Hello, I'm new

Submitted by amateria on September 9, 2010 - 6:04pm
Body: 

OK, I have been lurking for a while but thought I would take the plunge!

I have found this such a wonderful and useful site, together with Christine's book and DVD. I am also looking forward to seeing the member content as it unfolds. I thought long and hard about whether to subscribe: I decided that I very much appreciate the advertising-free nature of the site, which creates a refreshing sense of calm (and freedom from inappropriate content). I am also happy to support Christine's hard work, particularly when I think of the large sums of money made by some clinicians who carry out unecessary and potentially harmful pelvic surgery.

Christine, I wanted to say how much I appreciate the scientific rigour behind your approach. I admire your determination to get to the truth and the generosity of spirit that moves you to share what you have found with other women. Not to mention the courage to go against the received, supposed wisdom and powerful, entrenched interests.

I have felt quite shocked to realise that so many of the things I had accepted as somehow self-evidently true - such as the tummy-tucked-in position - are not supported by evidence at all. I am dismayed when I think that in the past I might have been better off refraining from some exercises altogether. You have inspired me to be much more discriminating in future and try to check that people are not just making it up as they go along!

I also love the emphasis on self-reliance and personal responsibility in the forum. And the down-to earth sharing and humour, which is helping me to get over myself (why me?).

It's getting a bit late now, here in Blighty, so I'll say
'Night All

Amateria

louiseds

September 9, 2010 - 10:05pm

Well said. hope to hear more from you.

Louise

Christine

September 11, 2010 - 1:40pm

Hi Amateria,

Thank you for your lovely praise and support. As you can see, it is much needed in a world that is upside-down!

This work is self-evident once it is pointed out to you, so once again I will try to explain the dynamics of pelvic organ support for you to realize.

The absolute crux of the matter is (drumroll, please).....

***In normal human anatomy, the pelvic organs are supported by the lower abdominal wall and not the pelvic "floor"***

This is what gynecology and PT do not see, understand or accept.

Nature did not have to change pelvic anatomy *that* much to accommodate bipedal humans. The lower abdominal wall supports the pelvic organs in quadrupeds, and as we become bipedal in childhood, our organs bend 90 degrees away from their channels (urethra, vagina, rectum) to once again position themselves horizontally in the hollow of the lower belly.

The body is pushing the organs into their positions with every breath we take.

You can test this yourself by standing or sitting upright in WW posture, taking little coughs while one hand is on your lower belly and the other on your perineum. It is blazingly obvious which area receives the most intraabdominal pressure.

The back wall acts to rebound against this pressure, but in natural anatomy (i.e. posture), the organs are being pushed forward, not down.

No one is better able to test this reality than a severely prolapsed woman. By mastering the WW posture, firebreathing and nauli you can experience for yourself your organs being strongly pulled forward toward, or into, their normal positions. A strong lumbar curve will help keep them there. This translates as *some* degree of improvement in symptoms, from 100% to "good enough to live well".

The "neutral spine", which is an artifact of an old and crumbling system, does not allow for the very anatomy that reverses prolapse! Equally important, *it is impossible to hyperextend the lumbar spine in WW posture*.

In one of the Village WWC videos I demonstrate a couple of different ways to nauli. When my prolapse is uncomfortable (and remember, my anatomy was changed so that my uterus fell all the way back and into the space normally held by the rectum) I do several firebreaths, then nauli in circles first, ending pumping my stomach in and out (all in one breath). From there I strongly hold the posture. It might take several rounds of this over an hour or so to pull my pelvic interior forward enough that my cervix rises out of my vagina. *It is a miracle!!!* (Thank you yoga, which always had the answers to female prolapse, but just never applied them to women!)

We WILL change the system, because pulling the organs FORWARD from where they have fallen BACK from is the *only* thing that is anatomically correct. It will take time, but we will get there thanks to supportive women like you.

