Hemorrhoids? Learn to smile with your anus in 8 steps.
by Benita Cantieni
Do you also suffer from hemorrhoids, a common condition? Here’s a short exercise program that will do more for you than any ointments, creams, or suppositories—yes, even more than surgery. The exercises work quickly and provide lasting relief. And they’re guaranteed to be unlike anything you’ve ever tried before.
Hemorrhoids: We All Have Them
Hemorrhoids—Germany’s largest tabloid has declared them the new “No. 1 widespread ailment,” affecting 80% of all adult men worldwide. Local newspapers are following suit. TV, online portals, and magazines are full of ads for ointments and suppositories designed to relieve hemorrhoid symptoms.
My guess is that “hemorrhoids as a widespread ailment” is a result of spending so much time sitting since the pandemic began and working from home.
Targeted training of the essential pelvic floor muscles provides quick, lasting relief—without chemicals. Please don’t laugh: Effective training of the levator ani muscle can be done perfectly well while sitting. At the same time, you’ll learn how to sit in a way that keeps you fit.
We all havehemorrhoids. They are what are known as vascular cushions or erectile tissues at the opening of the intestine, right next to the anus. If the hemorrhoids are healthy, we notice them at most when we’re on the toilet; in the best-case scenario, they gently accompany the stool as it passes through the anus.
These healthy hemorrhoids can become pathologically enlarged; when this happens, they protrude through the anus and cause discomfort. The cause of these protrusions and enlargements can be chronic constipation or other medical conditions. In the vast majority of cases, however, they are self-induced: due to posture
The levator ani is a cup-shaped structure with a stalk. It is composed of two sets of five muscles, arranged symmetrically in each half of the pelvis. Five muscles maintain order in the right half of the pelvis, and five in the left.
The bony pelvis with the “levator ani” muscle . It consists of ten muscles and keeps the hemorrhoids healthy.
The Levator Ani: Your Friend
These 10 muscles share the stalk or neck. The rectum—that is, the lower part of the large intestine—is located within this neck. If this neck, along with the muscular shell, stands upright and undisturbed in the pelvis, the rectum and levator ani are functioning well. You’ll learn how this posture works in a moment.
Anyone who sits unconsciously—with a tilted pelvis, a rounded back, and a limp, slumped posture—creates enormous pressure in the body from top to bottom. In this position, the levator ani muscle group is tilted, its contents are pressed down toward the pelvic floor, and the bowel slips out of place.
The constant pressure on the rectum and the anal sphincter muscles strains the healthy hemorrhoids; they become overloaded, are pushed through the anus, and cause pain, burning, and bleeding there. Most people affected react to the pressure and discomfort by applying even more pressure—through counterpressure. The anus contracts excessively. The hemorrhoids get worse.
CANTIENICA® body in evolution changes posture and thereby relieves the pelvis, intestines, rectum, pelvic floor, anus, and thus the hemorrhoids of pressure and tension.
I know men who said after just the first lesson, “The pressure is already gone.” A week of training, combined with proper sitting posture before, during, and after workouts, brings immediate relief and—with a little discipline—healing. After three weeks, both men and women report: “My hemorrhoids are gone!”
Ready to leave this common ailment to others and heal your hemorrhoids while keeping them healthy?
Ten minutes of targeted exercise each day until the symptoms go away. After that, it’s enough to treat the hemorrhoids three times a week with this short routine.
And every now and then, smile with your anus …
The Intestine in Pink in the diaphragm (in red), along with the sacrum, coccyx, and anal sphincter muscles. When posture is good, these structures work well together.
Sitting Correctly from a Biomechanical Perspective
Sit on a stool or chair, right at the very front edge. Do not lean back. Bend your legs so that your hip sockets are above the backs of your knees. Keep your feet hip-width apart and in a slight V-shape. This is important: in the typical “manspreading” position, you can’t reach your anus, leaving your hemorrhoids unprotected.
Place the backs of your hands on your thighs.
