How to Get Back to Yoga After Baby (Episode #17)
We often hear from postpartum moms that their yoga practice just doesn’t feel the same after having a baby.
Maybe they’re not feeling confident. Maybe the yoga practice they’re doing feels too fast, too long, or too exhausting. Maybe it’s that their own bodies feel foreign to them. Or maybe it’s that yoga just isn’t feeling as enjoyable.
In today’s episode we’re digging into all of that and more, focusing on the 6 most-asked questions about getting back into yoga after having a baby, and how to adjust your practice so that it works for where you are right now.
Here, we also talk about the unexpected benefits of yoga, from instilling confidence to unlocking ENERGY stored up in our bodies – energy you might not have even known you had as a new mom!
In this episode you’ll hear about:
The 6 most-asked questions about getting back to yoga after having a baby
How yoga can allow us to unlock NEW ENERGY stored in our bodies and actually help regulate the body’s natural sleep patterns
What postures to NOT do in postpartum, plus the best (and worst) yoga poses if you’re breastfeeding
The importance of breath and gentle movement in restarting your practice, and using yoga to manage diastasis recti or the postpartum pooch
The power of yoga against self-sabotage and negative thoughts and its ability to enhance mental fitness
Making yoga DOABLE by cultivating a home practice so there are fewer barriers (childcare, studio timetables) to getting on your mat
Notable Quotes from Kendra & Nicole
“Your yoga practice can be a really, really critical part of your recovery from your day. And sleep is the time when your body recovers. But if we're fighting to go to sleep – we have insomnia or interrupted sleep – our ability to sleep well becomes more and more important. And yoga can facilitate getting that deeper sleep so your body just knows what to do.”
“Cultivate a home practice because that makes it doable. There's no babysitters. Sometimes with studio classes – with the times, the duration – there's lots of barriers sometimes to moving and getting onto your mat. You just need a mat, your body, and a practice. You can use the practice that your teacher gave you or a follow-along video. But cultivating a home practice really makes it doable and takes down that giant hurdle of getting to class.”
“It was such a physical feat, to give birth. Then all the moving around from the hospital to home, resting your body – for me, it just ached, and so the thought of doing something really strenuous or adding weights or doing anything that was more effort felt impossible. It was my yoga practice, both times, that was the most accessible because I could move my arms and legs. I could do some light stretching. I could do some deep breathing. And it was an obvious shift in my energy and my mental state. It just felt good. move my body again.”
Resources & Links
Looking for more support to 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 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.
