3 essentials to prepare your pelvic floor for birth (Don’t forget about this crucial part!)

After teaching pregnancy yoga for over ten years I’ve noticed that women often only give their pelvic floor any thought when it stops working the way it should. But your pelvic floor isn’t something you should only worry about after birth, you can start to prepare your pelvic floor for birth with pregnancy yoga right now, on your yoga mat.

So many pregnant women are told to “do their kegels,” but what they aren’t told is that too much tension in your pelvic floor can actually cause more harm than good.

Yoga can help to not just to strengthen, but also to release your pelvic floor. This reduces any issues you might experience during pregnancy when baby is bouncing on your bladder. It’s going to help during birth where you need to relax these muscles to allow baby to pass through. And yoga helps you to build a strong mind-body connection with your pelvic floor. While this is something we go into in a lot more detail in my pregnancy yoga teacher training, let me give you a quick overview today of how you can do this.

Watch the video below to learn how to prepare your pelvic floor for birth – or read on. And don’t forget to download my free guides for teaching pregnancy yoga or practicing pregnancy yoga.

What actually is your pelvic floor?

Your pelvic floor is a group of muscles that sits at the base of the pelvis, supporting your uterus, bladder and bowel. During pregnancy, these muscles carry extra weight, adapt to hormonal changes, and eventually your baby moves through your pelvic floor muscles during birth.

A common misconception is that pelvic floor work during pregnancy is just about strengthening. But really, we need to create a balance between strength, flexibility and responsiveness.

If the pelvic floor is too weak, it can lead to incontinence. If it’s too tight, it can lead to pelvic pain and complications during birth.

How do you prepare your pelvic floor for birth?

There are three key tools we use:

1. Awareness – tuning into how the pelvic floor feels during different movements and learning how to both engage and release it.
2. Breath – especially diaphragmatic breath and visualising the pelvic floor softening on the inhale and gently lifting on the exhale.
3. Movement – like gentle squats, cat-cow, and hip circles that encourage mobility and awareness in the pelvic region.

How do I build awareness of my pelvic floor?

To prepare your pelvic floor for birth you need to start with building awareness. You can’t improve your pelvic floor if you’re not aware of it. 

We all start from different levels of awareness. You could think of it like a continuum. On one end there is no awareness of your pelvic floor at all, so you may have to use physical touch or counterpressure to be able to even connect.

Moving along the continuum some women may be aware of sensation, like tightness or clenching but may not be able to activate this space in their body. Other women may be able to consciously relax and contract their pelvic floor and/ or others specific muscles of the pelvic floor.

Wherever you currently are on this continuum we can build our awareness of the pelvic floor by using the breath and movement through a variety of yoga poses.

How to breathe to prepare your pelvic floor for birth

When you’re trying to increase your awareness of your pelvic floor we start with a simple full diaphragmatic breath. This helps you to build awareness of the natural movement of your pelvic floor, helps you to use the lungs and diaphragm properly and helps to release tension in the pelvis.

A lot of my students have been taught in childhood or adolescence to suck their belly in.  This is terrible for our breathing and our core and pelvic floor because it creates constant tension. It also usually results in chest breathing.

How to practice full belly breaths

1. Take your hands to your belly and ribs.
2. Breathe in slowly. Let your belly and ribs expand as you breathe in.
3. Imagine your pelvic floor muscles expanding down or widening with the breath in.
4. Breathe out and let your belly and ribs soften. Imagine your pelvic floor gently rebounding as you breathe out.

How to practice active engagement of the pelvic floor

1. Start by straddling a bolster or blanket to give you som physical feedback.
2. Take full deep breaths, allowing your belly and ribs to expand each time you breathe in and soften each time you breathe out.
3. Breathe in and let the belly expand. Imagine your pelvic floor expanding down with the breath. 
4. Exhale and as your belly softens, draw up on the pelvic floor muscles. (You might notice the feeling of the bolster between your legs here and draw those muscles away from the pressure.)

What yoga poses should you practise to prepare your pelvic floor for birth?

Once you’re able to contract and release your pelvic floor in one position, it’s time to add in movement.

Cat-Cow (Marjaryasana-Bitilasana) gently mobilises the spine and pelvic floor. Our focus here is to release and tension and notice subtle engagement.

How to Teach:

• Come onto all fours with hands under shoulders, knees under hips.
• Inhale: Tilt the pelvis back, lift the tailbone and chest — imagine the pelvic floor softening and widening.
• Exhale: Tuck the tailbone, round the spine — gently draw the pelvic floor up and in.
• Move slowly with breath for 5–10 rounds, keeping your jaw and belly relaxed.
• Cue: “Visualise your tailbone initiating the movement — feel the breath move all the way into your pelvis.”

Bridge Pose (Setu Bandhasana) – strengthens the glutes and pelvic floor through subtle engagement on the exhale.

How to teach:

• Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet hip-width apart and close to your sit bones.
• Inhale: Stay where you are and let your body soften.
• Exhale: Press into your feet and slowly lift hips — imagine drawing energy up through the pelvic floor.
• Inhale: Lower hips and release all tension.
• Repeat for 5–8 breaths.
• Focus on “Lifting with strength, but avoid clenching. Let your breath guide the movement.”

Goddess Pose (Utkata Konasana) – helps to tone the pelvic floor and can be a great challenge if you have a weak pelvic floor. In particular I remember after each of my births this was quite a confronting pose to practice, until I’d rebuilt some strength in my pelvic floor with pregnancy yoga.

How to teach:

• Stand with your feet wide and your toes turned out. Bend your knees into a squat.
• You can rest your hands on your thighs or bring them to prayer at your heart.
• Inhale: Hold the shape and feel into the pelvic floor softening.
• Exhale: Gently draw the pelvic floor in and up.
• If you want to challenge yourself you can take small pulses while engaging your pelvic floor.

Malasana (Yogi Squat) encourages full relaxation of the pelvic floor. Our focus here is on creating a deep release.

How to teach:

• Come into a deep squat with feet turned out. Use a bolster under the hips if you need.
• Bring your hands to heart and rest your elbows on your thighs.
• Let your belly relax completely.
• Inhale: Feel into spaciousness across the pelvic floor.
• Exhale: Gently engage your pelvic floor muscles in and up.

Supta Baddha Konasana helps to encourage a deep release. This pose can be more effective if you are struggling to release your pelvic floor in other positions. You need to feel safe and fully relaxed in order to release your pelvic floor properly (which is why learning to relax is so important for birth!)

How to teach:

• Lie on your back (or propped up on a bolster if in the later stages of pregnancy).
• Bring the soles of your feet together and let the knees fall apart. (You can bring blankets under the kneed if this is too much opening).
• Inhale: Feel your belly and pelvic floor expand and soften.
• Exhale: Let the body sink into support. (You may feel a gentle drawing in, but don’t consciously activate the pelvic floor)
• Stay for 5+ minutes.

Now that you know how to prepare your pelvic floor for birth, try it all out in this guided practice below. Or join my Online Yoga Circle community for all of my premium pregnancy yoga classes and birth preparation course.