Hypopressives

Restoring your core? "Core incompetence"? Please Miss D, tell me you're kidding! You're no newbie to Christine's teachings so I'm surprised you didn't spot the problems on this site right away. - Surviving

but could not bring myself to get past the initial photos ! Everyone,woman and man was sucking in their stomachs! I know that would bring all my prolapse symptoms back immediately so did not look any further. I used to be doing stomach flattening exercises all the time but that only helped my prolapse!!

I did watch the videos and initially thought she was really onto something....however, it just looks like extreme chest-breathing to me. She's right that we shouldn't walk around with our belly buttons pulled in, but she looks pretty pulled-in to me. And her use of the term "pelvic floor" is the same old same old.....we need to break women out of that way of thinking. That's what we try to do here. - Surviving

What bothered me after reading some of this site was how they were looking at intrabdominal pressure as a negative. While I agree that intrabdominal pressure can be a negative aspect, but only if you are not in the whole woman posture. In whole woman posture the intrabdominal pressure only helps to pin those organs into place.

And, I really didn't like the references to a pelvic floor, this only shows that these people don't have the correct anatomical references, especially as Christine explains it, we don't have a pelvic floor of soft tissue, but more of an outlet out the back.

It seems that many people out there are developing new ideas, and yes it does seems as though they are getting close to what Christine teaches us, but they just still aren't there yet, in my opinion.

You know, after I had my babies, I was doing Richard Simmons exercises and all kinds of sit ups. I felt great and thought these things really helped me get back into my pre pregnancy body. People that follow these programs probably feel the same way. The problem though is if we don't get the correct posture down, and were to continue these kinds of practices, we end up with prolapse at an older age, like many of us older women did.
Christine has all the tools for us to make prolapse feel so much better. Really, why the need to look anywhere else? What is it that you feel you are missing in this work? I too did a lot of research before settling into Christine's work with the confidence that this is what is best for me and my prolapse. Maybe you just need that discovery for yourself.

The WW work is all about posture, gravity and belly-breathing to control the positioning of the organs. This site seemed to be missing that whole concept, and I thought it was important to point out that one or two superficial similarities don't make up for the fundamental missing links. We don't want newbies who might read this, to miss that point as well. You asked for our thoughts, and we gave them. - Surviving

Hi miss D,
Nothing wrong with keeping an open mind and doing your own research, but you did post it here and ask for our opinion on the site. I really did try to give it a fair chance when reading it, but it was pretty easy to punch holes in their therory when comparing it to Christine's concepts.

I would hate to see other ladies, especially newbies coming here, thinking that we advocate this site when we don't.

I beleive nauli has been around a really long time as part of yoga practices all over the world. I think Christine discovered it and incorporated into her routines with her own spin on it. Correct me if I am wrong on this ladies. Just as the people of this other site have. If the nauli is similar to the way Christine has us doing it, then they are at least heading in the right direction!

If I am not mistaken, it was Alemama who first brought Nauli to the table in the early days of WW. It's a tricky move (I don't even do it - firebreathing is my "go-to" when I need that kind of a boost). If you are doing nauli I would definitely stick to Christine's descriptions, because she has adopted a traditional exercise to be especially helpful with prolapse. First Aid for Prolapse has it in the Dictionary of Movements, and it's also well-demonstrated on Yoga 3rd Wheel. I'm sure YouTube is full of nauli footage, but make sure that if you want to do it, that you do it the WW way. - Surviving

Hi Miss Diagnosed,
I had a look at the site also and here are my observations.

I observed that the supine posture used for the stomach vacuum shown was entirely different to the way Christine teaches. It also looked as if the back was straight and thus hips tilted back.

Gravity was not being used to protect the abdominal organs, and the full range of motion, of the spine,the muscles & fascia, belly breathing, was not apparent.

Further reading of their definitions, revealed their conventional foundation that they are working from.
The photo of the seated athlete said the rest...

There are element/s of similarity, on the surface of many approaches, however the foundation (anatomical, human development, anatomy ) to WW is what allows Christine's holistic work to stand strong for me.

