Kendra Fitzgerald
3 min
Updated: Jul 13, 2023
If you’ve been around us long enough, you know we encourage new moms to move as soon as possible after giving birth.
But what do you do??
We have you covered. Check out these five essential moves to help you realign and recenter after giving birth.
1- Productive Rest – The most productive rest is with electronics off, your body still and your breath full. When you prioritize rest, your body has more energy and you’ll recover faster from any exercise you do get.
* Yoga move to try: Legs up the wall. For extra grounding, add an eye pillow and warm blanket.
2 – Pelvic Floor & Core – The secret doorway to whittling down your waist is the pelvic floor. Pregnancy puts stress on the pelvic floor and core. So starting here is essential to doing all other exercise safely.
* Yoga move to try: Supported bridge on a block, with added Mula bandha (pelvic floor lift) and Ujjayi breath (hugging navel AND ribs to spine on the exhale to activate slimming “corset” muscles).
3 – Legs for Stamina – With your glutes being the biggest muscles in your body, your legs are your superpower. When they are strong, the rest of your body feels powerful.
* Yoga move to try: Warrior II on each leg with your gaze steady.
4 – Strong Back – The effects of rounding over baby, holding that heavy car seat and generally trying to do everything one-handed takes a toll on your upper body. Inversions are the single best kind of move to turn things around.
* Yoga move to try: Downward facing dog with knees bent, hips reaching up and back, and ribs drawing down toward the pelvis.
5 – Open Your Heart – Finally, after caring for yourself in the first four moves, your body and heart are ready to open. Melt into loving yourself as a fit, vibrant mom.
* Yoga move to try: Baby cobra or upward dog with soft elbows.
Resources & Links
Looking for support to stay active during your pregnancy or start your postpartum recovery? Here are some options to get you started on a great path forward:
1) Take the Pelvic Floor & Core Strength Quiz. After taking the quiz, you'll get a score and based on your results, guidance on what steps to take to move you forward in your recovery.
2) Check out our podcast listening guides: Download the Pregnancy Listening Guide or Postpartum Listening Guide.
3) If you're pregnant, want to be way more active than you have been, AND want connection with other mothers, but don't know where to start…join the Expecting to Flourish™ Membership - a mom-driven and expert-guided virtual space empowering moms with a new approach to prenatal fitness and birth prep that actually prepares you for the physical and emotional hurdles of motherhood.
If you’re postpartum and ready to get moving, need to heal your body but you don’t know where to start…join us for Postpartum Repair & Restore LIVE, a science-backed and fun-stacked, Diastasis and Pelvic Floor Strength program. Start healing your diastasis and eliminating leaking in 8 weeks or less with our guidance.
4) Do you prefer working one-on-one, or have a high risk pregnancy, a severe diastasis or leaking that won’t quit? You might be a candidate to work with us privately. To find out, take this quick self assessment! If you qualify, you'll be invited to schedule a complementary Postpartum Strategy Session with us where we'll take a good look at what's not working in your repair process, and come up with a great plan just for you.