Who doesn’t secretly want a flat stomach? Good news: you can be working your abs just by learning to breathe – and feeling calmer in the process.
When a student comes to our Mom + Baby class saying “I want to get my body back”, we pretty much teach them exactly the same actions as we would for someone who said “I want to feel calm and grounded.”
In every pose, we guide people in how to use their breath, their muscles, and their bones to root their energy downward.
They get to feel supported and present – plus tone their abs in the process.
Imagine the energy in your body as electricity.
When it’s only rising up, it can light up your head with a million thoughs.
When we learn to move it down from the low belly, it’s like lightening with a rod.
Once we’re grounded, we can stand tall. Energy is flowing in both directions. And we feel more calm and present.
Tip #1 for Grounding Your Energy AND Getting a Flat Stomach: Breathing
The simplest way is to learn how to breathe.
Many of us have been told to take a “big belly breath”, expanding our abdomen as we take the breath in.
Problem is, if you’re a new mom or pregnant – or a not-so-new-mom – there’s already been a lot of expansion happening in that area.
So much, that we can actually separate the abdominals to the side, and make it harder to tone.
Instead of a big belly breath, focus more on sitting tall, expanding the back of the body and the top of your chest.
As you inhale, lift your heart and make sure you’re not tucking your butt under.
We want those hip flexors relaxed. If you’re not sure if they are, do a little wiggle with your hips – and you’ll make sure your groins are relaxed.
Then, as you exhale, whisper “ha” as you gently do a kegel (lift your pelvic floor up like you’re holding your pee) and root down from hips through heels into the hearth.
In Ma Yoga we call this “Grounding your Power”.
We tend to think of core strength as a static action where we just engage.
But when we “suck in the belly”, we’re actually blocking the energy that supports us in standing strong with an uplifted heart.
Instead, exhale your energy down from your low belly, and your heart will automatically feel lighter.
Congratulations! You are grounding your energy AND moving toward a flat stomach just by breathing optimally.
Tip #2 for Grounding Your Power AND Getting a Flat Stomach: Driving
Put a block or big water bottle between your thighs.
Your knees should still be about hip width.
Inhale and gently hug the water bottle with your legs.
Just a little hug in is enough to give you a slight tone tone, and wake up the muscles of your inner thighs.
Now gently press your thighs down into the seat, and as we talked about above – make sure your butt is behind you, not tucked under you.
Exhale and allow your back ribs to soften back into the seat, gently draw your low belly in, and use that core power to ground your hips down into the seat.
Expanding your middle back into the seat means your transversus abdominis is enaged.
Congratulations! You are grounding your energy AND moving toward a flat stomach just by aligning as your drive.
Tip #3 for Grounding Your Power AND Getting a Flat Stomach: Standing
You’re doing the dishes or waiting in the hall to pick up your little one or standing talking to a friend.
Become aware – are you squeezing your butt? Use your thighs to “make a butt”, and release your groins.
Then, on your exhale – lengthen your tailbone toward your heels.
Do you feel that natural lift upwards through your heart when you do this?
When we ground our energy, we get to experience an equal and opposite movement upward.
And when our heart is lifted, we feel better.
We look better…
And we make others feel better too – just from our uplifted energy.
Congratulations! You are grounding your energy AND moving toward a flat stomach just by standing with awareness.
As opposed to sucking in our belly, which can limit our breath capacity and thus our ability to feel calm (short, quick breaths signal to the nervous system that something is wrong), grounding your energy allows us to breathe more deeply.
Not by pushing our belly forward, but into the sides of the body, the back of the body, and the top of heart center.
We use our core to help the body empty out the breath, and support the natural flow downward of energy that happens subtly on every exhale.
This signals to the nervous system that everything is OK.
It takes the energy from swirling around in our heads into grounding our feet on the earth.
And enjoying our power.
