In the early 1990’s I was, what I thought to be, the top of my game. I was an executive in a top fortune 500 international company, I was compensated very well for it. I was married to a professional and living in a fabulous house on a hill. So what was wrong with this picture? I was sick all the time.

As I became very successful in the business world it became very apparent that I was not in a supportive marriage. In fact, it was very toxic. My then husband was in the mental health profession and was a master at disguising mental and verbal abuse where I was the object. As an example, I would come home from very successful business meetings where the client thought I walked on water. Soon I would find myself plunged into despair by criticism, verbal and mental abuse. The final straw was when I was publicly humiliated in front of my peers by the antics of my former husband. I left that marriage and began my long journey of transition. I heard somewhere that it you want to make a lilac bush bloom beautifully, you have to beat it with chains the year before. That is the thing about transformation and transitions-often it is painful but always fruitful.

Being on my own gave me great satisfaction and immense stress reduction. However, I was still sick. I got pneumonia five times in a two year span. Something was still very out of balance. I was very run down and on the verge of a complete physical breakdown.

Traditional medicine kept giving my antibiotics and telling me to rest. I began to explore alternative health options. I found an acupuncturist that diagnosed me with severe adrenal deficiencies, and borderline auto-immune disorder. His method of treatment was based on the a five element theory. I use this theory in my practice today. He treated me twice weekly for a couple months and weekly for over a year. He also encouraged me to radically change my diet, which I did. He along with a wonderful mental health therapist who introduced me to the value of meditation. It is amazing what you can find within when you are centered. I sought out a physician who practiced alternative health options, and I found that all of these changes together led me back down the path to my truest, healthiest self.

It became clear that there was still an obstacle in the way of optimal health-my job. In the beginning the job was satisfying because I was making a difference in our clients business structure. Due to many management and philosophical changes within the company the job became about inter-company politics. The betrayal of colleagues, traveling schedule and being put in a position that was not conducive to my nature contributed to my heath issues. It was not work that was fulfilling my soul or feeding my creative passion. I was unable to be an authentic individual in my work.

Finally. the opportune moment came; my company was merging with another company. I was able to negotiate a very generous financial package and left. This was the next step in my transition towards my true self.

I had been interested in “healing” work for many years and began to explore ways I could work in this field. I began to take night classes in massage therapy. I blossomed more and more in each class. I soon committed to full time courses and became a licensed massage therapist. I knew deep in my soul that this was a foundation for the work I was supposed to do. I discovered what I knew intuitively all along, I could feel client’s energy. Deep relaxation was key to healing. Using massage modalities, I could see immediate results in clients health. I was doing work that satisfied my nature. I was a care-giver.

All things come to where they started, and it is the same with my path. I feel like I should mention something: before you see me as an executive woman who flipped her beliefs completely, you should know that I began my Reiki journey in the late 70’s when I attended a Reiki workshop. The class was a group largely made up of mental health professionals and at that time they did not take kindly to this new idea. However, I was drawn to Reiki instinctually. It resonated with me. It felt like my truth. This was the work that I was intended to do, however I followed the path of the business world. There are many philosophers who talk about coming to the fork in the road and which way to travel. I took the business fork based on my needs and desires at the time. Sometimes that road takes you back to the original fork and you get to travel you true path as I have.

Today, I have been involved with the healing arts in some form or another for over twenty years. My primary focus at present is Reiki through groups and workshops. I also teach Chakra balancing and my favorite, women in transition.

My need for transition showed up in my body to get my attention since I was not listening on an emotional or spiritual level. I think the Women In Transition groups have become my passion because of my personal transition. I can be a guide because of my experience. It is rewarding for me to know that I have been a facilitator to their transition and healing. It is a beautiful and heartwarming thing to watch a rose bloom.

The women who now show up in my practice are women who take responsibility for their health in body, mind and spirit. They want to be shown a path and walk that path on an authentic level. I saw clients for years that wanted to be “fixed”. It became very apparent that yes, they could be “fixed” for a while, however they had to participate fully for their healing. Two examples come to mind. Two of my clients had cancer. They both went through successful treatments. I treated both of them with massage, healing touch, Reiki and guided imagery. Through the treatments they were able to see what was imbalanced in their lives. Self-care including diet. exercise, work, family dynamics were all issues for both of them. One of the women drastically changed her life. She changed her work, set boundaries with her family and took care of herself through diet, exercise and creative outlets. The other woman went back to her life as it was before the cancer. The “woman in transition” is healthy and cancer free. The other woman’s cancer has returned.

————

I knew that there was more to this healing story for me, so the next chapter of my transition began. I studied many modalities, such as five element theory, healing touch and energy medicine, as I practiced massage therapy and continued with Reiki. To me, these modalities are like a sequel to a book that you just can’t wait to be released; there is always another story to learn and something else to digest. I could not have fathomed what came next for me and it make me look again at my own healing capacity.

Just when I thought I had settled into a very comfortable life, my mother died in a tragic auto accident. This very vibrant women who had courageously healed from breast cancer, was gone. She was in her early 70‘s, she was an avid horsewoman who was still riding competition trail rides at her death. When she found out she had breast cancer, she went forward as if it was just another obstacle to hurdle in her trail. She continued to exercise and became even truer to her first love; horses. Her death brought me back to New Mexico to care for my surviving father who had major heart conditions and was torn apart with a broken heart.

One of my spiritual teachers told me, “Your authentic spiritual path is not any easy one, it is one of true self.” Coming back home in New Mexico meant that I had to face all that prompted me leave in the first place. I stayed true to my authentic self sometimes against very challenging odds. Healing family issues, adolescent issues, past relationships plus grieving the death of my mother was a lot to take on. It became quite the challenge to integrate who I had become as an adult into the family who still saw me as a teenager.

I knew I was being authentic and true to myself because not once during this long and difficult period did I get sick. I practiced all the “healing” modalities I knew & taught others. I practiced what I taught the women with cancer. I set boundaries with my family, I tried to meditated daily, I exercised and continued a healthy diet and tried to live in the moment.

My Peruvian teacher said two things that I keep in my minds eye; “you will always have problems, you will be able to solve them at a higher level” and “your body does not lie.” I believe and have seen this in my practice, that if you are out of balance on any level in your life that it will show up in your body.

My favorite inspirational writer is Louise Hay. She was a pioneer in mind body connection. To paraphrase something she wrote; “how you start your day is how you live your day, how you live your day is how you live your life.” Find your authentic truth and live it.

