How Women Can Better Understand and Connect with their Pelvic Floor with Alissa Alter

In this episode of The Spirit of an Athlete, host Amanda Smith sits down with Alissa Alter, a pelvic health specialist, for an open and insightful conversation about the importance of pelvic floor health. Alissa shares her journey, from experiencing a back injury to navigating the challenges of childbirth, which sparked her passion for advocating pelvic health awareness.

Alissa highlights the pelvic floor as a vital part of our core, influencing everything from movement and sex to overall well-being. She breaks down common misconceptions surrounding kegels and stresses the need for more open and accurate conversations on the topic.

Amanda and Alissa also explore how devices like PeriFit can help provide biofeedback, allowing women to understand better and connect with their pelvic floor. Alissa emphasizes the importance of developing a solid relationship with your body, gaining fluency in how your pelvic floor works, and integrating that awareness into larger movements for improved health.

The episode wraps up with a hopeful discussion on the younger generation’s curiosity and willingness to ask questions about their bodies, signaling a positive shift towards more informed and empowered health conversations.

In this Episode: 

• [00:00] Normalizing discussions about female anatomy, particularly vaginas and pelvic floor health.
• [05:15] The importance of body connection and comfort in personal and professional life.
• [10:30] Generational differences in attitudes towards body awareness and sexuality.
• [15:45] Personal experiences with pelvic floor issues, including challenges faced postpartum.
• [20:00] The healing process after physical or emotional trauma and the role of curiosity in recovery.
• [25:15] Understanding the vagina as a source of power and self-awareness.
• [30:30] Cultural shifts in societal attitudes towards female anatomy and health.
• [35:45] Practical tools and exercises for pelvic floor awareness and alignment.
• [40:00] The significance of intergenerational learning and knowledge exchange.
• [45:15] Encouraging open conversations about pelvic health among all genders.

Connect with Alissa Alter here: https://alissaalter.com/

Email: alissa@alissa-alter.com

Link to free workout:  https://classes.alissaalter.com

Go to https://alissaalter.com/ to find Alissa’s Podcast, Myth of Motherhood Podcast, and her book ‘UNSTUCK’

Watch Spirit of an Athlete on YouTube!

Check out more from Amanda:
Website: Body Whisper Healing
Instagram: @Amanda.G.Smith
Facebook: Body Whisper Healing
Pinterest: AmandaGSmithBWH
LinkedIn: Amanda (Ritchie) Smith

Take the Gutsy Chick Quiz to find out how your athletic mindset might be holding you back from healing your chronic health issue: https://gutsychickquiz.com

