My Journey in Healing Pelvic Floor Dysfunction
Hi, my name is Donna Brooks. I had a prolapse issue that worsened after each of my two pregnancies and menopause.
With over 35 years of experience in body work and yoga therapy, I usually feel confident that I can overcome any physical ailments that come my way. But this one was a challenge!
At first, I treated this the way most women do. I sought advice and treatment from medical professionals, my midwife, and a physical therapist. Each one with a different treatment plan; hormone cream, Kegels, avoid heavy lifting. None of it helped. My symptoms worsened day by day.
It was time to get serious. I called on all my resources and treated myself as a client. Finally, my symptoms stopped getting worse… then I started to get better. Then, every day, things got better. Not completely better, but able-to-enjoy-life-again better. I was able to reclaim my life and my sense of femininity.
I realized long-held and unconscious habits of standing, walking, breathing, and reacting to stress were hurting the prolapse and my general pelvic health. So, I doubled down on my efforts to rehab myself through ordinary ways of movement and living.
How do you help pelvic floor issues holistically?
I offer holistic pelvic floor therapy in Easthampton, MA or online worldwide via Zoom.
For pelvic floor therapy, I employ various techniques, inspired by a combination of powerful and effective traditional and modern healing arts. Guided by my experience and your needs, we choose the best tools for where you are right now
Healing begins when you understand that pelvic floor problems are not restricted to this one part of your body. General body tension, bad movement habits or posture, emotional stress, and how you engage with life affect your Pelvic Floor. It is also affected by how you walk, stand, or sit, or having too flexible joints. These things can all worsen your pelvic floor condition or sometimes create it!
Working together, we look at your body and mind holistically… You as a whole person.
It is also crucial to gently experience the ways your pelvic floor and related tissues actually work and support you all day long. No matter what your condition there is positive function. Building upon this positive function improves how your muscles work and gives you an easier, better posture that takes strain away from the pelvic floor.
Learning about and experiencing your own movement has been proved to lower stress and relieve pain. When engaged with the respect and nurturing it needs, your pelvic floor becomes resilient and you gain emotional strength.
With holistic pelvic floor therapy, I am present with you in a transparent, compassionate, and vital way as you discover:
- How to recondition your pelvic floor and prevent or slow lower organ prolapse.
- How to correct common movements that aggravate your pelvic floor problems.
- Ways to identify and receive habits of stress that make pelvic problems worse.
- True diaphragmatic, pelvic, vocal fold breathing that build support in muscles, ligaments, hips and sacrum
- Principles of hypopressive breathing so you can strengthen your pelvic floor from the tissue above.
- Whole-body movement integration improves your posture and reduces stress.
- The stabilizing force of your tailbone in your pelvic floor
- Pelvic floor improvement is found through the relationships between your jaw, your feet, your head, and your pelvic floor.
- Connective tissue support for your organs.
- Accepting and being yourself to reduce strain and physical pain.
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"After working with hundreds of women with pelvic floor dysfunction, I now think of the pelvic floor as a metaphor for the resilience of women.
Even if it feels like you have tried everything, with the right tools, you CAN affect your body and mind and live fully once again."
- Donna Brooks
How is this different from other pelvic floor therapy courses?
Many pelvic floor therapy courses focus on Kegels and strength, but this is not the whole story. If you look at the pelvic floor in isolation to the rest of your body, there is a limit to how much you can achieve. Nothing in the body works in isolation. I offer a whole body-mind approach.
I offer a whole body, whole mind course of action. What is happening to your pelvic floor is not independent of your posture, gait, and stress, so it is important that you address your pelvic floor as part of a whole.
I look at how you walk, how you breathe and how you move. We look at how your body and mind work and rebuild the foundations.
My approach also addresses your autonomic nervous system. You may have noticed that stress makes your symptoms worse! This is because your muscles actually grip your body for intense physical action when you are stressed. You can reprogram your brain so meet life with more ease and this alone will help relieve symptoms.
What is possible in this format is far greater than any focus on strength alone. I look forward to working with you. This is very sensitive work, I know, but we can talk about pain, incontinence, aging, sex, hormonal shifts, movement restrictions, and fear in a safe and non-judgmental way.
Also, many people are not doing Kegels in the right way; some may need to avoid Kegels altogether.
Read what students have had to say:
Clients say...
"Working with Donna, I learned that by isolating my pelvic floor to kegels and avoiding constipation I was limiting my improvement."
"Learning how to make my pelvic floor health part of my daily movement was a game-changer. It also makes kegels much easier to do!"
- J. Felman
"Donna's approach to the pelvic floor is different from what I had been doing before."
"Instead of mentally struggling and working hard, I started to attend to my pelvic floor lovingly. This may sound like it's not the biggest deal but by caring for my pelvic floor I began to put much less pressure on it. I learned the problem isn't all in my muscles. My jazzed-up life and hair-trigger nervous system were keeping my leaking problem going."
- D. March
"Donna has helped me more than any physical therapist to feel less pelvic pain and more mobility in my body."
"As a bonus, I always feel more peaceful and relaxed after my sessions with her."
- A. McGrew
"Donna really helped me out with some long-standing physical issues that I could not tackle before."
"Her knowledge, attunement, tenderness and skill facilitated a safe container in all of our sessions. I am so grateful for the progress I made. I would highly recommend working with her!"
- Leia F.
"I can’t recommend her highly enough."
"I started the work to address a tailbone injury and other chronic issues. Working with Donna feels like learning a new language toward greater embodiment. I have experienced pain relief and have also been able to integrate what I know from other providers through Donna’s holistic approach and depth of knowledge on different modalities."
- D. Nussbaum
"I have known Donna for years and have always been impressed by her vast knowledge of the body."
"I recently took a 3 hour pelvic floor workshop and was amazed at how much I learned and the time flew by because it was so interesting, interactive and informative. My pelvic floor is the better for it!"
- Katie N.
Frequently Asked Questions
It can be - it depends. If you are unsure, please contact me to discuss your specific situation. Then, if we decide I am a good fit, you can check with your doctor before we proceed.