Anterior Colporrhaphy versus Transvaginal Mesh for Pelvic-Organ Prolapse
Daniel Altman, M.D., Ph.D., Tapio Väyrynen, M.D., Marie Ellström Engh, M.D., Ph.D., Susanne Axelsen, M.D., Ph.D., and Christian Falconer, M.D., Ph.D. for the Nordic Transvaginal Mesh Group
New England Journal of Medicine 2011; 364:1826-1836

This is a fascinating study for so many reasons.

The authors begin by identifying prolapse as being the “downward descent of the pelvic organs”, which illustrates the fundamental lack of understanding of the anatomy of prolapse by the medical system. The pelvic organs do not fall down. They fall back, away from the lower belly and over the pubic bones where they belong.

They then point out that the traditional surgical repair (anterior colporrhaphy) has recurrence of 40% or more. One has to wonder how the surgical institution justifies a procedure with this degree of failure. I wonder how many women are told prior to surgery that two out of every five surgeries fail (that they’re aware of).

The authors then point out that while there have been some “observational studies” that have shown lower failure rates with synthetic materials (mesh), “data from randomized trials to support specific treatment recommendations are lacking”. How interesting that after tens, probably hundreds of thousands of these mesh surgeries have been performed they are just getting around to determining if the mesh actually works better than the anterior colporrhaphy. Wouldn’t logic dictate that this study would have been done prior to FDA approval?

And all this is only in the first paragraph of the study.

In the second paragraph, they go on to state “Despite their widespread use, none of the marketed kits [standardized synthetic mesh kits] have been comprehensively evaluated in comparative trials.” Which means of course that these mesh surgeries have been in use for years without anyone bothering to ask (before this study) if it actually works better than traditional anterior colporrhaphy. This your medical system at work.

Basically, the results say that after one year, you are less likely to have recurrence with mesh than traditional anterior colporrhaphy, but you are more likely to have complications with mesh surgery.

• The exciting news was that with anterior colporrhaphy, you could expect a 65% failure rate and with mesh, only 35%!
• Six women of the 389 women selected for the study had punctured bladders during the surgery
• 7.3% of the mesh surgery recipients reported “usually” or “always” when questioned about pain during intercourse
• “Serious surgical complications” occurred in 4% of the mesh surgeries
• 61 of the women in the study were undergoing their second “repair” surgery
• 33 had increased stress incontinence after the surgery
• 5 required additional surgery to correct this stress incontinence
• 6 had “wound revision” due to mesh exposure (in other words, mesh protruding into the vagina)
• 2 women died in the first year, ostensibly from heart disease but of course no correlation to having recently undergone major surgery is explored in the study.

This study offers many lessons about the medical system. First, no doubt these are smart, hard working, dedicated professionals who have gone to great lengths to carefully design and execute a statistically valid study. It was published in a prestigious journal.

However, the culture of science and medicine have given rise to a number of assumptions that should be deeply scrutinized but are not.

• The failure rates are astonishingly high. Where else in life would these kinds of failure rates be tolerated? Would you buy a car that failed 65% of the time?
• The assault on the overall health of the patient as a result of these surgeries (with a high number of corrective or follow up surgeries) with concomitant anesthesia is never addressed.
• The study only considers only a single parameter: whether or not the vaginal bulge was reduced within the first year. Many of these surgeries don’t fail until year two or three, and the qualitative measures of post-surgery life were given only short shrift.
• In medicine, patients are statistics. The number of women with surgical errors such as punctured bladders or other serious complications is small statistically. However, I’m quite certain this was little consolation to the women involved or their families.
• Nowhere are the underlying assumptions addressed as to whether or not surgery should even be considered, only which surgery would be better. The study was financed in part by Ethicon who happens to be a major supplier of mesh kits. While the researchers go to pains to clarify that Ethicon had no input or involvement in the study, (although their kits were used), it is unlikely that Ethicon would be interested in supporting a study that compared the results of mesh surgery against non-surgical approaches.

The reductionism of science has its place. But life is not so easily reduced. A mouse in its cage and a mouse that has been put through a blender are the same collection of chemicals. But that doesn’t make them the same. Every week we get heartbreaking calls from women whose lives have been shattered by the medical system. It is disheartening to see the level of talent and effort that has gone into a major study like this which ultimately is trying to determine how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

First, a word about the Whole Woman Conference.

The first annual Whole Woman Conference is almost upon us and there are still seats available! Please give coming to the Conference your serious consideration. It is shaping up to be an important event in terms of broadening your knowledge, getting direct, personal support from our teachers, and connecting with other women who are on the same journey of healing as yourself. But time is short. Call Amy today at 505-314-1455 if there is any way you can join us.

I emphasize this because this Conference is a huge Milestone for Whole Woman and for my life. A quick look back will help clarify.

My profound uterine prolapse occurred almost 20 years ago after a bladder suspension surgery. I refused the recommended hysterectomy and struggled with my prolapse for ten years. It changed everything for me. The strong, independent young woman and mother I was, now struggled with chronic pulling, chafing and bulging as my cervix hung at and often beyond the opening of my vagina.

In 2001, I was going through menopause and went through what is a common enough experience for women in that age group, but which is difficult and traumatic, nonetheless: a thirty day bleed.

Somewhere in that experience, I turned myself over to life, “Let thy Will be done.” It was then, in that space of letting go, that I was shown what my work was to be. I knew I had been called to unlock the mysteries of prolapse. I knew someday I would have a center. Someday I would host a conference and women from around the world would come.

Now these visions have been and are being fulfilled.

Milestones do two things. They tell you how far you’ve come and they tell you how far you have yet to go. When every woman in the world has access to a qualified Whole Woman teacher, when Whole Woman Inc. has an established infrastructure for researching and offering women natural and practical alternatives to dangerous traditional medical practices independent of me, then perhaps I can retire to the mountain life I’ve always wanted.

But so much remains to be done and you, dear friends have already done so much to help further this work. Through your economic support, your moral support on the forums and by telling your daughters, friends, nieces, aunts and mothers about your condition and what you have done, without surgery, to improve it, you are the heroines of my story.

I so look forward to seeing all of you who will make your way to Albuquerque on May 18th to share this milestone with me and your sisters in this work. Thank you.

