by Jen Owen, N.P. | May 10, 2021 | Pelvic Health
I’ve gotten a lot of interesting reactions over the past 6 years since I began doing Holistic Pelvic Care™ (HPC), a technique that combines inter-vaginal massage with breath work to help women* clear stagnation and other issues in the pelvic area.
Some people have thought it was odd, and even gross, that I would want to do this work. To me, this sums up a lot of issues for women right here. We are taught culturally from a young age to be ashamed of our bodies, that our periods are awful times and should be hidden, that women should not be sexual beings or they are “promiscuous”, and on and on.
No wonder women are experiencing issues in their pelvic areas from menstrual cramps to fibroid tumors to prolapses, and every thing in between.
Don’t you think it’s interesting that most of us are more than willing to have someone rub our back and shoulders, but the idea of some one rubbing the large and intricate muscles inside the pelvis is weird and gross?
Initially, because of cultural and personal views, many women are hesitant to have a provider touch them in such a private place and perhaps do wonder how I’m able to do this work. By the end of a first session, most state that this should be a regular part of every woman’s annual pelvic care, because they feel the tremendous changes in their bodies.
Conventional medicine rarely emphasizes preventative healthcare. Pelvic care is only offered when there’s a problem. Most women are unaware of their pelvic imbalances, because initially they likely don’t show outward symptoms.
Meanwhile, because of posture, emotional stress, energy blocks, trauma, injuries, or other events, the pelvic muscles become imbalanced. This can cause one area of muscles to do more work than the others. This one area compensates for an imbalance in another causing the muscles to lose their dynamic balance. Over time, this affects a woman’s stability and pelvic health, and symptoms will begin to show. Holistic Pelvic Care™ as prevention prevents problems from ever occurring.
For example, I had trouble in my right hip since my (now 23) son was born. I carried him often on that hip causing my pelvis to be unaligned. This problem went on for years. I tried Chiropractic, Massage, and Yoga to try to heal this, but nothing entirely worked. During my training for HPC, after I had received several treatments, I was walking down the street and felt some very gentle pops within my right pelvic area and I have not had the same kind of pain since.
When women do have pelvic issues, they often don’t know where to turn and don’t know about pelvic care. They will suffer silently without the awareness of available treatments. Others attempt to talk to healthcare providers or family members about their symptoms, only to be told that what they are experiencing are normal results of aging or birthing a child.
The female body deserves more care. Women must understand the language of the body to alleviate tension patterns that inhibit energy flow. Modern women are carrying chronic tension in the pelvis that interferes with the physical and energetic flow in the whole female body. By learning to pay attention to her root patterns, a woman can enhance the flow in her core.
A good portion of this work is meant to teach women how to better care for their own bodies. As women learn to do pelvic care techniques, they restore vitality to the root muscles (the pelvic floor), the strongest and most integral muscles supporting the female body. In bringing awareness to this part of the body, women find that they have much greater creativity, energy, and confidence.
“When the female body is cared for at the root, women come to know and love the feminine place in themselves”. (Quote from my teacher, Tami Lynn Kent.)
You can learn self pelvic care by reading the book Wild Feminine by Tami Lynn Kent. This book will lead you through many exercises to teach you how to connect to your pelvic area and clear tensions yourself.
Many women find that they need a nudge to get going or benefit from the care offered by a professional. This is why I offer Holistic Pelvic Care™ in my office. If you would like to experience this profound healing modality to work through a symptom or to promote pelvic balance, I invite you to schedule an appointment now.
Please share this information with all the amazing women you know. Imagine what the world would look like if every woman stood in her full power of creativity every day. Pelvic care is the best way I know to make this happen.
*Holistic Pelvic Care™ is supportive and beneficial to all humans with a vagina regardless of gender identity.
by Jen Owen, N.P. | Jan 19, 2021 | Pelvic Health
When I move the FLOURISH clinic to a new office location this spring, I’ll no longer be offering Yoni Steams. My intention when I offered Yoni Steams (also called Vaginal Steams and V-Steams), was to bring awareness to this sacred healing therapy.
If you’ve been wanting to try one in the office, but haven’t been in yet, now’s your chance. Coming in for a steam also helps if you want a 1:1 tutorial on how to steam at home.
I’m offering discounts on first steams and steam with a friend options until I move. Learn more here.
While steaming at an office can provide guidance on herb choices and takes away the time it takes for preparation and clean-up, Yoni Steams are very easy to experience at home.
In this blog, I’m going to share the simple step-by-step process to perform a steam at home and some basic herbs for a general relaxing steam.
If you’re having any kind of symptoms, I would advise you to seek counsel on which herbs to use and when to steam. As a general rule, if you have a menstrual cycle, you should steam during ovulation and/or right before your menses and if you don’t have a cycle, you can steam anytime or use the moon cycle for guidance.
How to prepare a yoni steam:
Step One
Dedicate a bowl that can set inside your toilet. I use stainless steel. You can use any material that won’t be affected by the boiling water.
Use a large enough bowl that it comes about even with the top of the toilet bowl just under the seat level.
step two
Prepare your herbs (see list below for choices).
Place 1-2 Tablespoons of each herb in your steam bowl for about 3/4-1 cup of herbs total.
