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Yoga for Pelvic Floor and Postpartum Health: An Iyengar Yoga Approach to Pelvic Healing and Integrative Wellness through Anatomy and Practice
The first comprehensive anatomy and yoga practice manual for postpartum pelvic healing—a gender-inclusive guide to poses, practices, and exercises for pelvic-floor, pain, dysfunction, and recovery Includes full-color photos, 7 weeks of yoga sequences, and an individualized step-by-step guided self-assessmentPelvic floor pain, injury, and dysfunction are incredibly common among postpartum people—but despite the critical importance of ongoing pelvic support and recovery post-birth, most doctors, physical therapists, and healing professionals simply aren’t equipped to offer helpful, personalized advice to ease postpartum symptoms like postpartum pain, discomfort, urinary incontinence, and painful intercourse.Rebecca Weisman (CIYT, CYT) and Meagen Satinsky (MPT, PYT) offer the first comprehensive anatomy and yoga practice manual geared toward healing postpartum pelvic issues. With full-color images, accessible tools, and step-by-step poses and breathwork exercises, Yoga for Pelvic Floor and Postpartum Health empowers readers to get to know this vital part of their own body—and reclaim agency in caring for their own postpartum recovery, postural support, organ health, and sexual function.Part 1: Anatomy reviews the anatomy of the pelvis and surrounding regions, with a special emphasis on helping you develop a deeper, more knowledgeable, and more loving connection to your own bodyPart 2: Sequences of Asana for Practice introduces Iyengar yoga and breathwork practices to support pelvic healing—and guides you through a flexible 7-week asana sequence that you can do on your own time and come back to again and againPart 3: Special Topics addresses specific pelvic concerns like painful intercourse, perineal tears, Cesarean delivery, pelvic organ prolapse, diastasis rectus abdominis, urinary issues, pelvic pain during menopause, low back pain, postpartum depression and anxiety, and more Yoga for Pelvic Floor and Postpartum Health is appropriate for any stage of your postpartum journey—whether you gave birth vaginally or by Cesarean, ten days, ten weeks, or ten years ago. With a guided self-assessment, full-color and 3-D layered graphics, and compassionate, expert counsel, readers can return to specific poses and sequences again and again on their pelvic healing journey.
232 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 20, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 17, 2024
I’m a 500hr registered yoga teacher with over 11 years of experience teaching. Last year I had a hysterectomy and have been in pelvic floor therapy for over a year. I was a bit disappointed to find that there was no mention of hysterectomies in this book, which is another cause of prolapse in individuals born with a vagina. I also think seniors should have been mentioned more because that’s another group where prolapse can happen due to age and other reasons. Maybe they never got help after they gave birth or had a hysterectomy or other surgery. Or maybe just age is causing things to happen.
While I appreciated the anatomy at the beginning of the book, it did take up 25% of the book. Although it did say in the description there would be an anatomy lesson, I was expecting there to be more of the yoga piece of it, based on the title of the book.
The majority of the poses are restorative yoga based. I did appreciate that there was diversity of body type and race in the images. However, all three models are clearly very flexible. Where some variations are written in paragraph form, from my experience in teaching yoga, a lot of these poses are going to be very difficult for a lot of people and images of variations would have been helpful, not to mention the fact that some of these poses might not be something everyone can do. For example, tree pose. It says to place the foot on the inner thigh. Well, most people can’t get their leg that high, and nowhere does it mention that the foot shouldn’t rest on the knee if you can’t place it on the thigh. I also thought trying to do Warrior II with a block at an angle against a wall may be difficult for some to get into.
A LOT people can’t get their head on a bolster placed on their legs either. They might need to stack up 3 or 4 (or more!) bolsters, blocks, or pillows to get their head into a comfortable position to rest. If anyone can’t do a headstand, there’s an entire section of poses they won’t be able to use. Many poses are not healthy for those with any sort of neck, shoulder, and upper back problems.
There’s also some really crazy things done with a chair that I really think would be difficult for people to get through. You have to be skinny enough to fit through the back of a folding chair and then stack things up on either side… by yourself. What if you don’t have help? Or sitting backward in a chair with your legs swung over the top. I think there will be a lot of individuals who can’t do these poses for a lot of reasons. Flexibility, age, and so many other reasons come to mind.
Then, we get to the images where there are props most people don’t have… Don’t have a trestle? Yeah, me either. It does mention using the back of a couch or a railing… but for me, my couch is against a wall, and I have no railings in my apartment. I personally wouldn’t recommend people doing backbends over a railing. That just seems like a safety issue to me. I wouldn’t recommend a senior in her 60s do a backbend over a couch from a standing position- it’s too low.