Christine

Ayurveda saved my life. In 1996 I was diagnosed with terminal cancer, colon cancer with metastases in the liver, and found out that conventional medicine had nothing to prolong my life by even one day. Oddly, a part of me was excited: could I do what I believed others had done? Could I find an alternative route back to health? Could I call forth from wherever they resided, healing powers that I believed were inherent in nature?

I started by switching to a macrobiotic diet and going regularly to my friend, Susan, a newly licensed Acupuncturist. In Susan’s waiting room one day, I saw someone with a book on Ayurveda. My mind leapt up—do that! I vaguely knew that Ayurveda was the traditional health care system of India. And this was Maine… where would I find an Ayurvedic practitioner? Not long after, I overheard someone talking about a practitioner not far from me! I was on my way the next day. And two days later I began to my own personal practice of Ayurveda. I practiced Ayurveda the same way I practiced meditation—that is, I did it every day.

I learned that according to Ayurveda, literally the knowledge (veda) of life (ayuh), the colon is the seat of vata, one of the three humors or doshas Ayurveda uses to describe all things in nature, including humans. Vata is formed from the merging of space (ether, akasha) and air or wind (vayu). Vata people tend to move around a lot (from twitching to traveling); they are often “spacey” and easily distracted. When out of balance, they tend to be nervous and anxious as vata governs the nervous system. They tend toward constipation (dryness in the colon). Vata is aggravated by eating cold, dry foods; by eating on the run; by irregularity especially in daily routine.

I learned too, that Ayurveda’s fundamental treatment principle is utterly simple, and even obvious: Like increases like and treating anything with its opposite will decrease it. In other words, treat moving with stable; light with heavy; spacey with grounded.

My practice of Ayurveda started radically. I closed my business (guiding wilderness trips for women) and stayed home for nearly 2 years. The first year I didn’t talk on the phone at all (very calming to my nerves and energy-saving beyond anything you might imagine unless you’ve tried something similar, even for a short time). And I had a routine. I woke early, meditated, went for a walk outside, did yoga or QiGong, enjoyed cooking and eating fresh organic foods, rested, studied, and went to bed nearly the same time every day. (Yes, I was blessed with being able to take this time for myself. We all deserve such deep rest when we need to heal!)

The routine ensured that I gradually aligned more and more deeply with nature, with the natural energy patterns and flow. This was key. I was in the flow. The intrinsic and natural flow of intelligence (prana or chi as it’s called in Sanskrit and Chinese) is like a river and I put myself into the current of that river and did my best to keep myself there. I didn’t heal myself; I was healed. I turned myself over to this greater cosmic energy and did everything I knew to maximize the flow through my physical, mental and spiritual bodies.

It’s been 16 years now since that diagnosis and my personal practice of Ayurveda has waxed and waned over the years (further effects of vata), until I have finally settled into a steady rhythm that changes slightly with seasonal shifts but otherwise holds me in that great current. And the greatest gift of being in the current, besides my health (which is a huge gift that even now I don’t take for granted), is the feeling of being deeply aligned with the greater flow of Cosmic Consciousness. And that alignment is infused with a subtle feeling of bliss; something I’d heard about for years from other meditators but never experienced so deeply and steadily. And speaking of meditation, the routine, this practice of keeping the “canoe” of my life in the current of the śakti/prana/chi has stabilized my meditation practice, too.

Now I practice Ayurveda professionally, helping others to find this kind of deep, sustained and happiness-yielding alignment with nature, which, of course, is also the deep alignment with the Self.

I now understand, through my own experience and my work with others, that health really is not only the balance of the doshas, the proper functioning of all the systems of the body, including digestion and elimination, the health of the tissues, etc., but also, as the Ayurvedic sage Sushruta said, health also includes the happiness of the mind, the senses and the soul.

This is why I practice Ayurveda.

Increased Breathing Control: Another Factor in the Evolution of Human Language. Ann Maclarnon and Gwen Hewitt. Evolutionary Anthropology 13: 181-197 2004

The evolution of the upper respiratory tract (face, tongue, throat) in the development of vocalization has been widely studied. However, the human ability to achieve very fine motor control of breathing during speech has received much less attention. Maclarnon and Hewitt take the reader on a fascinating adventure in paleoanthropology to prove that spinal nerve control of the intercostal muscles surrounding the lungs had the greatest evolutionary impact on the formation of human language.

By way of measurable increases in the thoracic vertebral canal of extinct and extant species, these authors and numerous of their colleagues have been able to determine precisely when human speech and language evolved.

“Based on any appropriate evidence available from the paleoanthropological record, the evolutionary functional development must have been absent from Homo ergaster and australopithecines but present in Neanderthals and modern humans, corresponding to the pattern from the vertebral canal.”

After controlling for all other possible explanations for thoracic enlargement of the spinal cord, scientists have concluded that human evolution after Homo ergaster involved a major increase in breathing control for speech. Surprisingly, the evidence also strongly suggests that human-style speech breathing was present in both humans and Neanderthals from their earliest appearance in the fossil record. The last common ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans lived approximately 600,000 years ago on the basis of mitochondrial DNA testing. Although impossible to clearly define, the style of Neanderthal speech included the capacity for producing extended and rapid sound sequences. Increased brain size and the cognitive skills to produce advanced stone technologies underpinned a species of hominid whose language was highly communicative but not symbolic. The genetic component of human language capability evolved much later, approximately 200,000 years ago, well after the divergence of the modern human and Neanderthal lineages.

An understanding of the necessity for full expansion of the thoracic cavity in creating the capacity for human speech breathing easily extrapolates to parameters of natural human posture. Any level of pulling in the rib cage or tucking the tailbone under restricts full range of motion of the intercostal muscles, thereby impeding the defining characteristic of our species, human speech.

I would like to propose a national “Educate Your Physical Therapist Day” to help bring awareness to the anatomical misconception of the “neutral pelvis”. It is unfortunate that PTs continue to teach a neutral pelvis to women with prolapse when so much data exists to elucidate the natural, physiologic framework of pelvic organ support.

The body is made to sing and dance, and innate posture is wedded to these uniquely human abilities. Before we study how the genius of our vocal system helps create pelvic organ support (really!) let’s take another look at the hips for further validation that the neutral pelvis has no basis in scientific fact.

Retired ballerinas undergo a disproportionate number of hip replacement surgeries compared to the general population, a fact widely recognized by orthopedics and ballet circles alike.

