The power of Pilates and Pre Natal care
Pregnancy is not a condition but a superpower. Rethinking how we work with Pregnant and Postnatal bodies.
Let’s rewind back to when you first started teaching. I’m sure that sometime within your first three months of teaching Pilates at least one person came to you for a diagnosis and assistance with an obscure ailment that, as a rookie, you had no idea how to manage. This person shared their concerns with you because through our work we’re given the unique position of gaining people’s trust early on. We make them feel good. We know what we’re talking about and it’s making them feel better. As such we are in a seat of influence.
In my experience Pregnant clients are no different, in fact, they are at one of the most vulnerable and transformative moments of their life. Naturally, this brings with it a flurry of emotions as a result of hormonal changes but also just the realisation that their reality is shifting. Some women cling to their previous selves, trying to fit in with the regular class and squeezing their bump into their leggings. Others go out and buy a whole new wardrobe and enrol in prenatal classes, one day after a missed period. This insight informs us of a woman’s journey to this point; which in turn indicates how she will travel through it. You, as a Pilates instructor, have the capacity to alter her course, be it consciously or not.
In 2016 I opened Umoya Pilates Studio, in the Inner West of Sydney, Australia. Umoya is an isiZulu word that encapsulates breath, wind and spirit. This word not only pays homage to my South African roots but also captures the way Pilates makes me feel - a suspension of time, a transcendence. After years of freelance teaching it felt amazing to be in the space I created. Everything was going great, until two of my loyal clients fell pregnant! What a disruption to my flow! At previous studios, I would simply modify the exercises and not be too concerned about them. I knew I had sound prenatal Pilates training but out of fear of injury to my clients or to my business, I signed up for every Prenatal exercise course I could. Thankfully the cross-section of information is pretty similar and I felt I had enough to see them safely through their pregnancies and postnatal period. It was a wonderful learning experience for me too.
Not long after, I found myself pregnant. To me my pregnancy felt like a fabulous experiment. I loved to prod and poke my belly and explore movement and sensations. It was through pregnancy I discovered my belief that, with practice and purpose my body can do anything I ask it to do. Despite this, I was struck by how lacking the rules around moving a pregnant body are. The Prenatal classes I would attend weren't hitting the spot, either too easy or just uncomfortable. Some days I would feel like a lioness with endless power and strength and other days I’d be a butterfly. I ended up doing a lot of my own practice, which was a cacophony of dance, pilates, yoga and primal movements. Moving made me feel at home in my body again. In theory the education we receive in our training as prenatal Pilates instructors is correct although not nuanced; and to me; something was missing.
It was after the birth of my son that my education into Matrescence really kicked off. Matrescence, a word recently popularised by Psychologist Aurelie Athen, was originally coined by Anthropologist Dana Raphael, who also brought the word Doula to the vernacular. Matrescence as defined by Raphael is ‘...the process of becoming a mother – a developmental passage where a woman transitions, through pre-conception, pregnancy and birth, surrogacy, or adoption to the postnatal period and beyond'.
I was trying to make sense of the fourth trimester and this new human that was created at birth, not only my son; but me! It was during my postpartum recovery that I started to hit on the missing link in prenatal Pilates training.
Pregnant women are bombarded with contradictory messages about their bodies. They are encouraged to stay fit while being cautioned not to raise their heart rates. Rest is advised, even if they're not tired, but lying on their backs is discouraged.They should enjoy their pregnancy but work, socialise, dress and behave as though they are not pregnant.
The biggest challenge facing pregnant women is that they want the best for their baby, but the message they receive is that they themselves are the biggest risk to their babies wellbeing.
You can break it down to semantics. We use phrases like symptoms of pregnancy’ - which in itself has negative connotations: symptoms being associated with ill health or disease.
In my view, pregnancy is not a condition to be treated - it is a woman’s body and mind levelling up!
Pregnancy is a natural state of being. It is a prerequisite for a woman to be of reasonable health to become and maintain a pregnancy. Yet when she does, we label her with this ‘condition’ that requires treatment and monitoring, instead of celebrating and exalting her passage into a new phase of her life. This notion that pregnancy is a limitation is deeply embedded in the social culture of Women’s health and within the medical system - a notion that many are calling “Herstory” as opposed to history. It is evident in the lack of resources and knowledge about women’s bodies which is only now being brought into the light. It’s for this reason I shun the words `pregnancy symptoms’ and instead call them ‘enhancements’. A common enhancement hormone that can affect a woman while pregnant and postpartum with regard to Pilates is Relaxin. We know it is there to create more suppleness in the joints, so that the pelvis can widen to carry and birth the baby. Tick. It also has an important effect on the smooth muscles which ensures that the uterus doesn’t contract and expel the foetus until its due date. Does it also create reflux and joint pain? It does. There are a plethora of other essential hormones that are required for a pregnancy to progress and come with their own secondary responses.
