The Nervous System and Your Pelvic Floor:How Somatic Therapy Can Help You Regulate and Heal

Makayla Mcintyre, Somatic Therapy Practitioner and Certified Yoga Teacher

Have you felt like you're stuck in a loop with your pelvic floor health? Even after months of frequent physio exercises you start to feel some relief and something seems to happen that pulls you back? The missing link might be your nervous system. Your nervous system plays a key role in pain signalling throughout the body. It can also cause trauma, stress and emotional experiences to be stored in the body as tension, which can be deeply intertwined with complex pelvic health issues, including weak and tight pelvic floor issues. If your pelvic health is influenced by nervous system dysregulation, somatic therapy could be the perfect tool for you.

Understanding the nervous system and pelvic floor connection

Let’s begin by explaining the various roles and parts of the nervous system to help with understanding its connection to pelvic floor health. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) can essentially be divided into the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for our “Fight, flight, freeze and fawn” responses and the parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for our “rest and digest” state. Our ANS job is to be constantly assessing our environment to signal to our body if we are safe or in danger.  When our ANS is working well we can seamlessly flow between the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, feeling safe one moment and mobilizing the next (ready for  fight, flight, freeze and fawn). When functioning optimally our ANS can combine states of safety and mobilization like in settings involving play or intimacy. Trauma and chronic stress can prevent ANS from functioning optimally and can cause constant survival state feeling. Our ANS can begin to have a difficult time knowing the difference between safety and danger, oftentimes resulting in signalling the wrong functions and alarm systems in the body. When our ANS becomes faulty and signals for danger even when we are safe, we have a dysregulated nervous system. When our nervous system is unregulated we become unable to tell the difference between our unsafe past and our now safe present. Fortunately, with a little time and work, our ANS can become regulated again and learn to be resilient and flexible.

Chronic nervous system dysregulation may be affecting your pelvic floor and could be the missing link in your journey with pelvic health. Stress, trauma and past experiences can trigger an overactive pelvic floor. Chronic pelvic tension can lead to pelvic pain and painful intercourse. Because our body's autonomic nervous system is responsible for digestion when it senses a threat or danger, there becomes a connection between nervous system dysregulation and digestive system issues such as constipation, bladder function and urinary urgency, frequency or leakage. Since freeze is also a common stress response, our bodies can develop a sense of numbness or disconnection. This can heavily impact the connection to your pelvic floor muscles. If any of these symptoms have persisted while being consistent with your pelvic floor exercises, your nervous system may need support. 

How somatic therapy can support nervous system regulation

Somatic therapy is a body based approach to healing by supporting nervous system regulation in many ways. Somatic therapy is centered around body awareness, activating the parasympathetic nervous system and releasing old belief systems and holding patterns. Body awareness is an important factor in creating a healthy mind-body connection. Strong body awareness can be helpful to reconnect to the body’s sensations which is very important in pelvic floor health, especially if numbness,  disconnection or dissociation are common when trying to connect to your pelvic floor. The parasympathetic is pivotal for healing and restoring the mind, body and nervous system. This allows our body to cultivate safety through rest and relaxation. Releasing old belief systems and holding patterns can help us find nervous system regulation by letting go of some of the alarm systems our body has put up after trauma or an emotional experience. 

What to expect in pelvic health somatic therapy sessions

Somatic therapy sessions are unique to your history and goals. A safe and trauma-informed space should always be top priority. Depending on your personal preference, somatic therapy could include breath techniques, movement or mental/visual exercises. Some examples of these techniques include, mental body scans connecting to sensations in the body, releasing tension in the body through movement, recognizing physical and emotional patterns during stress, a variety of breath techniques which could include breathwork or meditation to help move through emotions/belief systems or find simple rest and relaxation. Somatic therapy is also centered in embodiment and cultivating safety in the body and around you in order for the mind, emotional state and nervous system to align and restore.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the pelvic floor and the nervous system are deeply connected. Based on this information, if you believe the missing link in your pelvic health journey is connected to your nervous system, somatic therapy may be the answer. If you are looking to regulate your nervous system, I would love to support you in your journey. If you’re interested in learning more, you can book a 15 minute discovery call at Proactive with Makayla to see if somatic therapy is a good match for you.