Pull your back out of your pants: Imagine your sacrum and pull it deeper into your body. Now the sacrum is the master vertebra. Pull it upward, toward your head—along with all the other vertebrae.
This is the most important thing you can do to deal with those painful lumps on your butt: stand up straight. Keep your spine as long as possible. This puts your ligaments, tendons, fascia, and muscles in a wonderful state of tension and gentle stretch, allowing them to function at their best.
The strong longitudinal ligaments on the inside of the spine, on the sides of the vertebrae, and on the back.
Your spine is equipped with a massive ligamentous system—commonly referred to as longitudinal ligaments—which serve as the main supports for your torso.
When you align yourself with these longitudinal ligaments, you simultaneously activate over 100 small muscles that support, stabilize, and protect the spine vertically, horizontally, and diagonally.
Sitting properly exercises the body: posture, flexibility, and strength. Keeping your pelvis aligned also helps keep hemorrhoids at bay.
The ischial tuberosities are the gateway to the pelvic floor
The ischial tuberosities are the two bones on which you sit when you are sitting upright.
When you sit up straight like this, you’ll feel your ischial tuberosities through the seat of your pants. They provide direct access to your pelvic floor, which supports your body and relieves pressure on the anus.
Now you’ll need a little imagination. Don’t get impatient just yet—I promise you, you’re already right in the middle of the exercise: Imagine little clouds under your heels and draw those clouds up through your heels and legs. That’s all.
Do you immediately feel your sit bones and pelvic bones moving? Bravo.
You don’t feel anything? Okay. What are your glutes doing? Tense? Let go. Let go completely.
Are your front thigh muscles tense? Let go. Let go completely.
Set up again, play around with your foot position a bit. Spread your toes a little wider, bring your heels a little closer together, breathe in the clouds, and look for that chain reaction.
Yeah, I know. This has nothing to do with what you learn at the gym or in Pilates.
Once you’ve got the hang of it: Tighten both sitting bones at the same time ten times. Then twenty times, alternating right, left, right, left. Do this as fast as you can—that way, you won’t have time to overdo it.
Discover the Organ Lifter
When the ischial tuberosities are drawn toward each other in a pulsating motion, the lower edge of the pelvis narrows. At the top, the pelvis widens. The magic formula for a healthy pelvic floor and a literally carefree bowel.
The illustration shows what happens when the ischial tuberosities are brought together: The pelvis becomes narrower at the bottom and wider at the top. The levator ani muscle automatically has to adapt. As a result of the change in bone position, it is pulled higher, like a trapeze, and the widening of the pelvis causes it to tense up more.
This directly relieves pressure on the rectum, which lies within the neck of the levator ani muscle. If you adopt this sitting posture in your daily life and make it a habit, pathological hemorrhoids will be relieved and will gradually subside.
Would you like a little more?
Relieve Pressure on the Anus
Place your hands loosely on top of each other, as if you were holding a precious liquid. Keep your upper arms relaxed; let them hang close to your body. Imagine that your hands are your levator ani—or, from now on, your organ lifter. Lift this “hand bowl” higher, and gently rock your hands back and forth.
As you engage this tension and allow it to happen—provided you can feel it—notice how your “organ lifter” follows your hands, just as the ischial tuberosities follow the levator ani.
Pull the “hand bowl” higher in front of your abdomen; let the “organ lifter” rise higher. Imagine the neck of the “organ lifter” growing along with it.
Focus your attention on your anus: Do you feel the relief? Yes?
Great. Don’t say to yourself, “But that can’t be right.” It is.
You’ll only need the hand support during your first attempt.
Gently place the palms of your hands together in front of your lower abdomen. Imagine that this is your levator ani muscle. Slowly and deliberately lift this “stand-in” pelvic floor higher.
The levator ani will follow.
Supporting the Rectum
Keep your attention focused on your anus. Imagine the three rings of muscle that form your anus.
The anus consists of three rings of muscle. These rings of muscle can be exercised—just like any other muscle.