Wishing you well,

Christine

amateria

September 11, 2010 - 6:26pm

Louise and Christine for your kind replies, I feel very warmly welcomed!

And thank you, Christine for your careful and detailed explanation of the posture. I know I am struggling with it a bit, because quite often there is tightness (sort of around my solar plexus) that makes it hard to lift my chest properly. Sometimes my chest does not want to lift, and muscles in my abdomen are trying to pull it down. Somehow the same problem is getting in the way of doing the vacuum-breathing techniques effectively, so I have only scratched the surface of firebreathing and nauli so far. I have done emotional bodywork in the past and I think there is some processing I need to do to discharge this energy and free up my body. By working at keeping the posture and breathing being as mindful as possible about what comes up I hope to get there in time. I am 53 and I suspect the ingrained habits of many decades probably don't go away overnight.

I mention having this difficulty not because I don't think it is essential to lift the chest - I do see it is essential, as when I can get it to work I can feel a wonderful lift of the pelvic organs, a surge of energy and sense of calmness. But I wonder if other people experience the same obstacle to getting to the (blissful) state of lifted-chestness! (Actually I remeber my beloved yoga teacher of many years ago telling us to "lift the chest" "relax the belly" and "lift the tailbone" in many of the postures. I am only now finally starting to "get" what she was saying.)

On the other hand, I have found it much easier to STOP tucking in my tailbone. After just a few days of letting my lower back relax into its natural curve, chronic pains in my lower back (that I have had for years) went away and have not come back. It seems to me that a nice, gently curved, springy spine is dynamic and strong. I don't need any further convincing that the so-called "neutral" spine is not neutral at all, but an unnatural posture that requires effort to maintain and harms the natural functioning of the spine.

I am fascinated to understand the explanation of how the contrary view came about - by drawing wrong and foolish conclusions from the examination of cadavers about the living pelvis and spine are actually arranged. It is shocking to me and humbling to think about how limited our human knowledge is. It seems to me that the scientific study of human biology and anatomy have only just begun - they are clearly not, in any meaningful way to real human beings (female ones in particular) advanced or sophisticated at all! Copernicus had a hard time with the authorities about the old earth:sun relationship and what you are saying here looks a bit like that to me. It seems to me that a lot of people (whether or not they should know better) have a self-interest in maintaining that the Earth is flat, the sun goes round the Earth, bleeding patients balances the humours and that it is in the nature of womens' organs to fall out of the bottom of their pelvises.

I am going to fight to the end to stay away from any surgery for this condition and am prepared to do whatever it takes. I am therefore also starting to follow your advice to take responsibility for my health in other ways, such as diet and exercise. I have had some sad moments coming to terms with the limitations of where I am now but I feel empowered by the actual improvements I have made so far and the possibility of more to come.

For some reason I can only write late at night (it's 12:30 am here)! It's time to go and get some rest then and to say, goodnight to you both and thanks again.

Amateria

Christine

September 12, 2010 - 11:07am

Yes, the inability to lift the chest so that the abdominal muscles are stretched into their functional lengths is extremely common in women and part of the sequelae of “core strength” permeating our culture.

Your yoga teacher would’ve been a true anomaly, as what is and has always been foundational to yoga is tightening and working from a “locked root” and “strong core’. Honest-to-Pete, I can’t find anyone on the planet (Mary O’Dwyer maybe?) who teaches to relax the lower belly. It is ALL about some level of “corseting” or pulling in the “waist”. As I am demonstrating in my Village sewing room, even the concept of “waist” is fallacious (hey, if you’re going to buck the system, why stop at gynecology, PT, “biomechanical scientists”, yoga, Pilates and women’s fitness instructors who look like boys with breast implants?) Generally, the female body does make an hourglass figure from the front, but from the side in natural posture there is no such indentation at the conventional “waist”. A female “waist” is a product of the 19th century.

The “Copernicus Syndrome” is fascinating indeed. Bellies are not flat and all of the “experts” out there should at least understand the most basic workings of the human pelvis!!