I completely understand the mama struggles; the love and the rage, the excitement and the exhaustion, the pressures of how I’m supposed to be and the reality of how I am. It was a rocky road (it still is at times) BUT I found that through movement I could feel better in my body, in strength and function, and in mental and emotional resilience. 

After being single for a decade, I thought finding the perfect partner was the hard part. But the path to becoming a mom proved far more difficult. It was littered with loss, confusion, struggle, depression, anxiety, disconnection and then finally that moment we had yearned for… a beautiful baby girl. 

I worked on bonding but still didn’t feel right. “This is what I wanted, it shouldn’t be so hard”, “why are all the other moms so natural”, “what’s wrong with me”? I had some pain and incontinence depending on what I was doing, I felt a heaviness in my pelvic floor, I was exhausted, and disconnected physically and emotionally. When I was ‘in it’, I only recognized my physical symptoms so I started doing research on treatment options. It was eleven months post delivery when I finally saw a pelvic health physiotherapist. 

The treatment was eye-opening and helpful, until I fell and ended up with a recurrence of symptoms. Around the same time I had a family member express their concern about my emotional state, that it was more than just baby blues. Everyone else made me feel like I was just super moody, unreasonable and well, bitchy. That’s when I decided there had to be something I could do. I had the foundation from previously focusing on prenatal massage and movement (how as a professional had I missed this enormous piece of women’s health and journey into motherhood?). I started diving into books, courses and hanging out with body nerds. Oh and I was pregnant again by now, so needing to apply my knowledge immediately!

I like feeling strong, confident and capable in what my body can do to meet the demands of my everyday life. Yes I love to challenge myself physically, but I had to get functional first so I could do the things I wanted without falling further into pain, incontinence, and frustration. I had to be able to care for an infant while carrying another baby. 

It’s unrealistic to drop everything and go for an hour walk, there had to be a way to break it down into accessible things. I knew I felt physically better when I moved my body but I also felt emotionally better. So I started focusing on the emotional/mental piece; looking into how the body and mind interconnected and it all pointed to the nervous system and how it is regulated through different approaches. 

My movement approach tries to combine the movement and emotional/mental piece when possible. So that there are strategies available to get you through and embrace the day. I draw from over 20 years of hands on therapeutic treatment and movement expertise and I’m continually learning to provide the best informed approach.

If I there is one thing I want to accomplish it is to help women know that they are not broken. It takes a village to raise kids but in our society we are often isolated. Mental and emotional struggles are still considered taboo, and the physical symptoms we feel are not ones that people openingly discuss or medical professionals often pass off as ‘normal’. Let me be straight - wearing sanitary pads as prevention is not normal. Peeing yourself is not normal. Feeling broken is not just a normal part of being a mom. It’s a story we are told and sold and it has to stop.

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