Internal Pelvic Release Work

For healing and empowerment

The tissues of your pelvis hold tension, wisdom and a great capacity for release.

Your pelvis is an incredibly responsive space of soft tissues, organs and bones that can support you with space or restrict you with tension.

Your pelvis responds to your life experience and can create tension through trauma, pregnancy, birth, injuries, postural habits, surgery, or repetitive movements you make.

This tension affects the alignment and space in your pelvis and can impact your movement, the function of your uterus, ovaries, bladder and bowel, pain and emotional well-being.

The vagina provides a gateway to deep soft tissue of the pelvis, giving the opportunity for gentle touch to invite tissues to soften, release and come back into balance.

Internal Pelvic Release Work has incredible value in preparing for birth by preparing the tissues for baby’s journey through the pelvis; in postpartum by releasing the impact of pregnancy and birth and understanding your birth story; and in other stages of a woman’s life by reclaiming women’s wisdom, learning to work with your body and alleviating discomfort.

You can benefit from Internal Pelvic Release Work if you are a:

  • Woman preparing for birth

  • Woman healing from birth

  • Woman with scars from birth

  • Woman experiencing pelvic organ prolapse

  • Woman who wants to understand why you ‘couldn’t birth’ your baby vaginally

  • Woman confused about sensations you felt in your labour or plateaus in your labour

  • Woman who experiences pain or trauma in your sex organs

  • Woman who has been harmed by another

  • Woman who experiences painful or no sex, with or without a history of vaginismus/vulvodynia

  • Woman who feels your pelvic floor is weak

  • Woman who feels your pelvic floor is tight or hypertonic

  • Woman who experiences pain in the hips, knees, ankles, or lower back

  • Woman curious to know more about your pelvic goods

What’s involved in an Internal Pelvic Release Work session:

An Internal Pelvic Release Work session is two hours of care focused on you. This usually involves:

  • A conversation about the life of your pelvis, from childhood through to experiences of menstruation, intimacy, pregnancy, birth, current symptoms and your relationship with your pelvis

  • A discussion on pelvic anatomy to support your knowledge of your pelvic space, pelvic bones and pelvic soft tissues

  • If you are preparing for birth, an explanation of baby’s positioning and rotation through the pelvis and how you can optimise the space available for baby, for a smoother labour and reduced risk of trauma to the body

  • External touch on structures that support the pelvis and her organs to release tension and bring balance into muscles, ligaments, fascia, scars and joints

  • An exploration and gentle release of tension in the soft tissue connections – ligaments, muscles, fascia – felt through the vagina

  • Guidance on how to continue with self-care and further release work at home

  • Individualised breathing, movement and mindfulness practices for pelvic balance and release

Book an Internal Pelvic Release Work Session

Appointments are available in Young and surrounds on Mondays, Fridays and weekends

$270 for 2 hour session

Payment plan available

For all enquiries, email Helen.

MEET YOUR Practitioner

Helen Johnson
Practitioner, Nurse, Educator, & Teacher

I’m an Internal Pelvic Release Work practitioner, Registered Nurse, Childbirth Educator, Yoga and Meditation Teacher and mother to two beautiful young children.

After 16 years as a Registered Nurse and Clinical Nurse Educator in Australia and abroad, I noticed a troubling trend in the health practitioner-patient relationship concerning women’s health. Many women are being advised not to trust or understand their bodies, losing touch with their intuition when seeking answers to their physical, mental, and emotional signs and symptoms. With my background in supporting women through pregnancy, birth, postpartum and beyond as a Yoga teacher and Childbirth Educator, I wanted to offer my community more.

I discovered Internal Pelvic Release Work through Fiona Hallinan and recognised it as a crucial tool for many women I encountered in pregnancy and postpartum. I believe you are the expert of your own body-mind-energy, and I am here to help you reconnect with that wisdom and find the answers that modern medicine often overlooks.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  • Absolutely! Internal Pelvic Release Work was initially created for pregnancy, to help women prepare their soft tissues for baby’s movement through the pelvis. Internal Pelvic Release Work in pregnancy can reduce the length of labour, the risk of vaginal and perineal tears and interventions of instrumental deliveries. Internal Pelvic Release Work is recommended at 32-34 and 36-38 weeks for most women; an earlier session may be indicated for previous perineal or vaginal damage, or for women intending VBAC.

  • Internal Pelvic Release Work is very different from pelvic floor physiotherapy and osteopathy. They work well as complimentary therapies for your pelvis.

    • INTENTION •

    The intention of Internal Pelvic Release Work is to offer care, share knowledge, empower you, and release tension from tissues to bring balance, flow and drainage into your pelvis.

    The intention of Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy is usually to diagnose and treat or prescribe (similar to a medical model). I refer you to specialised pelvic floor physios where indicated for ongoing management or treatment of prolapse or pelvic floor muscle dysfunction, but they don’t address the ligaments and fascia like I do.

    The intention of Yoni Massage is to ‘map’ your pelvis, identify energies and connect you with the sexual force of your pelvic bowl.

    • FOCUS •

    Internal Pelvic Release Work focuses on ALL the soft tissues of the pelvis and has a strong anatomical basis. We seek to understand the tissues of your pelvis, the way your life experience plays out in the tissues and intentionally balance and release those tissues to allow your pelvis to express her full anatomical potential.

    Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy tends to focus on the muscles only, and targets them individually rather than taking a whole-pelvis approach.

    Yoni Massage focuses on soft tissue but doesn’t have the anatomical basis or focus.

    • EDUCATION •

    Internal Pelvic Release Work is heavy on education, sharing knowledge about the pelvis and your life experiences to make sense of your stories and experiences. You’re taught to understand your body and continue to provide care for yourself after the session if required.

    Pelvic Floor Physiotherapists will share knowledge on what they think you need to know about your body and treatment options but maintain the expert-patient power relationship of the patriarchal medical model.

    Yoni Massage does not involve pelvic heath education.

    • RELATIONSHIP •

    Internal Pelvic Release Work is a relationship of ‘doing with’ and ‘offering care’ that requires a complete balance between us - that is, no expert and no dominance of power.

    Pelvic Floor Physiotherapists will see you as a patient who requires treating.

    Yoni Massage is more about nurturing the relationship with yourself.

  • The number of sessions is dependent on you as an individual, what we discover together in your pelvis, and your response to the care session. As a general rule, most women require 2-3 sessions, 6-8 weeks apart, for optimal benefits to be achieved.

  • Please just come as you are, no preparation is necessary.

  • After care is important for Internal Pelvic Release Work. Your tissues will take some time to settle into balance, so plan to take it easy for 48-72 hours after your care session. Plan to return to a quiet space where you can integrate what you’ve learnt about your body. A warm bath and heat packs can feel really nurturing. A high-protein meal can help nourish the tissues you’ve worked with.

  • It’s ideal to have Internal Pelvic Release Work without little people present, so you can focus on yourself and be uninterrupted. If you need your baby or child present, please have a carer with you to entertain them.

  • This is entirely your choice. Many women choose not to, as our bleeding phase is a time to draw inwards and it can feel vulnerable. Please contact me to discuss what is right for you.

  • Not to me. I am honoured to do this work and even more so when people I know and love trust me to care for them. Remember too that I’ve been an RN for nearly 2 decades - I’m adept at care giver professionalism. However, if it feels too weird for you, I can refer you to some wonderful practitioners in Canberra.

FREE VIDEO - KNEADING THE DOUGH

My recommended technique for perineal preparation for birth, perineal scar release and internal release of tension in the pelvis.

As taught to me by Fiona Hallinan from The Pelvic Space.

Click on the image to access the video.