wellness

How our bodies work and the knowledge to meet your unique needs. The term “fluffy” was how one mom in my class recently described herself feeling, 18 months after delivering her first child. It can be so confusing to experience a sudden and unexpected loss of firmness and muscle tone. There is always that nagging voice in the back of your mind asking, “what has happened to me?”  This week, I’m answering that exact question. Because NOT knowing is the hardest place to live in your body and health and at RM, we’re here to empower, educate, and uplift you. The truth is, muscle loss postpartum isn’t just about time passing—it’s about how your body has adapted after pregnancy. A structured pregnancy workout program can help build and maintain strength during pregnancy, setting the foundation for a smoother recovery. And if you’re already postpartum, intentional movement can reactivate dormant muscles and restore balance. Here’s what you need to know about how your muscles work, why they deactivate at different points in your life, and how to turn them back on for long term health and vitality! You can not strength-train a tight muscle. A tense muscle moves in a restricted range of motion, so it is not fully functional. If you then try to lift heavy weights, the restricted muscle pulls and puts tension on the respective joint. A tight bicep that is not able to fully extend and contract will pull on the attachment near your shoulder instead of building strong upper arm strength. This can lead to pain and injury within the shoulder joint.   Your body is very intelligent and efficient. It is wired to adapt and keep going. When a muscle becomes weak due to under-use, restriction or injury, your body will grab the nearest muscle to perform the necessary function, resulting in what’s called a “compensation pattern.”  The weaker muscle becomes more passive, while the over-working muscle gets stronger and more stressed which over time leads to asymmetrical strength and often chronic pain, stiffness, and injury.  Understand your anatomy first. In order to build long, lean muscles that are functionally strong, you need to understand a little bit about your anatomy and cross-train to continually catch compensation patterns (they are normal parts of life and everybody has them) and re-pattern how your body is grabbing and accessing strength for movement.   Your core is your entire trunk. Your core consists of muscles from your chest cavity to your glutes and pelvic floor and is composed of many joints, bones, and fascial tissue. It is a system and needs to be maintained throughout your life by focusing on activation, strength, and flexibility. A well-structured pregnancy workout routine can help prepare your core to support your growing body during pregnancy and lay the foundation for postpartum recovery. After childbirth, postnatal ab exercises play a key role in rebuilding deep core function, helping to close diastasis recti and restore balance to the entire body. Your core is 3-dimensional and needs to be worked in dynamic planes of movement, balance, isolated strength, and length training moves. For instance, just one modality will not get you over the finish line. Fusion cross-training that incorporates fascial hydration and mobility with dynamic cross-body strength and balance training along with educated lifting and bodyweight resistance are the best workouts. Check out my ultimate cross-training method on the RM App here.   Your transversus abdominals are the secret to success. It all begins with your breath—it truly takes mindfulness and focused attention to workout well.  By being ,entally, physically, and emotionally present and attentive to how and what you’re doing in your workouts is when the payoff really starts to show. Instead of zoning out and just going through the motions, invest your mental energy by learning how your body works so that you have the knowledge and tools to meet your unique needs year after year.   Most women were never taught how to workout. Meaning, how to perform different exercises like planks and sit ups. We weren’t given the knowledge of how to access the muscles we really want to activate (for example, core, back, glutes, and chest). Being told to do different exercises or that we need to maintain muscle for longevity is great, but without a roadmap and specific instructions on how our bodies work and how to actualize this advice, it’s not very helpful in the long run. This is the beginning of a whole landscape of new knowledge for you, your health, and your fitness. Structured postnatal ab exercises are an excellent way to rebuild strength intentionally and set the foundation for a lifetime of movement. This is the beginning of a whole landscape of new knowledge for you and your health and your fitness will forever feel better, deeper, and yield stronger results for it, I promise. If you’re feeling disconnected from your body, know that you’re not alone. Recovery is a journey, and understanding how to move in a way that serves your body’s needs is the key to lifelong strength. Whether you’re currently pregnant or in the postpartum chapter, a pregnancy workout program and postnatal ab exercises can help you reclaim your strength and confidence, one mindful movement at a time.

The relationship with yourself is the foundation of all others. Motherhood comes with so much pressure—to always be happy and grateful for your family, to have a perfect marriage where you're best friends, co-parents, and still have amazing intimacy. You’re expected to stay fit and healthy, have a fulfilling career, and somehow be a present, patient, and playful mom. It’s even more intense during postpartum recovery, when we prioritize our baby’s needs over out own. The list goes on and ON! The truth is, most of us do live some version of this ideal—we love our families and are deeply grateful for them. We cherish being moms, and for the most part, our marriages are healthy and happy, with varying levels of intimacy. But here's the thing: we are human. And in our humanity, we carry an emotional landscape that colors all of these external expectations. These 'checklist' items, which on the surface define our lives as 'successful,' don't capture the complexity of our experience. Intimacy and sex are layered with innuendo, red hearts, and lingerie…throughout the month of February. Over the past few weeks I’ve been adding my spin on this Valentine’s theme, writing about all aspects of intimacy, and I guess in many ways, I’ve been building up to the punchline… Intimacy with yourself is the most important relationship you have. And, it’s the most challenging once you become a mom, because that kind of stillness with your own mind and body just doesn’t exist anymore.   The early years of parenthood are a gauntlet of resilience and pivoting—a constant flow of identifying, planning, and then re-prioritizing how everyone’s needs will be met. And, organically the mom’s needs slip to the bottom a lot of the time. I wrote a piece recently on how to actually be a supportive partner to a new mom (you can read it here), but the reality is that you will run depleted of emotional resources for a long time.  Here’s the catch 22: if you totally ignore yourself for this stretch of parenthood, you will land in a pretty dark place, pretty quickly We’ve been told this before—we all know it and science knows it. We have heard the abundant advice that, “caring for yourself is caring for your children,” but that’s just not always true. At dinnertime, you don’t sit down and tend to your personal mountain of stress that desperately needs to be processed. You walk into the kitchen and figure out dinner for your hungry family. And when your baby is crying and your back is locking as you bend over the crib, you pick up your child and comfort them even if the pain knocks the wind out of you.   I think that’s the biggest blind spot for all of us moms. We are so focused on staying positive—on being patient and sidelining our unmet needs that whole years slip by before we notice ourselves and then, we don’t recognize anything about who we’ve become.     