Breathing Back Into Your Core After Birth: A Gentle Practice to Start With

Again, and maybe even more after my fourth pregnancy, an emergency C-cut at 45 years old after 3 natural births, I could feel the need to reconnect with my abdomen, my belly, my internal organs, and my pelvic floor. The body has been into major changes in 9 months and now suddenly is different and needs to be hug, need to be taken care with breathing and awareness.

In all my four postpartum periods, I felt I needed time to find my body and mind again. Each postpartum has been  so different and so powerful of emotions, tiredness but also a force generated from the little creature that was nearby me, together with an immense fatigue, while breastfeeding, while taking care of the other kids, and rearrange once again the family organization and my life. Still, what helped me most this time was so simple. It was going back to my breath. Breathing is useful to cope with pain, to cope when a baby cry along the night and you just feel to cry as well, breath to hug my belly again breathing while sobbing, breathing to relax me deeply.

In this blog post I want to introduce a simplified version of the practice I started with, and the one I now teach to mothers in my classes. It takes a few minutes, needs no equipment, and you can do it while lying in bed.

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Why start with the breathing?

Your heart, lungs, belly, diaphragm and your pelvic floor work as a team. When you breathe in, the diaphragm moves down and the pelvic floor gently lengthens with it. When you breathe out, both rise again, and the deep abdominal muscles can draw softly inward.

During pregnancy this teamwork gets different: the baby takes up space, the ribs widen, the abdominal wall stretches. After birth, many of us are left breathing high and shallow in the chest, often while holding tension in the belly or the pelvic floor without realizing it. Reconnecting the breath with the core is a gentle way to begin rebuilding that teamwork, before adding more demanding exercises.

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The practice: five minutes, once or twice a day

1.    Get comfortable. Lie on your back withyour knees bent and feet flat under your knees, or on your side with a pillowbetween your knees and ankles. You can also sit upright, supported, for exampleduring a feed. Get your shoulder far away from your ears, your mouth relaxes,your tongue relaxed in the mouth.

2.    Place your hands on yourbelly. Breathe in slowly through your nose and feel the belly going up alittle, taking the right amount of air for you, then breathing out gently feelthe belly going down again, the right amount of air for you, not too much, nottoo little. Be careful to let go, to feel the hug from the belly again, do nottense. Do only what is possible for you, never force.

3.    Place your hands on your lower ribs. Breathe in slowly through your nose and feel the ribs widen into your hands — to the sides and into your back, not just the front of the belly. Also here please take the right amount of air for you, not too much, not too little. Be careful to let go, imagine breathing in from your heart. Do only what is possible for you, never force.

4.    Let go on the inhale. As you breathe in, allow your belly to soften and imagine your pelvic floor gently relaxing and widening, like a flower opening.

5.    Gather on the exhale. As you breathe out slowly through your mouth, imagine gently lifting your pelvic floor and drawing your lower belly towards your spine, as if zipping up a pair of trousers from the bottom. Think of a light effort, well below your maximum. As gently taken a delicate flower with your fingers, or kissing with your mouth.

6.    You can try to connect belly and chest cavity. One after the other, as a wave, and having a long deep exhalation, never force, again gently gathering your pelvic floor while breathing out softly.

7.    Rest and repeat. Let everything relax completely before the next breath. Repeat for 5 to 10 breaths, never forcing, always with awareness and trying to breathe out longer than breathing in.

The release on the inhale matters as much as the lift on the exhale. Many new mothers find it harder to let go than to tighten, so give it the same attention.

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Signs to ease off

Thispractice should feel gentle. Stop, rest, and try with less effort if you noticeany of the following:

•     you are holding your breath or clenching your jaw orshoulders;

•     your belly bulges or forms a ridge along the center asyou exhale;

•     you feel pressure pushing down into your pelvic floor;

•     you feel pain.

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Taking the breath into everyday life

Once the practice feels familiar, start using the exhale during the movements that fill your days. Breathe out and gently gather just before you lift your baby, stand up from the floor, pick up the car seat or push the pram up a hill. Many mothers find it helpful to think "exhale on effort".

To get out of bed, roll onto your side first and push yourself up with your arms instead of sitting straight up. It is a small change that takes pressure off the abdominal wall, especially in the early weeks.

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Breath for the nights, too

Breathing is not only for your core. During night feeds, or in a moment when everything feels like too much, try making your exhale a little longer than your inhale: for example, breathe in for a count of four and out for a count of six. Slow breathing like this helps many people feel calmer and more settled. My partner and I sometimes take a few breaths together in the evening, and I have noticed it changes the atmosphere at home.

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What breathing can and cannot do

As a yoga teacher, my role is to guide practice, not to diagnose. Breathing is a gentle starting point, but it does not replace a professional assessment. If you have had a caesarean or a complicated birth, check with your care team before starting core exercises. And please see your doctor, midwife or a pelvic floor physiotherapist if you notice a feeling of heaviness or dragging in the pelvis, leaking of urine, wind or stool, pain during sex or when moving, or a gap in your abdomen that does not seem to be improving.

Breathing techniques can also help in difficult emotional moments, but they are not a treatment for postnatal depression or anxiety. If low mood, worry or intrusive thoughts last more than two weeks, or make daily life hard, talk to your doctor or health visitor.

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Start small

Youdo not need a mat, a quiet house or a free hour. Five slow breaths while yourbaby sleeps on you is already practice. Over time, those small moments add upto a body that feels more familiar again, and a little more space for yourselfin the middle of new routines.

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