Transcript

0:19

Welcome back to another episode of spirit of an athlete. I'm your host, Amanda Smith, and on this episode I interviewed Alissa Altar, who is the Amy Poehler of vaginas. That's your warning. We are talking vagina's pretty much this entire episode. So if this is not for you, turn it off now. Alyssa is a Pilates instructor as well as a coach for women that are struggling with pelvic floor issues. If you don't know what your pelvic floor is in this episode, you're going to find out and figure out how to feel your pelvic floor, because we go in depth on feeling it in multiple different locations. Again, prepare yourself. We are trying to normalize vagina's. It's a part of our anatomy, and it's something that we need to be talking about because it is the seat of our power. I truly hope you enjoy this episode and enjoy hearing about vaginas. Alissa Altar thank you so much for being on spirit of an athlete with me. Okay, I'm gonna start us so that everybody knows where this episode is going. Where did this phrase come from? You are the Amy Poehler of vaginas. It was gifted to me by a friend, a friend of a friend who I was meeting, who was asking me about what I do, and I was telling her about it, and she was like, oh my God, you're so funny. And you know, I have a background in musical theater and comedy. Uh, and so we were talking about it and she was just like, oh my God, you're like the Amy Poehler of Vagina's. And I said, I'm going to use that. And I have, because it sort of clearly brings together my vibe and what I do. Right? Oh my God. Like, so our warmup for this episode, you already had me cracking up. And, um, everybody now knows we're going to be talking about vaginas. Yeah. How many different words have you had to use in your practice with your clients for this particular part of our anatomy? I, you know, people say people sometimes say other things, but I stick to the names. Sometimes I'll say veg. Okay. Now for JJ. Say no, I just say vagina. There are I mean, there's so there's I do like to make I mean, it just comes so naturally to make all the jokes. Like if we're talking about, like, you know, keeping your box square, then I'm like, heehee, your box, like, is that one square two? Like, I can't, you know, I can't help it and but I, I like to, um, I like to straight up keep the actual names for things. And if we're talking about vulva, we say vulva. And if we're talking about vagina, we say vagina. Anal sphincter versus urethral sphincter. Right. Vaginal opening versus higher inside. Right. Because a. Clitoris. Clitoris although I had I had a health teacher in high school. I'll never forget it. She said. Clitoris. And like we all couldn't get over it because we all said clitoris and none of us knew what to do. And we weren't actually going to ask, you know, but also like potato potato? Hahahahaha. Okay, that's fair right? Well, I I've heard it both ways. Now you've got me wondering like is it clitoris or is it glitter? I maybe it depends on the on the day, on the context. I don't know the. Country you're saying it from. Um, do you ever find it? Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Oh, sorry. I find that I do that because we all are a little bit relieved to simply normalize our anatomy because anyone who has female anatomy, um, or was socialized as a woman in our society or identifies as a woman, we've really been taught explicitly and implicitly to be disgusted and embarrassed. horrified. Secretive. Um, about, like, our undercarriage. And this is our anatomy. Like, this is, you know, uh, something I say all the time is like my left eyebrow because I started waxing my eyebrows when I was very young because I had a unibrow and my mom took pity on me. But then, you know, in the 90s and early aughts, it was very into have, like, the thinnest possible. So the left eyebrow goes bald, right? Like I have there's three hairs holding up the whole team. If one of them goes, the eyebrows are gone. And I know this so intimately, and this is like I'm self-conscious about my eyebrows. Like, this is this is my thing. Yep. That's perfectly socially acceptable for me to be this fluent and intimately understand the anatomy of my left Eyebrow. Oh, no. But why is it weird if I'm like, huh? My right labia is like, different from the left. Like, I think, like, do you guys have that or yours? Asymmetrical. Do we? You know, I didn't do anything. Is this just like how I was? And then maybe ask my doctor about it? Or if I notice something new because I actually know what my anatomy looks like, what my normal is. And I have a question about it, like, why? Why is that suddenly strange? Yeah, right. We can keep track of how many abs we can see in the definition in our delts and all of that. But what about, you know, I can really I can really lift the right side of my pelvic floor just as much as the left side. Like, why can't I brag about that? Oh my gosh. Because we haven't Normalized studying a living human woman. Unfortunately, that right has not become the norm yet. And that's the entire anatomy. It's not just this one specific area in our body, which is really unfortunate. And it keeps coming up on this podcast. I keep talking about this with women because we've had several people come on and talk about perimenopause, menopause, and these are things, again, that we they're not normalized. They're things that have been shoved under the