We have inherited language and labels relating to our anatomy and movement physiology that have influenced our beliefs and how we inhabit our bodies.
Take the label given or language related to the Pelvic Floor. An area I have spent many years focusing on in my Whole Body Pelvic Health method and my book Hope For Your Pelvic Floor. It’s the lens I use to look at posture, the language we have inherited and how our body is being addressed and misrepresented and our sense of self diminishment as a result.
When we refer to the pelvic floor it describes that the floor is only the area relating to the pelvis because it is the floor belonging to the pelvis misrepresenting its highly fascial nature and onward continuities above, below and beyond.
The label ‘floor’ has an association with what we know to be a floor which is something hard, flat, solid, stiff, rigid and without any holes within it, that hold things up.
What I see is this label and others inform the way women live in their bodies and what they ask of them or worse how little they ask of their bodies because of the misrepresentation.
If we consider the pelvic floor as a diaphragm, dynamic, rhythmical and a constant in our bodies and we know that it is also responsive and in a symbiotic relationship with the respiratory diaphragm, this description is a truer representation and offers a more positive language. That positive language then provides women with a more positive expression of their body and themselves and their posture will improve.
Here are some simple ways you can change your language to be positive about your body that will change how you move and experience life:
Start with reframing with positive language:
Bad, dodgy, painful = different, feels different, communicates louder, needs different exercises or feedback.
Right, correct, perfect = optimal, ideal, goal, balanced, working towards.
Pelvic Floor, core, posture = diaphragm, axial length, dynamic, adaptable.
Move with an image:
Imagine your shoulder blades are like wet lathery bars of soap sliding on your ribs.
Imagine your feet sending roots into the ground and you are floating above like a tree reaching for the sun.
Imagine your pelvic floor like a jellyfish gently rising up as you exhale and drawing down as you inhale.
The way we think about and talk about our bodies truly informs how our bodies will show up and serve us. These simple tools for positive language take no extra time out of your day or add to your to-do list.
They are choices you can make at every moment to create a positive body experience. Positive language really can change your life.
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