Jaki Nett's Yoga For Pelvic Floor Dysfunction
Yoga Connections
“Yoga asana is the foundation; anatomy is the insight; precision of postural alignment is the outcome.” ~ Jaki Nett
Jaki Nett is a Senior Level I Certified Iyengar Instructor with almost 40 years experience. She began going to Pune, India to study with BKS and Geeta Iyengr in Pune, India beginning in 1986, and teaches at her Iyengar Yoga Napa Valley studio with her husband Allen.
Jaki’s story unfolded from the Mississippi cloth of her birth into an iconic vocation that removed a layer of society’s fabric to give shape and form to what led to the sexual revolution. Interestingly, her story evolved poetically into an expertise helping to realign misalignments within the anatomical landmark that governs sexual energy: the pelvic floor diaphram.
Her book with a forward by Geeta Iyengar, The Felt Sense Method: The Humanistic Approach to Managing Incontinence outlines her personal journey studying the physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of incontinence, a common dysfunction of the pelvic floor. It happens to men and women but predominantly women. Jaki’s experiences came about after earning her Masters in Humananistic Psychology (one of her many degrees) and teaching at a college in Santa Rosa, California.
Her workshop gave us a taste of her deep knowledge, understanding, and ability to take students into a visceral experience that can lead to pelvic floor awareness and strength. She studied under a master who worked tirelessly to discover how to foster consciousness for those who sought it. She explained that in yoga literature:
Consciousness is the vehicle to prana
Prana is our life force. It controls our vitality and circulates through the over 72,000 Nādi channels in the body. To bring conciousness to our pelvic floor Jaki began with visual diagrams to help us imagine the anatomical landmarks and their vital connections to other parts of the body in our asana. For example, she explained how along with our Abdominals, the Adductors are a major mover in relation to the pelvic area due to synergy with our Pubis.
Jaki clarified a misnomer relative to the pelvic floor being referred to as a “sling” shape when in fact its natural shape is a “dome.” The reason the “sling” terminology took hold, she explained, is that most pelvic floor studies used older women whose pelvic floor diaphram, due to things like child birth, had been pressed down giving it a “sling” appearance.
After a seated instruction to demonstrate proper alignment, she took us through a simple standing series with chair support to facilitate better mindfulness for our pelvic floor awakening. Poses like Tadasana (mountain pose, Light On Yoga (LOY) plate 1, page 61), Utkatasana (fierce uneven pose, plate 42, LOY, page 88-89), and Ardha Chandrasana (half moon, plate 19, LOY, page 74-75) took on new meaning with her insights.
Her instructions enhanced our understanding of these basic poses and heightened our awareness of how much lift and alignment can come within our pelvic floor. Her Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward dog, LOY, plate 75, page 110-111) instruction took us through a slow sustained plank lifting from hips, pubis, and waist engaging the abdominal “corset” before drawing the hamstrings down and the thighs back into the classic pose.
The sequence including transitional poses like Parigasana, seated poses like Upavista and Baddha Konasana and forward bends like Janu Sirsasana provided inner awareness of the movers for the pelvic floor. She explained how adductors stimulate the pelvic floor muscle, the hamstrings contract drawing the ischum (sit bones) down (no tucking the tailbone here), and how what she called “the deep six” or deep rotators work together to tone and support the pelvic area.
Corrections like not using the hand under the knee to guide the leg into Janu Sirsasana or Upavista is an important part of the feeling and sensing that highlights her excellent instruction. She helped us recognize BKS Iyengar’s actions like turning our arms and palms outward in an Urdhva Hastasana position in several poses and the range of movement it allows.
She taught and shared her insights on the phenomenal asana, the Mahāmudra (LOY plate 125, page 147-148). After her previous lessons, we could better articulate the three bandhas or seals in this pose and feel their value to toning our pelvic floor. As a Level 1 CIYI with a C-section, Dasarda surgery for an inquinal hernia, along with other emotional scars, I never felt I could ever muster the abdominal strength required in the next level syllabus, her insights gave me hope again.
Jaki also gave us potty practices, considering we are there a few times day, it provides the ready-made routine to begin to build a strong foundation. She closed her workshop with an opening of the pelvic area. As we relaxed, she gave a final piece of advice, if we are sore later, it is our clue that we are on our way to better awareness and strength.
What extraordinary inner work. Thank you Jaki what an amazing experience. Marla Apt and Iyengar Therapeutics, I am so grateful for your ability to bring such wonderful learning experiences.