rug. Nobody's talked about it for centuries, even though we've all been experiencing it for centuries. For I mean, for as long as we've been able to live this long. Exactly. It's been happening degrees. At this point. Right? Like, yeah, we didn't know about it when we didn't live past 30. Yeah. You know, but now we know. And yeah, I mean it's start they're starting the research now which isn't it. On average it takes about 17 years for then, like the research that happening that is happening today to be published. So we'll have all the information confirming the things we know. Right? It's getting faster, I think. I think one of the things to point out is the the information is coming faster and okay, great trick here now is how to decipher what is good information and what isn't. And that's really in the last five years, seven years, we've really had to get to that point where now it's like, okay, was that study done by a company who has a stake in the results? Or was that something that we can actually trust? And that's that's where we've gotten because information is coming so quickly now, which, yeah, I love that information is coming quicker. But you know, do your fact checking. Right. But we need to. Putting their money into. It. We need a little more um, discernment around, to, you know, the sources of that information. Exactly, exactly. So why are you a good source about the vagina? Hahahahahahaha. I love that question. Um, uh, I'm a good source for all things vagina. Well, not actually, not all things. I'm not going to look at yours. I'm not gonna touch yours. I can't write like I am, and I tell like I am not a doctor. I am not a physical therapist. I am not an ot my eyes. I am a professional dancer. I am a classically trained, fully certified Pilates instructor who has been moving and shaking since I could, um, and my my passion for the pelvic floor and fascination with it and sort of the my need to share that this is like our hidden secret started when I was in the Broadway production. It's literally our hidden secret. It's a hidden. Secret. But I have a vagina. Dammit! No! Sorry, sorry. It's our hidden power source. Uh, that were under utilizing when I was in the Broadway production of Guys and Dolls. And I hurt my back, and I was in P.T. with, you know, the Broadway Petes who are used to working with professional dancers because also, like an injury, I'm now out of work, so the stakes are high and this is my whole identity. This is everything. And I had already been teaching for a long time when this happened. And I said to my PT, you know, I know that it's my back, but I think the issue is my pelvis. I think that there's something from the choreography and from, you know, a lifetime of dancing that has that. It's an imbalance in my pelvis that sort of left me susceptible for this to show up. And she was like, that's exactly what's going on. And I didn't know that she was finishing up her, like additional certifications to become a pelvic health physical therapist. And she was like, you're gonna lose your mind, Elissa. Like, you think like you think you. Because I was like, it's all comes back to the pelvis. I had, like, really been focusing on. And with my clients, they'd come with all sorts of different injuries. And I was like, when we address this, everything comes together literally. It was like, wait till you learn about the pelvic floor. And that's when it started. And really, I then did a certification with a yoga instructor who does yoga for pelvic floor. And there isn't like I couldn't do like the programs that exist for pelvic floor physical therapists, like I don't have access to because I'm not a Pete. That's fine. So I instead put things together. I did a lot of workshops in New York City with hospital for Special Surgeries. I worked with that physical therapist that I was working with. She started referring other patients to me to work with and collaborating on those cases, um, and doing my own, just like heavy nerding out on the anatomy of the pelvic floor, things about how muscles work that I already know. These are voluntary skeletal muscles, just like your bi's and tris. Um, and then how the nervous system fits into all of this. So incorporating all of that, I fully rehabilitated my back injury, went on to continue my professional dance career like a boss. Like it didn't. It didn't inhibit me dancing, jumping, turning, being thrown around in three inch heels, like doing all of it. And then. So I then started teaching pelvic health Pilates, right, for pelvic health. And then I had my first child. Yep. And I was like, I'm so ready for this. Like, I got this. And I had helped so many pregnant women do this. And then I had what I call a rectal vaginal birth. So my baby came out of both of my vagina and my rectum because I had a fourth degree tear that went all the way through. That is not because I failed at anything. Like lots of things happen in childbirth, including babies with gigantic heads and wide shoulders, right? So this happened. And through my rehabilitating that injury. Right. Because it's like a it's a sports injury. Yes. And having to advocate for myself because in lots of areas I was met with this happens you're everyone else is fine, you're fine. And I was like I am not fine. Like, I'm an elite athlete like you don't, I don't. I need more than just being able to run to the bathroom and go to the bathroom on my own