So, what would emotional intimacy with ourselves look like if we were to re-design it for the years of motherhood when we often come second (or last) on the priority list? Discipline your monkey mind. It’s okay that your mind takes you to crazy, conflicting places. Parent yourself. In a quiet moment, ask yourself, “what do I need to hear most when I’m feeling out of control?”  A simple, loving statement to re-caste your thoughts.  For example, mine is “I love myself.” I just start repeating it in my mind until whatever thought stream that had been running becomes quiet.  Notice your body. We are 100% conditioned to ignore the body-temple we live in. But your body is your entire reality. It is where your mind lives and what gives rise to your emotions and allows you to self-soothe and thrive. I’m not talking about being a monk and meditating all the time, but just becoming aware of your body cues. I feel my jaw clench, my stomach tighten, or my mom-voice starting to pitch faster and louder—these are my personal cues to just stop and take a breath. For many postpartum mothers, this disconnection also shows up as pelvic floor spasms—an overlooked but common issue that can affect physical comfort, intimacy, and self-awareness. Once I’m through the moment, I will note that I am beginning to reach a breaking point and I need some time with myself to be close and feel through whatever is going on inside.  Punctuate your days with small doses of self-care. My mom hacks are pretty well known in my household at this point. At the end of a long day with my young daughters, I sit on the edge of the bathtub and soak my feet while giving them a bath. It’s small, but it really calms and grounds me. It is an act of meeting my own needs while caring for them. Another one I love is keeping mason jars of simple nuts and organic dried fruits on my kitchen counter. When I’m starving, I grab from there instead of for the cookies or snack cupboard. It’s a way to nourish myself with real nutrition in the moment and on the fly when I don’t have time to sit down and eat a whole meal. Mom guilt is everywhere. You simply have to befriend it so it doesn’t control you. You will ALWAYS feel guilting and torn when you choose to meet your needs instead of tending to your child. It is the essence of your connection to motherhood and to your role in your childrens’ lives. It is a mark of how much you love and value them. Come to an agreement with your partner that you each take a certain amount of time away, alone, with friends (whatever it looks like for you), to meet your personal emotional needs with yourself. You simply have each other’s back and do it. The more you stick to this, the easier it gets and the mom guilt diminishes.  Intimacy with yourself is not always pretty. Often, the unmet needs you run into reveal a lot of sadness, fear or anger…these are not bad feelings. They are totally normal parts of being human, let alone a stressed-out human raising tiny humans. So, feeling is the gateway to closeness, to sifting through noise and becoming clear about what you need in order to keep thriving upward, on the grateful trajectory of loving your life and family. I can’t begin to tell you how many moms I have witnessed in class melting into tears. We all just need to cry sometimes because this job is HARD, and you are living at full emotional capacity ALL THE TIME. So, cry, feel, breathe—live in your body and notice. Let the messages in and then let them go. You don’t have to hold it all yourself. You can’t… none of us can. Intimacy with yourself is knowing yourself—body and mind—and knowing yourself over a lifetime journey that arcs, curves, expands, and contracts. Movement helps. Postpartum fitness and mindful movement are not just about rebuilding strength; they’re about reconnecting with yourself, feeling at home in your body again, and finding space to release, heal, and reclaim your own presence. Exhale. Lean in. The water is deep…but, it’s wonderful.

 It’s Not You. It’s Not Him. It’s Biology.  *Disclaimer: I celebrate all gender identities and what I am about to say is intended to inspire and make you laugh with your partner. It’s okay if what I share is not true for you and your marriage…these are just my thoughts and reflections. One of the greatest gifts of working with moms in-person is the conversations we have!  Over the years, one topic has been a constant and common thread in EVERY conversation: how we, the moms, think about, plan and anticipate daily life is 180-degrees different from our partners. And the most striking part is that every mom's story about how her partner thinks is almost identical—yes, even for Ken and I.  Early on in my mothering journey, I attended a lecture at my daughters' school. With my little one asleep on my chest, I sat and listened to a talk that ultimately changed my life.  Entitled, “The Overwhelm of Boys,” delivered by Kim John Payne.  I went expecting to learn more about raising my children, and instead, I walked away with a shifted understanding of my husband. As I made my way home, I called him at the restaurant where he was pushing out a Friday-night dinner service (we often joke about the number of times I’ve done this over the years!). I simply said, ‘I’m so sorry I have talked over you all of these years—I understand now that you need more time and space to think.”  There was total silence on the other end of the phone while the clatter of the restaurant echoed in the background and then a quiet, “thank you.” I got to thinking…what if we put these truths out in the open? We could understand one another better, communicate more effectively, and co-parenting can actually become fun! So, here are the not-so-secret secrets we all need to acknowledge and grow with:   Men and women are fundamentally different creatures with every respect for self-identity and gender identity. Acknowledging our differences helps us learn, grow, and lean into each other’s strengths.   Men think linearly. Women think circularly. And moms multitask like bad asses. We anticipate needs, we see the laundry, read the emails, catch the falling cup, and bounce the baby with one hand. In my experience, our brains almost function better in this arena—we just become more efficient when we have babies.   By contrast, male brains begin to smoke if you ask them to operate like this.  Men focus on singular tasks, but they DO the task all the way through until it has a bow on top. And, here’s the kicker…they won’t see or think about anything else while they are focused on said task. Meaning, the toys scattered across the living room, the dishes in the sink, the dinner that needs to be prepped…they are not pre-wired to see more than what they are doing. They can learn, but that is a relationship and co-habitational skill that you develop together.   One of the biggest pitfalls of marriage post-babies is that we are both overwhelmed and wanting the other person to think about all the needs of the home and family the way we do. When the other person doesn’t show up the way we expect, we slip into blame, which leads nowhere but down.   Divide and conquer based on your strengths, not what is “fair.”  Most dads (like Ken) feel great accomplishment and a sense of deep self-value through the completion of a project. Most moms (including myself) are planning and creating the environment of our home and how each system will best meet our daily family needs.  Our winning solution? I plan the systems and Ken executes them. For example, new shelves for the girls’ closet that will better fit their bigger clothes and storage needs—I envision it, describe it, shop for it, he makes it happen. No fighting. I plan it. He builds it. It works.  Moms talk it out. Dads need quiet…in order to process their feelings. I call it “downloading” to Ken. It took him YEARS to be able to sit with me while I unleashed the workings of my brain and not get overwhelmed or try to fix everything.   Conversely, it took me YEARS to learn that when I talk at this pace and breadth, he needs hours to silently process everything. He will ultimately come back with a really supportive and insightful response,  but only if I give him the quiet time he needs to get there. The faster we talk at the dads, the quicker their brains shut down their verbal center.  They literally can't form a sentence. And, when they are quiet, what do we do?  