I can speak with much more authority from personal experience for the girls in this post, but will do my best speaking to the boys in my next post.

A couple of months ago I was sitting talking with a fellow photographer and as we stood to give each other a hug and say goodbye; the other lady said under her breath… “oops”…. and swore in frustration rather softly. She shared with me that she was having trouble with mild incontinence and that it was proving to be a huge problem affecting her life. After we said goodbye to each other the thought popped into my head to write a post about the importance of pelvic floor exercises for us all… and photographers are included. 🙂

So you may ask why on earth would I bother doing my pelvic floor exercises if I’m not showing signs of incontinence? As my body ages… things aren’t as firm as they once were and I really want to commit to looking after myself so that everthing ‘keeps working’.

There are 3 stand out reasons for me. The first being prevention of urinary incontinence. So far – so good for me. The second one prevention of bladder and uterine prolapse. Good there. And the one I find the most beneficial in my life – is increased sexual response and increased pleasure during orgasms.
Absolutely great on that count. 🙂

….. so … here I am now reminding us girls; myself included – to continue with  doing pelvic floor exercises.

I thought to myself – “What is a good way to practice them when I am doing my photography”? I thought about whenever I pressed the shutter… and then I realised that may distract me from being totally immersed in a scene. So I came up with what works for me and that is; after I have been taking some images at a certain place, just before I leave whilst I am putting my lens cap on before walking to another spot or getting in the car to go to another location – I will do my pelvic floor exercises. It now just becomes a habit and routine for me to do this.

I’m not always on location… so I also have to determine other ways of incorporating my pelvic floor exercises into my day. I incorporate them into my morning practice… at the end of my run or swim. I used to do them as soon as I got out of the car at home looking toward the mountains…. but lately I seem to be quickly going to do other things – probably excited about going on my run (hehehehe).. So now I just make my pelvic floor exercises part of my life… every few hours.. 🙂  but you’ll work out how to schedule them into your day.

It is important to do your pelvic floor exercises correctly, and if you are uncertain see your GP or physiotherapist or health professional who can help guide you to isolate the muscles at different locations in your vagina and pelvic floor. There are some pelvic floor exercisers available for those women who need to feel some sort of resistance to determine whether their muscular efforts are effective.

I’m not going to describe the technique here because I am not a Health Professional and there is an abundant amount of information on the net. I would however encourage all of us… myself included; to remain committed to our bodies; get to know them; be the master in controlling our muscles – and in doing so have healthy bodies which function well and provide us with the ability to experience the most incredible pleasure. 🙂