terms, like I need that. But also I'm getting back on a trampoline. I don't run, but I want to be able to run if I want to, but I don't want to. So I'm not going to, but I want. But just in case you're chased by a bear. I don't know. You're right. Um, and through that, I. I didn't know I could nerd out harder about the pelvic floor and how. Not just for, like, gynecological reasons, but this is part of our core. Um, and you're not going to have a fully functioning, strong core if you completely ignore one piece of the puzzle. Yes. And that applies to, you know, going to the bathroom only when you want to. It applies to having like the best sex that you want to have, whatever kind that is. But it also applies to doing handstands, doing handstand push ups, doing. If you're a gymnast and want to like get a triple backflip. I don't like if you're a dancer and want to be doing 4 or 5 pirouettes instead of two, like if you need to jump higher, perform better in any arena, you need your full core helping you. But because people are afraid to say vagina, we don't get to have that right. But not anymore. Not in my house. Not while I'm around. Heck yes. Uh. That was a long answer. That one. I love your answer that I. I love that you've not only experienced it from an injury perspective as an athlete, but also from the mom perspective, because that definitely changes things. And then the next phase is perimenopause and menopause, because you're going to learn even more then that's I'm. Already nerding out about it because I like to be prepared before I go in. That's how my anxiety works. That's. Yeah. Same, same. Yes. Well, and I think a lot of it is also, you know, as you were um, reflecting that back, like if you're an athlete and get injured, it is you already start spiraling to this is the beginning of the end, right? This is the end of my career. Career or the game potential or potential. Yes. Right. Yes. And the same thing happens when you have kids. You're like, well, I guess I don't get to not pee my pants anymore. Forever. Right? Like that and not pee my pants. I think that's probably the one that's like trampoline is one thing, but like laughing, coughing and sneezing. Being caught off guard. Yes. Like that. Yeah. Because you can't prepare. But but the thing is, muscles change, they adapt. They are resilient just like we are. And if you have this thought of like, I guess, I guess it's over, well then it is because you're not going to move toward it in the same way as like, well, this is going to take a lot of work. Like, let's just. Figure this out. That's always the assumption is not only is it going to take a lot of work, but it's going to be uncomfortable, like at that part of my body. I don't want to be uncomfortable. Right? Yes. And and then on top of it, the uncomfortability of talking about it. Huh? Exposing yourself in that area of your body, and I love that we started with that. I love that that we're normalizing it. And that's the goal here. Women. Let's normalize talking about our vaginas in in yoga. So I'm a yoga instructor. And in yoga, it's one of the main things that I focus on in my sessions with the women, but also the men. Yes, they have a pelvic floor too. It doesn't have to be there in the middle of it. Most of theirs is really tight. Yes. Oh my gosh. Yes. How many times have you seen a man sit on the floor and and try to do the butterfly with their knees falling open, and they can't do it. That's their pelvic floor, also their hamstrings and potentially their hips. And how the structure is there. Yeah. One of the things you pointed out and I want to highlight this is that this is part of our core. Mhm. When you think about the bones. Just the bones that make up your pelvis. They're huge. And then you think about the muscles that are around this area. Your glutes are the biggest muscle in your body. So now we've we're contending with large bones, large muscles, the largest muscles on our body. Not the largest bones on our body, but they're close to it. Our femurs are the largest bones in our body. And then you've got all of these intricate muscles in this area that nobody's naming, touching or connecting with when they're working out or even just sitting, moving. And now I'm inviting everyone in the audience to relax your pelvic floor. So if you don't know how to do that Kegel first and then relax. And men, yes, you can do a Kegel to squeeze your butthole. That's that's the start of it for you and relax because we're talking about it. so we might as well connect with it and have a relationship with it, right? Yeah. Well and there's you know there's a lot of confusion around Giggling oh gosh. And the point that you made is like you know a lot of people with everybody's got the best of intentions. But again it's because we're not talking about this explicitly or specifically that we don't know what to do because no one's going to say it. Um, but people will squeeze their glutes, their butt cheeks or butt cheeks. Ki goals aren't even your butthole. Kegels are the urethral urethral sphincter. Like you're stopping the flow of urine, but don't use stopping peeing as your exercise. Like if you want to check if you know how to access these muscles, you can be peeing and then stop it. And then keep peeing. And then don't do that anymore because you don't want to, like, confuse your brain and your bladder and how they communicate with each other. Because