Girls enter the ballet world in natural female posture, but soon the discipline of “tucking under” morphs the spine and pelvis into a position of instability, while achieving an art form appreciated on stages worldwide. Unfortunately, artificial hips have extremely high dislocation and revision rates.

Traditional forms of female dance, such as Middle Eastern, Tahitian, Indian, Irish and Flamenco, take advantage of the beauty and grace of natural female posture and are not associated with high rates of hip osteoarthritis.
The most incredible and perplexing problem facing orthopedics today is the fact that hundreds of thousands of artificial hips are implanted each year without precise knowledge of proper component positioning.¹ For decades, surgeons have relied on the standard navigation reference whereby the anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS) and midpoint of the pubic tubercles were thought to form an “anterior pelvic plane” and neutral pelvic alignment.

Historically, preoperative planning, intraoperative alignment, and postoperative measurements have not taken into consideration the huge range (-12º to 40º) in standing pelvic anteversion between patients.² Positioning of the hip center critically influences hip function and, “Currently no method exists to help the surgeon predict the correct height for the hip center nor establish whether it has been achieved.”³

Therefore, to have a physical therapist claim he or she “knows” the mathematical formula for the neutral pelvis is complete nonsense. Many highly sophisticated parameters have been proposed to describe relative sagittal alignment, from the homogenous curvature angle (β) of spinal region and orientation (α), to Cobb angles and the coefficient (R_A) representing regional spinal shape. To this day, the “neutral pelvis” evades scientific description.⁴ What is recognized, however, is that gender differences exist in pelvic height, abductor force, and joint contact forces and that the geometry of balancing the center of mass between the two hip joints is different between men and women.⁵

Urogynecologist Linda Brubaker built on the work of gynecologist J.W. Davies⁶ to describe why it would be impossible to walk the human walk if the sagittal pelvis were actually positioned as early anatomists illustrated it. With each step the thigh bone would strike against the sit bone, making full extension of the hip and knee unattainable. Long sit bones are one of the reasons non-human primates walk with a bent-hip, bent-knee gait. In reality, to have full extension of the hips and legs requires that the sit bones be positioned behind the hip joints and above the pubic bones⁷, which can only take place when the pelvis is in full anteversion.

Another popular postural edict for achieving the neutral pelvis is to “anchor the ribs”, or chronically contract the intercostal muscles to keep the lower ribs pulled in and down. The “whys” of this postural prescription are never clearly explained beyond the conviction that “thrusting the ribs” has something to do with “shearing the thoracic spine”, an anatomic impossibility in WW posture. In actuality, tucking the ribs is a stylistic artifact that flattens the abdominal wall and appeals to women because it was fashionable in years past.

Yet, fascinating developments in evolutionary anthropology reveal a striking reason why the practice of habitually contracting the rib cage is detrimental to higher human functionality.⁸

To begin, human speech is produced by regulation of airflow from the lungs through the throat, nose, and mouth. This airflow is manipulated or ‘sculpted’ in various ways by different aspects of the speech system. By sculpting different parts of the respiratory tract, humans release sounds in a wide spectrum of forms, from punctuated bursts to smooth, continuous utterances, resulting in rapid transmission of highly varied sound sequences.

During quiet breathing by both humans and other primates, inhalation and exhalation take approximately the same amount of time, thus producing an evenly divided breath cycle. However, during human speech, which is produced only on the exhalation phase, the breathing cycle becomes very uneven. We speak by taking swift inhalations alternated by long exhalations. In contrast, non-human primates vocalize on both inhalations and exhalations, producing one sound, such as a hoot or trill, per breath movement. Thus, their sounds are limited by the maximum number of breath cycles.

This human capability for extended exhalations does not come from changes in capacity or other properties of the lungs. Lung size remains proportional to body size throughout mammalian species, including humans. Rather, subglottal air pressure depends on control of the respiratory muscles that surround the lungs.

During quiet breathing, contraction of the intercostal muscles causes the volume of the the thorax to expand, the diaphragm to descend, and air to be drawn into the lungs. As these muscles relax, thoracic volume decreases under gravity and the ribcage recoils. Because of the shape and orientation of the ribs, elevation creates more of an anterior increase in the upper ribs and a lateral increase in the lower ribs. During speech or song, muscle recruitment for breath control is very different in that the diaphragm is little if at all involved. Rather, it is the intercostal and anterior abdominal muscles that produce the distorted breathing cycle of short inhalations and long exhalations.

The upper respiratory tract and diaphragm are controlled at the level of the cervical spine, while the intercostal muscles are controlled at the level of the thoracic spine. Spinal cords (and corresponding vertebral canals) across mammalian species have two enlargements, one in the cervical region and the other in the lumbar region. These enlargements are the result of increased nerve connections that control movements of the forelimbs and hind limbs.

While scientific investigation of the lumbar enlargement indicates there has not been a major increase in pelvic or hindlimb innervation associated with bipedalism, H. sapiens have an enlarged thoracic spinal cord containing greatly increased gray matter. This indicates there has been an increase in local innervation provided by the thoracic spinal nerves.

Careful analysis of the functions the thoracic enlargement might control to justify such a large increase in innervation has included posture, locomotion, coughing, vomiting, partruition and ventilation. Consequently, it has been determined that none of these functions are unique enough to humans to have resulted in a major increase in innervation.

Hypothesizing that a change of this magnitude must have involved a major increase in neural control, investigators determined that thoracic enlargement of the spinal cord evolved to control the intercostal muscles that serve human speech.

Human speech breathing involves highly advanced neural control, leading one researcher to remark, “The subtlety of control required of the intercostal muscles during human speech makes demands of the same order as those that are made on the small muscles of the hand.”⁹

Extensive scientific study in the area of evolutionary anthropology provides substantial evidence that habitually “anchoring the ribs” as part of a contrived postural model restricts the defining and distinguishing capability of our species – fine motor control of human speech. These muscles are moving in ways far more complex than merely contracting and lengthening. It is more accurate to envision their actions as “dancing” the intricate movements of story and song.

The physiologic effect of obstructing natural breathing with postural contrivances may have significant and far-reaching implications. Quiet diaphragmatic breathing results in a reciprocity between the lungs and heart called respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). This is a normal exchange in which the heart speeds up during inhalation and slows down during exhalation, thus allowing the heart and nervous system a resting phase with each breath cycle. The vagus nerve acts to lower heart rate on exhalation, resulting in physiologic RSA. Restricting normal range of motion of the muscles of ventilation may alter the body’s innate relaxation response by interfering with vagal activity.

