Holistic Pelvic Care™ is an embodied practice that helps support women's health and vitality by addressing chronic tension in the pelvic area, also known as the pelvic bowl. If you're experiencing pelvic issues such as inflammation and discomfort, painful sex, painful periods, prolapse or pelvic pain, this women's work can help identify and address the root cause of these issues. It's a respectful practice that can help you achieve balance and alleviate symptoms.

It differs from conventional physical therapy or bodywork in that it restores balance in the pelvis on a physical, emotional and energetic level aligning the pelvis and supporting the pelvic floor. In this way, Holistic Pelvic Care™ can be used as part of preventative medicine, in the treatment of physical symptoms or to simply bring a woman a greater sense of connection to her pelvic bowl, female organs, and greater access to her creative potential.

 

All women will benefit from receiving treatment at any stage of their life.  More and more women are coming for treatment for general wellness, preparing for pregnancy or for postpartum care, even years after childbirth.  You don’t need to have pelvic symptoms to benefit from receiving treatment.  Whether you are suffering from pelvic symptoms or simply want to connect more deeply with your root and learn tools to help with your own health and healing, treatment connects you to your feminine wellness and vitality.

 

What can I expect in a Holistic Pelvic Care™ session?

The first session is the longest and is 1 hour 30 minutes.  This is when we’ll discuss your medical history and goals for treatment, and any questions or concerns you may have including a review of the female anatomy and muscles. The pelvic evaluation will then include external palpation, internal palpation, assessment of pelvic floor strength and engagement  to review muscle imbalances and chronic tension patterns.  The assessment is followed by a gentle and respectful treatment that incorporates internal vaginal massage with myofascial and trigger point release, as well as breathwork and visualization tools to encourage balanced muscular strength, circulation, and energy flow in the pelvic bowl.   Assessment of the pelvic floor muscles is carried out intravaginally whilst you are asked to ‘squeeze’ your pelvic floor muscles (like a kegel/pelvic floor exercise).  The internal work is manual therapy performed by your provider using a lubricated, gloved digit in the vaginal canal.  Any pelvic pain is also assessed at this point.  I can apply range from very gentle touch to deeper tissue manipulation.  Your body is always the guide to treatment and I only work as deeply as your body allows.  The inter-vaginal massage increases blood flow to the pelvic organs, improves the alignment and the function of the uterus and the ovaries, supports the pelvic floor, brings awareness and balance to the pelvic organs in the pelvic bowl.  Each session ends with guidance for self-care.

 

What effects will I feel after a session?

At the end of the treatment we re-assess the engagement of the pelvic muscles and women are often surprised to feel in themselves that there is often a definite increase in pelvic tone.  Women also feel calm, centred and grounded and very much in their feminine body, re-connected with their pelvic bowl.  The treatment increases blood and energy flow in the pelvis, and many women leave a Holistic Pelvic Care session feeling a decrease in overall symptoms and a strengthening of pelvic floor muscle engagement.

 

Watch Tami talk about Holistic Pelvic Care:

 

Holistic Pelvic Care™ was developed by Tami Lynn Kent, women’s health physical therapist and author of Wild Feminine, who sought to offer women more than just treatment from physical ailments.

All women can benefit from Holistic Pelvic Care because it can?

  • Serve to prevent problems from arising in the bowl by enhancing pelvic wellness through increased circulation, vitality and connection.
  • Clear pelvic congestion and support pelvic wellness.
  • Restore pelvic muscle balance & engagement.
  • Release trauma and feminine wounding.
  • Support organ health & alignment (reducing environment for disease)
  • Address pelvic pain & menstrual imbalances.
  • Reduce pain from cysts, fibroids and scar tissue.
  • Increase sexual health, libido & orgasm.
  • Support transition to menopause, menopausal complaints & long term vaginal health.
  • Enhances fertility preparation for pregnancy.
  • Increase postpartum healing and recovery, including c-section births, vaginal tearing, episiotomy.
  • Aid healing after traumatic or difficult birth & restore birth energy flow/baby bond.
  • Support healing of miscarriage, birth loss or abortion.
  • Heal trauma & restore a woman’s presence in the root of her body.
  • Establish clear energetic boundaries.
  • Create an embodied feminine & authentic masculine.
  • Clear urinary dysfunction (frequency, urgency, leakage)
  • Address pelvic floor weakness, organ prolapse.
  • Address vaginal pain, vaginismus, dyspareunia (pain with intercourse).
  • Teach you tools to help with your own health and healing.
  • Empower women to inhabit her pelvic space, to occupy her feminine ground.

 

Follow up Sessions

Follow-up sessions are for 1 hour and begin with a brief re-assessment and then focus primarily on treatment.  Follow-up sessions can be quite close together for example if you are working to strengthen the pelvic space after childbirth, heal scar tissue or receive a programme of care for urinary leakage.  It may then be suggested that women attend either every 3, 6 or 12 months for maintenance/preventative treatments.  Each session ends with a review of pelvic self-care.

 

Can treatments be performed while I am menstruating?

Holistic Pelvic Care™ can be performed during your period.  It can be a great time to have a treatment as your body is able to shed old patterns along with the physical menstrual flow.

 

Can treatments be performed while I'm pregnant?

Internal pelvic work is not performed during pregnancy, but visualization and breath work techniques of Holistic Pelvic Care can facilitate a greater connection to your pelvis and invite balance during pregnancy as preparation for childbirth.

 

Is Holistic Pelvic Care helpful postpartum?

Yes! Healing after childbirth is greatly assisted by HPC and you may receive internal work at six weeks postpartum.  Treatment can help resolve symptoms such as pelvic pain, discomfort, or pelvic muscle weakness and can mobilize scar tissue to help release any pain patterns it may be creating in the pelvic floor from vaginal tears, episiotomies and c-sections.  For any woman who has experienced a traumatic birth this work is greatly restorative and healing, helping to balance the pelvic bowl and aiding in their recovery, calming and realigning body and spirit.   HPC can help both physically, energetically and emotionally. The bodywork and breath work techniques restore healthy flow of blood, nerve, and energy to the pelvic floor.  HPC alleviates low libido: sex drive, decreased sensation, and an inability to achieve orgasm, pelvic pain, bladder incontinence and more.  If you had a cesarean birth, fascial work directly to the cesarean scar can support healing of the tissues and prevent build up of scar tissue, and internal work can address imbalances in the pelvic bowl caused by prolonged vaginal birth attempt or strong emotions like fear, anger or anxiety experienced during your birth.

 

Recommended Visits

Your body will be our guide for treatment.  Some women receive treatments for an extended period of time and others for just a few visits.  Three sessions within 1-2 months is recommended to restore basic pelvic balance.  Longer treatment is appropriate when the pace of your body directs us to progress more slowly, and when addressing deep-seated holding patterns or symptoms.