It's that time of year again folks. 

Silly season is officially upon us and if you're anything like us, you've probably already had it up to here with gift guides, holiday recipes, and cute wrapping ideas.

Improving your pelvic floor health, self care, or any other healthy positive action has probably gone right out the window by now.

So this year, instead of the usual 'aspirational' holiday content, we wanted to bring you something practical that can make a meaningful difference to how you feel, without you having to put in lots of time, effort, or cash.

And so, the 12 days of Sheela was born. 

Each day from the 12th of December we'll be bringing you a new suggestion for a switch or a change you can make which will make a positive change to your pelvic floor health - especially if you manage to keep it up into the new year. 

These are practical, actionable tips that may seem small but add up to big changes, especially when you continue them over time. 

Pelvic floor care can be confusing, so we've broken our suggestions down into 12 videos of less than one minute which we'll be posting daily on our Instagram @Sheela.ie. 

You can access all the videos by giving us a follow here. 

Since you've found your way to our website, we're going to list all 12 days here along with links to lots of freebies and discounts along the way. 

From all of us here at Sheela to all of you out there, we really do wish you the happiest of holiday seasons and a very very happy and healthy new year 🎄. 

12 days of Sheela

Our first tip is pretty much fundamental when you want to make any changes in your life or improve things you're not happy with. 

To make a change in any difficult situation you have to figure out what is going on in the first place. 

To make this really simple where your pelvic floor health is concerned, we've designed a handy little symptom tracker that you can use to monitor the situation for a couple of weeks and then discuss with your health care provider. 

It will give you a better understanding of what's happening, help you identify any symptom triggers, and give any medical professional you take it to a much better understanding of what's going on. 

This means you'll get to the unique combination of interventions that will work in your unique circumstances much faster. A real win. 

Download your free Symptom Tracker here. 

You already know this but we're going to say it again, loud and clear - HYDRATE.

If you manage nothing else this holiday season, staying adequately hydrated is a game changer. 

This one can seem counter intuitive when you're trying to avoid leaking but your muscles, including your pelvic floor muscles, need to be hydrated to work well.

But what, and how, you drink is key. 

Most people need about 2 litres of fluid a day - more if you're sweating a lot or in a hot climate but you don't need to over do it. 

Water is the best liquid for your bladder as it doesn't irritate it.

Fizzy water, fizzy drinks, some fruit juices, tea, coffee, and alcohol, can all irritate the bladder making it harder to stop leaks. 

The best strategy for hydration is to start your day with a glass of water and then sip your liquids throughout the day. 

Why not treat yourself and jump on the Stanley cup trend (affiliate link) (or get yourself a knock off in Penny's 😉)?

When I said we were going to keep this simple and actionable, we meant it. 

Day 3's tip is to just breathe.

Did you know, your pelvic floor muscles are actually involved in breathing?

As you breathe in, the pelvic floor muscles relax and move down, making more space for the diaphragm to move down and the lungs to expand. Amazing. 

Problem is, lots of us carry stress and tension in our pelvic floor muscles making it tricky for them to let go and lots of us end up tensing our shoulders and breathing with our chests instead.

We can reduce stress, move from fight or flight to rest and digest, and lower our blood pressure by practising relaxed belly breathing.

Check out our FREE 5 minute video breathing tutorial here. 

I love this tip. 

Once you try this, you'll never go back. 

Use a step when you go to the toilet. 

You can get one specially made for this like the Squatty Potty (affiliate link) or just use a toddler step. 

You want your knees slightly higher than your hips when you're sitting down on the toilet, lean forward with your elbows on your knees, relax your breathing like you learned in yesterday's tip and wait for the magic to happen.

This position relaxes the puborectalis muscle which makes it much easier for poos and wees to exit the body.

No more pushing or straining - which means less pressure on your pelvic floor muscles, less haemorrhoids, fissures, and prolapse symptoms.

We put one in every bathroom. 

Following on from yesterday's tip, it's time to brush up on your toilet technique.

If you hover, power pee, strain when you poop, wipe back to front, or suffer from haemorrhoids, you need this FREE guide.

It's packed full of easy to implement advice - changes you can make in seconds that will help you avoid trouble down the road.

Here's one to get you started - don't bring your phone to the bathroom.

Staying on the toilet longer than you need to can cause blood to pool in the area leading to swelling and potential haemorrhoids. 

Knowledge is power ;)

Today's tip will have a massive impact on your whole body health - not just your pelvic floor. 

This is one change that can lower your risk of cancer, diabetes, lower your blood pressure, and take loads of pressure off your pelvic floor muscles - helping improve incontinence and prolapse symptoms.

Include more fibre in your diet. 

We have tons to say on this topic, so keep your eyes out for tomorrow's tip too, but for now, try adding some flaxseed (affiliate link) to your diet. It's easy to add a spoonful to soups, smoothies, breads, cakes, and porridge.

Any dietary changes should be incorporated gradually so try this for a few days and see how you feel. 

We're still on the dietary bandwagon today. 

For your pelvic floor muscles to work well, we need a two pronged approach - we can eat food to help build strength in our muscles and take the pressure off them. 

Yesterday, we looked at a really simple way to take pressure off your pelvic floor muscles by adding more fibre in your diet. 

