Nauli

Yikes!! If you say it works, I totally believe you! C.

Here's another one from YouTube - amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcvYky7p5iE&NR=1

'Life is not holding a good hand; Life is playing a poor hand well'

Woah! I got it!! I was trying again at the nauli funny stomach thing Alemama was describing. I saw the U-tubes and had memories of the feeling of doing it as a child. I got it to sort of work a bit a few weeks ago. But, yesterday, I tried it again and shocked myself!! The whole insides, starting at the entrance of my vagina pulled so hard up. Pulled things up in a serious way. surprised me the first time, then I could not keep from doing it again and again. I showed my husband, who was impressed, then he tried it. It is easiest for me while leaned over standing. Anyway, I am giong to be doing this exercise and hoping htat the wonderful UP feeling hangs on more and more. I think that in combination with the forward belly and diet, I am going to get in better pelvic health.

It is funny to revive this goofy childhood activity. I don't remember the intense rise in my pelvic region, but I am so glad to discover it. Thanks, Alemama. And, thank you, Christine, for your information. You are indeed a pioneer. Thank you for opening minds to a natural, healthy way to look at woman's female organs' health. It is huge. Thank you. (Also, I love the posture. It has had many interesting and helpful effects.)

Anyway, the lift I felt was huge. If anyone is lingering on the verge of trying this out, I encourage you. The first time did not have the recent effect, though I liked the tightening of ab muscles. Finally, I got it and it is AWESOME. I would LOVE to see how this exercise affects someone with a cervix peeking out.

I'm still trying to figure out the firebreathing and a few other things to get the whole picture, but, I will get there. I started my period after 18 months of lactational ammenoriah and found some unwelcome changes to my pelvic region (despite forum conversations giving the idea that I would see improvement) so I am working more diligently on the exercises in addition to the posture.

Woot! -Congrats BGB! I'm glad you hung in there and made it work for you. - It sounds like a wonderful experience!

I've tried it a number of times myself, but can't seem to get the hang of it. I'd love to feel that upward *thwoop!* that I imagine you accomplished gals must feel when doing it. It must be so cool!

I think I'm abdominally challenged... or it could be these extra pounds that have decided to settle around and throughout the middle of me. Either way, you have inspired me to renew my attempts!

Nauli on, BGB! = : )

~♥Blue

thats great babygotback!
I'm with blue, still havent' figured it out. but your post makes me want to try again.

It is just plain astonishing. When I do it, I feel UP but I also can't help but feel FORWARD. In fact, the more I let the center muscles pull forward and the sides sink in, the more the organs pull forward toward the stretching-outward muscle.

Anyway, pretty amazing. And, I have to say, it just happened when I kept trying. I didn't get it for the first several tries. I discovered that standing, leaning over slightly, blowing out as much breath as possible, then lifting my ribcage, gave the ability to create the lift. My effort to isolate forward the center section of muscle. The position of my body made it possible and blowing out all my air first.

Thank you, Babygotback, for the hints of bending over and breathing out. I have tried to do this exercise since I first read Alemama’s recommendation of it. With your tips, I’ve come a long way in just a couple of days. I can indeed feel a strong lift. It is wonderful. I’m also working on firebreathing. It takes me a while sometimes to get things, but I'm stubborn enough to keep trying. :-)

Congratulations on your success, and thanks again for sharing. Kit

Alemama, a long while back you shared with me an exercise to stretch my hamstrings. I’ve practiced it all this time and finally I am flexible enough to wrap my arms around my legs or to grab my ankles or sometimes I hold my fingers to the floor with my toes. It feels really good. Thank you, it has helped me a lot. Kit

... or might it?

In checking out the links that Alemama shared in her original post, I noticed a warning at the bottom of the page of the first one. Under the section, 'Words of Caution' - it states:

"If you are above 49 years of age, do not learn this exercise. However, you can still do it with the due guidance of a guru."

Does anyone aboard have any thoughts as to what the concerns might be for those of us over the age of 49 that wouldn't also apply to those under? I recently renewed my attempts at the highly recommended Nauli breathing, wanting to experience the same wonderfully heightened lift you gals have shared, but considering my age, maybe Nauli's a no-no? I hope that's not the case!

~♥Blue (2 1/2 years above 49)

Didn't they realise that life ends at fifty, regardless of whether we nauli or not? We are all figments of our own imagination once we hit the big 50. (I suspect it is something to do with a practitioner watching their back for litigation on advice of an insurance company.) Like everything else, don't blame them if you disappear in a puff of black smoke while nauli-ing. Yoga is powerful stuff.

BTW, this is all in jest on my part. There probably is a reason. Email them and find out, eh?

L

LOL Will do, Louise.

