Mula Bandha
Pelvic Floor Exercise is the New Kegel
Even men are getting in on the idea that a tight pelvic floor is essential to overall health.
Photo Illustration by Emil Lendof/The Daily Beast
A kegel exercise renaissance is underway. Except we aren’t calling it kegels anymore—too gauche. For the uninitiated, it’s now a “pelvic floor exercise.”
The notion that kegels—er, pelvic floor exercises—are a woman-only phenomenon, used for vaginal tightening to enhance sexual pleasure or to rejuvenate the area after giving birth, is dying out. Now, yogis and strongmen alike are joining the pelvic club—and enthusiasts are claiming that a strong pelvic floor is key to overall health.
“What society is starting to realize now is that the pelvic floor is the foundation of good breathing and works synergistically with your diaphragm. If your pelvic floor is too tight or loose, you are not breathing as well as you possibly could,” said Oakland-based pelvic floor yoga therapist Leslie Howard.