This is not a book I would recommend to beginners… and I’m not sure I would recommend to anyone. I’ve done so many exercises with my pelvic floor therapist that would have been really great for this book and none of them are in there. There are so many exercises that could be done. Where are they in this book?
I'm giving it two stars because I think the anatomy section was good and there was potential here.
While I appreciated the anatomy at the beginning of the book, it did take up 25% of the book. Although it did say in the description there would be an anatomy lesson, I was expecting there to be more of the yoga piece of it, based on the title of the book.
The majority of the poses are restorative yoga based. I did appreciate that there was diversity of body type and race in the images. However, all three models are clearly very flexible. Where some variations are written in paragraph form, from my experience in teaching yoga, a lot of these poses are going to be very difficult for a lot of people and images of variations would have been helpful, not to mention the fact that some of these poses might not be something everyone can do. For example, tree pose. It says to place the foot on the inner thigh. Well, most people can’t get their leg that high, and nowhere does it mention that the foot shouldn’t rest on the knee if you can’t place it on the thigh. I also thought trying to do Warrior II with a block at an angle against a wall may be difficult for some to get into.
A LOT people can’t get their head on a bolster placed on their legs either. They might need to stack up 3 or 4 (or more!) bolsters, blocks, or pillows to get their head into a comfortable position to rest. If anyone can’t do a headstand, there’s an entire section of poses they won’t be able to use. Many poses are not healthy for those with any sort of neck, shoulder, and upper back problems.
There’s also some really crazy things done with a chair that I really think would be difficult for people to get through. You have to be skinny enough to fit through the back of a folding chair and then stack things up on either side… by yourself. What if you don’t have help? Or sitting backward in a chair with your legs swung over the top. I think there will be a lot of individuals who can’t do these poses for a lot of reasons. Flexibility, age, and so many other reasons come to mind.
Then, we get to the images where there are props most people don’t have… Don’t have a trestle? Yeah, me either. It does mention using the back of a couch or a railing… but for me, my couch is against a wall, and I have no railings in my apartment. I personally wouldn’t recommend people doing backbends over a railing. That just seems like a safety issue to me. I wouldn’t recommend a senior in her 60s do a backbend over a couch from a standing position- it’s too low.
This is not a book I would recommend to beginners… and I’m not sure I would recommend to anyone. I’ve done so many exercises with my pelvic floor therapist that would have been really great for this book and none of them are in there. There are so many exercises that could be done. Where are they in this book?
I'm giving it two stars because I think the anatomy section was good and there was potential here.
July 16, 2024
It is difficult to judge this book because who this is targeted at will change my opinion on the book.
If this book is aimed at yoga teachers who are looking to learn more about pelvic floor and post partum bodies or as additional information alongside pre/post natal yoga training then I think this is a good book.
If this is aimed at non-teacher yoga people to guide them in their self practice then this is not a good book.
The good stuff first. The anatomy section is amazing. It is important to know the different layers of pelvic floor, the muscle fibres, and how it connects to the rest of the body.
Too many books treat pelvic floor as something completely independent from the rest of the body which is just not true.
This bit was the best part of the book. It was suitable for everyone and was written in an accessible way.
The exercise section is where things get tricky. The models used show a range of body types which is great except they are all super flexible. Even when a modification is given, there usually isn't a photo of it.
Many of the exercises require props which not everyone will have. This includes teachers. I had no idea what a trestle was and I've never seen that in a yoga studio.
Many of the exercises are advanced exercises and not suitable for people new to yoga. I would not recommend these to people without having a teacher guide them. I would also worry they would get stuck in the folding chair because those ones looked dangerous.
Again, this is where the audience matters. There is nothing wrong with having more challenging poses if this is aimed at teachers. If this is aimed at the general population then have them in a separate section or offer many different modifications.
The exercises themselves were interesting. There are better and more accessible exercises than the ones shown in this book. They might not strictly be yoga though.
The special conditions at the end were interesting though they did not cover hysterectomies or pelvic floor dysfunction not connected to child birth which I thought were big oversights.
I wouldn't recommend this to the general population. I would recommend it as a teaching aid purely for the anatomy section.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC
If this book is aimed at yoga teachers who are looking to learn more about pelvic floor and post partum bodies or as additional information alongside pre/post natal yoga training then I think this is a good book.
If this is aimed at non-teacher yoga people to guide them in their self practice then this is not a good book.
The good stuff first. The anatomy section is amazing. It is important to know the different layers of pelvic floor, the muscle fibres, and how it connects to the rest of the body.
Too many books treat pelvic floor as something completely independent from the rest of the body which is just not true.
This bit was the best part of the book. It was suitable for everyone and was written in an accessible way.
