How Breathwork can Support Your Pelvic Floor

When you hear the word "breathwork," you might think of stress relief or mindfulness, something to help calm your nervous system or stay focused during yoga or meditation. But your breath also plays a powerful role in how your pelvic floor functions. Your breath can help build core strength, improve stability, and ease common symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD), including bladder or bowel leaks, constipation, pelvic pain, and discomfort during sex.

One particular breathing technique, pelvic floor breathing (also known as diaphragmatic or belly breathing), is a gentle and effective way to begin building awareness of the muscles that make up your pelvic floor. Unlike Kegels, which focus only on strengthening, pelvic floor breathing encourages both relaxation and contraction of your pelvic floor muscles, encompassing a full range of motion for proper pelvic floor function.

And unlike meditation (which, for most people, requires lots of time, energy, and practice), this type of belly breathing (or pelvic floor) breathing is easy to work into your daily life–no equipment required! 

Let’s get into it. 

Your Pelvic Floor, Explained

Think of your pelvic floor like a small hammock or sling made of muscles, ligaments, connective tissues, and nerves that stretch across the bottom of your pelvis – right along your lower belly and down into your groin area. From your tailbone to your pubic bone (back to front) and from one sitting bone to the other (side to side), your pelvic floor supports organs like your bladder, bowel, and uterus (if you have one), and helps control things like peeing, pooping, sexual function, and core stability.

Whether you’re laughing, lifting something, going to the bathroom, or having sex, these muscles contract (tighten) and relax (lengthen) throughout the day, often subtly or involuntarily. A healthy pelvic floor is one that is strong, flexible, and coordinated, and provides support and a sense of stability throughout your body. 

But when those muscles aren’t functioning properly, you may experience symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction. This happens when the muscles are either too tight and overactive or too loose and underactive. In both cases, the muscles are weak—they either lack the ability to fully relax or to properly contract and support your organs.

• When the PF is too tight or overactive, the muscles are clenched and unable to relax, like a charley horse in your pelvis. This can restrict blood flow and nerve signals, causing pain, constipation, difficulty peeing, or bladder leaks.
• When the PF is too loose or underactive, the muscles aren’t able to fully contract and coordinate. This can cause bladder leakage, a heavy or dragging feeling in your pelvis (also known as prolapse), or trouble fully emptying your bladder or bowels.

It’s common for both overactive and underactive pelvic floor muscles to be tight. That’s why it’s so important to build awareness of your pelvic floor first. Breathwork can help restore your connection to your pelvic floor muscles laying the foundation for healthier function.

What is Pelvic Floor Breathing?

Pelvic floor breathing, or diaphragmatic breathing, is a gentle, body-based practice that encourages you to relax and reconnect with your pelvic floor muscles. 

Unlike Kegels, which focus on intentionally squeezing the muscles, this breath builds awareness of how your pelvic floor moves in sync with your breath, a foundational step for both releasing tension and rebuilding strength.

With each inhale, your diaphragm expands and your pelvic floor naturally lengthens and softens downward, similar to the bottom of a balloon expanding. On the exhale, your breath flows upward, and your pelvic floor returns to its baseline resting position as a result of a reduction in intra-abdominal pressure. You are not squeezing or bracing, just observing and allowing your muscles to move as they are designed to.

For people with tight, overactive, or hypertonic muscles, learning to release and soften through breath can ease symptoms like constipation, pain, or urinary retention. For those with loose, underactive, or hypotonic muscles, this breath helps build awareness of the pelvic floor’s movement, an important first step before incorporating tactical strength exercises.

Once you can feel the full cycle of movement, with expansion on the inhale and a return to center on the exhale, you can build from there. 

For those with a tight pelvic floor, that connection and the act of releasing tension may be enough to relieve symptoms like constipation, pain, or urinary issues. For those with underactive muscles, breathwork can be a valuable starting point before progressing to more active strengthening work under the guidance of a pelvic floor therapist.

With practice, pelvic floor breathing increases your awareness of how the pelvic floor moves throughout the day and is an essential first step in restoring it to its full range of motion.

How Breathwork SupportsPelvic Floor Function

1. Increases Bladder Function

When bladder leaks (urinary incontinence) and trouble emptying your bladder (urinary retention) exist together, breathwork can reduce symptoms by training tight, overactive muscles to release, relax, and lengthen.