Full pelvic anteversion places the ASIS low in the groin, the pubic bones underneath the torso, and the bladder and uterus over the bony pelvic floor and against the lower abdominal wall. This is the quadrupedal position of the pelvis and, as mentioned above, neural control of the pelvis has not changed from quadruped to human. Only by way of a long and flexible lumbar spine did humans become bipedal. Greater lumbar curvature in females results in a more anteverted acetabulum than males¹⁰ and a wide, stable platform from which to move. Chronically tucking the pelvis impairs both movement and pelvic stability.

For further validation why habitually pulling in the rib cage is detrimental to normal human functionality, please click on the video below. Singing a music scale is easy when the intercostals have their full range of motion, but watch what happens when the ribs are “anchored”. Everyone can validate this truth for themselves by performing this simple, fun experiment.

² Eckman K et al Accuracy of pelvic flexion measurements from lateral radiographs. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 451: 154-160 2006

³ Dandachli W et al Can the acetabular position be derived from a pelvic frame of reference? Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 467: 886-893 2009

⁴ Berthonnaud E Hilmi R Labelle H Dimnet J Spino-pelvic postural changes between the standing and sitting human position: proposal of a method for its systematic analysis. Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics 35(6): 451-459 2011

⁵ Dandachli 2009

⁶ Davies JW Man’s assumption of the erect posture – its effects on the position of the pelvis. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 70: 1012-1020 1954

⁷ Brubaker L Saclarides T The Female Pelvic Floor 1996

⁸ Maclarnon A Hewitt G Increased breathing control: another factor in the evolution of human language. Evolutionary Anthropology 13: 181-197 2004
⁹ Campbell E The respiratory muscles. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 155: 135-140 1968

¹⁰ Hogervorst T Bouma H de Vos J Evolution of the hip and pelvis

Women are terrified of breast cancer, and for good reason. Once diagnosed, disfiguring surgery and toxic, debilitating treatments are often recommended. The risk of recurrence is high.

The medical profession, in conjunction with national health organizations like the American Cancer Society, promotes mammography screening. The message is that if found early, breast cancer is treatable and the best way to find it early is through mammography.

But mammography is highly unreliable. It tends to miss aggressive tumors that grow between screenings, while detecting small, benign tumors, such as carcinoma in situ, that are usually not cancers at all and are often referred to as “pseudo-cancers.”

In spite of the fact that less than 2% of these “pseudo-cancers” will develop into a cancer requiring treatment, women diagnosed with them are advised to have lumpectomies, to receive radiation treatments, and to take drugs like Tamoxifen. This is over-treatment for a condition that is highly unlikely to be life threatening. Particularly troubling is how these women are classified as “cancer survivors.” Almost all of them would be alive five years after diagnosis (the benchmark for survival for cancer patients) even with no treatment. This skews the survival statistics numbers, making it look like treatments for breast cancer are much more effective than they really are.

While mammography detects “pseudo-cancers” resulting in over-treatment, it does not reduce the risk of dying from real cases of breast cancer.

An article published in 2001 in the Lancet¹ reported the findings of a Cochrane Review that looked at the efficacy of mammograms for reducing breast cancer deaths. 500,000 women in the United States, Canada, Scotland and Sweden were included. The new report concluded that for every 2000 women who get mammograms over a 10-year period, only one would experience prolonged life, and 10 would endure unnecessary and potentially harmful procedures.

The Cochrane researchers further concluded that studies showing that mammograms reduce the risk of dying from breast cancer do not take into consideration the deaths related to breast cancer treatments, and stated, “there is no reliable evidence from large randomized trials to support screening mammography at any age.”

A previous Cochrane Review reported no benefit for mammography at any age.

A study published online by the British Medical Journal² was conducted in Denmark, a great country for studying mammography outcomes. For the past 17 years, only about 20% of women in Denmark have been screened, leaving a large control group from which data can be gathered.

Two geographic areas were included in the study; Copenhagen, where screening was introduced in 1991, and Funen, where screening was introduced in 1997. Between 1997 and 2005, deaths from breast cancer dropped by 5% for women between the ages of 35 and 55 in both of these areas. For women between 55 and 74, the decline was 1% in mortality rate.

In the non-screened population in Denmark, the death rate from breast cancer declined by 6% for women between the ages of 35 and 55, and 2% for women between 55 and 74.

The researchers also observed that the diagnosis of carcinoma in situ doubled in the population of women who were screened and remained the same in the non-screened population, reinforcing the idea that mammography results in over-diagnosis of pseudo cancers.

Studies even show that mammography is contraindicated for women who carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation which predisposes them to a higher risk of developing breast cancer.³ In one study, researchers concluded that mammography screening beginning at 25 to 29 years of age results in a higher risk of breast cancer due to increased lifetime radiation exposure, and that mammography may have a net harmful effect for these patients.

According to data from the University of Washington and Harvard, one of every two women who have mammograms regularly will have a false positive, and 20% will have an unnecessary biopsy.⁴ For every $100 spent on mammograms, $33 is spent on addressing false positives.

Research conducted at Duke University Medical Center showed that the cost for unnecessary mammograms in women over 70 during the year 2000 alone was $460 million.⁵

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a report in 2009 concluding that the risks of mammograms for women between the ages of 40 and 50 outweighed any benefits; that women over 50 years of age should get mammograms every other year instead of annually; and that there was no justification for mammograms after the age of 74. The group also recommended against breast self-examination, since there was insufficient evidence that it is effective.⁶

I advise women not to get mammograms as a strategy for reducing their risk of dying from breast cancer. I am often challenged on this issue, often by women who know someone who was diagnosed with breast cancer through mammography and are convinced that the person is alive as a result. There are women who benefit from mammography, but the fact remains that most do not. Research shows that the risks outweigh the benefits for most women.

Reducing Your Risk of Breast Cancer

Women who are interested in reducing their risk of developing or dying from breast cancer should practice dietary excellence™ and optimal habits; it’s the only strategy that has been proven to work. Most breast cancers are estrogen positive; a low-fat, plant-based diet helps to reduce estrogen levels.

Eliminating cow’s milk and products made from cow’s milk is important; cow’s milk comes from pregnant cows and contains estrogen – even organic cow’s milk contains estrogen.

Eating a high-fiber, plant-based diet helps too. Fiber assists in the elimination of waste products, including estrogen, which keeps it from being re-absorbed into the blood stream contributing to higher estrogen levels.

