Hello again + needing support

Submitted by Bonne Maman on May 8, 2015 - 6:34pm
Body: 

It's been over a year since my last post. Since then, the strain of returning to work while still healing from postpartum depression/anxiety, plus parenting a 2.5 year old and life's other duties have combined to keep me from my whole woman work. My last post was an elated testimony of how much whole woman had helped me, and now I need to draw on that feeling of success to have the faith to re-engage with this work.
I returned to a desk job last August, and whether it was the constant sitting, or the lack of whole woman exercises, or both!, I can definitely say that my cystocele has gotten worse. I notice it almost all day, every day, which is discouraging, and my mind wanders often to worst case scenarios. About a month ago I made a conscious decision to get back into a routine of doing the First Aid for Prolapse exercises as often as I could, which at the moment is every 2 to 3 days or so. Hard to say if there is any improvement yet, but coming back to this forum is definitely inspiring. Has anyone got any encouraging words, perhaps about your own setbacks along the path to prolapse healing?
Thanks, and thanks for being here!

Forum:

Surviving60

May 8, 2015 - 7:29pm

Hi Bonne Maman - I didn't notice the word "posture" anywhere in your post. If you never mastered WW posture to the point where you could stay in it more or less effortlessly as you go throughout your day, then that is what you need to be working on. This means there are no excuses not to be doing the WW work, whether or not you have time to exercise. How about firebreathing? - Surviving

Snapcracklepop

May 8, 2015 - 9:35pm

Hello Bonne Maman,

I agree with Surviving 60, time to commit full-time to the posture. I rarely do my WW DVDs because I'm usually walking with a friend, going to a traditional yoga class and sometimes throwing in some Tai Chi practice. I attribute my slow and steady improvement mostly to mindfulness of my posture (returning to WW posture when I notice I'm out) and improved eating and toileting habits.

Sitting for too long definitely contributes to me feeling more symptomatic so I think it's good to take short breaks throughout the day.

Keep your eyes on the prize and drawing on that feeling of success...

Snapcracklepop

Surviving60

May 9, 2015 - 4:47am

Having a desk job, and a complicated family life, are two things that need never interfere with the WW posture work. I can say that, because I have both.

During a family health crisis a few years ago, I was just starting with this work, and I was doing more reading and dabbling than actually doing. It got pushed aside before it had become second nature, and there was a worsening of symptoms that convinced me I had to commit to it. By the time of my next big crisis (still in progress by the way) this was not an issue. This is my posture, and my body remembers to do it all by itself. I would be embarrassed to admit on these pages, how long I have sometimes gone without doing a workout or even a walk, when the rest of my life overwhelms me. But posture is just part of my life now, and it's the only way to really manage this.

You only need a little piece of your brain to issue reminders to stay in posture as you go throughout your day. Sitting need not be a deal-breaker if you do it the right way and take breaks as Snap says.

I don't know of anyone, in any situation, who can't work posture into their day. - Surviving

ActiveandLapsed

May 9, 2015 - 3:23pm

Hi Bonne Maman,
I didn't always prioritise the learning I needed to do to get my WW posture correct for my first 6 odd months on here. I thought I had it ok but things got a bit worse for me. Once I really got into this forum and reading and re-reading everything and trying the DVDs and watching the posture of Christine and others on there things started to fall into place.

I don't do the DVD's a lot but I put the exercises into my day in snippets and more recently firebreathing and nauli (I took a while to get these right). I also had a recent consult with Christine that helped me to know I had things right (although reduced symptoms told me that). The consult helped me with the last tweaks.

The posture is the key as eveyone says so I would focus on that primarily and yes use the DVD's to further learn the posture.

Best of luck - it's so worth it.

Bonne Maman

May 11, 2015 - 10:38pm

The Whole Woman posture was a big breakthrough for me when I first found this site. I realized I had been standing wrong my whole life. The fact that I had a major misalignment/jam in my pelvis/sacrum since early childhood didn't help either. I'm now healing that with the help of an osteopath, but I've got a lot of relearning to do when it comes to posture.
I'm actually pretty good at being aware of my posture, mostly because it has never felt natural for me to stand or walk, so I was always aware of it! I found the FAFP exercises were key for me, however, because they taught my muscles the right way to hold my body. During the last year when I was not doing the exercises, I would often keep the posture in mind, but my old muscle memory was too strong and so my body didn't have a clear "picture" of how to align into the WW posture.
Now that I have been doing the exercises regularly again, I can feel the new muscle memory strengthening and it's much easier for me to come into the posture quickly and accurately - but i know this ability can improve even more.
Surviving, it's inspiring to hear that having a desk job need not worsen the prolapse. I know that I can incorporate firebreathing into my day more often, but I still struggle with the nauli.

ActiveandLapsed

May 13, 2015 - 4:42am

Bonne Manan, good point about the exercises working those muscles so you don't bounce back into old habits. I am feeling inspired.