These are magical rings that can close, hold, and open as your body needs them to at any given moment. Hemorrhoids also develop because too much emphasis is placed on closing—since overactive gluteal muscles cause the anal rings to become overstretched.
Imagine that you can rotate the outermost anal ring to the left, the middle anal ring to the right, and the third ring to the left.
Turn the first ring to the right, the middle one to the left, and the inner one to the right. Your anus likes symmetry, too.
Repeat as often as you like.
Build an anal tower
Do you like this ring exercise? Keep going. Move the bottom ring to the left, the second to the right, the third to the left, a fourth to the right, a fifth to the left—and so on.
An IntroductionHelp with building your Anusring Tower. Of course, you can choose the colors yourself.
An anal lift like this keeps the actual anal muscles supple and strong. The neck of the anal lifter extends and tapers upward into the body.
This exercise directly benefits the rectum, that is, the lower part of the large intestine. It also stretches the rectum, making it longer and narrower, while simultaneously stretching and strengthening it.
This new length is needed for all the hemorrhoids. The tissue that had been pushed out is gently pulled back and stretched, and blood congestion is relieved.
It can’t be that easy, can it? It really is that easy. Give it a try.
Make Your Anus Smile
Place the outer sides of your hands in the grooves, push the grooves backward toward the back edge of the stool. Your torso should be stretched out and straight, facing forward.
For Women Of course, these exercises work, too. I just wanted to give the men a special gift for a change.
Imagine that your newly discovered anus can smile backward.
Squeeze your sit bones together, release, squeeze, release. If your upper body lowers slightly as you squeeze and rises again as you release—like a hinged lid—then you’re doing it perfectly. Twelve times.
On the thirteenth repetition, stand up from the stool, making sure your knees stay over your heels. Sit back down, with a smiling anus and without a thud.
Can’t do it? Practice. Keep at it. Until sitting down and standing up from a stool or chair becomes anus-friendly posture training. A good habit you’ll love.
Place the stool against a wall. Stand in front of the stool with your calves touching it. Imagine clouds beneath the soles of your feet. Breathe in the clouds. Mentally separate your lower legs from your feet. Stretch your thighs away from your lower legs. This casually relieves pressure from your ankles and knees.
Stretch your pelvis away from your thighs. Stretch your chest away from your pelvis. Think of it like a hot-air balloon: your pelvis is the basket, your chest is the balloon. Stretch your head toward the ceiling as if suspended by a golden thread.
Remember this sitting posture. It’s also your ticket to a perfect bowel movement: sit down, tense your muscles, and lean forward. This gives your bowels the ideal slide and makes going to the bathroom a smooth and pleasant experience.
Anus-Friendly Habits in Everyday Life
Let your arms hang down; imagine long bones that are simply allowed to hang there. For three breaths.
Bend your palms sharply, like children playing penguin. Turn your fingers slightly toward each other, letting your elbows point relaxed to the sides. Now stretch the bases of your palms toward the floor. The hot air balloon gains lift; you grow to your full height. Repeat a few times and gradually incorporate all the elements you’ve learned: keep your sit bones lifted, contract them ever so slightly, and keep your glutes and hip muscles relaxed.
Gently contract and relax your perineum and anus—quickly and lightly—as often as it takes until it becomes second nature. Pull up and rotate the anal sphincter muscles. If you feel like it, try building the “anal tower.”
Starting today, walk like this: with your feet spread wide at the heels, lightly, with your bones stretched out. Take steps that lift off the ground.
As below, so above: In a stretched body, the spine, diaphragm, and levator ani work together perfectly, like a hot-air balloon.
A smiling anus. What else…
Make sure your anus is playfully smiling backward even while walking and jogging. This allows your ischial tuberosities to pulsate, keeps your pelvic bones mobile, and supports your engagement and movement. The actual, true pelvic floor trains itself automatically with every step—and hemorrhoids? What hemorrhoids?
Was there something?
