Pregnancy and birth are profound experiences that create enormous change within a woman’s body. While they are natural processes, they can also leave behind physical changes, discomfort, uncertainty or a sense that your body does not feel quite like your own.
I am a certified practitioner with the Institute of Birth Healing®, incorporating pregnancy and postpartum techniques that look beyond muscles alone to consider the whole pelvic system – including bones, ligaments, organs, fascia, scar tissue and the nervous system.
So often, we focus on strengthening and releasing muscles, particularly when we think about pelvic floor recovery. While this is important, the way we experience our body is influenced by so much more. The position and mobility of our bones, the support of our ligaments, the movement of our organs, restrictions within our fascia and the way our nervous system responds to our experiences can all shape how we feel and function in our daily lives.
One of the concepts that deeply informs my work is the idea that sometimes the body can continue to hold the experience of birth. When the body physically presents in the open birthing pattern, it can be difficult to feel grounded, settled and fully at home within ourselves. Supporting the body to integrate and recover from birth can influence pelvic floor function, comfort, stability and our sense of connection with ourselves.
Because it can be incredibly difficult to mother when your body feels like it is still birthing.
The Birth Preparation techniques support women during pregnancy by easing aches and discomfort, increasing body awareness and helping mothers develop a deeper understanding of their pelvic space as they prepare for birth.
The Birth Healing techniques support postpartum recovery by helping the body integrate after birth, including working with pelvic alignment, scar tissue, restrictions and changes that may contribute to ongoing discomfort, dysfunction or altered body awareness. So the body doesn’t feel out of order, but integrated with the realities of the birth rite of passage.
This work may be particularly supportive if you are:
- Feeling ungrounded, disconnected or like you are “floating” after birth.
- Experiencing pelvic organ prolapse, incontinence, anal fissures or haemorrhoids that have not fully resolved with pelvic floor-focused approaches.
- Experiencing pubic symphysis, back or hip pain, particularly when it develops during a subsequent pregnancy or after birth.
- Working with caesarean, abdominal or perineal scars that have technically healed but do not feel settled, comfortable or integrated within your body.
- Feeling that your birth experience is still being held physically or emotionally within your body.
As with all approaches offered at The Wild Orange Tree, this work is integrated through an occupational therapy lens, considering not only your body, but how your experiences influence your confidence, identity, relationships, routines and ability to participate in the life and mothering journey that matters to you.
