Let’s Try This: Cat/Cow for your Pelvic Floor

I LOVE Cat/Cow. You can do it just about anywhere. Standing, sitting, table top. It gets all the joints along the spine moving, and wakes up your core and back muscles. This is a great movement cycle to play with your breath pattern and see how that shifts the sensations in your body.

One of my favorite ways to tweak Cat/Cow is to shift the focus to the pelvis. Thinking about opening and closing the base of the pelvis between the Ischial Tuberosities (the bony parts that you sit on) helps both lengthen and strengthen your pelvic floor.

Here’s a breakdown with my own rear-end as an example:

Start in a strong table top position. Wrists are under your shoulders, knees under hips, and your belly is wrapped in a hug. You are breathing expansively AND maintaining the hug of the belly. On your inhale, try to pull your sit bones (ischial tuberosities) apart. Your tailbone will move toward the ceiling. You may feel this on the outside of your glutes.

On your exhale, try to draw your sit bones towards each other. Your tail bone will move down towards the floor, and you may feel some engagement in your low abdominals.

Try this a few times and see how it feels. Working with the pelvic floor is very subtle. You may not feel much at all and that’s OK! That doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. You should not really “feel the burn” like you might in other more strenuous strength exercises like holding plank for a long time.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!