Relax your pelvic floor: why letting go matters just as much as tightening.

"Train your pelvic floor" is something almost everyone has heard. "Relax your pelvic floor" comes up far less often. And yet, for many people, that is exactly the missing piece.

The pelvic floor is a sheet of muscle that closes off the pelvis from below. It supports the organs, helps you hold urine and stool, and works along with every breath, every cough and every lift. To do that well, it has to be able to tighten – and to let go again.

When the pelvic floor no longer lets go

A pelvic floor that stays tense all the time is often described in clinical terms as "hypertonic" or "overactive". Typical signs can include:

• pain or pressure in the pelvis, around the tailbone or when sitting for long periods
• pain during sex or when inserting a tampon
• a frequent urge to urinate, or the feeling that you can't quite empty your bladder
• constipation, or the feeling that you can't let go when opening your bowels

These symptoms can have many causes. That is why they belong with a doctor first, ideally alongside a specialist pelvic health physiotherapist.

Why more training doesn't always help

Classic pelvic floor training strengthens the muscles through repeated tightening. Where there is weakness – after giving birth, for example – that makes sense. But if the pelvic floor is already too tight, extra tightening can make things worse. A muscle that never properly lets go becomes tired, and then it sometimes seems weak even though it is actually overloaded.

What's missing here isn't strength but awareness. When am I tightening? Can I sense what it feels like when I let go? This is exactly where the Feldenkrais Method comes in.

Breath and pelvic floor work together

The diaphragm and the pelvic floor move together. As you breathe in, the diaphragm descends, the abdomen widens, and the pelvic floor gives a little downwards. As you breathe out, both rise again. If you breathe shallowly, high in the chest, or keep pulling your belly in, you take this natural movement away from the pelvic floor. That is why the breath is one of the gentlest ways to practise letting go.

The lesson: let the pelvic floor breathe – 5 minutes

This lesson isn't a strength exercise. If you don't feel anything, that's normal. For many people, awareness in this area is very faint at first and grows clearer with repetition.

What the research shows

Research on the tight pelvic floor is still at an early stage. A systematic review (van Reijn-Baggen et al., 2022) analysed ten studies on physiotherapy for pelvic floor hypertonicity. The authors stress that there is, as yet, neither a standard method of assessment nor any reference values, so statements about effectiveness should be read with caution. There are no studies so far looking specifically at the Feldenkrais Method and the pelvic floor.