“I don’t want to live in a world where farts ain’t funny”

An Irish flatmate once said this and it’s stuck with me ever since.

We have so much disgust and shame around flatulence that it has almost become taboo.

In my early days of Ashtanga Mysore practice the teacher came over to pretzel me into a deep bound twist. As he manipulated me into position, like a bagpipe being squeezed, I let out the loudest botty burp EVER. It was 6.2 on the richter scale!

I was so embarrassed and turning bright red when he remarked “thats supposed to happen”.

Farting, flatulence, fluffing, - it’s all a natural and necessary biological function. It’s a sign of healthy gut motility and pelvic floor function.  When it is not happening, this can indicate issues with the pelvic floor, breathing, digestion and nervous system regulation.

When we breathe in, ideally both the pelvic floor and the respiratory diaphragm move down together, and when we exhale they move up. If we are in a constant state of stress, consistently holding our bellies in, or engage in too much mula bandha we disrupt this natural flow.

The pelvic floor is both skeletal and smooth muscle so the state of our nervous system affects the contractions happening there. Too much flight or fight (stress), tightens all of the orifices impacting breathing, digestion and trumping. This happens beneath our level of consciousness.

The pelvic floor plays a part in core stability too. If we are unable to relax and contract it fully this will impact our stability, balance, and potentially exacerbate low back and SI joint issues.

I often see clients with the trifecta - anxiety, breathing & pelvic floor issues, and low back pain. It’s all related.

ITS BETTER OUT THAN IN

Pelvic floor dysfunction, aka a pelvic floor that is too tight, can affect the movement of stool down and out and the ability to hold urine in. A tight pelvic floor can lead to bloating as the muscles can not relax enough to let the trouser cough out.

Whilst women are predisposed to pelvic floor issues due to child birth and hormonal changes in menopause, it can affect men too. Although I think men a much better at letting one rip!

One key factor in promoting better pelvic floor function is learning how to relax and allow the belly and pelvic floor to move as we breathe. If a muscle can not relax fully then it is unable to contract fully as well.

Just because something is tight it does not mean its strong. Often it’s actually weak too.

Check out this class I created for a client experiencing breathing issues. It’s a great one for learning how to relax the breath and thus the belly and pelvic floor.

Being able to freely move between anterior and posterior tilt of the pelvis is also important for a healthy functioning pelvic floor.

It might sound crazy, but it would actually be healthy for us all to be able to twerk it like Rihanna at the Superbowl. Find out why in next months newsletter.

Until then remember

“We are here on Earth to fart around. Don’t let anyone tell you any different”.

Kurt Vonnegut.