Pilates and Queefing

Pressing into your feet, you roll up your spine into a beautiful bridge. You feel strong. You then meticulously peel your spine back down one vertebra at a time. At one inch from lowering your tailbone, your vagina shows off her musical skills…You just queefed. 

What is queefing? 

Simply put, it’s vaginal flatulence. It’s not smelly since it’s just air that has been sucked into your vaginal canal and then gets pushed right back out when the pressure changes. It can happen during sex, or exercise. For some women, lifting the pelvis up higher than the chest tends to be a sure way of getting that Vayvay to talk.

Who is more susceptible to it? 

It’s important to note here that queefing is not bad for your health. However, it can be a sign that you have a too tight or too weak pelvic floor. Because pregnancy and child birth affects the pelvic floor so much, women who have given birth (vaginally or with a c-section) are more prone to queefing. Having a prolapse, being constipated, or even different stages of your menstrual cycle can all impact your level of queefness. 

How is it caused?

In the case of a tight pelvic floor, these muscles will act like a suction to pull air into the vagina and act like a whistle for the trapped air when it comes out. A weak pelvic floor will allow more air to flow in and then release it when the intra-abdominal pressure increases due to a lack of pelvic floor contraction control.

A tight pelvic floor as well as a weak one won’t be able to relax or contract properly. A perfectly functioning pelvic floor will move on the inhale and exhale, letting any small amounts of trapped air out silently. 

How can I reduce the risk of queefing?

Before you move into a position that encourages vaginal music, think of inhaling to help relax the pelvic floor muscles, which will help any air trapped to pass easily and silently out. Then right before starting to move, exhale to help the pelvic floor muscles contract, which will help “close” your vagina and prevent air from pulling in. This may not work 100% of the time, but it’s a good exercise to learn how to move with your breath and be conscious of when the pelvic floor is contracting and when it’s relaxing.

How can Pilates help?

Pilates will help you connect to your pelvic floor muscles because they are part of your core, and that’s really what Pilates is a lot about! Learning to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles as well as relaxing them are equally important, and the breath work component of Pilates will help you with that. I will say, Pilates tends to lean more towards the strengthening aspect, so just make sure you do some pelvic floor stretches and release work after working out if you know your PF is too tight.

It’s always a great idea to seek out help from a pelvic floor specialist. They can help you resolve so many issues caused by pelvic floor dysfunction. 

For those living in Atlanta, check out my favorite pelvic floor specialists at https://www.atlpelvichealth.com/

Most importantly, try not to get too hung up on a bit of air flowing out of your lady parts… it happens to A LOT of us. If you’re in a Pilates group class, hopefully the instructor will just cue right through that musical distraction, and if it happens in a private Pilates session, take that opportunity to talk a bit more about the pelvic floor with your instructor!

Not a member?
Try our on-demand classes for free!

Cancel anytime