We talk more and faster at them because we process this way. They really need quiet space to get their thoughts together and form a response. Learn reflective listening: It saved our marriage, truly. Fried mom and dad brains do not process accurately, which makes for sticky relationship communication. Reflective listening is when your partner is speaking about something, you simply repeat back what you have just heard. Literally, “ I am hearing you say ______.”  And then, you check, “Is this accurate?” This technique slows everything down and makes sure you are hearing each other correctly. It cuts down so much frustration. Prioritize each other’s need for friend time: Men need to be with men just as much as women need to be other women. But, when men become fathers, there is less social support for them in this area, especially if you don’t live close to where you both grew up or have family close by.   I put all of my weight and support behind Ken spending untethered alone time with his friends doing dude-like things that I honestly would never want to do—flying in his friend’s tiny plane, sleeping in a hammock on the beach without a shower for two days or even scrubbing the deck of a boat. In return, he puts his full weight and support behind my moms’ night out for guacamole and margaritas, where we get to talk as fast and on as many different subjects as our spinning mom-brains can cover…and no one gets overwhelmed. It’s like 6 months worth of mom-talk therapy rolled into one night! At the end of the day, embrace and love the differences. They are your mutual and complementary strengths—you can both thrive in parenthood, marriage, and play with each other’s patterns instead of struggling over them. When the wheels start to come off, lead with curiosity and give each other the benefit of the doubt …and always remember, you’re both doing your best! x  

Your pelvic floor, the trampoline gauntlet, and cross-training for a lifetime of adventure.   One of the many profound awakenings that occur the moment you become a mother and meet your newborn is how much you suddenly understand your own mother’s life and behaviors—like why they never  jumped on a trampoline! These moments are what I refer to as, “aha—now I get why my mom was the way she was” epiphones.  And, in the vein of self-awareness and evolving together, I’m here to ask you today… When was the last time you jumped on a trampoline? It’s a very common tale. Our moms, grandmas, and best friends alike stopped jumping the second they delivered their first baby and we all just accepted that it was something our bodies just couldn’t do anymore, because, well…we’re moms.  I’m here to dispel those assumptions and challenge the status quo while getting you back on the trampoline, running those stairs, doing the jumping jacks and loving the body you live in.  For many women, difficulty with jumping postpartum isn’t just about weakness—it can also be due to pelvic floor dyssynergia, a condition where the pelvic floor muscles fail to coordinate properly. This imbalance can make activities like jumping, running, or even sneezing unexpectedly difficult. Here’s what you need to know about your pelvic floor and how it works as a part of your functional core. Plus, how to keep it strong, pliable, and rebounding for a lifetime of adventure. Your pelvic floor muscles are a system. They want to be trained, healed, and strengthened with the whole body, not alone in isolation. The first point of entry on your pelvic floor is actually your transversus abdominals (or TVA). They anatomically connect to your pelvic floor and are essential for lifting your upper body weight out of your pelvis. If your upper core is compromised (for example, you just gave birth), then your pelvic floor muscles are not only stretched and injured themselves, but they are bearing all the weight of your abdomen and upper body against the constant pull of gravity. This makes any increased pressure, like from jumping or sneezing, almost unbearable. Pelvic floor core exercises are key in stabilizing these muscles, allowing them to function properly and reducing issues like leakage or discomfort when jumping. So, the first step in long term pelvic floor health is recalibrating your abdominal pressure by training your TVA and pelvic floor to co-contract and release together.  See this video for a deeper tutorial. Tight pelvic floor muscles are a thing. If your muscles are tight or not moving, then they can’t perform the job they were intended for and a cycle of weakness and disengagement ensues. This tightness, known as pelvic floor hypertonia, is a common issue that can make high-impact movements like jumping or running feel nearly impossible. Tension in these muscles occurs most frequently as a result of scar tissue adhesion and restriction resulting from tearing, c-section or internal scarring that can go unnoticed at your regular check-ups. They can also become overly tight against the downward pressure of a weakened TVA/core system that is constantly bouncing, cradling, and lifting an increasingly heavy baby. This tightness puts a lot of pressure on your urinary tract and supporting muscles, often leading to incontinence, like when you jump or cough. Releasing your pelvic floor with diaphragmatic breathing and “RM Pelvic Corridor” functional strength-training is the first step in building reliable functioning muscles.   Kegels—let’s break it down. Our pelvic floor does not want to be strengthened like a bicep. Please STOP putting things in your vagina and squeezing them to “get stronger!” Your vaginal wall post-baby definitely needs to be re-toned, but it will take several months to a year, and is most effective when you are integrating your entire core system with breath, contractions, and release work. Remember, your pelvic floor does not want to just be tight. It’s like a soft, well-knit fabric that wants to stretch and rebound back into place.The RM Pelvic Corridor is how I cue a kegel—we start with breath, relaxation, and then isolating your transversus abs (because when they engage, they lift and support your pelvic floor as whole). Then, we add on by engaging the vaginal wall (I like to use the imagery of trying to lift a tampon that’s about to fall out) and then follow that contraction up the birth canal to your belly button. This is mental as much as physical. It takes as much effort to relax and isolate as it does to strength-train this muscle system. The payoff is a well-calibrated and reliable co-contraction of your foundational core that you can intentionally activate as you move forward in your overall cross-training—jump squats, anyone? Progress is achieved through consistency. Keep showing up and trust the process, especially on days when you’re tired because that’s when your muscles become the most passive. I often tell moms, if you get 2 contractions out of a set of 10 reps, then you’re doing it right. The next day, you’ll get 5, the next maybe only 1, but progressively, you are getting stronger and changing the way your body moves as a system. Do the work in your videos, and then challenge yourself to bring your pelvic corridor into action in your hardest mom’ing moments as well, like bending over the bathtub and picking up your child, climbing the stairs or running on the playground. This is how your core becomes a reliable part of your body and life.   You have to cross-train your body. Motherhood is so repetitively one-sided. You get wonky and won’t even realize how much you can’t do until you try to do a jumping jack and everything feels like it’s going to fall out. In RM, I have you doing jump squats by week 6—just little ones that keep nudging your forward and testing your strength. By Phase 2, we’re doing mountain climbers, wide leg squats, and yes…jumping jacks! It’s humbling work and SO satisfying to feel your body say “yes” and to realize you have the power to make positive change on way more than your body, but your mind, heart, and soul too. Everything works as one when it comes to happiness and health for your life and your family.  So, go on…take your kids to the trampoline park and take your pelvic corridor for a test drive! If you pee yourself, get over here and start with Day 1 of Phase 1 and then go back in 8 weeks and try again. Your mind will be blown, I promise!  

