While nutrition plays a big part in managing the pressure inside to avoid bloating or constipation, learning how to breathe properly (360 degree or diaphragmatic breathing) is another very important piece of the puzzle.

But what about the mental pressure?

As a functional medicine certified health coach and prolapse warrior, I truly believe that we are ONE and everything is connected. We need to address all aspects of our life (physically, emotionally, and mentally), to live feeling strong and confident with our prolapses.

Your mental pressure (AKA emotional stress) impacts your symptoms. Let me explain.

We all experience a certain amount of mental pressure in our daily lives including societal or cultural expectations, family or peer pressure, workplace demands, the mom mental load as well as pressure including personal standards, beliefs, and various degrees of traumas.

An easy example of pressure coming from personal standards would be being a perfectionist, setting high expectations for yourself, with your inner critic being unforgiving when those expectations are not met. Such inner criticism can create significant mental pressure, as you feel the need to constantly perform at your best and avoid any mistakes or failures.

Another emotional stress could be to always cater to the needs of others before your own, first not really being aware of it and after finding it difficult to set boundaries.

It could also be worrying constantly about your prolapse, the “what if” scenario, your future with it but also the kids, becoming hypervigilant with your life and the list goes on.

No matter where it comes from, this mental pressure is pure STRESS and affects your physical body, often showing up as tensed muscles or restricted breathing.

You can hold the stress of the week and feel the tension in your shoulders, glutes and/or jaw when you are experiencing a frustrating situation, but imagine what happens when emotions are suppressed for years!?

Over time, our stuck emotions & stress affect everything around the muscles like the tissues, the fascia, and the nerves. The tension is then anchored very deeply in our bodies; it can even start causing pain.

Now you understand why it is so difficult to fully get rid of your jaw pain, your hypertonic pelvic floor, etc. Simple stretching and relaxation exercises might not be enough for years of accumulated stress.

Tap into the magic of your breath to reduce the mental pressure & ease your prolapse symptoms.

Breathing is the power switch to your relaxation as you probably experienced at some point in your life when practicing yoga or meditation.

When we are stressed, we tend to have shorter breaths and we send a message to our brain that something is wrong. Our brain switches to fight/flight/freeze mode and puts our body into survival mode, making it near impossible to be healthy and heal.

So when you mindfully decide to breathe slowly, you send a message to your brain that you are okay. Breathwork and breathing consciously will condition your brain to relax even if the situation says otherwise, and you will feel a sense of calmness.

Using Breathwork to Cope with Stress

1. Breathe consciously 5 minutes a day to regulate your nervous system

You can do this simply by breathing in on the count of 4 and breathing slowly out on the count of 6 -8.

You can try my Breathwork video to reset your nervous system here.

2. Experience a breathwork session to release stress and process your emotions

Your breath is the bridge between your conscious and your unconscious mind, the link between what you understand, see and feel in your daily life, and everything which is buried in your subconscious mind ie: core beliefs, various degrees of traumas you’ve experienced.

During a breathwork session, you might reach a meditative state which allows you to get to your subconscious and memories. This will allow you to peel the layers, feel and see what you need to let go of. While you experience deep relaxation, you create a safe and calm space for stress and emotions to be processed and released.

After a breathwork session, my clients often report that they feel as though something has lifted, physically and emotionally. This is when the emotional stress starts to fade away!

3. Engage in customized breathwork coaching to reprogram the way you run your life

If you’ve participated in one of my breathwork classes, you might have had some core beliefs come up. For example, feeling that something is wrong with you, you are not seen and heard, you feel unworthy, etc. You become aware that those beliefs are hardwired coping mechanisms to protect you and come to the realization that they no longer serve you.

We put a ton of mental pressure on ourselves without even recognizing it.

With breathwork and my guidance with targeted questions, you start to understand why you behave the way you do. You bring to your awareness what is not working for you anymore, isolate the issue, remove the barriers and start retraining your brain to shift your thoughts and create new patterns.

No more social, family or peer pressure, no more self-sabotaging with limiting beliefs.

By letting go of this emotional stress, your mind and body feel relaxed. This will translate into less physical tension, less symptoms, creating opportunities for your body to heal.

The day I had the realization of the pressure I was creating for myself in my life unconsciously, when I managed to let go of this limiting behaviour, I had a very big emotional release followed by a physical release. The tension I had in my jaw for years was gone!

Consider starting on letting go of the emotional stress in your life and living with your prolapse feeling strong and confident.

To learn if breathwork is a modality for you on your healing journey, book a discovery call

or register here for my next workshop on shifting your inner dialogue.

Bénédicte Siva is a Certified Medicine Health Coach and Elemental Rhythm Breathwork Integration Coach. After her own life stressors took a toll on her, she turned to breathwork as a tool to cope and it worked wonders. As a result, she has devoted her life to sharing this simple, yet powerful tool with the world.