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The Femina Physical Therapy Blog

Featuring original articles by our staff about current events and trends

With emphasis on vaginismus, pregnancy and postpartum best practices, treatments for incontinence, and other topics related to the health of your pelvic floor.

 

Blog Posts by Topic

Featured From the Blog:

yoga for urinary incontinence | Image by Kasia Gondek

Yoga for Urinary Incontinence is a Thing

By Kasia Gondek PT, DPT, CSCS, certification in Yoga for Pelvic Pain through the Herman and Wallace Pelvic Rehabilitation Institute

When I am working with fitness or physical therapy clients, I often incorporate mindfulness, breathwork, and yoga postures (asanas) into our sessions together to cue pelvic floor muscle awareness. For thousands of years, yoga has been practiced daily as a discipline for the mind, body, and community to restore balance and overall health. Yoga has been shown to be useful in reducing anxiety, perceived stress, and autonomic nervous system imbalances that are risk factors for urinary incontinence. Yoga postures can improve and maintain general lower extremity and core muscle strength, balance, and conditioning, which has been shown to protect against incontinence in older females.1 An estimated 15 - 40% of females in their 40s to 60s experience some form of urinary incontinence.2

Read more: The Benefits of Yoga for...

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Mindfulness Is More Than A Mindset

From bullet journals to hot yoga, and five minute breathing exercises to weekend meditation retreats, mindfulness is the hashtag-goals wellness buzzword of the moment… and rightly so. It’s hard to argue with all the documented health benefits of being fully present in your activities and relationships.

But is mindfulness a magic cure for painful sex? That’s what many of my patients have been told by well-meaning friends, partners, and even medical practitioners and professional counselors. And I’ll tell you what I tell them:

The pain isn’t in your head; it’s in your muscles. It’s in your nervous system. It’s a complex interplay of the two in many cases.

Read more: Can Mindfulness Help With...

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How much do we really learn about intimacy, affection, sensual touching and sex while growing up?

A lot of our references for intimacy come from what we see in our families, movies, and for sex, a lot of the time porn. What we are individually exposed to will possibly become what we think is the norm, which can then possibly skew our views towards intimacy with a partner. For instance, if a woman watches porn for a sex reference she may think her vulva has to look a certain way or that she needs to attain an orgasm with penetration or to be intimate with her partner she has to have sex, when that’s not really the case.

Read more: Did You Know There's More...

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A couple laughing with arms around each other.

Studies have shown that mindfulness can improve your sex life by increasing arousal, reducing sexual pain, lowering judgement, improving relationship satisfaction, and improving self esteem. Those of you who have had sessions with me in the clinic have most definitely practiced some forms of mindfulneses meditation with me, as it helps one increase connection between the brain and body, reduce anxiety, and downregulate the nervous system.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness can be defined as an open or a receptive attention to and awareness of what is taking place, both internally and externally, in the present moment (Barnes et al., 2007).

Read more: Mindfulness Can Improve Your...

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Photo by Le Minh Phuong on Unsplash

As many places in the United States and around the globe are beginning to navigate new realities and daily routines in light of COVID-19, there is undoubtedly a lot of stress, anxiety, and helplessness affecting not only individuals, but our entire global community.

I myself am writing to you on day 7 of a 14 day quarantine and the Los Angeles community is preparing to abide by a “stay at home” ordinance with no definite end date at the time of this blog.

As various studies have shown, mindfulness meditation is an indispensable tool to help soothe stress and anxiety, reduce chronic pain, as well as keep your brain well resourced and healthy. In fact, this study by S. Lazar in 2005 showed that those with a steady, long term meditation practices have more brain matter than those who did not.

Read more: Ways to Keep Calm | Using...

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Man Meditating on a Dock

Physical Activity has Psychological and Physical Benefits

Studies have shown that physical activity has many physical and psychological benefits. Staying physically active can increase happiness (Wang et al., 2012), improve health (Lee and Skerrett, 2001), and enhance quality of life (Penedo and Dahn, 2005).

Getting Started with a Problem Can Be Hard but Mindfulness Can Help

Dishman and Buckworth (1996) found that it is common for adults to quit an exercise program within the first 6 months of starting it, which decreases the chance for folks to fully receive the benefits of an exercise program. One factor that has been identified as helping people stick with an exercise program is satisfaction with physical activity.

In 2016 Tsafou et al. (2016) found that a mindfulness practice while you are exercising can increase

Read more: Studies Show Mindfulness Can...

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** This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice of your doctor. **

What They Say About Us

  • Testimonials

    • Testimonial by S.H., age 24

      I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me for the past 19 months. I literally could not have reached my goals without you and your practice. You gave me the courage to keep moving forth with my treatment no matter how afraid and anxious I was. You were always there to answer questions and made this whole process so much easier than I expected it to be. It's because of you that my marriage is on the right track, that I can get pregnant and that this part of my life is finally...

      Read more Testimonial by S.H., age 24

  • Testimonials

    • Testimonial by A.W., age 32

      I wanted to let you know that my pelvic floor held strong and gave me no trouble whatsoever in my trail race this morning (12 miles)! In a way, I felt like I ran better than ever because my core feels so rock solid from all the exercises you have me doing. That was especially valuable on the technical downhill - I just flew down the trail because I had confidence in my balance and form. Thank you for helping me get back to doing what I love. -- A.W., age 32 (completed Post-partum Renewal...

      Read more Testimonial by A.W., age 32

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