I stand strong because of her work relating to hips as well as prolapse, with so many other benefits.
I love Christine's unique foot to head approach!

Much love to all,

Aussie Soul Sister

Nauli is a great tool to be used with the whole woman practices. I find it very effective in moving my organs around and positioning them correctly when done in a vaccum as Christine describes it.
But, don't lose sight of the Whole Woman "Foot to head" approach; everything that Christine shows us ties in together to give us that nice strong posture which is what helps prolapse the most in the long run.

Hi all,

It has been a few years since I have posted. This site provided me relief and comfort when I needed it most. Life for me is busy and normal with a minor prolapse, and I haven't been around much. But I did see this post and I thought I should reply. I think we should all have open minds. There is research on this method.

Hypopressives are used extensively in Spain and other European countries for postpartum health and rehabilitation. They are a combination of postures which activate posture muscles and breathing exercises which create a vacuum and lift all of the abdominal and pelvic floor organs. There is no downward pressure, and no worry about compromising pop. In fact, if this is felt, you are most likely doing the exercise incorrectly. In doing so, one is working the involuntary/postural muscles which make up 70% of the pelvic floor, so you are creating support and improving posture.

You need to have a baseline of strength and good posture to manage/prevent prolapse. You want underlying tone to be normal...these exercises help with that... as does firebreathing/nauli. The benefit of these exercises is that the specific postures can be done without the apneas to help activate/re-program the deep core muscles...we cannot do the apneas while pregnant, so this can be seen as a benefit to pregnant women and those who have difficulty coordinating the breath.

I have realized that there are many ways to manage prolapse, and the best way is to keep and open mind. Wholewoman has wonderful ideas that have helped me and many others, but hypopressives work too and are similar, but different to nauli/firebreathing because of the postures they go through with the breath work. Exercise (in the right way), posture, and breath work are the best and I don't think anyone here will dispute that!

Hi All,

Please understand that for over 12 years Whole Woman has had a very large presence on the internet. Anyone googling pelvic organ prolapse, or cystocele, etc, would pull up our paid ad for the WW work.

Whole Woman was an immediate and extreme affront to the entire world of physical therapy, yoga, and pilates. It was heresy to suggest that the abdominal wall should be held out and not in. We went round and round with one PT after the other, ultimately to little avail, as people become very invested in cultural contrivances, and it takes a lot to completely jump ship and take on a whole new paradigm. If I recall, Davymayamom, you are a PT as well.

While the hypopressive lifestyle - and it is a lifestyle of cultivating a "waist" - might improve a slight cystocele by sucking it up and over the pubic bone, the woman in the video link above is courting full on uterine prolapse, rectocele, not to mention urinary incontinence and chronic hip pain.

The real "core" relationship, as evidenced in the evolution of vertebrate animals, is between the diaphragm and the abdominal wall (I explain this in the new blossom breathing video). The pelvic outlet is at the back and the organs are positioned at the front. Humans can only maintain this ancient and vital anatomy by way of wide-radius lumbar curvature. While performing stomach vacuums as part of everyday exercise routine is perfectly fine (best done on hands and knees or standing), this in no way replaces holding the outer framework in such a way as to cause intraabdominal pressure to pin *all* the pelvic organs at the front of the body (well said, Aging), and away from the outlet at the back.

We are still hung up on skinny physical therapists teaching us that flat bellies are the answer. It is a clueless, barbie doll culture that in no way addresses how to remain free from prolapse, incontinence and chronic hip pain for a lifetime. What is so astonishing, in case you hadn't noticed, is that "hypopressives" are very male in nature. It is a very male response to make an entire method out stomach vacuums.

Let's move on.

Christine

Thanks Christine and let me issue yet another reminder that this forum is for education and support of women who are doing or interested in the WW work. We are here to help those women, not to carry on a debate about the merits of the work (which are self-evident to anyone engaged in it).

Here's the statement if you haven't read it lately. - Surviving

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