Girdle Vessel

Exercises to support your core

I’ve just made public on my YouTube channel (Wellmother) a video of exercises for the powerful Girdle Vessel of Chinese medicine which I made back in 2016.

You might also want to do my visualisation for it afterwards.

Here’s my affirmation for the Girdle Vessel:

I am stable, I contain, I release.

In it I share some movement practices you can do to get your Girdle Vessel flowing. They include: standing, sitting, all fours. These can be great to do at any stage of your life! I first developed them for pregnancy, especially the ball ones, but I have used them to support me through all my life, including the perimenopause and beyond the ones which work for you. I include some squatting which can be too strong for some people. Find which ones work best for you. I hope you find them as useful as I continue to do.

You may recognise some of the movements here as they can help strengthen your core. I am making a separate video on pelvic floor exercises, but this video helps to link your pelvic floor with the whole of your pelvis and up to your diaphragm.

The Girdle Vessel is the only horizontal channel in the body, encircling and wrapping around the whole area between the lower border of our ribs and pelvic floor. Broad and three-dimensional, it regulates all the spaces, organs, structures and energies contained within it. These include most of the major organs in our body along with core muscles (abdominal muscles, pelvic floor, lower back and hips) and bones (pelvis). Regulating what is above and below it, as well as all the spaces around us, it envelops and protects our whole body, like a cocoon or a robe. All of the other 7 Vessels pass through it, so it includes many of their points.

It has a dual purpose of supporting and releasing, physically and emotionally. It releases through daily elimination, sexual connections and, for women, during menstruation and giving birth. Good muscle tone helps it give support.

Like a rope wrapped around a bundle of sticks, if it is too tight then the sticks don’t move. In the body things tend to become blocked as we are not able to eliminate. There is likely to be a disconnection between our upper and lower body  - someone who looks cut in half, almost like two different people. If the rope is too loose, then the sticks fall apart. Our muscles may be too weak. We become muddled. This is someone who seems “all over the place”.  They have lost their internal compass and sense of purpose.

My resources

I am space and gather space within you.

I form a crossroads at your pelvis and support the route between your upper and your lower body.

I form a Girdle, wrapping around your lower back, abdomen and perineum. I lead, guide, connect and bind together. I keep you centred and stable.

I am your guest room: how you can invite others in to share in your life. I prepare the space for new guests to arrive – new projects, new ideas, new aspects of your being, sexual partners, new children.

I’d love to know how you find these movements and also any other videos you’d like me to make. Do you prefer movement practices, visualisations, massage or simply talks and interviews. And on what topics? I work with people at all stages of their lives and at the heart of my work are the powerful Extraordinary Vessels of Chinese medicine. These support people to “Rewrite their life”.