What I've been able to find out so far, from elsewhere, is: "Nauli Kriya should not be practiced by anyone with a history of high blood pressure, hernias or ulcers, or by women who are pregnant."

Makes sense to take care under such conditions.

~♥*Poof!*

Okay, one more comment, and then I will stop raving about nauli. :)

I grabbed a mirror to see what the amazing feeling looked like from the outside. When I knealt down and did the nauli lift and pull forward, my escaping vaginal tissues folding right in and pinched up high. My labia even squeezed together. It really was like a vacuum inward and forward over my pubic bone.

It would be really cool to see an ultrasound view of what is happening.

Anyway, the bulge down in my vulva area and the escaping folds of vaginal tissue disappear completely and suck right in when I nauli.

Warning: if you attempt this with a mirror, avoid looking at your dangling breasts, unless you like a chuckle. (Takes me back to my cave-spelunking days--Stalactites.

I would love more information about the nauli exercises you ladies are raving about. I may be too old (61) and I have had two hernia surgeries with mesh in one of them. Do these things hinder my doing the nauli?

Well, well. Baby number 5 came this week.

Bleeding is down to a trickle in just 4 days. Afterpains were gone at three days. The minor tear on the perineum is healed. What's left??

Well, I have been pretty faithful about staying in bed for this week, but today, I went out and saw that the tile throughout the house needed to be swept desperately and mopped. There was so much dirt!! Hubby prioritizes feeding little people over sweeping... can't blame him. So, when things were quiet and he ran out on a quick errand, I discovered the dirty floors and had to clean. About an hour later, I noticed the protruding feel of vaginal something-that-shouldn't-be-there. Dang!

Man o' man. I had been so diligent about staying horizontal, but I guess the rest of recovery going so well got me lax about the concern of vaginal relaxedness and possible prolapsy feelings.

So, here I am back on the forum. I had to get here and see my own tips on how to perform the nauli exercise again. I could not do it this afternoon. My abdominal muscles are so loose from baby-carrying. I am only 5 days postpartum. Still, I am very alerted by the vaginal tissue relaxation renewal I sensed today. Noooooo! Not again!!

You can bet I am going to be laying down for the next several days now for sure. I am going to continue to attempt the nauli and see what else I can do in bed to strengthen upward the loosened tissues. In particular, I feel my front wall caving downward. Crazy that it seemed so sudden--not so crazy that it was after a wild cleaning spree involving sweeping and mopping (very downward pressure activities--at least I find I hold my abs while doing these tasks). Dang!

Oh boy. If anyone has ideas of how to encourage them back up while I am in repose, please help!!

Love,
BGB

Congratulations, BGB! I have thought of you several times over the past (year and a half?) and had no idea you were pregnant - you ladies certainly are bringing the big family back into vogue!

I don’t want to make any assumptions here and don’t have time (granddaughter has been with me all weekend and I’m about to fall into bed exhausted!) to look up your history, but my sense is that you were a bit lukewarm about the postural work. I remember you had a lot of anatomy questions and were kind of amazed that such a thing could possibly help very much. Sorry if I’m not remembering correctly.

So, you’ve been lying in bed for a week and what has it bought you? Fascial planes that are likely misaligned and stretched into the shape of pelvic counternutation. Your vagina has hardly had a chance to stretch (close tightly) into its natural axis and your pelvic floor muscles are probably slack and weak. Yes, vigorous movement all-of-a-sudden certainly exacerbated things, but I’m betting the true initiating factor was a droopy fascia/organ/vagina system wound more toward the pelvic outlet than the lower belly.

Have you been keeping up with Liv, Davemayamom, Bad_mirror and the rest? Do you hear how much they’ve improved and that things worsen when they spend much time out of the posture? The immediate postpartum pelvic interior is extremely unstable and there is truly only one way to stretch things toward their proper alignment - and that is through the sitting and standing postures. I can’t imaging nauli is the least bit effective in lieu of organizing the outer frame of pelvic organ support.

It is my humble opinion that the longer you stay horizontal the more you will prolong (and possibly miss out on) natural fascial healing. I think (if I remember correctly) that another of our members, Fruitful Womb, had this same notion that lying in bed was a good thing. She can correct me if I’m wrong, but I also seem to remember that she has had a harder time coming back to her pre-pregnant state.

All of this stands to reason, BGB, and we have so many women now whose experience supports the WW postpartum theory!! There is truly only one way to wind the pelvic interior up.

Postpartum prolapse is and has been a huge problem in the Western world - for at least the past century. I think we can reverse that trend, but to do so we need everyone to get on board.

I so look forward to hearing of your progress.