we want to. We want to pee, right? Um, but, you know, after my tear, you know, the common thing would be do kegels. And my question was, how is working my urethral sphincter going to help my two hole? Right. How is that going to help my anal sphincter tour? She needs help. So how is work in my pee hole going to help my b hole? I need to work on my b hole. But that's not actually a kegel because Kegels are for the urinary sphincter. But it's another pelvic floor exercise. And you might be hearing us talking about this, and we know this. You and I know this, but maybe the you listening don't know this yet that like, you can articulate these muscles because there's like a whole bunch of muscles and there's different layers. And you could do, you could think of lifting the right side of your butthole, and then the left side of your butthole, and the right side of your pee hole, and the left side of your pee hole, and the right side of your v hole, and the left side of your v hole. And for the men listening, think about your energetic vagina since you don't have a literal vagina. And let's harness that vagina energy even when you don't have one. Ah, that's why like when I, when I, when it's when it comes to talking to men about it. Like my access point is going to be the butthole because. Yes. Because that's the closest thing that they, they've already figured out how to handle. Whereas women it's it's interesting to to like I immediately am thinking of that one woman who does the egg with like she dangles weights from the egg that she holds and and I'm just like, wow. But also Perry fit pops into my my mind. Have you used a Perry fit? No. Oh my gosh. It's a, um. It looks like a vibrator, right? Yeah. No. And it gives you that biofeedback of how you're contracting and how you're releasing and. How much, how much strength you have. And it really teaches you the subtleties. And I think that's something for our listeners to hear, is how subtle it is to move these muscles. It doesn't have to be a big, grand gesture. It's not like a bicep curl. It's right. It's super subtle and and it should be. And I'll also say absolutely. And I think that those devices are a wonderful tool. Yes. To get to know that subtlety and create that sense memory. And it doesn't end there, then the goal is to do that on your own, without the device like to be to develop that fluency in the sensation in your body to not be dependent on an external thing, but to feel it in your own body and recreate that, because that's then really, you can take that with you into the weightlifting session and make those heavy weights that you're doing bicep curls and presses with. But can those come from your vagina? Like, can you integrate your pelvic floor and write the the foundation of your core into those bigger movements? But really knowing that you're utilizing them by learning about those more subtle sensations? Yes. Yes. And I promise you, you will. Whatever your goal is, you will get there faster if it is to lift, heavier, if it is to, you know. Have a better sex life. I mean, the orgasms. Have a more intimate connection with yourself, I. Know, and to have the confidence and trust in your own body to be able to show up presently when you are, you know, doing sexy things with a partner or by yourself, right? I mean, how many of us it's the answer is so many. I'm not going to say all because I don't know everybody and I haven't heard from them all. But like when you first start having sexual experiences, it's like you kind of outsources to your partner that they'll know what to. Do or your friends if you're willing to, to go there. Right. Yeah. But like, it's you know, we can really if we aren't comfortable with our own body, we're not showing up fully. Yeah. Both both in intimate settings like that are sexual. But also even just like at work in your life, in your other relationships, if you're so disconnected from your body, you're showing up in this disconnected, sort of fragmented way, um, where, like, we don't have which we've been taught to do, but, like, what if we did it different? I think we're seeing that in the younger generations. And I'm not saying because they're. Not because they're more sexual, but they're, they're they seem to be more willing to ask questions than any generation before because they have access to all the information now it's at their fingertips on a smartphone, and they're not afraid to actually start asking really good questions. Awesome. I know I'm here for it, but they. Would have they would have asked the teacher if it's clitoris or clitoris. Exactly. They would do it. Yes, I wouldn't, I didn't. That version of me now. Yes. Then no, I. Would have asked in private. I would have because my, my curiosity would have just like, I can't I can't walk away from this. I need to know. And I would have asked after the class, and I'm sure a couple of friends probably would have followed me up and been like, okay, we want to know too. But secretly, you know, that was that was our generation. That was that was how how we approached it. I just it's it fascinates me that, you know, my generation. So I'm, I'm what do we call me? I am xenial slash millennial. What are we calling that now? The xenial is the xenial. Yes. So right at the cusp of millennial. I thought that made like made me an elder millennial. That's the other way. So yes, I'm an elder millennial. Yeah. Same. Same