Shelley, the author of the research review below, recently completed her 40 hour practicum at Bodies for Birth and has now officially graduated from Bastyr with a degree in Nutrition and Exercise Science! Shelley set out to learn more about what the current research says about exercise for the postpartum population and has summarized her findings. Read her research review here and more about Shelley and her experience as a student at Bodies for Birth below: Research Reviewed: Postpartum Women’s Perspectives …
Your Unique Self-Care Prescription
What are you doing for yourself today? What does your morning ritual look like? Do you have one? Setting the tone for each day with energizing, mind clearing rituals, with gentle movement, with meditation, journaling, breathing…or simply with intention can make a huge difference. I know it can sound positively daunting–especially if you’re a new mom. So where do you start? Well, you just simply begin and take it one step at a time. My mom always references a beautiful book by Anne …
Safe Core Exercise in Pregnancy
This can be so confusing! Sit-ups? Crunches? Leg-lifts? Planks? If you are pregnant, hopefully you are no longer performing traditional abdominal exercises such as crunches or sit-ups. If you have been, that’s okay…but this might be a great time to transition to more beneficial, safer core exercises. I will explain more about why and how to do so safely in this article. Traditional abdominal exercises such as sit-ups (as well as others), activate the rectus abdominis, the top layer of …
Diaphragmatic Breathing in Pregnancy & Postpartum
“Damn it! What?!” I exclaimed, exasperated as my little one called for me for what felt like the 80th time in five minutes. I again went to his side imploring, “I am right here, Honey, I’m just trying to cook dinner and I need to write a blog post about deep breathing tonight!” I immediately started laughing at the irony of the situation. What I really needed was to take a time out for breathing myself! The laughter worked wonders …
Benefits of Prenatal Exercise
Exercise during pregnancy. Everyone seems to have an opinion, but who and what information can you trust? A sampling of advice may include “walking only”, “no impact”, “no twisting”, “stick with yoga”, “don’t get your heart rate above 140 bmp”, “and the always popular, “just do what you’ve been doing for exercise.” Well, what if you’ve been training for Ironman Triathlons or perhaps you haven’t been exercising at all? Where does that leave you other than a bit lost …