A low-fat plant-based diet contributes to weight loss. Adipose (fat) cells produce hormone-like compounds that function like estrogen. Losing weight can reduce your risk significantly.

And, exercise lowers estrogen levels. Lean, active women who eat a low-fat, plant-based diet have a much lower risk of developing breast cancer than their more overweight, carnivorous counterparts.

The bottom line is the risk of developing breast cancer is directly tied to a woman’s diet and lifestyle habits. This is actually very good news, because it means that you’re in control of your health destiny!

Pamela A. Popper, Ph.D., N.D. is the Executive Director of The Wellness Forum. For more information on Dr. Popper, see her Resources page in the Whole Woman Library.



¹ Olsen O; Gotzsche PC “Cochrane review on screening for breast cancer with mammography.” Lancet 2001 Oct 20;358(9290):1340-2

² Jorgensen, K, Zahl, P, Gotzsche P. “Breast cancer mortality in organised mammography screening in Denmark: comparative study.” BMJ 2010;340:c1241 Published 23 March 2010, doi:10.1136/bmj.c1241

³ A Berrington de Gonzalez et al, “Estimated Risk of Radiation-Induced Breast Cancer From Mammographic Screening for Young BRCA Mutation Carriers.” J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 2009 101: 205-209; doi:10.1093/jnci/djn440

⁴ Fletcher and Elmore, “Mammographic screening for breast cancer,” New Engl J Med April 24 2003; vol. 348, (17): 1672-80

⁵ Ostbye, T, “Elderly women overly screened for cancers with little measurable benefit,” Annals of Family Practice, Nov 2003

⁶ U.S. Preventive Services Task Force “Screening For Breast Cancer: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation.” Ann Intern Med November 17, 2009 151:1716-1726

Corset hypothesis rebutted – Transversus abdominis does not co-contract in unison prior to rapid arm movements. Susan Lisa Morris, Brendan Lay, Garry Thomas Allison. Clinical Biomechanics 2011 (published ahead of print).

In 1996, Paul Hodges and Carolyn Richardson reported that patients with chronic low back pain demonstrate a delay of neuromuscular activity specifically in the transversus abdominis (TrA) muscle. These researchers reported that in healthy populations TrA is the first muscle activated in anticipation of rapid arm movements. As a consequence of their findings a “corset hypothesis” developed regarding the specific importance of TrA in stabilizing the spine. Core stabilization exercises were widely taught to patients and athletes alike, and “co-contracting” TrA became a common postural instruction that was even purported to “activate” the pelvic floor, reducing pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence.

A major limitation of the original Hodges and Richardson research was that muscle activity was only measured on one side – the opposite side to the movement of the arm. The methodology in this current study assessed both left and right TrA. The authors discovered that co-contraction of TrA is not how most healthy adults counteract forces on the thorax due to arm movements. Instead, the opposite TrA to the forward moving arm activates in isolation from the same-side TrA. This finding is consistent with what is known about the asymmetrical activation of the internal oblique muscles during axial rotation of the trunk.

The findings of this study support the hypothesis that TrA acts as part of a synergy of axial rotators in isometric muscle action to stiffen the trunk during rapid arm movements. The methods used in this study refute the original hypothesis that bilateral co-contraction of TrA is a normal strategy during rapid arm movements.

“There is an ecology of bad ideas, just as there is an ecology of weeds, and it is characteristic of the system that basic error propagates itself. It branches out like a rooted parasite through the tissues of life, and everything gets into a rather peculiar mess.”

Gregory Bateson
Steps Toward an Ecology of Mind

Chronically pulling in the abdominal wall in the name of health, strength or aesthetics is the most deeply held tenet of Western physical culture. It was likely first displayed by the men who introduced yoga into modern society with postures that pulled navel to spine. Yoga attempted further control of intraabdominal pressure with exercises like mula banda, which contracts the pelvic diaphragm.

In the early part of the 20th century, Joseph Pilates greatly expanded the idea of focused abdominal exercise toward a goal of establishing “core strength”. Photographs of Pilates reveal a forced physical condition where a perpetually contracted abdominal wall rotated his arms forward and his legs outward. Despite such a departure from natural physiology, a contracted and rippled abdomen became the central feature of ideal male form.

Henry and Florence Kendall were a husband and wife team of physical therapists who practiced in the 1940s and 1950s. They developed the concept of “neutral pelvis” where a line drawn between the anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS) and posterior superior iliac spine (PSIS) is parallel to the horizontal plane in standing posture. The Kendalls described “pelvic tilt” as the degree to which the position of the pelvis deviates from “neutral”. They proposed that four muscle groups are responsible for supporting the pelvis in its proper alignment: the erector spinae, the hamstrings, the abdominals and the hip flexors. When these muscles are in “balance”, the pelvis was thought to be maintained in neutral alignment. Science has never been able to prove this theory.

Ida Rolf, creator of a myofascial release system called Structural Integration, asserted that the pelvis is “horizontal” when the bottom of the tailbone is level with the “top” of the pubic symphysis. Rolf’s views were based upon widespread misunderstanding of human pelvic position.

The neutral pelvis was brought further under scientific scruitiny during the 1990s when physical therapists Paul Hodges and Carolyn Richardson attempted to prove that certain muscles, particularly the transversus abdominis, provide core stability to the torso, thereby reducing back pain. Within a decade “core stability” was the mantra being repeated worldwide by exercise physiologists, yoga instructors, physical therapists, and others.

There is no such thing as the Kendall’s neutral pelvis because in standing with the lumbar curve in place the ASIS are rotated all the way forward, with the pubic bones positioned between the legs in a front-to-back direction. To stand with what is described as a neutral pelvis one must maximally tuck the tailbone under. Many Western scientific and medical disciplines, from anthropology to orthopedics, perpetuated the myth of the neutral pelvis by proclaiming that a 90 degree posterior rotation occurred when human beings became bipedal. In the conventional “bowl” orientation of the pelvis, a strong abdominal wall and fortified pelvic “floor” are the only defense against the weight of internal organs plunging down from above.

While physical therapists continue to debate which musculoskeletal alignments result in the most neutral pelvis, what about the position of the organs? For almost a century optimum posture has been described in terms of length and strength of muscles, when in fact anatomic placement of organs is primary in the analysis of human posture. The dynamics of breathing under the forces of gravity position the abdominal and pelvic organs in a specific way, which in turn defines natural human posture.