A lot of people rely on Kegels to treat bladder dysfunction which can be helpful for a weak, underactive pelvic floor. Kegels are like bodyweight training for those muscles—contract, then release. If your issue is leakage with sneezing or coughing only, incorporating pelvic floor breathing followed by gently activating the pelvic floor muscles can be beneficial. If your issue is leakage coupled with an inability to empty the bladder, this more often stems from too much tension, meaning it’s important to incorporate breathwork (lengthening on the inhale and relaxing on the exhale) to support healthier bladder control over time.

2. Enhances Sexual Wellness

When the pelvic floor muscles are too tight or overactive, it can lead to pain, numbness, or a lack of sensation during sex, all of which are symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction. 

By practicing pelvic floor breathing, you encourage blood flow, reduce muscle tension, and reconnect with the sensations in your body. Over time, this can help decrease discomfort, and allows for increased pleasure and arousal.

3. Alleviates Constipation

More than 50% of people suffering with chronic constipation also have pelvic floor dysfunction, meaning the pelvic floor and abdominal muscles aren’t relaxing or working together properly during a bowel movement. 

Breathwork helps calm the digestive tract and teaches the pelvic floor how to relax  (particularly around your rectum) and coordinate more effectively during elimination. Practicing deep breathing before or during a bowel movement can make it easier to go with less strain.

4. Aids Pregnancy, Delivery, and Recovery 

Prior to and throughout pregnancy, practicing pelvic floor breathing can help support your deep core and the pelvic floor muscles, making the push-process and postpartum-recovery smoother and even faster.

In addition to speeding up labor, breathwork is a valuable tool for lessening physical and mental challenges associated with laboring, including anxiety, depression, and physical pain. 

After birth, pelvic floor breathing continues to be helpful in reconnecting with deep core muscles and rebuilding strength in postpartum.

Belly Breathing 101

Like any new form of movement, belly breathing takes a little time to get used to and practice, but it doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. 

Start by taking just a few minutes a day to check in with your breath. You can start this practice from bed, while seated at your desk, or wherever you have a quiet moment. 

1. Find a comfortable place, either lying down or seated.
2. Start by placing one hand on your chest and the other on your belly. This helps you tune into how your body is moving as you breathe.
3. To lengthen your pelvic floor, take a slow, gentle inhale through your nose, letting your belly rise as the air fills your lower lungs like a balloon. Try to keep your chest as still as possible—think of the breath moving down and out, not up and shallow. You may notice the perineum, or muscle between your vagina and anus subtly moving away from your body. Particularly if you're in a seated position, you will feel it expand into the surface beneath you. This is your pelvic floor lengthening as you inhale.
4. As you exhale, let the air leave your body naturally without forcing it. You’ll feel your belly and pelvic floor slowly return to where they started. 
5. Repeat this process for a few minutes a day!

The key is consistency, not perfection. With practice, belly breathing can become second nature, helping your pelvic floor stay more relaxed and responsive throughout the day. When paired with physical therapy and other pelvic floor stretches, breathwork can provide the foundation for a healthy pelvic floor

When is it Time to See a Pelvic Floor Therapist?

Whether you’re experiencing bladder leaks, constipation, or pain during sex, or are simply looking to improve core strength and alignment, working with a pelvic floor physical therapist can make all the difference. 

At Origin, our expert PTs will assess your pelvic floor muscles to determine whether they’re weak, tight, or both, and build a personalized plan to help restore strength, flexibility, and coordination. 

Book a visit today to help you feel stronger, more supported, and more in tune with your breathing and body.

Sources Cited

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"Diaphragmatic Breathing for GI Patients." University of Michigan Health, https://www.uofmhealth.org/conditions-treatments/digestive-and-liver-health/diaphragmatic-breathing-gi-patients. Accessed 20 July 2025.

Newstadt, Hanna, SPT. "Why Diaphragmatic Breathing Is One of the Best Exercises Pelvic Health Therapists Can Give Patients." APTA Pelvic Health, 18 July 2023, https://www.aptapelvichealth.org/info/why-diaphragmatic-breathing-is-one-of-the-best-exercises-pelvic-health-therapists-can-give-patients. Accessed 14 July 2025.

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