Today, we're encouraging you to include a portion of lean protein like eggs, fish, chicken, tofu, beans, lentils or natural yogurt in each meal. 

Protein is important for growth and repair so it's essential when you want to rehab your pelvic floor muscles or improve strength.

To make this super easy - we've got a great FREE recipe booklet with inspiration for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Simple and delicious.

Download your copy here. 

So now, you've got your breathing, your toilet technique, and your diet sorted, it's time to get your brain in on the action. 

Improving pelvic floor function is a process of bringing involuntary muscles under conscious control so we can strengthen them and recruit them when we need to (like when we cough, laugh, or sneeze).

You can build your mind/body connection by practising mindfulness, meditation, and focused exercise. 

To help you target your pelvic floor muscles as you do so, we've created this FREE meditation for Pelvic Floor Healing.

Practise along with us here. 

Christmas is about community so today's the day to get some support. 

When you're dealing with pelvic floor issues, you can feel very isolated and alone in your struggles, which can make navigating the ups and downs of living in a perfectly imperfect body harder to bear. 

Support can take all sorts of forms - from that friend who goes for a walk with you once a week, a partner you can share your lows with, all the way to a fully staffed medical team who can guide your recovery. 

But you can also support your pelvic floor muscles in more structural ways.

Pessaries are like scaffolding for the vaginal walls that are worn internally and can be used to improve incontinence and prolapse symptoms. There are tons of different ones available and they are very much not one size fits all so if this is something you're curious about, talk to a medical professional to discuss your options.

Or, for a less intimate option, you could try these pelvic floor compression shorts and leggings from SRC Health.

They have triple layer compression on the pelvic floor area and can improve both incontinence and prolapse symptoms and can make all the difference if you're looking to exercise with confidence or dance at a friend's wedding. 

We've organised a cheeky little Christmas discount for you too if you shop via this link and use the code SHEELA at checkout.

Merry Christmas :)

It's time to move your body!

Hopefully, you've been busy busting a groove at many a Christmas party this season and if so we applaud you 💃

Any kind of movement is good for your pelvic floor muscles - after all, these are some of the muscles we use every day just to get around and remain upright. 

Your pelvic floor muscles form the base of your core so they're a really important part of your ability to balance, walk, run, shimmy, side step - or any other move your might want to make. 

Regular movement is key - find something you like and commit to showing up regularly. This can be as simple as meeting a friend for a walk, enrolling in a swimming class, or signing up to pilates in the new year. Take it at your own pace and if you don't like it, try something else.

To help you keep moving over the busy festive season, we've devised a FREE 3 minute, pelvic floor essentials workout.

These are targeted, strengthening exercises that will improve tone and responsiveness in your pelvic floor muscles and best of all, you can get them done while you wait for the kettle to boil. 

Little and often really does make a difference. 

Exercise along with us here. 

If you've been struggling with your pelvic floor for a while, or your progress just isn't where you'd like it to be, then today's tip is for you.

Book yourself an individual assessment with a Women's Health Physiotherapist. 

Women's Health physiotherapists are specialist physios who can asses your unique circumstances and offer tailored advice. They can also refer you on to other practitioners if additional services are required. 

While strength training and pelvic floor health education can benefit everyone, this is the only way to get personalised advice for your individual situation. 

To find a Women's Health physiotherapist in your area, use the Find a Physio function on the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists' website. Under 'Common Conditions' select 'Women's Health' and you'll see plenty of options in your area. 

We recommend phoning ahead to discuss your expectations of the appointment and bring along your Symptom Tracker (see Day 1) to help you explain what's been going on and how it's affecting you.

For our final tip, we want you to learn the number 1. skill used to prevent and treat pelvic floor issues like incontinence, prolapse, and pain.

We want you to learn how to do a Kegel - correctly.

Now if this was simple, no one would be confused but just how, exactly, do you gain conscious control of muscles that act involuntarily a lot of the time and you can't see moving (unless you're really looking)?

The answer is a unique, holistic approach that helps you connect your breath, your brain, and your body, to the movement of your pelvic floor muscles. 

Until the Christmas trees come down on the 6th of January, we're offering a whopping 50% off our signature, Pelvic Floor Connection online course. 

The Pelvic Floor Connection contains over 80 minutes of detailed video tuition as well as a downloadable Progress Tracker to keep you motivated.

It's an on demand course you can complete in 3 days, 3 weeks or 3 months so it's easy to fit into your schedule - especially as you might have a little more free time in the post Christmas lull to reconnect with yourself and your needs.

You'll learn how to Kegel with confidence and improve the effectiveness of your Kegels by incorporating them into more global exercises to strengthen and tone your whole body.

We've even included a FREE bonus - Full Body Exercise routine that targets the pelvic floor muscles that you can use whenever you need a tone up.

But don't just take our word for it:

"This course is a brilliant starting point for any woman wanting to connect more effectively with their pelvic floor muscles, and improve their pelvic floor function". 

Sarah Bevan - Women's Health Physiotherapist 

Daire is a very empathetic presenter with great knowledge and communication skills.  I found it so accessible and learned much more than I expected to.

Mary - Wexford

I will laugh and cough more confidently in the future as a result of doing this course.  Thank you for that!

Geraldine - Galway

There is a massive 50% off from 24th December to 6th January - but hurry, this discount only available for the Christmas season. 

Merry Christmas!