The Nourished Nervous System
Episode: The Somatic Journey: Healing the Pelvic Floor with Donna Brooks
Host: Kristen Timchak
Guest: Donna Brooks, Somatic Movement Therapist
Date: September 25, 2025
Episode Overview
This episode delves into the connections between somatic movement, nervous system regulation, and pelvic floor health. Kristen welcomes back Donna Brooks, an experienced somatic movement educator and yoga therapist, to discuss pelvic floor issues from both physical and emotional perspectives. They explore why conventional exercises like Kegels may not always solve pelvic floor challenges, the role of shame and perfectionism, and how somatic practices offer a more integrative, healing approach. Curriculum highlights include anatomy explanations, the impact of stress and trauma, and Donna's practical advice for tuning into your own body.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Donna Brooks’ Path to Somatics and Pelvic Floor Healing
- Background: Donna started as a dancer, moved into Iyengar yoga after a knee injury, but felt something was missing: "There wasn't any like vital life in that." (03:15)
- Introduced to somatic movement through Feldenkrais and Continuum; integrated these practices into yoga before realizing her approach was more somatically focused.
- Worked with a diverse group of clients—Parkinson's, brain injuries, HIV/AIDS—learning compassion and deep listening.
- Personal experience with pelvic floor issues led her to specialize in this area therapeutically. (03:15–06:08)
2. Understanding the Pelvic Floor
- Anatomy Explained:
- The pelvic floor is made up of several muscle layers (classic pelvic floor muscles and more), connective tissues, and ligaments—like a supportive hammock beneath the bladder, uterus/prostate, and rectum (07:02).
- There are up to seven connective tissue layers.
- Why it's Important: Often overlooked, but more commonly discussed due to issues like pain, prolapse, incontinence.
3. The Emotional & Societal Dimensions
- Shame & Embarrassment:
- Donna: "There’s often a lot of shame. It’s also a place that’s still kind of forbidden to talk about... Even if there’s not intense shame, there’s often a lot of embarrassment." (08:43)
- Problems can cause people to feel isolated or avoid social situations.
- Connection to Perfectionism & Modern Life:
- Perfectionism and a constant drive can manifest as chronic pelvic floor tension.
- Donna uses the image of a jellyfish: "Our pelvic floor really has to be strong enough to hold everything up...but it has to be fluid and flexible enough..." (11:12)
- Impact of Trauma: Trauma (esp. sexual trauma) and surgeries can both cause chronic contraction or laxity of the pelvic floor.
4. The Role of Somatic Movement
- Beyond Kegels:
- Emphasizes the rhythm of expansion and contraction, not just isolated muscle squeezing. Kegels alone can sometimes cause pain if not done in balance (17:20).
- Donna: "I started getting pelvic floor pain. I was thinking, yeah, this isn’t going to be good." (17:38)
- Body Awareness:
- Somatic movement helps regulate the nervous system by inviting curiosity, awareness, and agency in movement, facilitating nervous system flexibility (14:57, 17:20).
- Embodying muscles and relating movement to whole-body patterns is key, rather than simply "putting your foot here" (22:41).
- Objective vs. Experienced Body:
- Donna: "The different definition between having the body as an object and the body as an experience. The aware of versus the aware as..." (26:18)
- Awareness shifts results in deeper benefits and nervous system regulation (27:06).
- Rhythm, Alignment & Posture:
- Chronic postural responses to stress, such as pelvic tipping/lordosis, increase pressure and dysfunction (27:16). Simple somatic movements, such as pelvic tilts, can help reset the system.
5. Breath, Pressure, and the Whole Body
- Intra-abdominal Pressure:
- Donna explains the traditional and updated research on intra-abdominal pressure during breath and movement. Emphasizes active lengthening (eccentric contraction) during inhalation—"your flower opening"—not just pushing down (28:18, 30:24).
- The tailbone’s mobility is essential: "It’s just very, very crucial to have an awake and fluid and flexible tailbone." (30:26)
- Energetics & Back Body Connection:
- Attention to back-body breath helps vitalize the entire system (32:58).
- "Part of having a healthy pelvic floor is actually also understanding how your abdominal muscles work and function." (31:19)
- Pranic attention is often too forward—encourages bringing awareness to the back for balance (33:07).
6. Moving Toward Ease, Not Just Achievement
- Cultural Implications:
- Western drive for achievement (doing state, perfectionism) keeps the body in sympathetic over-activation, feeding muscular tension.