The exercise section is where things get tricky. The models used show a range of body types which is great except they are all super flexible. Even when a modification is given, there usually isn't a photo of it.
Many of the exercises require props which not everyone will have. This includes teachers. I had no idea what a trestle was and I've never seen that in a yoga studio.
Many of the exercises are advanced exercises and not suitable for people new to yoga. I would not recommend these to people without having a teacher guide them. I would also worry they would get stuck in the folding chair because those ones looked dangerous.
Again, this is where the audience matters. There is nothing wrong with having more challenging poses if this is aimed at teachers. If this is aimed at the general population then have them in a separate section or offer many different modifications.
The exercises themselves were interesting. There are better and more accessible exercises than the ones shown in this book. They might not strictly be yoga though.
The special conditions at the end were interesting though they did not cover hysterectomies or pelvic floor dysfunction not connected to child birth which I thought were big oversights.
I wouldn't recommend this to the general population. I would recommend it as a teaching aid purely for the anatomy section.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC
March 3, 2024
First off, books like this are so needed for how to take care of your body PP, and truly care for the trauma you body have been through not just “lose the baby weight.”
Pros: this book uses inclusive images, verbiage and absolutely makes the full attempt to capture most people’s PP experience. Descriptions and images are well explained and thought out. Anatomy is given for those who are interested in learning more, or the asanas week by week are available through both descriptions and easy to follow images. The back of the book discusses a ton of common PP issues or considerations from tears to C-sections to PP anxiety/depression.
Cons: I’m a huge fan of props and especially in this case props are a must PP. I appreciate the mention that props can be anything beyond yoga specific marketed props, but I would have liked to see that in images so those who do not have that available to them can get a visual better idea of alternatives to use. Lastly, in my opinion this guide is slightly out of reach for someone who may have never done yoga before. Inversions on week 2 feels unattainable for even some novice yoga practitioners.
Pros: this book uses inclusive images, verbiage and absolutely makes the full attempt to capture most people’s PP experience. Descriptions and images are well explained and thought out. Anatomy is given for those who are interested in learning more, or the asanas week by week are available through both descriptions and easy to follow images. The back of the book discusses a ton of common PP issues or considerations from tears to C-sections to PP anxiety/depression.
Cons: I’m a huge fan of props and especially in this case props are a must PP. I appreciate the mention that props can be anything beyond yoga specific marketed props, but I would have liked to see that in images so those who do not have that available to them can get a visual better idea of alternatives to use. Lastly, in my opinion this guide is slightly out of reach for someone who may have never done yoga before. Inversions on week 2 feels unattainable for even some novice yoga practitioners.
July 25, 2024
I was interested in this book as that I have a medical condition that can cause the pelvic floor to be weak or even cause prolapse of organs. I’ve been a fan of yoga for many years, and I thought I could surely do the yoga any postpartum person could do! Yeah, no.
The poses in this book ranged to passive to somewhat advanced. I promise I couldn’t stand on my head at this point, no matter what good it would do for any other part of my body. I don’t know that I’d say that this book is for even the majority of healthy folks, but perhaps if they wanted to work hard enough for the results
I’d recommend this to people that are somewhat limber and are able to do a headstand, even if you have to use a wall to help balance. If you have just had a baby or have pelvic floor dysfunction, this could be a great help, but be ready to work for it!
The poses in this book ranged to passive to somewhat advanced. I promise I couldn’t stand on my head at this point, no matter what good it would do for any other part of my body. I don’t know that I’d say that this book is for even the majority of healthy folks, but perhaps if they wanted to work hard enough for the results
I’d recommend this to people that are somewhat limber and are able to do a headstand, even if you have to use a wall to help balance. If you have just had a baby or have pelvic floor dysfunction, this could be a great help, but be ready to work for it!
June 8, 2024
Where was this book 40 years ago after I had my children? I think this book should be recommended to all women, I only hope the title doesn't stop women who are not postpartum from reading it. It is the most informative book I have ever read on the subject of the pelvic floor.. It is full of great descriptions and images so you know exactly what is being talked about. I have been doing yoga my whole life and this book is very good at the description of the different yoga poses. I love the use of props too. As I get older I find restorative yoga to be very helpful and it uses props.
Thank you to Netgalley and North Atlantic Books for the opportunity to read the ARC.
Thank you to Netgalley and North Atlantic Books for the opportunity to read the ARC.
July 1, 2024
This book had really good anatomy and explanations. I loved the pictures of the asanas, however, I would definitely recommend this book to someone who has done yoga before. I liked the use of props, but I would have liked to see some more asanas without the use of props to have the same effect. Overall, this knowledge is great and we need more books out there like this. I can't wait to apply the things I learned in my own practice.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews