What was that embarrassing noise?
Some women talk about it happening during a yoga class. Other women talk about it happening during sex. It’s vaginal wind – or passing wind from the vagina. Whenever it happens, it can be pretty embarrassing. It almost always happens with a sudden change in position. Air that has been able to get into the vagina suddenly gets released due to a change in the pressure within the pelvis.
While some women giggle about what has been called ‘’fanny farts’’ or “queefing”, many women are mortified by it. Some women tell me that they can’t go to yoga at certain times of their menstrual cycle for fear of this happening. Others dread the possibility of this happening during sex, and feel embarrassed even when with a long-time partner.
Vaginal wind is due to air being suddenly expelled from the vagina.
Generally, this only happens if there is ‘’low tone’’ – that is, too much flexibility – in the tissue of the vagina and the vaginal entrance. It is very common in the months after childbirth, before the vagina has had a chance to ‘’tighten up’’ a bit. With some women, it can persist permanently after childbirth. Some women who have never had children experience it too.
The most important solution to it is this: work on your pelvic floor!
Tightening the muscles of the pelvic floor can reduce or eliminate this embarrassing tendency. See the Blog Posts on ‘’Top Ten Pelvic Floor Mistakes’’ to make sure you are doing yours right!
But there is one more nifty trick that works for vaginal wind.
You can read about it on one of my blog posts Could Queefing Be A Sign of Something More?.