5 Things You Can Do Today to Help Your Pelvic Floor

The sea representing pelvic floor breathing

(No squeezing. No gadgets. Just better order.)

If you’re reading this because you’ve tried everything and you’re still not sure what actually helps know that you are definately you’re not alone.

Most women I work with haven’t done “nothing”. They’ve tried everything from meditation, to PFMT, to pelvic floor programmes to surgery. They are not quitters they just haven’t applied the methods in the right order. Something has always just felt a bit off.

So here are five things you can do today that actually support your pelvic floor, not by forcing it to behave, but by giving it the conditions it needs to respond.

1. Let your ribs move again

Before we even mention the pelvic floor, we need to talk about your ribs.

If your ribcage doesn’t move, your pelvic floor ends up doing jobs it was never meant to do such as, holding, gripping, bracing and becoming hypertonic. But it can also mean that the ribs are trying to support and jump in before the pelvic floor and abs . This can lead to a hypotonic pelvic floor.

Try this:
Lie on your back, knees bent. feet flat on the floor. Put your hands around your ribs, holding them with your fingers to the front and thumbs to the back.

Breathe in through your nose and let the ribs widen — sideways, into your hands, maybe even into the back.
Breathe out slowly and let everything soften and draw/slide back into their rest position.

No big chest lift. No pulling your belly in.

This isn’t about “breathing correctly”. It’s about giving your body space.

2. Add a bit of movement to the pelvis

So many pelvic floors are tight not because they’re strong, but because they’ve been protecting for years from all sorts. Stress. Birth. Surgery. Holding. Pushing. Getting on with it.

Try this:
Stay lying down.
Gently rock your pelvis forward and back with your breath.

Inhale as you rock forward and your lower back arches a little more.

Exhale and tilt back to a balance spine.

Nothing forced or dramatic.
No stretching.
No challenging limits

You’re just reminding the tissues that they’re allowed to move. And movement is often what reduces symptoms, not more effort.

3. Stop trying to “do” your pelvic floor

This one can feel uncomfortable because it goes against everything we’ve been told.

Your pelvic floor isn’t meant to be switched on all day.

Try this:
Sit upright on a chair.
As you breathe in, notice a softening or gentle drop.
As you breathe out, notice a subtle return a gathering of the pelvic floor muscles, not a squeeze.

Let your jaw stay relaxed. If you feel yourself gripping, that’s information — noticing and bringing awareness to where tension or stress live in your body helps us to make change.

We’re looking for response, not control.

4. Let your pelvic floor feel load but introduce gently

Your pelvic floor doesn’t live on a yoga mat.
It lives in your life.

Walking. Standing. Carrying bags. Shifting your weight.

Try this:
Stand up.
Slowly shift your weight from one foot to the other.

No “engaging”.
No instructions.

Just notice how your body adapts what connects? what lets go?

This is how the pelvic floor learns what it needs to do, through experience, not commands.

5. Create support without strain

Support doesn’t come from clenching. It does absolutely come from pressure being managed well.

Try this:
Sit or stand aligned and poised
Breathe in gently through your nose.
Breathe out slowly.

At the end of the exhale, pause for a moment, no breath in or out and notice a gentle widening through the ribs - visualise balloons in your ribs slowly inflating and then take a gentle inhale and three recovery breaths before your next rib widening.

Then just breathe normally again.

If this feels subtle, good That’s usually where change starts.

A few things I would like you to know

If you’re thinking, “That feels almost too simple”, I hear that a lot.

But pelvic floor work doesn’t need to be hard to be effective. It needs to be kind, well-timed, and consistent.

Strength training has its place. So do PFMT exercises.

But if your body feels tense, overwhelmed, or unsure then starting here often changes everything.

You’ve not reached the end of options. You don’t need to try harder.

You just need a different conversation with your body.

Happy to chat through how to get you started or what you need to tweak! Connect here: Abby