The Pelvic Floor

Dear Friends,

In this blog post I go over the muscles of the pelvic floor. This is an essential structure for support of the pelvic organs; the muscles involved are also engaged in Moola Bandha.

On to the pelvic floor...

The pelvic floor is comprised of a series of muscles including the piriformis, obturator internus, coccygeus, iliococcygeus, and pubococcygeus. These are illustrated in Figure 1. Other muscles involved include the deep and superficial transverse perineals, the ischiocaveronus and the bulbospongiosus. We illustrate these muscles in Figure 2.

Figure 1: The Pelvic Floor

Figure 2: The Pelvic Floor

Keeping your pubococcygeus strong can help reduce urinary incontinence. All of these muscles provide links to the thoracolumbar fascia, which is linked to the abdominal core. Take a moment to look over these images to get a feel for the attachments of the muscles of the pelvic floor. Kegel exercises and Moola Bandha engage them.


An excerpt from "Yoga Mat Companion 1 - Anatomy for Vinyasa Flow and Standing Poses".


An excerpt from "Yoga Mat Companion 3 - Anatomy for Backbends and Twists".

I’ll have more on this next week—just wanted to give an intro to the structure and let you know about the hacking issue. We appreciate all of your support.

All the Best,

Ray and Chris