Reclaiming your sexual energy and pleasure post-baby. Do you experience pain while having sex? Are you avoiding being intimate since giving birth because you’re afraid it will hurt or feel different? Have you just been doing it to keep things steady in your marriage (but don’t really enjoy it)? If you can relate to any of the above statements, I want you to know that you’re NOT ALONE!  Fact: The medical term for feeling this is actually dyspareuniaand its diagnosis often qualifies you for pelvic PT. A leading cause of painful intercourse postpartum is pelvic floor spasm, a condition in which the muscles of the pelvic floor remain involuntarily contracted, making penetration uncomfortable or even impossible. According to a recent study conducted by PelvicCare, 1 in 3 women report pain during intercourse that actually worsened 2 or more years after delivering their last baby. This is a common side effect of childbirth and it often does not pass or go away on its own. But the good news is that it is very very treatable.   Here at RM, we are committed to disrupting fear and pain cycles that restrict women's lives and your ability to thrive. Sexual intimacy, pleasure, and vitality are essential components to thriving in your life and marriage. So, TMI is not a thing here—we are bringing these conversations forward, educating you about what you’re experiencing in your body, and providing effective tools to help you head back between the sheets and have fun…even if it’s just for 5 minutes before your kids wake up and crash the party! Pelvic Floor Function 101, Sex + Tools To Get Your Groove Back: Time is on your side, not your doctor’s. The 6 or 8 week postpartum check up is not your defining moment and is often misleading. Your body is totally not healed, though you may no longer need medical attention. And, as for being ready for exercise and sex at that exact moment, that’s just not true for the vast majority of women. The reality is, it takes some vulnerability to look at your body after you give birth. You’re going to discover at first, a body that looks and feels very different than before. So, take your time—this is your body, your timeline, and when you feel ready to share yourself with your partner again, then it’s the right time for you. A Lesson in Anatomy + Recovery. Your pelvic floor muscles are a network of tissues, muscles, blood vessels, ligaments and tendons. Post-vaginal or cesarean birth, this well-calibrated network needs time to recover and a few tools to help come alive again. When these muscles become chronically tight or overactive—known as pelvic floor hypertonia—it can lead to persistent discomfort, difficulty with penetration, and even urinary urgency or constipation. This actually starts in other parts of your body—rolling out your feet, breathing and moving your ribcage, mobilizing your pelvis and back. When your body feels easeful, the pelvic floor muscles relax and move as well. When you are stressed and not breathing, the most common human response is to retain that tension in your pelvic floor, hips, back and jaw muscles.   Pelvic floor tension is one of the most common causes for pain. It can feel a little confusing to have a weak and tight pelvic floor, but that is how muscles operate. When they are tight, they can’t engage and become weak, so surrounding muscles begin to tighten and overcompensate. For instance, your groin muscles and hip flexors will begin gripping to create stability in your pelvis when your central core and low-back waist are collapsing. Breath, soft foam rolling, and strengthening your transversus abdominal muscles all have exponential benefits when it comes to feeling your pelvic floor release and regain pleasurable sensation.   Scar tissue adhesions from tearing along your perineum, a c-section or internal scarring that may not be visible to outside observation. Scar tissue sticks to things which creates asymmetry in the surrounding areas, most notably in the pelvic floor. When the pelvic floor can not glide and move, it gets really tight (like when you throw your back out and can’t stand up straight). This is why, penetration of any kind can feel excruciating—the muscles simply can’t relax and stretch the way they normally would. Scar tissue also leads to other pelvic dysfunction like incontinence, organ prolapse, and diastasis recti. Your pelvic floor is part of a system. It’s important to understand that your body is a system and that your pelvic floor is part of it. When you have pain and pressure in your vaginal wall that makes penetrative sex painful you are most likely dealing with a combination of the above conditions. Good news is, when you start treating the whole system, all of the symptoms begin to improve together!  Where To Begin A pelvic physical therapist (not OT) that is specialized in manual and visceral manipulation. I look particularly for PT’s who are trained in the Jean Barral Method.  They should talk you through everything, listen to your concerns, and be in communication throughout the session so that any internal or external treatments are consented to and you know what is being worked on, released, and realigned.  Gentle postpartum recovery exercises that facilitate functional strengthening, but also integrate your emotional and mental health. For pelvic floor hypertonia and postpartum recovery, start with exercises that focus on releasing tension before strengthening, such as: Diaphragmatic breathing to encourage relaxation of the pelvic muscles. Pelvic tilts and bridges with a focus on slow, controlled movement. Soft tissue release with a therapy ball or gentle foam rolling around the hips and lower back. Mindful stretching to reduce tightness in the inner thighs and hip flexors. When you feel happy and relaxed, sex becomes more interesting and your body will respond more readily to the idea of intimacy and pleasure. Start in Phase 1, Week 1 of the RM App and discover your energy and creativity in all parts of your body and being. Be honest with yourself and your partner. Sexual intimacy is not solely defined by penetrative sex as one of my favorite clinical sexologists, Hani Avital, founder of Shelaah, shares in her work with women and couples. Sexual intimacy is about all of your sensual pleasure and senses being brought to life and stimulated together. Postpartum sexuality can become an awesome opportunity to awaken parts of your relationship that you never knew existed before.   Something To Remember Sexuality evolves and matures decade over decade. Post-baby, you may feel exhausted and have zero libido or you may feel the opposite and want to jump on your partner the second you’re alone. All experiences and desires are normal and there is no right or wrong way to live into your sexuality—it will ebb and flow over a lifetime.  But living with pain, restricting in shame, and silently suffering are formulas for total self-implosion. Breathe and relax. Your body is an incredible entity that is capable of healing, is powerful and resilient. Addressing pelvic floor spasm and hypertonia through breath, movement, and targeted therapy can restore your sexual wellness and confidence. Maturing within yourself, as motherhood often brings, can lead to you becoming more self-possessed, self-aware, and embodied, while experiencing greater pleasure and orgasms than you ever did before having kids. Get a mirror, take a look down there, and then let us know your questions. If you’re in need of a pelvic PT, send us a message and we’ll help you find one. Join our community and chat with other moms. Plus, it’s the month of love—what better time than to talk to your partner and let them know how you’re feeling.   Honesty has a way of smoothing the path to intimacy more than anything else.  