Zs. Exactly. So we had access to internet, but not the whole time of our childhood. That's really what it was. Not the internet as it is now. Oh no no no, I remember dos. I remember having a black screen with green print. I remember having the original apples. Yes. Oregon. Oregon trail being, like, the most exciting revolutionary thing. Fifth grade man. Fifth grade. It was a great time. It was. But the the the simple fact that this generation needs more information. And I am grateful for people like you who are willing to share it and to bring light to it. So thank you. You're welcome. And thank you. For doing. What I can with what I got. All right. Amy Poehler of vaginas. Alyssa. That's me. Where do we find you on the interwebs? On the interwebs. You can check out my website, Alissa Altar dot com. Alyssa. Um, and on Instagram at Alissa Altar and on both in both places. You can download a free workout titled Where is Your Vagina Pointing? Because I also find that knowing what direction she's facing are gives us so much information about your physical alignment and where your body is, and how your pieces and parts relate to each other, how they're working together, or maybe not working together right now yet. Mhm. Uh, and you know, if we get a little woo for a moment, which I mean we could also get very woo. Oh yes. Lining up our energy centers, lining up the chakra system. So we're allowing both our physical body and our energetic body to function the way it's intended for all of the things that need to flow, to flow without obstruction. And when we do that, I mean, we're unstoppable. Right. So you can download that free 40 minute workout on my website and in the link in my bio on my Instagram. I am going to grab it and play with it because I always love these kinds of things. Learning from other people who teach this kind of stuff is juicy to me, because there is power in this place. There is power in this part of our body energetically, but also when we can stick a mirror in front of it and look at it and label all of the things and know what ours looks like and feels like, and really having an intimate relationship with it. And I mean that double entendre right there. In every way. All of the ways. Exactly. Then, then we carry power. And as we go into our our wisdom years, our menopausal, post-menopausal years, now we can carry the torch for the younger generations secretly. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to keep recording because, uh, I like my veil. No, let's cut it there. But she might throw this in, because when when you talked about the fact that that you tour. Mhm. I also tore I tore crosswise. And I side. Side to side. Yes. Both split and it was like three stitches on one side, six stitches on the other side. And uh, my daughter went into the NICU. So I was on adrenaline for the next four days. Just four days, thankfully, but adrenaline for those four days. And then we went home and coming down from, from going home, getting out of bed. I pulled my pelvic floor. I think it was six weeks postpartum. So we were in the hospital for half a week and then home. And I was well cared for, well nurtured. But it wasn't until I met my strength and conditioning coach, he helped me understand how to connect with the nervous system and how to heal that those two scars with vibration. So, I mean, anybody who has a vibrator has access to this. Yeah, no, because I mean that like electrical signal and stimulation and input from there to your brain helps to reestablish, like a healthy communication system. Yeah. Which after an injury, a trauma to the area, your body starts guarding in all sorts of ways through muscular. You know, everyone thinks that like they have a loose vagina after giving birth, but really after, if you sprain your ankle, right, you've overstretched a ligament you don't end up with like a loose, floppy ankle. It's super tight and you can't move it because your body's like, that was terrifying. We're not going to let that happen again. Right. So we actually have a result. The result is excess tension which inhibits our movement which also it constantly is reinforcing. I'm going to make it hurt when you try to move this because I'm scared I'm going to get injured again, and you need that for a little bit. But that's like that's where I think a lot of people start. Oh, now I can't do that. You know, that's where they start, where they stop. Yeah I don't do that anymore. But really where the healing happens and it is possible I've done it. Same. You've done it. If you're an athlete who's really preferred. You've done it to, you know this, that the real healing happens when you start. You can't blast through the pain and pretend it's not there, but you start like massaging the edges. You get there and you say, I'm not going to go any I hear you, I'm not going to go any further today, but maybe just like a smidge. We're going to try a smidge and that's it. That's it. That's where I'm stopping. And then we're backing off and you play with that and you start that communication. And then you rebuild safe, healthy, functional movement patterns that not only rehabilitate that injury but prevent all of the other injuries you're going to get from the weird compensations your body made up because it was terrified. And we can't make good, really good long term, sustainable decisions in our bodies or like in our life from a place of