Success in Yoga: Applying DNS Principles to Classical Yoga Postures For Better Asana

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As I continue to explore the various ways that Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS) informs my movement and that of my clients, I continue to be impressed with how well DNS complements my practice and my teaching of yogasana (yoga postures). Classical yogasana are varied and complex, but they are always informed by the movement skills we bring to them. If those skills are limited or flawed in some way, so too will the be postures. When our movement skills are intelligent and aware those qualities will also be expressed in our asana and they will help us to bring our postures to life.

Thus far, after more than 25 years of study and practice, I have not yet found an approach to yoga that complements my practice and my teaching and that facilitates deeper knowledge of the subject the way that DNS has, and there’s every indication that will continue. As my knowledge and understanding of alignment, movement and asana grows I hope to share more of what I learn with you in the form of the posts and videos that Tiffany and I are creating and making available here on our website.

The following video shows part of sequence I’ve been working on for a while now and one I’ve begun to share with many of you in our sessions. If you are unfamiliar with the content, this video is by no means a substitute for skilled instruction. If you wish to explore the postures demonstrated in the video, I would caution you only to do so if you’re already familiar with these postures and to avoid continuing them if you experience any pain or are recovering from an injury that would make such postures inappropriate. Of course feel free to contact me for help or advice!

A Deeper Look at Pelvic Floor Strength and How to Build It – Part 1

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A quick online search for “strengthen the pelvic floor” reveals a lot about how many of us view the pelvic floor and its role in our health and function. There are any number of recommended exercises for the pelvic floor, some that include products to assist you, and with most advocating an approach that involves isolating the contraction of the pelvic floor muscles. This approach can be helpful for building some basic awareness of the pelvic floor – an important component of developing pelvic floor strength. But this approach is also limited in that it fails to address the broader and more essential role of the pelvic floor in facilitating alignment and functional movement.

The Pelvic Floor Does Not Work in Isolation

The pelvic floor muscles coordinate with several deep muscles in the trunk in order to stabilize the lower trunk and maintain the integrity of the pelvic organs, preserving continence and sexual function. These deep trunk muscles work synergistically with the pelvic floor and include the diaphragm, psoas, spinal muscles and the deep abdominal muscles. Collectively these muscles act as a flexible cylindrical, called the Thoraco-lumbar cylinder or TLC, with the pelvic floor forming the bottom of the cylinder. In addition to the muscles themselves we have a fascial layer that acts as a web-like connection between them. This facial layer interweaves the trunk and pelvic floor muscles and helps give the trunk and pelvis its shape and tone.

Diaphragmatic Breathing is Essential for Pelvic Floor Strength

This fascial connection between the trunk muscles and the pelvic floor assures no individual muscle will work properly unless there is appropriate movement and engagement in all of the muscles that form the cylinder. In other words, the pelvic floor muscles never contract in isolation, rather they co-contract in response to the movement of the diaphragm and the subsequent abdominal response needed to support the trunk. This means that in order to strengthen the pelvic floor we must breath diaphragmatically, and to maintain consistent optimal pelvic floor tone we must breath diaphragmatically throughout the day and especially during any exercise or activity.

The Role of Intra-abdominal Pressure

When we breath diaphragmatically, pressure is created inside the TLC which is similar to the pressure created inside a ballon filling with air. This pressure is called intra-abdominal pressure (IAP), and under ideal circumstances the muscles forming the TLC all respond to this pressure by contracting against it. This response should be relatively equal throughout the walls of the cylinder and serves to contain,  maintain and regulate the IAP. Maintaining IAP helps us avoid stress on the pelvic and abdominal organs, spinal muscles and vertebral joints. Thus the pelvic floor has the important role of regulating IAP by helping to maintain relatively constant control of the cylinder, and in this way the relative tone of the pelvic floor directly influences the strength and function of the whole lower trunk.

If we do not breath diaphragmatically then we do not create proper IAP, and without proper IAP there simply cannot be the coordinated contraction of all the muscles of the cylinder necessary for trunk stability. In other words, there will be no response in the pelvic floor muscles if we are not breathing correctly.

Picture this: upon inhalation the pelvic floor widens to support the downward pressure created by the diaphragm. Then upon exhalation the pelvic floor co-contracts with the diaphragm and moves slightly up into the pelvis while the diaphragm moves back up into the ribcage. This coordinated movement between diaphragm and pelvic floor has a gentle squeezing effect on the spinal column and disks, keeping them plumb and lengthening the spine.  This protects the joints of the spine from wear and tear and prevents damage to the disks.

Before beginning any pelvic floor specific strengthening exercises, diaphragmatic breathing with correct intra-abdominal pressure must be mastered!

For some people diaphragmatic breathing may be challenging at first, particularly if there is a a lot of tension in the trunk muscles. For others, years of chest breathing and/or shallow breathing can also make the trunk muscles weak and the back muscles too tight, preventing the alignment of the pelvis and ribcage necessary for diaphragmatic breathing to occur. Very often in these circumstances the pelvic floor muscles themselves are too tight, and this tension increases the tendency for pelvic floor disfunction.