Soft Foam Rolling Your Fascial Tissue. Women’s bodies undergo multiple iterations and changes throughout their lifetime. During each decade our hormones, reproductive systems, and maturation affect our neuromuscular patterning—in short, how our brains communicate with our muscles about how to function and move.   For most of us, these changes are subtle and we function relatively well until a major life event like pregnancy, childbirth, menopause or an injury occurs to make us have to pay attention to how our bodies are operating…or not.   What I have found over the years from studying how women’s bodies work, change, and most importantly, heal and thrive, is that one of the most challenging aspects is not only that changes occur, it’s being blindsided by them. The lack of preparedness, resources, and the fact that no one ever talked openly to us about what it’s really like to be a woman in this body, sends us straight into fear and panic-Googling spirals.   What I have also uncovered is…women are whip-smart. A little bit of practical education and tools are all we need in order to totally transform our quality of life and happiness.  For women of all kinds, this is the information I wish we each had about our bodies…  It Starts with Fascial TissueThe stuff that supports your soft tissues and gives our muscle form and connectivity. Fascial tissue is largely overlooked in the medical industry—only a few rehabilitative modalities discuss it and almost none truly understand how much it impacts a woman’s body and health.   Largely due to our changing hormone and collagen levels, along with developmental changes in our breast tissue, hips, and pelvis, our fascial tissue gets a lot more wear and tear than men’s.  So, it needs to be carefully cared for over our lifetime in order to facilitate optimal muscle function. And here’s the part that often gets left out of the conversation: postpartum fitness isn’t just about appearance—it’s about longevity, function, and preventing long-term issues like core instability, lower back pain, and muscle compensations. Whether you're newly postpartum or years into motherhood, understanding how to restore strength—especially through diastasis recti exercises postpartum—can have a lifelong impact on movement and strength. So, What Is Fascial Tissue?  A type of connective tissue in your body that creates structure for your soft tissue layers and cushions your muscle and skin so that they don’t stick to one another. Imagine it like a system of panty-hose—it can get stuck, dehydrated, even tear; like getting a run in your tights. Its job is to keep subcutaneous fluids moving and allow easy gliding between your skin and muscles.   Fascia Is A System What you do to one part will affect the whole—your pelvic floor muscles and the fascia within that system are intertwined with the fascia that runs all the way down to your feet, up to your low back and waist. This is why you may have a tight pelvic floor, sore feet, and a weak core that all feel impossible to move and strengthen.  If the fascia in your lower body is restricted and can’t glide,  it will restrict and de-activate your core and pelvic floor muscles.   In order to access your core, you need to  “iron out” your fascial tissue and then activate the lost muscles (commonly called neuro-strength re-patterning—more on this in next week’s issue of The Rewrite!), and strengthen these muscles or those that have been under-responding for years or even your whole life.  This process is especially important in diastasis recti exercises postpartum, where the goal is to reconnect the core and retrain deep stabilizing muscles before jumping into high-intensity workouts. The Big Takeaway! Soft-foam rolling feels amazing. Today, living in a world full of adrenaline and exhaustion, doing something that makes you feel good and increases ease within your body and mind is a win-win! Stress is addictive—it generates adrenaline which spurs you to action. But, we all know this leads to burn out and injury, which is your body’s way of forcing you to slow down and take a break.   So, let’s rewrite this narrative of health for our muscles—there is a way to stay strong, connected, and feeling great over our entire lifetime. Use a soft foam roller that flushes out fluid and helps the layers of your skin, fascial tissue, and muscles unstick and glide like never before!  Roll With Me I roll 3-5 times a week. I do it in the evening after my kids are in bed, as part of my bedtime routine. I sleep peacefully, without tension, and wake up feeling refreshed…and nothing hurts!  Imagine doing something in the evening that soothes you to a great night’s sleep and when you wake up, your back, feet, and hips feel amazing—allowing you to get up out of bed without aches and pains.  Try it…here’s the link to all the fascial healing and rolling videos on the RM App.  Bonus: if you’ve been wondering where to start with a new fitness routine, fascial rolling is it!  You’ll begin to feel a “yes” in your body, helping make daily life easier and providing you with the tools to engage in more focused workouts that build strength and stamina. When you sustain an injury or go through a major physical event like pregnancy and childbirth, your fascial tissue is challenged, damaged, and becomes restricted—mostly in your back, hips, pelvic floor, neck, and shoulders.   Making sure that soft-foam rolling is part of your daily routine and cross-training regiment ensures that you are able to access fully functioning muscles that can contract AND release to their fullest expression. As a result, this will help protect your joints, reduce chronic build of muscle tension and pain, prevent injuries and allow you to sustainably build muscle and keep it for decades to come.  And if you’re ready to take it one step further? Pair soft-foam rolling with an ab and glute workout to create long-term muscle balance. Activating your glutes and deep core stabilizers after rolling helps reinforce healthy movement patterns, improves posture, and enhances strength—whether you’re lifting weights or lifting your kids. One of the biggest secrets, rarely shared with women, is that while childbirth leaves its mark and initial injuries occur, the long-term effect is that your pre-existing movement patterns—like that misaligned hip or the shoulder that’s always felt a bit tight are suddenly amplified, resulting in the opportunity of your lifetime to build your functional, strong body better from than ever before. There’s no going back, just forward—stronger, more embodied and confident than ever before.

Embodied fitness for the mom-life you deserve and want most. No matter where you are on your journey, every mom needs to hear this… Your mind is forever altered, consumed, and reordered as soon as you have babies. The topics you hold, lists you manage, and needs you anticipate to ensure your family is safe and thriving, will never leave you.  You most likely wouldn’t trade your new reality for anything, but you also grieve the loss of your relatively peaceful, pre-mom brain. However, much as you love your children, no one prepares you with skills and tools to manage a mind that is constantly spinning, has trouble focusing for more than 5 seconds, and can’t remember anyone’s name anymore. You're not alone. Nowhere does that statement hold more true than when it comes to caring for your body and working out. The days when the biggest challenge was just getting your booty to class are over.   Your new reality is that you’ll spend an entire class doing a tug-of-war with your brain bouncing around and your unprocessed self-needs clattering for attention. Then, after the class, you buckle up to greet whatever is going down at home.  It almost doesn’t feel worth it and that, my dear friends, is the biggest trap of all. The idea that your mind should somehow be able to compartmentalize and “turn off” is just not real.  Our mental and physical health go hand in hand. They directly relate to and impact one another—and that is the greatest secret we can optimize as moms.   So, now that we have established that your feelings are completely normal and we know you’re dying for the ability to deeply focus once again, we can tackle the topic of mindfulness and how it is cultivated in your real-life, mom experience.   When I say “mindful,” most of us immediately think of yoga or meditation. Those are wonderful practices that I enjoy deeply, but mediation is kind of torture these days—if I’m totally honest. As we have established, being alone with your brain to spiral is not productive for most of us. We need something powerful and challenging to train our minds and focus our undivided attention onto. What if your invested workout hours did more than lift your booty, but actually nourished you so that you walked away embodying the mom and woman you most want to be in the world? That is where the opportunity of embodied fitness comes in!  Here’s how you’ll achieve just that: Taking the time to learn how your body works requires mental discipline. You can’t zone out while you’re working out—especially with RM. By engaging the mind and body together, you’ll achieve the physical and the mental reset you want most, with a shorter time on your mat! Your workouts get efficient and effective because you are working more muscles in an integrated way, the entire time.  So, here’s your step-by-step roadmap: Begin this year with Phase 1, Week 1 of the RM Method.  Follow the daily schedule of 30 minutes or less workouts a day and give your whole self to the workouts. No distractions—no checking your phone, fiddling with your hair, nothing!  Accountability + Motivation boosters are essential: Join the RM Inner Circle Group (it’s FREE with your membership!) on WhatsApp and receive daily love notes, inspiration, and feel empowered from other moms, just like you.  Love yourself when you feel stuck or feel like you’re failing.   Love your body. Love your temple. Remember, it birthed your babies.  We’ve got this…together, hands on each other’s backs.  