It’s also important to acknowledge the messages women receive about their body during pregnancy, a lot of it sounds like “You’re not enough without this monitoring. You can’t do this on your own without the help of a medical professional. Your body cannot be trusted as you have these symptoms. Your body is dangerous and inhospitable.” Imagine hearing these words before you step on a stage to deliver a speech, or before surgery.
As we sit in our power as Pilates Instructors it is our duty to make women feel empowered, proud and confident in their body.
It occurred to me as I did more research into Postnatal Recovery and Pilates through Carolyn Anthony’s The Centre For Women’s Fitness, and coaching with Amy Taylor Kabbaz and many others in between; that it is the very same messages many women are healing from years after having their babies. The inadequacy, the doubt; the rates of Postnatal Depression which rose during COVID from 1 in 6 to 1 in 3; are actually a symptom of the messaging women received in Pregnancy as well as Postpartum.
“Pilates is complete coordination of body, mind and spirit.”- Joseph Pilates.
Pilates principles are founded in the mind body connection. Somehow when a woman becomes pregnant, a segregation of the mind, body and spirit occurs. The delicious trinity of Pilates falls away. MRI research conducted in 2019 shows that the maternal brain undergoes structural changes comparable to those observed in adolescent brains. In a process called pruning, pregnant women lose some grey matter of the brain which accounts for the very real existence of ‘the Mummy- brain’. However, just like a rose, we prune off what is no longer needed so that new buds can grow. The brain is optimising to care for her offspring and to step into her new role. So instead of holding a woman ransom to her forgetfulness, let us educate women to embrace their brain's plasticity and imprint positivity, strength, and competency in their bodies. Why not imprint positivity, strength and competency in her body, so that when her world is turned upside-down with the arrival of her baby, deep inside her psyche she knows she is everything she needs to be a wonderful mother.
A term that Muriel Morwitzer first introduced to me through Anatomy Trains, Art of Motion Myofascial Slings program is Somatic Trust. Somatic: relating to or affecting the body as it is separate from the mind and Trust: a firm belief in the reliability of a person or thing. During the time I was doing this course, moving through the world as a new mother, I was blown away by what a gift it is to possess Somatic Trust and what a blessing it is to share with other women through the art of Pilates and movement.
My interest was piqued enough to go even deeper after I had my second baby and a blighted ovum in between**. I studied through Rachel Reed to become a Childbirth Educator. This exploration led me to create the Amandla Mama Workshops, bridging the realms of movement, meditation, birth education, and Matrescence. Amandla is a South African call to arms; a rallying cry that means power, competence, and strength. It was ideal to me as it captures the notion of Childbirth as an act of Feminism.
So many movements we teach in Pilates cross over into the birth space, and it felt natural to me to combine the worlds together. It brings back the Pilates trinity of body, mind and spirit.
Through my work in the Amandla Mama Workshops and my Prenatal Pilates classes, I now educate, facilitate, celebrate and inspire pregnant women to move through their birth and subsequently into motherhood embodying their power. By no means does every Prenatal Pilates instructor need to go out and become a Childbirth Educator or a Doula, but it is our duty to educate our clients about their bodies and their magic. I feel lucky to have the work of the Midwives, Doulas and Mothers before me who shared their wisdom for me to find a calling in this field.
I think it important to acknowledge the fear Pilates instructors feel around the subject of Pregnant and Postpartum bodies and the gaps in the education process for instructors. While the education isn't deficient per se, if you’ve been pregnant or had babies you’ll be nodding along when I say it’s just not adept. It’s humbling and liberating to find your niche, so don’t be afraid to refer your clients on to someone who may be better to serve this specific community. Many mothers never forget what the experience was like for them making them great teachers who can guide them with a more nuanced hand.
I wanted to leave you with this thought. Remember your influence. The messages you send out to your clients carries with it power, and significance. You play an important part of a woman's story if she is entrusting you with her body at this time. Let us reshape our perspectives, break stigmas, and redefine pregnancy and motherhood as empowering and transformative experiences. By recognising our influence and using it to support women, we can guide them towards confidence and capability, allowing them to embody the goddesses they truly are.
** I chose the words ‘blighted ovum’ as opposed to miscarriage, as I didn't ‘miss-carry” anything. It was an anomaly as it appears frequently in nature; words matter.
Faye is the creator and instructor at Umoya Studio; as well as the facilitator of the Amandla Mama Workshops.
Join her on 4 August for an industry webinar covering the purpose of Pre and Postnatal hormones; their affects on our clients and how we can better serve our Prenatal + Postpartum Clients in the Studio, head to the website for details : www.umoyastudio.com