Ooodles of hugs,

Christine

congrats on the new baby!

listen, I love to lay in bed pp too. and plan to as much as I can get away with, which in my case won't be much. but once you do get up...even if only to go to the bathroom or to make sure the other little faces are clean before the schoolbus comes, do heed christine's advice and pull up into the posture. after the toll pregnancy takes on your spine and fascia, it might be a bit until the posture is 'correct' but I do think (speaking from my last postpartum experience) that it absolutely does make a difference.
and stay away from that mop for a while longer. the dirt will wait for you.

about nauli, I think its too early. for sure wait until all lochia has completely stopped. last time around even when it had all stopped, nauli would bring on more spotting until I was about 3 mo pp. there is no rush, you can get into high gear with nauli/firebreathing when your uterus has had some time to find its way back to a prepg state.
for right now, the best way (I think) to deal with loose muscles (abdominal and vaginal) is to pull up in posture (against gravity, so that would be standing up or at least sitting properly). of course rest when you need to.

enjoy your newborn and let me know how it is with 5. our number 5 is due in november.

Thank you for sharing!

Indeed, I did enjoy :)

Oceanblue

Hey, Christine and Granolamom,
Thanks for the connect. I am feeling good.

I read what you said. I am not sure what I used to feel about the posture. I am sure I liked it and agreed with it. I think about it and do it all the time. I am sure it makes a difference. I am sure I had questions about it for understanding, but either way, I am sure to get that posture going.

What I am feeling is that it is natural and good for me to stay down a bit. I don't like "bed rest" per say, and don't advocate it as a rule for most health issues, but think that in general, after birth, it seems logical to take it easy in a medium bed rest sort of way. I don't have a problem with going back to regular life gradually...and in fact, with four other children at home (we homeschool), there is not much choice.

I imagine the hormones that loosened and stretched everything in my pelvic region are on their way out, but I do remember that much of it sticks around for the first six weeks. (Pregnancy tests may still say I am pregnant.) I am not thinking it would be wise to bear any weight with this softness of tissue and ligaments. Moving around too much also makes me bleed more, which feels unnecessary to healing.

What I am feeling good about at this point is a lot of elbows and knees, kneeling, laying on belly type action. I think I overdid it with the mopping and sweeping, but don't feel bad getting myself a drink or some of the unavoidable things that come with a household like mine.

So, what am I looking for. Maybe I am wanting someone to say, "Oh crud. Sorry that happened. Hang in there and do your posture." or "This worked for me to get me in shape after birth." All the same, I really appreciate the contact and you have me thinking.

Hi BGB

I am happy to say, "Oh crud. Sorry that happened. Hang in there and do your posture." It is probably not the first or last time for you to do something that turned out to be not a good move. Don't beat up on yourself. Dont' worry. You have done all this before. I feel sure that your body will recover from this one event. Just give it time. You are still so early PP and your body has a lot of healing and reversion yet to happen. I think with lots of little children around me I would move most of my life to floor level, where you can attend to them without having to bend over all the time.

Just love them all, and nurture yourself as well. This time is so short. You won't know yourself in 12 months' time.

Cheers

Louise

I woke up this morning with this very thing on my mind. With all due respect, I think it is the huge physical and emotional responsibility of a large family that is weighing in on this argument. Why can’t we just say that the real issue is a woman with other children should get enough help to allow her to care for herself and her baby alone (in an ideal situation)?

There needs to be a distinction made between telling women that weight-bearing is bad postpartum because of soft tissue and ligaments and therefore you need to stay in bed as much as possible, and that the demands of taking care of others immediately postpartum is Really hard.

I don’t see the dissenting opinion between Alemama’s description of postpartum activity and mine. I say almost the same thing in my book. But BGB describes a totally different scenario - the strident attempt to stay horizontal all the time.

We need to find out exactly how long relaxin remains in the body - I would be completely astonished if it were four to six weeks. When I don’t know the answer to something I try to come back to the consideration of women early in time. Humans were always movers and travelers and farmers and workers. It seems inconceivable that “involution”, or the return to a more normal pelvic interior, is not benefitted by reasonable bipedal movement. I’m not talking about climbing Mt. Everest here. I cannot believe stretched out this or that would not conform more to the standing and moving pelvis than the horizontal one. We also have the data of almost all of our young mommies who prolapse weeks into the postpartum period. You know it is every Western woman’s lifestyle to recline as much as possible into beds, couches, and soft chairs.

To your list, Alemama, I would add washing and playing with baby’s clothes, walking outside with baby on shoulder, and sitting on a cushion on the floor to nurse for as long as feels comfortable.

Two days in bed, great. Two weeks in bed seems way over the top unless you are healing a tear.