Knowledge every woman needs to live a strong, embodied life. You’re not doing anything wrong and your body isn’t broken. I’m going to say something seemingly basic, but totally revolutionary for us each to hear: Women’s bodies have different cross-training needs than men’s over the arc of our lifetime.  Understanding how your female body works is how you thrive and stay strong for the long haul.  As the new year is underway and we are all hitting the fitness routines hard, a thought has occurred to me that I wanted to share with you. I hear these statements uttered in disbelief from almost every woman I’ve ever worked with and is quickly followed by her tearing up: “I’ve never felt those muscles before—actually, I don’t think I ever knew they existed. I definitely never felt my abs like this in a plank or sit up before.  I think I’ve been doing it wrong my whole life.” These realizations are usually delivered with a mix of disbelief, frustration, sadness and…hope.   Hope that she finally now knows, but also, fear of what else they might not know and still be doing wrong.  My answer to those spinning mom-thoughts is simple: it’s totally normal that you never really understood how to do a plank, a sit-up or the basics of your body’s changing, cross-training needs—you are a woman and no one ever taught you how to work out and how your muscles work (or don’t!) at different points in your life.    If you’re pregnant, understanding how to modify your movement is key. The best pregnancy workout routines focus on building strength while prioritizing stability and alignment—laying the foundation for a smoother postpartum recovery. So, let’s change that! As you harness your new year’s motivation to hit the gym, cue up your favorite videos, and lace your sneakers for those runs in the park, I want to share 5 powerful shifts you can make to prevent injury, feel better in your workouts, and get the full-body results you want and need. The bonus? A sustainable fitness habit that meets all of your mental, physical, and emotional mom-needs in less than 30 minutes a day.     1. Simple Sit-Ups Muscles activated: Your back and abdominal wall.   While doing a basic crunch, feel your lats (the large muscles under the shoulder blades) wrap you before lifting the upper body off the ground. Instead of squeezing your neck and shoulders to crunch, this will help lengthen your upper spine by pulling the back muscles down and enclosing the rib cage.  You’ll also want to feel engagement in your chest. My favorite cue is that your boobs are driving your ribs downward towards your belly button—it's a funny image, but it triggers your pecs to flex with your upper-most abs. These muscles, coupled with your lats, creates a true 360-degree sit up.   2. Powerful Planks: Muscles activated: Your entire body!    Start off by doing a few squats, so that your pelvis is mobile and your glutes and upper-thighs are lit up and ready to work. Getting planks out of your shoulders and into your core requires practicing with your knees down in “incline plank.”  Take some weight off your upper body and turn on your chest/upper back, pull your lats down while thinking about your glutes pressing your pelvis down while your abs and thighs press up—chin in neutral so that your neck is long and throat is relaxed. If you’re in the early postpartum phase, this is where a structured approach makes all the difference. The best postpartum workout program won’t rush you into high-impact movements but will focus on gradual core strengthening—starting with deep transverse abdominal activation, breath work, and rebuilding pelvic stability. 3. Seriously Good Squats: Muscles activated: quads, glutes, inner & outer thighs. While doing squats, your pelvis should angle back and instead of reaching your arms out in front of you (this uses your shoulders and neck), put your fingers on either side of your rib cage, engaging your rib-girdle postural muscles, to hold you up instead of gripping your arms and shoulders for balance.  If you’re not feeling your butt as much as your thighs, that’s ok, but that’s a sign that you could use some isolated glute work to help your back body wake up and get involved.   4. Back By Deadlifts: Muscles activated: entire back body; especially back & hamstrings Your back body is essential to your fully functional, fit body and life. It gets as whacked out through pregnancy/childbirth as your abdominal wall and pelvis, but is often a forgotten or ignored part of the body. So, go gently and take your time, beginning with your pelvic corridor, abs and glutes. Then, begin working the dead-lift by hinging at the waist, wrapping your abs and squeezing your glutes, lats, and hamstrings to rotate back up. Start without weights and slowly add a few pounds once you’re feeling the full-body activation and workout.  5. Soft Roller For The Win: Muscles activated: Your entire body!  Your muscles turn on and off depending on your hormone levels, menstrual cycle, age, stress, sleep quality…I mean, the list goes on! Your body is built in layers and some layers get stuck, turn off or overcompensate when injuries are incurred. Soft-foam rolling essentially irons out these layers (also known as fascial hydration—we’ll dive into this more in the January 26th issue of The Rewrite) and allows your body to move freely, with ease and a full range of motion. It’s absolute magic!  Check out this short rolling video to try it for yourself. Postpartum fitness isn’t just about recovery—it’s about long-term strength, balance, and confidence in movement. Your body has been through a transformation, and the way you train should honor that. Understanding how to cross-train in ways that work with your body—not against it—ensures you stay strong, injury-free, and empowered for life. Whether you’re newly postpartum, years into motherhood, or just looking to refine how you move, these principles will help you train smarter, not harder.

Enter 2025 with purpose and joy with my favorite guided journaling and meditation rituals. New year, new you…same you. It’s all YOU!  Life occurs in cycles and nothing is more circular than a mother’s life. You wear so many hats and your physical body transforms and moves differently year after year. Your passions, hobbies, and self-expression are multi-faceted and woven together. That weaving becomes stronger and more vibrant as the years pass. New Years is such a powerful moment to pause and recalibrate; to spin the crystal of your life and bring attention to new sides of your being. Goals and inner vision are essential to keep moving forward, especially when navigating the hazy years of early motherhood. We’re not waiting to look up in middle-age and wonder, “Where did my life go?” We’re looking inside and living into what is most important and joyful now. I invite you to print this out (old school, I know!) and hand-write this journaling exercise. In a quiet space, turn your phone to Do Not Disturb, sit with a journal or piece of paper, and light a candle. Be still with yourself and take several long, deep breaths. When answering these questions, read them out loud to yourself. Then just let the answers come through you—no grammar, no spell-check, just free-thought writing. Dream back to this day last year. What were you hoping for in 2024? Where were you in life and what decisions were you about to make? What were your biggest wins this past year? What were your biggest challenges? How did you overcome them or how are you working through them? What do you love about life right now? What do you wish to change or begin? Let yourself dream and envision your most authentic, expanded version of life, especially include the parts you think are impossible. Imagine your life with all of these changes and new habits, active and alive in your day.  How do you feel? What do you look like? What do you do all day? For 2025, bring this big, beautiful vision into the next 12 months: Write 5 actionable changes you want to start.  For example a “big vision” could be: I want to move to Hawaii and live on the beach with my family. Your “2025 action” would be: I begin researching schools in Hawaii and choose my top 3 for my kids.   Another example of a “big vision” could be: I can run 10 miles and feel great. Your “2025 action” would be: I commit to a daily fitness habit that nourishes me, while progressively building strength and running capacity. Read your answers. What is your one word that is taking you into 2025?Your 2025 Word: Big Vision: Action Goals for 2025: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. So, say hello to 2025 and greet the year with optimism and an open heart. Begin your commitment to love yourself as you embrace the opportunities and adventures that lie ahead. Every year I am grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow. I choose to live authentically with energy and vitality in all that I do—to abandon perfection and replace it with joy. I wish all these things and more for you, mama! Happy New Year!