- Somatic practices invite softness, "fluid sense," and parasympathetic activity—less doing, more being (35:59, 37:06, 38:42).
- Donna: "When you can just feel those organs being more slippery and glidy and soft, that takes us into this more parasympathetic state." (38:42)
- Retraining and Self-compassion:
- Both share personal stories of shifting from achievement-driven movement to organic, softer, embodied practice (35:59).
7. Societal Stress, Nature, and Embodiment
- Mirror Neurons & Society:
- Society’s collective nervous system—“you just walk into the co-op and people are getting things done...but is it a flow?” (39:14–40:12)
- Ideal is to cultivate parasympathetic "ocean" to move from, dipping into sympathetic as needed.
- Nature as Teacher:
- Modern life pulls us out of alignment with nature and our own bodies; remembering the body as "the natural world" is vital (41:32).
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On Somatics vs. Kegels
"Kegels are about, you know, shortening the muscle. So I started being curious more about the language between the shortening and the lengthening..."
— Donna (17:20) -
On Emotions Stored in the Pelvic Floor
"...there's another kind of emotional drive that I have met a number of younger women whose pelvic floors hurt or sex becomes painful, or putting a tampon in becomes painful sometimes because of trauma, but other times just because of the drive."
— Donna (12:32) -
On Sympathetic Overdrive and Achievement
"You might be killing it, but that intensity of killing it can cause your muscles to tighten. And your pelvic floor muscles are no different than...other places of chronic tension and pain."
— Donna (14:57) -
On Embodied Awareness
"It places you more in your body rather than in the frontal cortex, which that intense frontal cortex is what is keeping our sympathetic nervous system churning anyway."
— Donna (26:18) -
On Invitation, Not Forcing
"...I want to introduce it in such a way that the body likes it and wants to perform it without me making it perform. So it's like an invitation."
— Donna (33:27)
Timestamps for Important Segments
| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|---------| | 03:15 | Donna Brooks’ journey into somatics and her pelvic floor focus | | 07:02 | Detailed explanation of pelvic floor anatomy | | 08:43 | Emotional/societal elements of pelvic floor issues | | 14:21 | Cultural drive, perfectionism, and pelvic floor tension | | 17:20 | Why somatic movement matters more than just Kegels | | 22:41 | How somatic pelvic floor work is taught and practiced | | 26:18 | Moving from “aware of” to “aware as”—deeper embodiment | | 28:18 | Intra-abdominal pressure and tailbone’s importance | | 32:58 | Back body, abdominal support, and 360 breathing | | 35:59 | Moving toward softness, retraining away from perfectionism | | 39:14 | Mirror neurons, societal pace, and carving time for rest | | 41:32 | Modern disconnect from nature; reclaiming body as natural | | 43:46 | Donna describes her ebook, resources, and practical tools | | 47:51 | Action step for listeners: sandbag/child's pose for side-body breath |
Practical Takeaways
- Pelvic Floor Self-Awareness: Notice tension or numbness, and recognize both over-tightening and weakness can be problematic.
- Embrace Gentle, Somatic Movement: Rather than focusing solely on "exercises," tune into sensation, movement, and breath with curiosity and gentleness.
- 360/Back Body Breathing: Placing a sandbag on the lower ribs or using child’s pose can help engage side and back breathing (47:51).
- Normalize the Conversation: Shame often keeps people suffering in silence; talking openly helps demystify pelvic floor health.
- Adapt Exercises with Awareness: Whether you’re seeing a pelvic floor therapist or practicing on your own, real benefits come when you bring mindful, embodied attention to the work.
- Check Out Resources: Donna’s ebook and video library offer guided practices and assessments; her workshops and individual sessions are available online.
Closing Action Step from Donna Brooks
(47:51)
“Since we're talking about yoga... the first clue to this more circular breath was what Mr. Iyengar in the 80s: sandbags on your bottom ribs or pose of the child if you don't have a sandbag because that makes your breath go more towards the side than the back.” (47:51)
Resources Mentioned
- Donna Brooks’ Website & Ebook (see show notes for link)
- Free video resources, online workshops, and individual sessions with Donna
- Kristen’s additional meditations and resilience workbook
For more on somatics, pelvic floor health, and nervous system resilience, check out the show notes for links to Donna’s resources and further reading.