Let that tummy flop!
Updated: Jun 7
Transcript
Hey, team. This week I'm coming at you
with a very particular reminder
to let your tummy flop. Now,
you might be wondering.
This is very particular, Alessia.
What do you mean?
Well, I'm going to let you
into a little part of my life
so that you guys don't end up
making the same mistake that I have .
Growing up, I always held my stomach
in for multiple reasons.
One, I thought it was good.
I thought I was like working
my core strength,
like walking with my stomach and so on.
And so I thought I was being healthy, but
also societal standards and body image.
Things also caused me to do this.
The reason that I'm telling you guys
this is because I have recently learned
that this can have
a negative impact on the muscles
that surround your pelvic floor.
Your pelvic floor muscles are so important
for so many different reasons
childbirth, bladder holding, etc., etc..
And so it's crucial
that you give your body the best support
you can over time because of the anxiety
and the stomach holding.
My muscles have decided
we're tense all the time
so they don't know how to relax.
So the impact of a lifetime of being tense
inside of my body
has officially come to fruition
from the age of 22 to now 25.
And I've been seeing lots of doctors
and lots of specialists
in order to help me fix my body.
And so this is why I wanted to remind
you guys to let your stomach flop.
It's not worth holding it in.
It's not worth damaging your body.
So here are three valuable tips
that I would love for you to take
into consideration and adjusting
what you feel your body will need.
The first one being reduce stress
and anxiety in the body.
And you might think this is so obvious,
but it's so crucial
and I can't stress it enough.
I know Taz and I talk a lot
about the practices
that you can do to reduce stress
and anxiety into your life.
And I really, really encourage
you guys to continue exploring these
and putting them
into your daily practices.
Things like journaling, meditation, yoga,
your version of staying
calm might be through painting,
it might be through doing your makeup.
Whatever you can do to help
reduce that anxiety and that stress
and that tenseness in your body and
or in your stomach will help immensely.
This might not come as a surprise to you,
but breathing properly
is so crucial to a healthy body.
And I don't mean just getting the air
that's necessary.
I mean getting the air
into your body that's needed.
So you want to be breathing into
and using your whole lungs,
your whole diaphragm, and breathing
into your stomach and pushing it out
and just relaxing that whole torso.
There are so many YouTube
videos and breathing exercises
that you can watch to learn.
So I do encourage you
to have a little Google search
and see what works best for you.
My third tip is Don't be like me.
Let that tummy flop.
You don't need to be holding it in.
It's not worth holding it in.
It's not worth doing
the damage to your body.
Our health has to be our priority from now
until we are no longer here
and then again in the next life.
And my three tips essentially mean
find peace, breathe, and just let go.
This all might seem really logical,
but I truly believe that we don't do this
enough in our lives.
So I really encourage
you guys to find the best ways to relax.
Sending you all the love this week.
Let me know how you guys
will be connecting to your bodies
down below in the comments.
Now this is going to be a short but sweet reminder. A Life lesson that I learnt recently
and am passing on to you so that you don’t make the same mistake I did. You might read the title of this weekly reminder and think what is this girl talking about, you might even think “Alessia, this is TMI” but if I can help even just one person out there from making the same mistake I did, then it's worth it.
For a long time, growing up almost my whole life I have always always held in my stomach, so much so that it has become unconscious. I do it without even meaning to. I always thought “Oh well, I’m strengthening my core, this would be good for me” but I was wrong. I’m not going to go into much detail about why I did this; with societal standards surrounding body image I’m sure you would be able to piece together how and why this would have come about for me.
The reason I am telling you this is because I have recently learnt at how this can have a negative impact on your pelvic floor muscles. These muscles are important for so many reasons: childbirth, bladder control and a bunch of other things. Over time from a mix of my anxiety and stomach holding, I have almost lost the ability to relax and calm the lower half of my body around my pelvic muscles. The impact of a lifetime of being tense has come to fruition over the last two years. I’ve had to see multiple doctors and a couple of specialists to figure out what was going on with my body and make a plan on how to work through it.
Finally, I know what I need to do and let me tell you, de-programming and reprogramming your mind and body isn’t easy and it is also NOT cheap. So here are my 3 valuable tips that I hope you will take into consideration and implement if you feel necessary.
Reduce anxiety and stress in your body as best as you can. Whatever way you find works for you to do this, I implore you to continue doing it and even implementing more ways in which you can ease your mind and body. Whether its meditating, journaling, yoga, running, painting, swimming anything! If it brings you peace you’re on the right track.
Learn how to breathe. This might sound like a crazy one, breathing is so easy? Well there is a way to breathe properly and sometimes it can be the difference between you being healthy and not. You can YouTube breathing exercises in order to learn how to breathe using your entire diaphragm and into your stomach!
DON'T BE LIKE ME. Let your tummy flop. If you’re someone who holds in your stomach, it’s time to let it go. It’s not worth it.. for soo many different reasons. Our health has to be our priority, I don’t want you guys to go through what I have.
Find peace. Breathe. Let go.
It might seem logical, but we all don’t do this enough for ourselves and you know what? We deserve it. We deserve peace. We deserve to be comfortable. And we deserve to feel connected to our own bodies.
Have a great week. Sending love!