During pregnancy and birth there is a lot of tension and load that goes through your pelvic floor. In the postnatal period, the focus is on restoring activation and control through these muscles to help them recover post birth while also building some strength to support you while you’re caring for your bub.

While strength and activation are important, just like any other muscle group stretching is also important too! Taking some time to stretch and relax is beneficial to the health of these muscles but also gives you some time to focus on your body and listen to what it might need.

Cat Cow Stretch

• Starting in a four point kneel position, with your shoulders over your wrists and your hips over your knees

• Flex through your spine, arching your back towards the ceiling pushing your shoulder blades away from each other and looking down towards the floor with your chin tucked

• Then slowly reverse your spine into extension, pushing your chest forward and looking up towards the ceiling

• Slowly move through flexion and extension, focusing on your breathing and relaxing through the pelvic floor muscles while you’re in extension

• Repeat at least 6 times or as many as you feel your body needs

Cobra Pose

• Lying on your stomach, place your hands next to your shoulders with your elbows bent

• Push your chest away from the floor and extend through your spine and arms

• Hold for at least 30 seconds while focusing on your breathing

Happy Baby Pose

• Lying on your back, bend your knees towards your chest and face the souls of your feet up towards the ceiling

• Reaching forward and grabbing the outsides of your feet, spread your knees apart and pull your knees into your chest

• Flex your heels into your hand

• Hold this position for at least 30 seconds, adding in gentle rocking from side to side if desired and focusing on deep breathing

Diaphragmatic Breathing

• Lying on your back place your hands on your rib cage, feeling your ribs expand as you take a deep breathe through your nose then feel your ribs collapse back down as you exhale through your mouth

• When you breathe in focus on filling up your belly with air and when you breathe out, focus on relaxing all your muscles

• Feeling your ribs encourages us to take deep breaths all the way into our lower rib cage and fill our diaphragm

• Take 10 deep breaths or more if needed, you can also close your eyes to help relax

At Collective Motion, we offer Post Natal Pilates and Mums and Bubs Pilates to provide you with a space to feel supported and confident to return to exercise after birth. We understand the importance of focusing on both strength work as well as stretching and mobility and we ensure all our classes focus on this too. To find out more or to book into a class, press the buttons below!

We hope you found this helpful! If you have any questions or need any advice on any of these exercises, please don't hesitate to reach out and chat to us.

Remember that you shouldn’t feel pain during any of these exercises. If they are painful for you, consider avoiding that exercise or decreasing the intensity. We are always here to help if needed.

If you’re after some more advice or are in need of some hands on help, we’d love to see you at Collective Motion! Collective Motion offers Osteopathy, Myotherapy, Dietetics and Pilates and is conveniently located to service our Bentleigh community as well as its surrounding suburbs including Bentleigh East, McKinnon, Ormond, Glenhuntly, Murrumbeena, Carnegie, Oakleigh, Gardenvale, Brighton East and Hampton East. Click below to book an appointment and let us help you get moving again.