How to find your balance and stay present during the holidays. Threading the holiday needle between my family-of-origin and my created-family is always a tricky task. I try to be grateful for the whole tapestry of who I am and where I come from, but it does not occur naturally—I have to cultivate it. Therapy has played a big part in helping unlearn my default of shame and self-criticism and shift instead towards cultivating genuine celebration and appreciation for all parts of life. The key for me is to plan a day with a series of family centered activities that are handmade, simple, and authentically express what brings us joyfully together over the holidays.   So, after many years of trial and correction, here’s my list for you, your kids, and your partner, (and your entire extended family to boot!) to be able to lean in and contact true feelings of abundance and gratitude this Thanksgiving. Begin With Being PresentSet your work and phone boundaries—decide when you want to be OOO and unplug.  Constantly checking your work will only cause stress and that unyielding feeling of never doing enough anywhere.  Choose your holiday or choose your work and draw a line between them for a day or two.  Move That Body!This one is non-negotiable for me. Take just 30-45 minutes of the day to exercise and get your body moving. It’s essential to being able to hold, feel, and stay present with your family. Get outside together and enjoy a post-meal walk, do a video (check out my Thanksgiving Special—do it on repeat all weekend!) or even make a hopscotch board in your hallway and play with your kids (if you’re afraid to jump, head over to Phase 1, Week 1 and we’ll get that pelvic floor issue cleared up!). Ken and I trade workout times and we plan the cooking accordingly. Meaning, I work out first, he gets the food in the oven, then we trade. I usually head into the kitchen and hit the pie production while he gets in his workout. At the end, we both feel accomplished, energized, and mentally ready for the day! We Put Turkey On Time-OutTurkey isn’t part of our Thanksgiving spread—it’s just too much food, takes too long, and we all prefer local, organic chickens instead. The focus here, though, is on moderation, not gluttony and overconsumption, which destroy the true meaning of gratitude. Keep it simple, choose a few dishes that you love like sweet potatoes with marshmallows (mmmm!), braised kale, cornbread stuffing (that’s my must-have!), Ken's cranberry sauce (that’s his!), an apple or pumpkin pie…and we are good to go!   Nature Makes It NiceGo for a walk outside with your family and invite everyone to gather a couple of natural objects that they find beautiful (think: pinecones and fall leaves!) and bring them home to create a unique center-piece for the day. We also include a single beeswax candle in the center of the nature wreath to serve as our touch-point for giving thanks when lighting it at the beginning of our meal.  Gratitude At The TableInvite the kids to take a few pieces of paper and color one side (this helps keep them busy for a few minutes, too!). Then, cut them into strips and place them in a basket with a few pens. Before dinner, everyone takes a strip and writes what they are grateful for this year then places it back in the basket. At the start of the meal, the basket is passed around and everyone pulls out a ‘grateful’ and reads it out loud. We finish by thanking the earth, farmers, and family for our meal and wish for blessings and peace to all. It’s simple and circumvents the religious pitfalls of blended family moments, while retaining spiritual connection to our earth and to each other.   Try To Keep the TV OffInstead of TV, consider cooking together, playing board games, and taking a group walk after your meal. I know…football, but maybe only part of the game? Involving your children in the day is what actually generates the experience of deep connection that we all yearn for. Doing everything yourself, leaves you feeling burnt out and exhausted—sure you get that ping of “I did it!” but that deep joy you look forward to actually comes from relating to your children and creating the day together.  Happy Thanksgiving. The day will go slower and the kids will throw flour everywhere, and you will feel so rich in life and love! If you’re looking for more attitude of gratitude to add to your holiday table, I love reading the following poem to my friends and family this time of year.  WHAT WE NEED IS HERE Geese appear high over us,pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,as in love or sleep, holdsthem to their way, clearin the ancient faith: what we needis here. And we pray, notfor new earth or heaven, but to bequiet in heart, and in eye,clear. What we need is here. – Wendell Berry –

When More Intervention Might Be Needed In my last Diastasis Recti article, I defined DR and shared how to assess your abdominal tone and strength—a true DR that needs additional treatment is actually not that common. Today, I'm going to talk about those cases, how it feels and looks, and how to treat it, should you be wondering about the state of your abdominal wall. To be clear, in my 20+ years practicing, I have only seen a handful of these cases and they have all been treatable with the following intervention. For those of us who embark on the journey of motherhood, there’s a lot about it that scares us…all the flipping time! Your body doesn’t have to be one of those things. It can be a refuge for self-connection, self-understanding, stress release, and emotional clarity.  Here’s how you know, what to do, and where to begin if you think you may need more help with your abdominal recovery post babies… HOW TO TELL IF YOU NEED FURTHER INTERVENTION A true Diastasis Recti is when the abdomen is like a pool of thinned and soft belly tissue—there’s almost no response even at the mom’s very best effort. In these cases, I refer moms to a very specialized pelvic PT for manual, visceral manipulation. This is because, the loss of the front core muscles will have also resulted in extreme weakness and tension in the back, pelvic floor, and hip-stabilizing muscles, requiring manual release, visceral movement, and often organ realignment prior to a mom’s ability to begin isolating, feeling, and engaging her transverse abdominals (TVA). In these cases, there are common symptoms that accompany the DR such as stress incontinence, back pain, hunched shoulders and “stuck ribs.” The term, stuck ribs, is used to explain how a widened diaphragm and ribcage are unresponsive when asked to expand and contract 3-dimensionally.  WHY DIASTASIS RECTI EXERCISES POSTPARTUM MATTER When caught early, Diastasis Recti exercises postpartum can play a critical role in closing abdominal separation and restoring core function. By progressively engaging the deep core muscles—especially the TVA—these exercises help rebuild tension and elasticity in the midline, allowing moms to regain strength and prevent further weakening. Proper core activation also reduces the risk of secondary issues like pelvic instability or back pain, making postpartum fitness a smoother, more supportive journey. THE 411 ON CONING + DOMING Ever heard of “coning” or “doming?” These terms refer to an abdominal contraction that instead of pulling down and inward, separates and pushes your midline out between the two sides of your 6-pack.  This separation and outward pressure occurs in a moment when your TVA are not able to engage and so your external abs are disorganized and de-stabilized, like when you’re 9 months pregnant or just gave birth.   COMMON CONING Sometimes coning spontaneously and naturally occurs when you sneeze, cough or simply try to sit up after lying down. These short-lived moments are not dangerous and do not ‘cause’ Diastasis Recti.  You can try and engage your TVA mindfully before you sneeze or cough (and definitely when rolling up out of bed) and this can help hold things in place in the moment, but it’s ok if you can’t and don’t. You will not make things worse because you are 9-months pregnant or 1-week postpartum and have a moment of coning. The coning that we want to watch out for is a separation that occurs when you are working out and your abs cannot sustain their engagement through exercise—so, you “cone.” Paying attention to this “lost TVA moment” will allow you to pause your exercise and use breath to re-engage from the inside out, continuing to strengthen your abdominal wall. If ignored, you begin to risk training your abs to pull apart for strength instead of together, which can lead to thinning and weakening of the midline, resulting in a more severe Diastasis Recti UNDERSTANDING YOUR CORE & ITS CONNECTION TO OTHER SYSTEMS A strong, engaged core doesn’t just impact your abs—it affects your entire body. Without a functioning core, your spine lacks stability, your pelvic floor compensates in ways that lead to tightness and dysfunction, and your breath becomes shallow and ineffective. PELVIC MUSCLE SPASMS & WEAK CORE MUSCLES One often-overlooked issue in postpartum recovery is the development of pelvic muscle spasm due to core weakness. When the TVA and deep abdominal muscles are unable to activate properly, the pelvic muscles overcompensate, leading to chronic tension, discomfort, and even pain. Many moms experience this as a tight, gripping feeling in the pelvic floor, which can contribute to urinary leakage, hip pain, and discomfort during movement. To prevent this, it’s essential to restore proper core engagement through breath work, progressive strengthening, and intentional pelvic floor relaxation techniques..   