Place the bowl with herbs directly into your toilet.
step three
Bring at least 2 quarts of water to a roaring boil and pour the water over the herbs.
Put down the toilet seat.
step four
Sit right down on the toilet and wrap yourself in warm blankets.
step five
Relax and let the steam enter your yoni.
Remain in place for 25-30 minutes or until the warmth dissipates.
Common herbs for home steams
Calendula:
Calendula is known to heal tissues and nourish the skin.
Energetically, it’s thought to move stuck emotions and aid in recovery and grief.
Chamomile:
Chamomile is known to be very soothing to the vaginal muscles.
It’s great for the emotions and helps reduce irritability, anxiety, and to lessen emotional outbursts.
Lavender:
Lavender is known for it’s support in healing menstrual pain and to maintain a healthy uterus.
It’s very helpful for relaxation and rest.
Red Raspberry Leaf:
Red Raspberry is known in herbalism for it’s ability to help strengthen and tone the uterine muscles.
It’s also thought to nurture and protect the person receiving the steam.
Roses:
Roses smell divine and encourage love and healing.
Red roses help with romantic, passionate love.
Pink roses help with self-love and self-acceptance.
*There are many other herbs to choose for steaming. This list seems to be the most pleasing and most tolerated choices.
I hope this helps provide a simple guide for Yoni Steams at home. Please let me know what questions you have. If you’d like to take advantage of this last month of steams at FLOURISH, learn more here.
by Jen Owen, N.P. | Oct 23, 2020 | Mind-Body Medicine, Pelvic Health
If you missed “What the Heck is Pelvic Care Anyway (Part 1)” and you’re on Facebook, you can watch it here or you can just read the recap below.
If you already watched the video or know the basics, you can scroll down to Part 2 now!
Part 1 Recap:
Holistic Pelvic Care™ (HPC) was created by physical therapist, Tami Lynn Kent. After she learned the skills to perform pelvic floor therapy for female-assigned humans, she began noticing that the people she was working with were having emotional responses to the treatment.
After working with hundreds of females, she began to see patterns in the pelvic area. She found her clients were often holding on to emotions, feelings, and memories inside what we call the “pelvic bowl”. By combining the hands-on work to the area with breathwork and visualization, Tami was able to help clear these “stuck” experiences and make way for more empowerment, self-love, and vitality. And, she teaches other practitioners how to do the same, including me!
There are large muscles inside the pelvis that get little to no attention. We can get “knots” in these muscles just like we get in our shoulders, necks, etc. that are often easily relieved with massage to the pelvic floor just like massage to other parts of the body.
Through the combination of releasing the muscles and using breath and visualization, pelvic symptoms are often greatly relieved. Some of the symptoms helped with HPC include: long, heavy, or painful periods, low libido, fertility issues, menopausal symptoms, and low back and hip pain, just to name a few. HPC is also very helpful after childbirth and for healing from a miscarriage.
If you want to learn more from Tami’s experiences, I highly recommend reading her book, Wild Feminine.
Okay, on to….
Part 2:
I think the most common reaction I get when I tell people about this work is that they think it sounds really weird.
And then, once people experience it, they actually comment things like, “It was weirdly not weird at all!”
Holistic Pelvic Care™ is truly “women’s healthcare”.
How did women’s healthcare become all about a pap smear? When we think of women’s health, we immediately picture ourselves with our feet up in stirrups ready to brace ourselves for discomfort. Am I right?
Let’s address this aspect now. HPC is totally different from a pelvic exam. There are no stirrups. You’re lying on a warm table on pretty sheets. I take a look at your “parts” only to see where I’m going so I don’t poke you anywhere you’d rather not get poked. The rest of the treatment is done with me by your side and you are covered with the sheet.
The massage aspect is done with only one finger, so it’s nothing like a speculum used for regular pelvic exams. We are then communicating throughout the entire experience as to your comfort level. The goal is to never cause pain or trauma to your sacred spaces.
Does that help you understand this better?
If you’re having any sort of pelvic area symptom, I strongly urge you to consider coming in for Holistic Pelvic Care™ soon
The Other Benefits of Pelvic Care:
There’s one more very important thing for you to know. This care is NOT just for symptoms.
Even if the body is not giving us a physical signal that there’s something going on (like pain, discomfort, or dysfunction), there is amazing healing that can be experienced with the work.
More and more of us are investing in pelvic care for health maintenance, prevention of symptoms, and for personal connection.
Often people come to me for HPC when they are looking for more energy, more vitality, and even more money.
Not sure if HPC is for you? Curious about the energy work and how it can help? Consider attending one of our monthly Pelvic Bowl Meditation Circles. During these Circles, I walk you through a similar visualization process as we do during a session.
Featured Podcast:
Last year, I was featured on the amazing LaToya Zavala’s Podcast, “Freed and Powered Up”. The topic of our discussion was called, “So, What About Sexual Healing”.
If you want to hear some more about this topic, you can listen to it here.
I welcome all of your thoughts and questions about this topic. What else do you want to know?
Please comment below and share this article widely, so more of us can know about this important work.
If you’re ready to schedule for Holistic Pelvic Care™, click here for more information.
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