Signs of and Contributors to Pelvic Floor Tension

Signs of a tight pelvic floor include lower back pain, incontinence issues, prostate and or bladder issues, prolapsed organs, and impairment of sexual function. Typically a tight pelvic floor is accompanied by certain muscular habits that manifest in conjunction with the pelvic floor tension. Habits that contribute to pelvic floor tension include clenching the lower glutes, tucking the pelvis, and sucking in the abdominal wall.

We live in a busy, stressful world and all of us are subject to potential stressors daily. An overactive stress response, either accompanying or even caused by long term habitual chest breathing is another important cause to be considered with pelvic floor disfunction (PFD). In such cases an effective approach to stress reduction is an essential component to any remedy.

Many of us have jobs that require a lot of sitting, either at the office and/or in the car on the way and home again. Those of us in this group are especially at risk of developing pelvic floor disfunction because long term sitting increases pelvic floor tension. The employment of a standing desk can help in these instances, but a more careful look at how we’re standing, or sitting, is an important part of any long term resolution.

Ignoring calls of nature because of busyness or distraction can be yet another source of stress that directly contributes to pelvic floor tightness and disfunction in a very obvious way. “Holding it” can become a habit that should be taken seriously, especially if PFD has already manifested.

Less obvious but no less important a contributor to PFD are cultural influences and images that present alignment pattens that we may try to emulate. Patterns such as a military posture with its arched lower back and tight glutes, as well as images from the fashion industry presenting beauty in the form of female bodies with forward hips and tucked pelvises no doubt reinforce patterns in younger people who are already developing these patterns through excessive sitting and staring at screens. Limiting screen time and setting healthier examples with our own alignment and movement habits are important considerations when managing this issue with our children.

Even in the wellness/fitness industry we are regularly presented with images of “healthy” bodies with sucked in over developed abdominals that are bulging and tight. We must remember that muscles that are too tight are also too weak to be functional. In order for a muscle to function well, it must have its full range of motion and be able to both contract well AND relax well. This is important to keep in mind not only with respect to aesthetics, but also with respect to steps we might take to mange pain. Bracing with the abs to manage back pain or PFD, for instance, is one of many habits that may be contributing to rather than solving our PFD.

A psoas release is a simple yet extremely effective way to help to begin to release many of the habits that contribute to PFD:

Once you begin to breath diaphragmatically and freely throughout the day and you combine it with a daily practice of letting go of dysfunctional tension habits, you will be ready to practice more specific pelvic floor re-training and strengthening. Because of the inter-connected fascial webbing, strengthening your pelvic floor muscle necessitates the ability to feel and develop responsiveness to the co-contraction of the muscles of the thoracolumbar cylinder.

Since the pelvic floor muscles are hard to feel, it can help to have a basic understanding of their anatomy to visualize and increase awareness of them. The pelvic floor muscles connect the pubic bone to the tailbone and each ischial tuberosity (sitting bone) to the other, and these muscles reside in three detailed layers.

Again, pelvic floor muscles are part of a deep myofascial grouping (close to bones and deep in the body), and because they are deep within the body these muscles are hard to sense. The function of these deeper muscles can also appear more subtle than that of the large superficial muscles like the quadriceps or gluteals which are much easier to feel and to activate.

But the deeper muscles of the trunk contain a larger amount of proprioceptive nerves than the superficial muscles, and these nerves help our body respond to changes in movement and loads quicker than our superficial muscles can – even quicker than we can respond with our thoughts. This is why symptoms of mild incontinence often occur with quick motions like jumping, running, and sneezing. Each of these motions requires the deeper muscles to be strong and responsive in order to manage the increased loads these and other movements may place on the pelvis and lower trunk. Strong and responsive trunk and pelvic floor muscles serve to prevent excessive loading of the bladder and urethra which might otherwise cause leaking.

To help you feel how these muscles co-contract together, here is a simple exercise:

In part 2 of this post we will look further at how to further strengthen the pelvic floor with more dynamic movements that involve bending, lifting and walking. Stay tuned!

Genetics and Health: Why Diet and Movement Matter

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The other day I received an email from a good friend and client sharing a link to an article in the NY Times. The article discusses a recent study done with participants from an earlier study, completed in 2003, on the effects of exercise. This earlier study, done at Duke University and called “STRRIDE” (for Studies Targeting Risk Reduction Interventions through Defined Exercise), took several hundred individuals identified as sedentary and overweight and randomly assigned them to either a control group or one of two exercise groups. The two exercise groups included one that did “moderate” exercise, such as walking, and one that did “vigorous” exercise such as jogging. The exercise groups did their assigned exercise for 8 months. The control group did not exercise at all.

As you might expect, both exercise groups showed marked improvement in several health markers including aerobic fitness, blood pressure, insulin sensitivity and waist circumference, while the control group generally showed no improvement. For this recent study individuals from each of the groups were invited back to the lab for testing to see how they were faring. Those that agreed to come back were tested for aerobic capacity and metabolic health and were asked about their health conditions and medications.

