It’s all in the Hips

For me right now, it’s all in the hips (and the pelvic floor).  Baby dropped about 10 days ago causing me total panic since everything you read will say in 2^nd and 3^rd pregnancies babies often drop right before labor starts.  While I’m ready to meet our sweet little being, I’d really like to make it to full term and an engaged baby at 33 ½ weeks made me worry.  Well, turns out baby wasn’t quite ready and has spent ever since yo-yoing up and down: deep into my pelvis and then back up high into my ribs.

Before Honeybun dropped (somewhere around 35 weeks) I had no idea what my pelvic floor felt like.  In all my dancing years I guess I had never really accessed those pelvic floor muscles.  Well, an engaged baby has a way of giving you that “bowling ball about to fall out of your lady parts” feeling of extreme pressure on your pelvic floor.

While my hip/pelvic floor discomfort I’ve been having (more in “On the Floor”) hasn’t gotten any better, teaching and dancing this week has helped me realize a few things.  First, actually maintaining a properly stacked posture and fighting the typical pregnant lady stance of belly forward, pelvis tilted, bum out does amazing things for relieving the pressure, especially through my hips and back.  Unfortunately the bowling-ball feeling is pretty much there but easing the hip strain helps the overall feeling of discomfort.  I’ve found it helps tremendously to apply this to everyday life now, not just while dancing.

I’ve also found while dancing, really focusing on a relaxed pelvis is so important in keeping the aches away during class.  It’s an idea that I was first introduced to while taking classes in Dublin.  Dance Ireland, a professional dance organization, offers a morning professional class each weekday and rotates teachers, often bringing in special guest artists.  I took class as often as I could with as many different teachers as I could.

Nearly two years ago, when Sugarplum was not even a year old, I took a few classes with Libby Farr who specializes in Ballet for Contemporary dancers.  And while I had taken ballet classes for years (over 20 at that point) she completely changed the way I think about moving my body in ballet class.  She focuses on a relaxed core and pelvis rather than muscling everything.  It sounds completely counterproductive to most trained ballet dancers but amazingly, it works!  I have never danced better in my life than I did in the few classes I did with Libby.

What ends up happening when you focus on a relaxed pelvis is instead of gripping unnecessary muscles in an attempt to maintain a proper posture, the muscles you actually need naturally kick in instead.  It allows your hips a freer and easier range of motion and it’s a concept I’ve held onto since taking Libby’s classes so long ago.

Since getting pregnant and losing my abs I’ve also lost my concept of relaxed hips but today I revisited it and it helped tremendously.  It is extremely hard to maintain a truly relaxed pelvis while moving quickly but I found today that maintaining the relaxed feeling prevented me from muscling the faster movements and prevented the soreness I’ve been getting.  I wasn’t able to complete all the exercises as given but I’d rather focus on moving correctly and avoiding the debilitating soreness I’ve experienced after many classes lately.