In the second part of our new Rituals column, which you can find on our Instagram, we talk to the founder of the Trinity Concept project , Zuzana Kaduková. She focuses on the topic of postpartum, which she tries to approach holistically through energy, emotions and the physical body. She combines the basics of functional training, Pilates, yoga and meditation, all in collaboration with the breath.
As part of Trinity Concept, you focus on the female pelvic floor as one of your main topics. Why?
The pelvic floor and its muscles form the absolute foundation of women's health in my opinion. We can look at the entire area as a whole and it can provide us with a beautiful source of information about our energy, emotions and physical body. We can answer many questions through the pelvic floor. This connection is for me a strong and intense touch with inner experience and it is a challenge for me in both personal and professional life.
How can a woman improve the quality of her physical and emotional well-being by becoming aware of her pelvic floor and learning how to work with and care for it properly?
Many emotions are hidden in the pelvis and pelvic floor muscles. It is closely related to basic human needs, safety, and stability. We can also perceive stability on a literal level. The pelvic floor provides us with support - for the internal organs of the abdominal cavity, but also stability in the form of maintaining balance. A woman is a very individual, specific being. Some of us have no problem working with emotions, becoming aware of them, but for example, improper exercise or daily routine can overload the pelvic floor muscles. Some of us can exercise technically correctly, but tension and stress keep the pelvic floor muscles in constant activation and tension, which can lead to their weakening, incontinence, or other chronic manifestations. I like to look at this topic holistically. Everything is connected to everything, and my practice with women confirms this. The more information they have about the connection, the faster they can answer questions themselves. Just by thinking about it, they are doing a huge amount of work for their physical and mental health.
Women think that there is a lot of work behind it, but my experience with the women's community that is part of the Trinity Concept shows me that it is just about a lack of time and space for herself. When a woman notices her pelvic floor muscles, she just needs to get an impulse and some information. She starts by becoming aware of them on a daily basis, observing when they are active, when on the contrary she does not feel stability and support. This is also the answer to when they need to be strengthened and when to relax. Every woman has it differently. Unless it is a serious condition, an advanced stage of pelvic organ prolapse or some complicated adhesions, she will figure it out on her own, through conscious work.
You work mainly with postpartum women, why? Can women who are not pregnant or have not been pregnant yet also benefit from this approach?
In recent months, paradoxically (although for me it is natural given the global situation) many women who do not yet have a baby have been calling. The pelvic floor is sensitive to stress, the so-called fight or flight mode, it reacts to tense situations, it reacts to our inner experiences. Many young women go through gynecological diseases or problems with the spine, and all of this affects the pelvic floor muscles. It is not up to me to evaluate the condition of a woman as a patient, since I am not a doctor, but yes, working with the pelvic floor is not only for women after childbirth. Working with the pelvic floor is working with emotions, and all women have them. The only difference I see is that a woman who carried a baby (she did not have to give birth vaginally) has had a different experience in relation to the pelvis. She has undergone a transformation at a higher level and therefore perceives her relationship with herself, with her mother, as a mother, but also her relationship with life as such.
How is the pelvic floor related to the emotion of fear and the feeling of safety?
We could write the answer to this question for several pages, but I'll start by saying that anyone who perceives the pelvic floor muscles as just an emotionless part of our body won't get away with it.
The pelvic floor is part of the energy center in our body. If it is blocked, our body becomes unbalanced and energy does not flow through it. However, this can change throughout life. How we perceive the world changes. This can be influenced by childhood trauma or other unpleasant experiences in adulthood.
Our source of life energy (Kundalina) resides in the lower spine, and the pelvic floor muscles attach to the coccyx (the beginning of the spine).
The pelvic floor muscles work together with the diaphragm, which is the main respiratory muscle. We know that if we don't feel safe, we experience stress, our breathing changes and prepares the body for fight or flight. If we are afraid, we almost always lower our pelvis, "hide our tail" - this is a false attempt to control the situation, but this does not help us at all in relation to the pelvic floor. It is enough that I have a stressful morning, my breathing changes, speeds up, concentrates more in the chest, the diaphragm and even the pelvic floor muscles do not work as they do at rest. I think it is advisable to avoid stressful situations, but it is impossible to cut them off from our lives. I consider it much more important to be aware of the emotions I am experiencing.
“AHA I don’t feel calm.”
“WHAT is happening to my body?”
“HOW can I influence this?”
“I ACCEPT this situation and take responsibility.”
In yoga, the term mula bandha is used – a lock located in the pelvic floor. Mula bandha exercises are also practiced by men and have several health benefits. Should men also learn to work with their pelvic floor?
Working with mula bandha is very enriching in yoga practice. It's not just about the poses. What I think heals is the cultivation of awareness of working with the pelvic floor during practice. Many people reading now may not know, have never worked with the pelvic floor, and this also applies to men. In order to stay healthy and fit, we don't need a problem or the need to treat. Being aware, even through working with the pelvic floor, is a beautiful way to perceive your own body. To observe and not judge. To enjoy and not just treat. It's not about gender, it's about feeling. The connection of mula bandha in yoga practice is the connection of body-mind-breath.
Men, like women, are increasingly sedentary and if we look at the evolution of humanity, men hunted, worked manually, there is no doubt that the topic of the pelvic floor was almost foreign to them. However, health problems are also changing with our lifestyle, but the beautiful thing is that we can work with them perfectly by conscious work.
Could you recommend an easy exercise to our readers that they can do whenever they need to release tension or, for example, the emotion of fear?
Taking time for yourself and observing your emotions is something that sounds so simple, and yet many of us fail to do. I think the important thing to do in the beginning is to acknowledge the emotion and allow yourself to experience it. I don't have to push it away right away. Sometimes it's nice to sit with it, literally talk to it. As a friend, not an enemy. It's because it's visiting us for a reason. It wants to tell us something.
People want quick solutions. They want to eat, drink, scream or sleep through emotions and feelings. It is not possible and actually it would be a shame. Every emotion, even the negative one, is an opportunity.
This visualization exercise may also help:
1. Inhale through your nose, moving your breath into your belly and then into your pelvis. Visualize a fishing net falling deep into the ocean and releasing.
2. Exhale, activate your pelvic floor. Imagine pulling a fishing net from all sides and lifting it out of the ocean, slowly pulling it towards your lower abdomen.
