JADE EGG for female PELVIC FLOOR health.....

WHAT IS IT?

Jade egg practices originated from ancient Taoist practices. Today they are useful tools for Pelvic Floor health.  It is a small egg shaped stone made from pure Jade which you insert into the vagina. It has a hole running the length of it, to which you attach a string (unflavoured dental floss!), so that it's easy to take out. They do come in various sizes, but the standard size is about 5.5cm (2 1/8") long and 3 cm ( 1 1/8") wide. 

 BENEFITS

•  Increased, functional Pelvic Floor endurance
• Offload leg & hip muscles as you strengthen deeper within the pelvis
• Proprioception of Pelvic Floor, a great tool to use in conjunction with Pilates
• Decrease pelvic, leg & hip pain
• Increase pelvic stability & 'core' awareness.
• Healing properties of Jade tonify the kidneys, and assist fertility & childbirth.

The Jade Egg encourages the Pelvic Floor (PF) to contract, & strengthen, in a gentle, functional way. Melissa Macourek took her egg  into the pilates studio with incredible results and inspired me to explore it. You don't have to practise the Taoist exercises, unless you feel to. I have found that practising very gentle Pilates exercises & Pilates breathing is very helpful while 'wearing' the egg, as is simply walking around with it in.  Many yoga practitioners practise with a similar stone. For healing any PF damage, I would recommend having it in for short periods, 5-10 minutes at a time, everyday if possible. Practising for too long can fatigue the muscles, short, regular practise sessions will be most beneficial. Please consult a qualified Pilates Instructor or Pelvic Floor specialist for any serious damage or ongoing issues.

The best thing about the Jade Egg, is that you are strengthening the PF and allowing it to work as it should, which is subtly. You do not need to focus on 'squeezing' around the egg, or  trying to 'feel' anything. A healthy PF, after all, should work without you noticing it. You can however practise your Pilates Pelvic Floor lifts, and use it as a proprioceptive tool for working with PF in movement. I'm writing a PF blog at the moment, but it started becoming so long that I thought I'd write about the Jade Egg here separately.


Jade is a healing gemstone which has properties that are beneficial to the female reproductive organs. One of my favourite gem sites 'charms of light', writes of Jade:

"Jade aids the body’s filtration and elimination organs.  It is excellent for treating kidney problems and adrenal glands.  Jade removes toxins, rebinds skeletal and cellular systems, and heals stitches.  It assists fertility and childbirth.  Jade balances body fluids."

MY JADE EGG EXPERIENCE

I have been lucky enough to suffer very little PF stress incontinence during pregnancy, however, in 2007-8 I had a large uterine fibroid, which made it hard to connect to my PF and deep abdominals. Therefore, during this time, my adductors and hamstrings began overcompensating and I ended up with a lot of pain & tightness high on my hamstring insertion points and through the groin. After surgery and lots of pilates, this improved, but was still not 'right', and during pregnancy it became quite painful again.


Post pregnancy, after only a few sessions using the Jade Egg I had some incredible results. Simply wearing it around a few times,  and spending some sessions going through very basic pilates breathing, pelvic tilts, bridging, knee drops and knee floats, I had some profound results. Before then it had been an ongoing battle to take my leg into any loaded adduction (inner thigh squeezes) or straight leg hip extension or hamstring work, without feeling a lot of groin pressure and pain. With the egg in I felt my legs and groin letting go, and I could feel my PF (especially on the side that I experienced the leg pain) gently hugging the egg. I could feel that my Pelvic Floor on that side was weaker. My PF was clearly waking up and allowing me to off load the other muscles. I could control & articulate my spine much more easily with the egg in and it also enabled me to let go of my outer abdominals and connect to my deeper abdominals (transversus abdominus). Since then I have been able to increase the load on my hamstrings & adductors, & range of movement in the planes I was finding challenging and I haven't experienced any more pain! I also have an old hip injury from dancing which periodically flares up, and find that if I pop the egg in that it calms everything down.  Essentially, the Jade Egg brings you back into your center. I've found it so helpful for connecting to my 'core' in back extension (wunda chair, mat & reformer) & hip extension (mat, reformer scooter & knee stretch), for increased awareness & pelvic stability in reformer leg strapwork and short spine, for spinal and pelvic alignment & symmetry in bridging, lateral flexion and side lying work, and it has helped me to re-connect to my core in stronger work such as downstretch.

WHERE DO I GET ONE?

I purchased my egg at The Desilets Method, this is linked from Samsara Pilates. There are quite a few sites online that sell them, and if anyone knows where you can get them in Australia I'd love to hear! I chose a medium size which is the only size at The Desilets Method, some sites sell smaller or larger ones. Also, I would love to hear from anyone who gets an egg and uses it and has any feedback, especially if you suffer any urinary incontinence, hip pain or pelvic pain. Melissa Macourek has some great information and Jade Egg exercises for those of you that wish to explore specific egg work! 


  

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

'Mental hunger and spiritual nutritional process often accompany physical hunger. We may sometimes feel our whole being starving for greater love and for banquets of healing truth.'

Nancy Mellon 'Body Eloquence'

MOVEMENT OF THE DAY

Imagine you are wearing a Jade Egg, and imagine that you can touch it from both sides. Is one side harder to feel? Can you touch it from front & back, is there any difference here? Try gently lifting it up, and then letting it slide down. Make sure you are breathing normally and that these movements are very gentle! Your belly should stay soft. My favourite part (from Samsara Pilates), can you 'put a lid on it'?