In a newborn baby girl, the urethra/bladder, vagina/uterus, and rectum/sigmoid colon form long, straight axes through her pelvis. When she begins to stand, walk and run under the forces of gravity, the movement of her respiratory diaphragm pushes her pelvic organs down and forward. By late puberty her organs have bent ninety degrees to rest atop her pubic bones and against her lower abdominal wall. The paired round ligaments of the uterus, which travel down either side of her lower abdominal wall and embed in the labia surrounding her vagina, assist this forward movement.

The bladder is tethered to the anterior abdominal wall by the median umbilical ligament, which extends from the top of the bladder to the umbilicus. Continuous with the umbilicus is a fibrous cord called the round ligament of the liver. What was once the fetal umbilical vein, the round ligament extends from the umbilicus to the inferior surface of the liver. The liver is the largest organ in the body, weighing in at 1200-1600 grams. The large falciform ligament separates right and left lobes and attaches the liver to the anterior abdominal wall.

The coronary ligament branches from the falciform ligament, extending over the superior surfaces of the right and left lobes, adhering the liver to the inferior surface of the diaphragm. The small intestine is also connected to the diaphragm by way of the Treitz ligament. The ascending colon and descending colon are fused to the posterior abdominal wall.

Anatomic motion of the respiratory diaphragm moves the liver, stomach, pancreas, spleen, intestines, bladder and uterus down and forward with every inspiration. Diaphragmatic breathing is not only “natural” and “correct”, it is the way the body is designed, or has evolved, to function.

Natural human anatomy is self-evident. All young children develop the same puffed out abdominal wall, which elongates as the child grows. By adulthood diaphragmatic-liver-abdominal wall support to the chest and shoulder girdle is evidenced by a “proud holding” of the upper abdominal wall.

The curvilinear abdominal wall provides direct support to the liver and bladder by way of central ligamentous attachments. Chronically pulling in the wall collapses fascial support and shifts intraabdominal pressure toward the pelvic outlet.

The concept of the neutral pelvis is based upon deep and age-old anatomical misunderstanding. Habitually pulling in the belly is foreign to natural sensibilities and has the potential of causing serious disorders, from hiatal hernia and gastritis to incontinence and prolapse.

Join us next month for The End of the “Neutral Pelvis” – Part 2 where we will discuss the thoracic cavity and the inherent danger of a postural model based in mechanical, reductionistic science.

I’ve always dreamed of becoming a ballerina. When I was little, I would invent twirly dances that my infinitely patient parents would sit through time and again, clapping enthusiastically at each dramatic leap. Two of my older cousins took ballet, and often sent us pictures of their performances. My enraptured face apparently did the trick, as,to my utter delight, their old tutus and costumes began arriving by the box load. Even now, I am glued to the TV each Christmas when The Nutcracker comes on, aching with envy at the gracefulness and beauty of the dancers. When it comes to grace and poise,I’ve always been much more of a Bella Swan than a Clara. Lately, though, I’d been feeling much closer to my inner ballerina, after having lost over 30 pounds -until, that is, I was diagnosed with pelvic organ prolapse.

It’s funny. We women will talk openly and freely about our periods, PMS, and menopause. We’ll share intimate details about our sex lives, and compare notes on pregnancy and childbirth. To help other women, we’ll not only talk about breast cancer and everything that goes along with it – we’ll shout it from the rooftops! And yet, when it comes to pelvic organ prolapse, a condition that, according to WebMD, will affect 1 in 3 women at some point in their lives, we are silent. Oh sure, we all get the same advice: “Do Kegels to strengthen your pelvic floor.” But if I had known that my bladder and my uterus would start falling out at age 32 – if I had known that was even a possibility! – I would have become a veritable Kegel queen, with pelvic floor muscles of steel! As it was, I thought I had plenty of time until that really became necessary.

I had, however, recently morphed into something of an aerobics fanatic. After having lost about 20 pounds by dieting and beginning a new walking regimen, I had decided to join a gym and dedicate myself wholeheartedly to working out, to reach my total weight loss goal of 70 pounds more quickly. Completely unexpectedly, I had fallen in love with the place – the treadmills and elliptical machines, which used to seem to me like instruments of torture, were now my good friends, and the weight training equipment was the sumptuous dessert to my cardio feast. I even joined a hip-hop aerobic dance class, which I attended religiously, despite my painfully embarrassing inability to mirror the instructor’s daunting moves. Simply by virtue of my weight loss and the fact that I was in a dance class at all, I was starting to feel light and graceful – even young again.

Then, one Saturday morning, I suddenly felt that something wasn’t quite right.Upon checking myself, I found that something – some sort of soft but firm tissue – was bulging down into my birth canal! I tried pushing it upwards, and to my horror, it yielded, disappearing up into my pelvis somewhere. The bathroom spun, and my legs began to shake uncontrollably. What was wrong with me?

Because it was the weekend, I couldn’t immediately call a doctor, and since there was no blood or pain, I didn’t feel it warranted an expensive trip to the emergency room. My first thought was uterine prolapse, which I vaguely remembered reading about when I was pregnant – but that condition had always remained, in my mind, in the shadowy realm of nightmare pregnancy scenarios, which I had escaped and passed out of danger from with the delivery of my children. I didn’t know if it was even possible for a woman who was not pregnant to suffer a prolapse, but my horrifying symptom seemed to correspond with the description I remembered. I spent the weekend paralyzed – figuratively and literally – with fear. I was terrified even to move for fear whatever it was would fall out of me completely.

First thing Monday morning, I made an appointment with an OB/GYN and drove, in a panicked swirl of thoughts, to her office. Once there, I was examined first by one of the doctor’s students. She told me that she didn’t see any prolapse, and thought it might be some sort of infection that had made me feel a difference. I was somewhat relieved, but felt foolish – was I really so unfamiliar with my own body that I had mistaken something relatively normal for such a frightening condition? When the doctor herself came in, however, she asked me to bear down as she examined me – and pronounced that I did indeed have a prolapsed uterus – and not only that, but a prolapsed bladder as well, which was in even worse shape than my uterus! She proceeded to give me my options: surgery to secure the organs back into place; a hysterectomy; the use of a pessary, which is something like a big rubber tampon that holds the organs in place; or – nothing. If I did nothing, life sounded pretty grim – no heavy lifting (including weights, grocery bags, toy boxes, children – basically,everything that a mom needs to lift in the course of each day), no vigorous or high-impact exercise (there went my hip-hop dance class –and all my weight loss plans, for that matter!), and nothing that would put any strain on my abs or core, because that could cause my uterus to pop right out! I was suddenly helpless, but in such a strange way. Not being visibly handicapped, I reflected that I would feel ridiculous asking for help in lifting or carrying things. Wanting so badly to lose my excess weight, I felt trapped in this body that was suddenly so fragile.