Not surprisingly, those from the control group in the original study were even less fit now than they were in 2003 while those from either exercise group were still better off than the control group. Less obvious but still not surprising was the fact that those who had done “vigorous” exercise in the earlier study showed greater aerobic capacity than those in either the “moderate” exercise group or the control, losing on average only 5% vs. a 10% loss in the other two groups.

But what was very surprising to these scientists was that the “moderate” exercise group, who had only walked 3 times a week for 8 months during the earlier study, showed substantial improvement in blood pressure and insulin sensitivity compared with both the “vigorous” exercise group and the control group. NOW THIS IS THE MOST INTERESTING PART – these walkers also showed these lasting improvements to their health EVEN IF THEY HAD STOPPED WALKING AFTER THE 8 MONTHS! William Kraus, the professor of medicine and cardiology at Duke who oversaw the study suggested that the effect of exercise on our genes and our cells might explain the study’s findings.

I regularly have conversations with clients who ask me “is this problem something I can do something about or is just my age?” I always encourage clients to avoid chalking up problems to age, even if age might be a factor, because once we decide that some pain or loss of function is due to age then it places that issue into the category of “PROBLEMS I CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT.” Once a health issue is put in this category it robs us of the capacity and motivation to do anything to improve it, and there’s just about always something we can do to make things better.

I see deferring to genetics in a similar way. If we make the assumption that a health issue we have or might develop is due to our genes, even if our mother or father did have the same condition, then it hampers our ability to deal with it in the same way that saying a problem is “just because I’m getting old” does. As long as the problem is under the “CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT” umbrella then we’re unlikely to respond effectively.

Studies demonstrate, and pretty consistently I might add, that the health issues that most of us are dealing with or that we are most concerned about are caused by genetics only about 10 to 30 percent of the time. The other 70 to 90 percent of the time these health issues are caused by diet and lifestyle. Cardiovascular disease and diabetes in particular have been shown to manifest much more from lifestyle causes than from any genetic predisposition. Not only that, but it’s also been demonstrated that changes in lifestyle can influence our genetics so as to increase our genetic resistance to a chronic diseases such as cancer.

A 2016 pilot study done at The University of California San Francisco revealed that men with low risk prostate cancer who had decided to forgo treatment unless the disease progressed could improve the genetic markers for cancer by changing their diet. These men followed a diet outlined by Dr. Dean Ornish, and the men who followed this diet for 3 months saw some 500 genes change as a result. This included some tumor-suppressing genes that became more active with the change in diet, as well as some genes associated with increasing cancer risk that had switched off. The study did not set out to determine whether or not the changes in diet led to better long term health outcomes, but the changes in these men’s genetics were significant and promising.

Clearly our dietary choices are a powerful force for influencing our genes and any contribution those genes might make toward our manifesting a health problem, but what about our lifestyle choices? In her groundbreaking book, Move Your DNA, Katy Bowman argues for lifestyle, in the form of our daily movements, as a huge contributor to the health of our genes and their expression. She illuminates the important role of movement in gene expression by highlighting the difference between the genome and the mechanome.

The genome is the gene that we tend to think about when we think of our genes. This is the gene that resides with all our other genes in the nucleus of each and every one of our cells. This gene expresses itself by activating certain physical and/or functional characteristics that make us who we are as an individual. The mechanome is made up of this gene plus all of the exterior forces, many of them mechanical, that play a role in determining if and how a particular genome will be expressed.

To think of a gene as the primary actor in determining our health outcomes is like imagining some kind of stealth bomb in our body that will some day, likely when we least expect it, set off its charge and send us cascading toward some miserable end. Alternatively, the mechanome model presents a gene that is flexible and responsive to input, particularly movement input, and one that can, given the right input, just as easily contribute to a positive health outcome as a negative one. Therefore the amount and way we move, both a huge part of our lifestyle choices, can be a significant influence on our genes and how they influence our health and longevity.

Movement choices are like the dietary choices we make in that they provides us with yet another powerful tool by which to influence our health on the genetic level. In a recent post on yoga for health I discussed the role of mechanotransduction in movement and I describe how movement can be used to influence tissue health on the cellular level. Although I highlight yoga specifically in that article, yoga is just one example of an approach to movement that provides effective ways of using mechanotransduction to affect tissue health. Yoga is intelligent movement, but there are other ways of moving intelligently that can have similar benefits. Walking for instance, appears to have played a significant positive role in the gene expression of the “moderate” exercisers in the “STRRIDE” study discussed above.

It should be encouraging to all of us, and especially those of us who worry that our genetic makeup may be undermining our health and function, that the studies mentioned above show we can improve our chances of better health outcomes with diet and exercise / movement, even if we have genetic predispositions. These studies reveal that we needn’t be at the mercy of our genes and that we have it within our power to change our genes in ways that are positive and lasting.