of classes for everyone else, too."

Better Posnatal Yoga - Have we even thought about it? Yoga NYC 2013

Before giving birth, I read books about pregnancy, I researched birth, and I cared for my body and baby with good nutrition and prenatal yoga. After my daughter Wren was born I had little energy left for learning about postnatal time in any depth.

My body and my heart brought forth this beautiful little being who I fiercely love, but that experience also birthed this unfamiliar person called ‘Mom’. This feeling of not-knowing myself is part of what is so hard about being postnatal - I’m stuck in this vague transitional state without a compass. From this experience, the search for information and answers to my many questions led me to discover that postnatal resources do exist and are even starting to grow (even though woman have been doing yoga and having babies for thousands of years!)

Perinatal trainer and educator, Lara Kohn Thompson of Bend and Bloom Yoga and Kula Yoga Project, describes the first three months after birth as fundamental to a woman’s recovery. The body changes dramatically in the first 6-8 weeks and a woman needs plenty of rest. She says the body is “like origami, folding back in. A woman learns how to re-inhabit her structure."

During a woman’s pregnancy, her uterus and organs shift, her ligaments lengthen, and the blood and water volume increase in her body. In the postnatal period, her body must shed the extras and pull back together. Issues can arise and extend well beyond the first three months, and it seems like women are just expected to tolerate them.

The Classes

After having a baby, coming back to a yoga practice can be frustrating and defeating if you don’t have someone to guide you along the way. There wasn’t any postnatal yoga when Mia Borgatta, who is a nurse, doula, and co-founder of Lila Yoga and Wellness, gave birth to her daughter. She would take her new baby along to her Ashtanga practice.

Now postnatal classes come in different configurations, the most popular is the Mom/Baby class. Some teachers integrate the babies into the practice, but Borgatta doesn’t. She teaches a fairly vigorous class she calls “Mom-centric," where mothers are encouraged to feed or attend to the babies when needed. She also encourages a sense of community. Talking with one another and sharing birth stories is so important, years as a nurse has taught Borgatta how to listen. The downtown mom’s group Bowery Babes -with over 1000 members-credit their experience in pre- and postnatal yoga at Lila Wellness with their beginning.

Mary Barnes, creator of The Barnes Method and Yoga for Two, teaches a unique class called Momma Core, which focuses on strength building and therapeutics for specific ailments, like sore wrists, which come from repetitive motions like lifting your baby, or breastfeeding with improper positioning. Strictly postnatal classes like this one, sans bébé, are hard to find. Mary also offers a 20-hour postnatal certification, which is equally rare.

The most personalized option for new moms is to work one-on-one in private sessions. Kohn Thompson offers individualized physical care focusing on healthy posture, specifically in the home environment. She also reaches women in her workshop series Vive Les Femmes, which digs deeper into women-centered topics like the pelvic floor and the balance between motherhood and womanhood in the early postnatal time.

Whether you bring your baby to class or not, postnatal classes are designed for balance. While the body is healing in the first three months after birth, Kohn Thompson suggests gentle exercises to re-awaken and repair, increasing core strength. She also recommends restorative yoga to boost moms’ energy and confidence.

Pelvic floor, Diastasis, and Breath

During pregnancy, deep or unsupported back bending can be an omen of the diastasis to come. The split in the abdominal wall where the two sides of the rectus abdominus (your six-pack muscles) meet can be caused by the pressure of a baby pushing out against the abdomen coupled with bad posture, or strain on the belly. It is very common and most women don’t even know they have one!

Kohn Thompson says the earlier the better to begin exercises to repair a diastasis. Gentle exercises can help the diastasis heal and any strain on the abdominals needs to be avoided. No crunches or deep back bending, especially for breastfeeding women whose ligaments and tendons remain soft.

Pelvic floor repair is focused on toning and functionality to encourage both strength and elasticity. The repair work must be done in a holistic way, says Kohn Thompson, connecting the strengthening of the pelvic floor and the abdominal muscles with good posture in yoga asana and in the daily routine.

Barnes says the yogic way to repair the diastasis and pelvic floor is to follow the pattern of the breath, like we do for Mula and Uddiyana Bandha. She focuses on Ujjayi breath, a slow bellows-breath, and Kapalabhati to reconnect the Bandhas, retrain the diaphragm, and activate the transverse abdominals. Attention to the breath also has a positive effect on the nervous system.

To Thy Body Be True

Luckily for women like myself, these postnatal classes exist, but there are still gaps in the experience. There is information missing, including answers to important questions we may not even know how to ask.

I didn’t know what to do following the physically and emotionally traumatic birth of my daughter. On the advice of my midwife I did kegels while breastfeeding, and after four months I went to my first Mom/Baby class. On one level it felt great to be around other mothers, but at times talk of sleep training would put me over the edge.

Some days, the asana was just right, some days it was exhausting. Most of the time I wanted more, unsure if it was right for my body. I returned to my regular yoga classes with a bit of fear and trepidation: what is that pain in my lower left abdomen? Should I be practicing Up-Dog? As I became increasingly busy, I opted for private sessions to rehab my diastasis and to have an hour devoted to healing.

Each woman’s experience is as unique as her body and we must trust our yoga and ourselves to respond. “Any yoga system that does not include all members of society, young and old, healthy and the sick, and all phases of womanhood is not an ethical system," says Iyengar teacher Bobby Clennell and author of ‘The Woman’s Yoga Book,’ “Yoga should be adapted to bring a proper balance to all people and all circumstances." I shared my body with my daughter for nine months, but I am forever postnatal. I think it is reasonable to take some time to get to know what that means.

--Sara Hubbs