terror. Right? You make survival decisions, which we're grateful for, but that's not meant to be the forever thing. And we have to work through that. And it can be. It's uncomfortable. It shouldn't be. Painful, but it's uncomfortable. I feel like what what's happening with women who are getting to perimenopause and menopause, all of those traumas have built over and over and over again because they've held tension and held tension. It's they need more instruction on how to relax things than they do on how to do a Kegel. Well, because now you've had X number of years of reinforcing this compensatory habit and system and way of being. And that's okay. That came into play. Like because then people are like feel guilt, you know, can have feelings. That's okay. Your body did a great job trying to protect you. Thank you body. And you know what? It's not working anymore. Yeah. We just we're gonna just we're gonna update the system. We're gonna try some new things, and we're going to do together. Thank you again. You're brilliant, you're brilliant. And you know it's not working either, right. Like body, you know, we both know. So we're going to do this and we're going to do it together. And we're going to do something different and make some magic happen. Mhm mhm. We're going to ask ourselves every day sometimes multiple times a day. Right. Where is my vagina pointing. Where is my eye. You will learn about in the class you can download. And once you know you won't not know. You can't not know. You can't. Not know. Well. And when we started you said, you know, how's how's the box. And all I kept thinking was, it's not a box, it's a diamond. It's a diamond. Right. Well, it's. Got four corners, but that's. Like. But a diamond is like, kind of like a box on it, you know? I mean, not exactly. Exactly, no, it's a diamond, but just that colloquial term for like. Yes. Calling your calling your vagina. Vagina your box. But yeah, I mean, your vagina itself is like cylindrical, more cylindrical than anything, like sort of a flat. Anyway, you're eight. Actually, an infinity loop is how I always picture it. Is that infinity loop happening? Oh that's beautiful. Yeah, yeah. Because it holds infinite power. It does, it does. It really does. It's the seat of manifestation. It's our seat of our control, of our power. It's our seat of literally our seat. Yes. And our grounding. Yes. Which keeps security, our safety, our foundation. It's all of this great stuff. And this is, you know, people have not wanted us to have access to this. No. God, no, but. We're going to do it anyway. Yes we are. We're going to carry the. Torch for the the next generations. It was it's interesting that you bring up that it's, uh, you know, it's the safety piece. It's, you know, Maslow's hierarchy, the bottom is food, water, shelter. And then right above that is safety. And I just talked to Stasia Rivera on on an episode, and she said that the Gen Z and Gen Alphas have flipped the Maslow hierarchy. Ah, no. What? Yeah. My. I'm still wrapping my head around this. Yeah. So if you think, like, you know, it's it's a triangle. Like we're talking about vagina's just another. One of those. Things. If you flip it now, safety is still in the middle. But it's it's less about safety for them. It's less about food, water, shelter. Because I feel like they've already got those things covered because we've evolved so much. But holy crap. Yeah. That's like mind blowing. Yeah, willpower is awesome. What they care. About. Yes. Right. Because they have so much access to information and they have to they have to have better ways of organizing. It is really what it boils down to. Whereas we're all being told as adults that we all have ADHD because we're trying to organize all of that information, because we didn't do that when we were kids. We had the Encyclopedia Britannica in book form. We did? Yes. You look that shit up. You didn't just go to the internet and be like, what is the color blue made from? Yeah. You looked it up in the encyclopedia. And that's, I mean. Like, it's hard to think about. And, you know, people land wherever they land, but it's like, this is what is supposed to happen. Like we're supposed to evolve like this next. These generations have so much to teach us, and we have things to teach them to. Yes. You know, but that but it's reciprocal. Where I also think we're one of the first generations to look at our kids and kids, you know, younger people in general, and look at it that way rather than know, do what I do, what I. Do, what. I. Say, right, right. Right. Yes. Or I. I lead you silently. That was that's. You know, if we go beyond the boomers. Yeah. They were silent leaders and they just expected everybody to kowtow. Yeah. So. Yes. Oh, man. Yes. Melissa thank you. Again. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening to spirit of an athlete podcast. If you're struggling with your own gut issues and want more direction, you can get an initial body scan from Amanda at Body Whisper Healing Comm. In 20 minutes, you can find out what's wrong, get clarity, map the path forward. You get on track to get back in your game. If this episode hits the spot, please let us know by rating, reviewing, and sharing it with a friend. Subscribe now to hear more inspiring stories from other female college athletes who overcame their health issues. Want more Amanda? Get inspired by finding more at Body Whisper healing.com.