:) Christine

I just have to say "HOLY CRAP, THAT IS THE WEIRDEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN!" It's kind of disgusting, too. However, I can't wait to try it! I can't right now because I'm pregnant, but a few months PP, I'm gonna be all over it! It actually sorta reminds me of this workout a friend loaned to me several years back in which the lady (instructor) would lean over forward slightly, let out all her breath, and then pull in and up all the pelvic organs. She would stand like that for a few seconds and then let everything relax. It was actually supposed to help you lose weight and tone the tummy. I wish I remembered what it was, I'll have to ask my friend and then get back to you. But that nauli, moving the stuff around in there, man, that just looks so creepy. LOL!

Well, here is the update. After more than a month, I still have occasional soreness of loose ligaments at the symphysis pubis. I have had it after previous births but never paid attention to when it seemed to stop. Of course, this is something that is normal for pregnancy and helps during birth as everything needs to be soft enough to open well for the passage of the baby. I assume from this that now, a month and a week post partum, my body has decided to let up on the relaxin or whatever hormone regulates this softening. Also, I finally do not feel looseness in my uterus area when I run around or walk fast. Again, I attribute this to the lightening up of the hormone releasing that softens tissues and such. And for science-sake, I should mention that my kneeling waterbirth (home) was very uncomplicated and the recovery had no difficulties whatsoever--so that makes me humanly normal. :) (Have to be careful with the word normal in childbirth, right?)
With this gradual changeover, I have felt my rectocele nearly disappear (I did nauli by the end of the second week postpartum and did here and there afterward). The bladder (I assume) still lingers downward and I have a bulge in the front, but it no longer feels like it is falling out. I don't think this is from getting used to it, like after my last pregnancy, but I attribute it's management to nauli and putting into practice what I have learned from the whole woman principles.

My own observations: I think next time, I will definitely exercise plenty during pregnancy. (I used a stationary bike primarily and swam nearly daily on both.) This had a huge effect on my body that I could write paragraphs about alone.
As for postpartum, I will drink much more water, I think this is where those first weeks headaches come from now. Since I started taking in around near a gallon a day of liquid, mostly water, my headaches dramatically stopped and haven't returned. I generally get headaches a 3-5 times a month, lasting 2-4 days each. This is significant to me.
Another thing, I will maintain a lying/hanging out in bed in p.j.'s attitude while doing a lot of kneeling, lying on belly, child's pose, and all-fours to allow amble opportunity for the uterus to lie forward as things start their journey to pre-pregnancy positioning. I don't think 2 weeks is unreasonable whatsoever. This does not mean lying on my back, comatose or something, which could not be good at all for circulation or cleansing the body.
I will eat several small meals a day which I prepare and freeze in desired portions before birth. Eating my well-intentioned husband's idea of meals was not good on the bod'.
I won't be walking briskly all around or doing chores (particularly sweeping and mopping a fully-tiled house :) ). This makes me bleed, and it feels like unnecessary bleeding. There is plenty of bleeding from nursing contractions and hormones.
I will be finding some leg-strengthening activity I can do that won't make me hold my breath or bounce or be upright for hours.

Oh, I and I do not think it is correct to say that the reason to stay in bed is to avoid concerns for other children care. That is why we can't just say that. I don't believe it. Others may feel that way and need to be honest with themselves. I had plenty of help with other kids, but what I am talking about is a pair of bulges exiting the vulva, no amount of guilt or worry about care for others will make that happen for me. That seems entirely related to birth and pregnancy hormone and physical effect.

These are my thoughts and experience to add to the women's wisdom knowledge pool.
Thanks, Christine, for all your interest, sacrifice, and knowledge you generously share. Please feel free to guide and correct.
Much love,
BGB

What on earth is the Nauli.....is it in the DVD??????

I like your advice
will make a note to get ample fluids once this babe comes, and spend lots of time in childs pose. forgot how good that felt. I should probably be doing that now too, if I can with the big belly and all.
If I had more help with childcare I'd stay in bed more pp, but my reality is that after the first week, I'm pretty much on my own until dh gets home from work. but I won't be mopping!

thanks for your update, and for sharing your thoughts and experience

hi sadiedog,
nauli is on the dvd. also on the links above. christine starts with firebreathing and then moves into nauli, again, on the DVD.
fabulous yoga breathings that really help to lift things up.

I should say that I don't pretty much ever do child's pose with my bent legs touching each other. I open them so my knees are by my shoulders, as if there is always a big belly there. I do that because I feel pelvic pressure when I squish my abdomen against my kneeling legs.
Just wanted to clarify there.

Hope your birth is awesome, granolamom!!

..for sharing your experiences, BGB, and I'm very glad to hear you're feeling so well! Yes, every time we don't hear from gmom for a few days I think, "This is it!" You all are so fortunate to be giving birth (and recuperating) fully conscious. HUGS!! Christine

BGB, we are waiting for the 2 month update too! :) Happy babymooning to you!
Liv