Yoga for your core and pelvic floor in Pokhara
Feel supported from the center.
Core and pelvic floor gathers classes that focus on the deep muscles of the trunk: mat and reformer Pilates, core-focused yoga, postnatal classes and pelvic floor courses. They help you find and coordinate muscles you rarely notice, from the belly and back down to the base of the pelvis.
No classes scheduled in the next two weeks.
What Core and pelvic floor does for you
You get a clear sense of where your center is and how it connects to everything else. Learning to breathe, engage and let go with control can make you feel steadier when you lift, carry or balance. Many people say they feel more upright and more connected to their own body. The work is precise and often surprisingly subtle.
It suits you if
- you want to feel more supported from the center
- you are returning to movement after having a baby
- you like precise, controlled work
- you want a base for stronger practice
Read the full guide to Core and pelvic floorWhat a class is like, your first time, history and the words you will hear
What a class is like
Classes run 45 to 60 minutes. Expect a lot of lying on your back, slow controlled repetitions, breath cues and small movements, plus planks and side work in stronger classes. Pelvic floor classes are quieter and more explanatory, with gentle exercises lying, sitting or standing. Reformer classes use a sliding machine with springs. You may sweat in strong Pilates and not at all in pelvic floor work.
Your first time
- Wear close-fitting clothes so the facilitator can see your alignment.
- Tell the facilitator privately about a pregnancy, a recent birth or any pelvic floor concerns.
- Expect your first classes to feel more like learning than exercise; the movements are small on purpose.
Good to know
- If you are pregnant, postnatal, or have abdominal separation (diastasis recti), pelvic floor symptoms, prolapse or back pain, check with a doctor, midwife or pelvic floor physiotherapist before joining.
- Strong core work such as crunches and long planks is not right for everyone after birth; look for classes labeled postnatal or pelvic floor.
- These classes are movement practice, not therapy, and do not replace an assessment by a specialist.
Where it comes from
The idea of a strong center runs through Joseph Pilates' method. Pilates, born in Mönchengladbach in 1883, developed what he called Contrology in the early 20th century and taught it in New York from the 1920s. The word powerhouse, used in Pilates for the band of muscles between the lower ribs and the hips, names the place his exercises start from.
The word core entered physiotherapy and fitness in the 1990s. The Australian physiotherapists Paul Hodges and Carolyn Richardson studied the timing of the deepest abdominal muscle, the transversus abdominis, in people with and without back pain, and the idea of core stability spread quickly into Pilates, gyms and clinics. Later reviews have questioned whether training specific deep muscles does more than general exercise, and many physiotherapists now take a broader view of the trunk.
Pelvic floor exercise has its own history. The American gynecologist Arnold Kegel published on pelvic floor exercises in 1948 and built a device to measure their strength, and the exercises still carry his name. In Germany, Rückbildungsgymnastik (postnatal pelvic floor and belly training) is a standard offer after birth, often led by midwives, and in Berlin it sits alongside Pilates studios and core-focused yoga.
Words you will hear
- Powerhouse
- The Pilates term for the center of the body, between the lower ribs and the hips.
- Transversus abdominis
- The deepest layer of belly muscle, wrapping around the trunk like a wide belt.
- Pelvic floor
- A hammock of muscles at the base of the pelvis.
- Mula bandha
- Root lock: a gentle lift of the pelvic floor used in some yoga styles.
- Diastasis recti
- A widening of the gap between the two sides of the front abdominal muscles, common in and after pregnancy.
- Rückbildung
- German postnatal courses focusing on the pelvic floor and belly after birth.