As women, the #1 advice we are given either after childbirth, as we are aging, or prenatally is "do your kegels!" We hear this from our doctors, midwifes, sisters, gynecologist, and even in the media. Well guess what.. STOP DOING YOUR KEGELS! They are absolutely worthless the way they are being taught and let me explain why...
The original kegel exercise was invented in 1948 by an American gynecologist, Dr. Arnold Kegel. He released an article describing a non-surgical method of toning the pelvic floor to assist women in controlling vaginal incontinence. He realized that by exercising the PC (pubococcygeus) muscles of the pelvic floor that this helped relieve women from uterus prolapse (when the uterus falls into the vaginal canal), urinary incontinence (involuntarily peeing esp. when sneezing and laughing), as well as other various symptoms of aging and post-childbirth that women have just accepted as normal.
"If you don't use it, you lose it!"
Unfortunately, the 'average vagina' is in such a state of atrophy- overstretched, weak and thinning that it is incapable of performing it's normal functioning! Yes you heard me correctly, your vagina is NOT meant to get saggy and prolapsed overtime and it's up to us to stop continuing to accept this as our humble fate!
The first and foremost important step in preserving the longevity of your yoni is muscle education and therapy. However, the absolute key ingredient that no-one told us from the original article and studies published my Dr. Kegel is that he used a feedback apparatus inside the vaginal canal to provide resistance. So doing 50 'kegels' at a traffic light is pretty much a waste of your precious time. It can be compared to going to the gym and flapping your arms around while looking at the weights and thinking your getting a bad-ass bicep work out! Yes, you may be burning some energy, however you're not doing anything productive to prevent your sacred vagina from going weak and heading south!
"So what do we do?!?!!"
Fortunately there are many beautiful tools and practices that can help us on our journey, weather you are already experiencing vaginal incontinence or want to start now with preventative practices. A quick overview of some of my favorites..
♀ JADE YONI EGG
The Jade Yoni Eggs are an potent tool that was brought to us from the Chinese Queens and Her Concubines as well as the ancient Taoist traditions. They used these practices to harness their 'ji' (sexual life force energy) to increase vitality, as a secret to longevity, to increase orgasmic potential and ability to please men, and to bring dreams forth into creation. Dedicating 10-15 minutes a day, 3-5 days a week is the perfect way to set yourself up for vaginal victory!
You can use a Jade Yoni Egg as a reference point to do muscular exercises moving up and down the entire length of the vaginal canal. The egg assists in really accessing and activating the subtler muscles and energies. And don't worry, it won't get 'lost in there'! Firstly, the egg will not pass through your cervix and into your womb, AND we have drilled a hole in all our eggs so you can tie a string which will help further resistance training as well as peace of mind!
Ready to dive in?! : Pick up your 100% Nephrite Jade Yoni Egg here
♀ Your Finger/s
Use yourself as a reference point and place of resistance - like yoga, we can build great tone and strength using our own body! I recommend using your fingers either way to check yourself and your ability to isolate different sections in the vaginal canal as well as checking up on your general strength time and again. You are truly your best teacher and guide and what better way to reveal the mystery then to completely remove the 'mystery.' So do yourself a grand favor and check yourself out, see where you are currently at, and start today practicing a proper kegel. You can even begin to play with isolating different sides of the vaginal canal or different sections from top to bottom - most importantly stay curious and have FUN!
♀ YOUR PARTNER
This can be a great way to connect and play with intimacy and connection with your partner - wether male or female. If male, you can use his lingam as feedback, resistance, and increased pleasure for all! If female, you can play and discover together.
♀ SHAKTI WAND
I continue to receive emails and feedback simply saying 'I LOVE MY SHAKTI WAND! - SHE IS AMAZING!!' Yes the shakti wand is a powerful tool both physically and energetically. The 100% rose quartz pleasure wand has been blessed with the vibration of Holy Sophia and Divine Love. When using her, we journey beyond the era of dildos and truly invite sacred sexuality into the bedroom whether for self-play or with a partner. She is a best friend to use as resistance for your yoni training regime and offers her length as practice segmenting the entire canal. She is also deeply healing and aides in releasing trauma and stuck energy.
Super-charge your yoni and get more details here: Beam Me Up SHAKTI!
Our yoni/womb holds the codes to literally unlock the secrets of creation - yes this is our Life Force Center! When we are not tuned into this holy portal, it creates confusion, density, holding patterns, and a highway junction of mental, physical and emotional buildup! When we begin to activate these subtle energies in our main power circuit, we begin to unlock our deep knowing, creative expression, sovereignty, ancestral remembrance and unique gifts to offer the world. When we clear our womb, She becomes our guide and our anchor to return home. Engaging in these practices is so far beyond sexuality, it's our soul's calling to Stay Awake!
In our culture, even though sexually expressive in some ways (mainly profane or repressed), there still exists so much shame and taboo around sex and sexuality. I believe this is one of the reasons most women (and men) are suffering and docs never told us that the 'original kegel' had an insertion technique! Are we too ashamed to talk about putting something inside our vagina or is our collective truly completely ignorant and misinformed?!
What are your thoughts and insights?
Please comment with any inquiries or aha moments - I Love hearing from You!
*Please note - I interchange the terms yoni and vagina often. I feel the importance of reclaiming the word 'vagina' as comfortable, normal and also sacred. I love using the word 'yoni,' which is a sanskrit word that refers to the 'sacred source of life' and also is another word for vagina, womb, uterus and vulva - it feels more encompassing.
☆☆STATISTICS FOR YOU TO PONDER OVER AND MOTIVATE FROM☆☆
URINARY INCONTINENCE IN WOMEN STATISTICS
Of the 25 million adult Americans suffering from some form of urinary incontinence, 75-80% of those are women.
Urinary Incontinence affects 200 million people worldwide.
One in four women over the age of 18 experience episodes of leaking urine involuntarily.
On average, women wait 6.5 years from the first time they experience symptoms until they obtain a diagnosis for their bladder control problem(s).
Stress urinary incontinence, the most prevalent form of incontinence among women, affects an estimated 15 million adult women in the U.S.
About 17% of women and 16% men over 18 years old have overactive bladder (OAB) and an estimated 12.2 million adults have urge incontinence.
Urinary Incontinence is twice as common in women as in men.
Pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause are major reasons of the increased prevalence of incontinence in women as compared to men.
Between the ages of 18 and 44, approximately 24% of women experience incontinence.
For women over age 60, approximately 23% deal with incontinence.
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