Relaxing your Kegels for fun and profit

I attended a two day training seminar earlier this month on Suicide / Self Mutilation and Compassion Fatigue.

I’ll sum up all the knowledge bestowed upon me (and save you $350):

Unclench your pelvic floor and you will be stress-free.

Yes, really.

Evidently Eastern cultures have known about this for centuries. It’s a first chakra, yoga sort of thing.

Apparently there is a physiological reason for this. It has something to do with your neocortical function being reduced when you are clenched in the “fight or flight” response. In the presence of a perceived threat if you consciously unclench for 30 seconds it will cause your neocortex to flame back into life and therefore you’ll be able to use those higher functions like speech and complex planning, etc. This unclenching is for times you feel stress when you are not actually in danger: public speaking, test taking, etc. The instructor advised us to do a “pelvic floor check” periodically throughout the day.

Paraphrasing George Carlin, you never see anyone running and crapping themselves at the same time.

For clinicians (and law enforcement) suffering from compassion fatigue: you’re feeling burned out because you are clenching. No clenching!

But I’m more than a little dubious when someone tells me the solution to all of life’s problems can be solved with one simple trick.

I don’t care if a Yogi, a Boo-boo, and a Ranger can totally relax through releasing all sphincter muscles, that’s one trick which probably isn't going into Eric’s pickanick basket.


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Photos:
Frog (actually a second chakra exercise)
Yogi