Surgery was just not an option for me, for many reasons. Our insurance would not kick in until we had met a $5000 deductible, so we would have to pay for it ourselves,which my husband and I, both teachers, simply would never be able to afford. A hysterectomy was out of the question, because we wanted more children. For that same reason, surgery to fasten my organs back into place would have been a waste of time – a pregnancy and delivery would destroy any repair work, the doctor told me,and any subsequent surgeries would never be as effective as the first. Even a pessary,the non-surgical option, didn’t sound satisfactory – they could cause lesions and infections in places I definitely did not want lesions and infections! I decided to get a second opinion.

The next doctor I saw confirmed the diagnosis, adding that my uterine prolapse was mild, while my bladder prolapse, or cystocele, was moderate. She actually examined me standing up, in order to allow gravity to do its worst to me. Her advice was, in some ways, similar – a hysterectomy, repair surgery, a pessary, or nothing – but in other ways, ways more important to me, completely opposite. She told me my only hope was to work out more vigorously than ever before, focusing specifically on my abs and core, to strengthen the muscles supporting my pelvic organs. This was exactly what I had wanted to hear, and yet, now that I had received two such opposing opinions, I was unsure. I wanted desperately to return blithely to my normal life,assuming my normal activities without giving any further thought to my pelvic organs,but, to put it mildly, I was still terrified. What if my uterus did just pop out one day, in the middle of my dance class? I decided to seek out one more doctor, to break the tie.

This time, I asked a friend of mine, whose brother was an OB/GYN, if she would run my situation by him and tell me what he thought I should do. She kindly obliged, and in just a few hours, she had emailed me his advice. No heavy lifting and no vigorous exercise; Kegels to strengthen my pelvic floor, and once it was stronger, then and only then could I try some upside-down sit-ups, to strengthen my abs while taking advantage of gravity to keep my pelvic organs from popping out. Great. The tie was broken, but definitely not in the way I had hoped for.

I honestly had no idea what to do. I was petrified of exercise, but every fiber of my being longed to get back to my routine. I was so depressed that I was eating everything I could lay my hands on, and I couldn’t focus on my job or family. I felt disgusting – overweight and literally falling apart. The 30 pounds I had lost meant nothing to me now – I, who had just begun to feel so lithe and almost graceful, now felt old and repulsive. I had already searched online for information on pelvic organ prolapse, and had simply found the same options the doctors had given me, over andover again. And again and again, online articles informed me that pelvic organ prolapse was a taboo topic that women did not discuss. It was too horrifying and disgusting – women were too embarrassed to admit to anyone that they had something hanging down into their birth canal, so they usually quietly underwent surgery, or simply suffered in silence. Finally, one day, it occurred to me to type in “uterine prolapse success stories.” That led me to a message board where someone had left this as their sole comment: www.wholewoman.com. That single post changed my life.

I devoured this new website as if starving – articles, personal success stories, advice – all related to pelvic organ prolapse. The woman who had created this wealth of information was Christine Kent, an RN and former ballet dancer who had herself been diagnosed with a prolapse, and who had spent years developing a program of exercises, lifestyle changes, and even postural changes to help stop and even reverse the progression of pelvic organ prolapse. Her philosophy, backed up by her medical knowledge and experience, seemed more reasonable than any of the doctors I had sought out. Try to remain, at all times, in a posture that supports your pelvic organs, rather than forcing them into positions that compromise their stability. Exercise regularly – not your lower abs, which could very well cause a worsening of your prolapse, but your upper abs, thighs, and buttocks, which can then help support your organs. And share your experiences with other women, in order to encourage and support one another through this difficult period in our lives. At first, I admit, I was still a bit skeptical. How was this woman any different from the doctors? But as I browsed her site, I found page after page of success stories – women gushing thanks at finding their prolapses reversed, women raving about Christine’s book and exercise DVD,women sharing the hope and joy they had found through Christine’s program. I had to try it, too.

When the book arrived, I read it cover to cover. I felt like I was back in high school biology again, but this time it was vital that I absorb as much as I could. EverythingChristine said made so much sense, and I couldn’t wait to start her posture and exercise program. As I digested her book, I began to frequent her website’s message boards more and more often. Far from being a taboo, here prolapse was the main topic of conversation – and what a blessed relief it seemed to everyone! The women on her site, including Christine herself, do what women everywhere do best – band together and offer support when things get tough. My family and friends were extremely supportive of me when I discovered my prolapse, but I honestly believe that if I had not happened upon WholeWoman.com, I would still be caught in the throes of indecision,fear, and depression. Those of us who have this condition, or know someone who does, have a responsibility to talk about it, to share information and resources, and to support each other, disregarding any silly label of taboo it may still carry. Breast cancer was once taboo, as well, and look what opening up has done to further research in that area! The millions of women who have a prolapse deserve to know that they are not alone, and do not need to suffer in silence.

When I put Christine’s DVD on for the first time, it was just to watch it through once, to see how long it would take and what equipment, if any, I would need. After just a few minutes of watching, I was crying. My journey had led me through the trials and joy of weight loss, through the fear and revulsion of prolapse, and now, finally, to the hope that life could be better than ever before, that I could be as graceful and feminine as I had always dreamed. On the screen before me, from her Whole Woman studio in New Mexico, Christine Kent was teaching me ballet.

I wake up every morning now at 5 am to practice pliés and tendus with Christine.Since starting her program, I have noticed a significant improvement in my prolapse symptoms. Under her tutelage, I have been able to resume most of my previous exercises, including weight training – the key to safety is the proper posture. I continue to lose weight, and feel that, in many ways, my prolapse is more of a blessing than a curse. It has made me more aware of my own body, more grateful than I ever thought possible for the support of others, more willing to reach out my own hand to help, and maybe more than any of these, it has helped me to fulfill a lifelong dream. I am a wife, a mother, a teacher, and a writer. I have a prolapsed uterus and bladder. And you know what else? I am a ballerina.