HOW TO KNOW YOU NEED MORE HELP An Easy Way To Test Your Midline: Standing or lying down, simply take a deep breath. If your midline sticks out below your ribs (and your ribs don’t move), this is a sign that you need some help from a pelvic PT. Make an appointment with a specialized PT to help remobilize your ribs and diaphragm. They can also release the back tension that is keeping your TVA from gliding with your breath. EXERCISE & “DOMING” What can exacerbate your abdominal weakness and lead to a widening of the midline is sustained coning and weight-baring core work while the TVA are disengaged. For example, doing a plank while pregnant and the midline is pushing down and out instead of up and “hugging” the baby. If you are working out and noticing that your mid-belly is lax, bulging or can not draw in and together, then you need to pause and go back to your foundational TVA strength. BELLY BANDS: DOs & DON’Ts Belly bands are tight, elastic-type corsets that wrap around your back and waist to help hold your belly in. Moms are advised way too frequently to use belly bands and it f’s up their abs!  Extended or frequent use keeps your muscles deactivated and trains them to become increasingly passive and reliant on the belly band. I have seen this lead to complete atrophy of the majority of your trunk’s core muscle system, requiring months of rehabilitation and recovery.   I only advise using a belly band in very specific, early postpartum or post-operative situations, where the mom is often needing to care for her older children and or perform standing/walking tasks that are beyond her body’s capacity. In these instances, the band can lend itself to support the mom through a couple hours of activity and then, she takes it off, but I always use them with a plan to stop using them.   THE SURGICAL OPTION Surgery is the right choice for you if you and your medical team decide so. No one knows your body and your needs better than you. I have advised women with minimal separations to head into surgery because psychologically, they just needed to see a quicker fix than the rehab fitness was going to yield. Some have gone in because their tissues were so compromised, they likely would never be able to bring elasticity and strength back to the core without it.   Whatever you choose, I applaud you.  POST-OP TIPS Corrective surgery is major undergoing and you will need the same course of muscle reeducation and strength training post-op as you do now. But, the great news is, you’ll have muscles that are aligned where they are meant to be and tissues with enough tension and elasticity to engage and build 3-dimension strength! Remember, surgery will only be an option after you are sure you’re done having children. So, no matter where you are in your journey, a daily, mind-body core workout that meets you at your fitness level and supports your muscle activation are a must for your long-term health.  THE PUNCHLINE  A fit, active lifestyle is key to success. Find a program that inspires you and keeps you moving forward. It should resonate with you and you should feel changes happening as you make your way through the program. Postpartum Fitness & Core Strength: A strong core is essential for postpartum fitness. Whether you’re lifting your baby, returning to exercise, or simply moving through daily life, core stability is at the heart of it all. Strengthening your TVA through intentional movement ensures long-term function and resilience. For more on diastasis-recti and your pre and postnatal muscle education, check out the RM DR Program on our App.For an exceptional Pelvic PT, check out Beyond Basics with multiple locations located in Manhattan. 

How Children Can Self-Regulate and Keep The Candy Halloween is upon us and few places celebrate quite like New York City—it’s definitely a party. I was raised by a hippie, single-mom in the Santa Cruz mountains. Sugar was in large part villainized for much of my childhood, which led to some hard nutritional awakenings once I started making my own food choices.   So, when it came to sugar with my kids, I knew I wanted to do it differently, but I didn’t know exactly how. I knew I wanted to teach them about sugar and its effects, as well as its pleasure, without banning the sweet substance and the fun parties that often accompany it.   And, in 13 years of Halloween with two competitive trick-or-treaters, my daughters have never eaten, or even asked for, all of their Halloween candy.  Here’s how we do it… Make it a family affair. Ken and I dress up, go door-to-door with them, and make it a fun tradition that is about more than just candy. It’s about a shared evening of family and friends.   They are allowed to eat as we go. I check the candy as they unwrap it and then, they can go for it. I don’t stop them from enjoying trick-or-treating and eating as much of their treasured hoard as they want. We stop before they fall apart.  As it begins to get dark, we have a planned next phase of the evening. This way, it’s a transition rather than an end to the fun. We usually gather with friends either at our house or someone else’s and we are ready with a hearty veggie chili and fresh sourdough with lots of salty churned butter—it’s delicious, warming, grounding, and counteracts the inevitable sugar-high.   Water for the win! Have a water bottle on hand and keep putting the straw into their mouths, making sure they’re sipping and staying hydrated throughout the evening. Candy trading. The kids we party with after trick-or-treating pile together, dump out their hauls, and start counting, trading,and playing. By the end of the evening, they’ve all consumed a crazy amount of sugar, have celebrated, and are ready to put it all back into their plastic pumpkins.   At bedtime, expect exhaustion. Plan an extra-long teeth brushing where you can talk about how fun the night was and get in a quick bath and scrub off the facepaint. Finally, tuck them into bed knowing that you may need to hold them while they cry themselves to sleep from over-exhaustion. It’s okay—it’s one night and they’ll remember the fun, not how tired they ended up being.  Stash their stash. Once the kids are asleep, we take their pumpkins and put them on the top shelf of our coat closet. They’ve never asked for the candy again. Out of sight, out of mind—for you, too…because a giant bucket of candy is a hard temptation for all of us! The hangover cure. The following morning, we serve protein, veggies, and whole grain bread (like a big veggie frittata with sauteed kale!). We avoid serving desserts for a few days and keep food simple—as parents, we love halloween candy, too and always want to just rebalance a bit after the evening. Go for hearty veggie soups, roasted chicken and salads, bean and rice burritos with avocado and greens. We talk to our girls about nutrition and sugar. We’re honest about the feelings we all get from a sugar/party hangover. I explain how sugar operates in their bodies (it is absorbed instantly and burned even faster) and how processed sugar like candy is different from natural sugars in fruits and breads (that the body has to work harder to turn into energy) and that’s why they feel better eating fruit than a lollipop. We also are totally transparent about how we, as adults, have a hard time resisting sugar and how we make sure to choose foods that help rebalance our bodies in order to feel energetic and happy going into the week.  Shift the focus. November launches the next holiday—Thanksgiving, collecting fall leaves, and picking out funny gourds from the farmer’s market to decorate the dining table.   Give the candy away. By the end of November, we usually feel it’s time to empty the pumpkins and donate the candy along with some canned goods to a local food shelter. What I have witnessed in my girls is the ability to choose. At times, they choose too much and they are learning where that fine line is within themselves. They talk to me about how they feel and I ask them, “what foods would feel good to you to rebalance from Halloween?” and they have great ideas!  In the end, Halloween is a one night event.We hit it hard, have a great time, and then…it’s done!