Episode 87: Pilates, Pelvic Floor and Pregnancy with Nikki Bergen

FitMama

This week’s guest is Nikki Bergen, Pilates teacher and creator of The Belle Method and the Bump Method.

We talk about societal pressures for moms and women, and how she went from being a dancer to being a international sought after fitness expert focused on safe, effective core workouts during pregnancy and postpartum.

She begins her Pilates work with teaching women how to deeply activate their core and breathe properly.

Nikki explains what “hug the baby breath” is. She describes how the tension in our pelvic floor and the hiking of our shoulders have us breathing too high in our rib cage and not expanding the diaphragm.

She shares the “chain effect” of breathing into the diaphragm and pelvic floor and describes how someone begins when they’ve never done Pilates or core breathing before.

“If you’re not breathing, you’re not doing Pilates” is what Nikki stands by.

“We can all benefit from learning to breathe correctly because our bodies will function better.”

I ask her what to look for if you are at home and aren’t sure if you’re doing it right and she says “stand in front of a mirror, when you inhale, do you shrug your shoulders?”

Tune in to find out why that matters whether you do or don’t.

Nikki describes the differences you can expect in prenatal yoga versus prenatal Pilates and how to choose.

“Labor is the most intense marathon you will likely ever go through.” She says she focuses on it with pregnant women as she helps women in the later stages of pregnancy prepping them for birth. We discuss the fear stigma around birthing and how this changes the physiology of our pelvic floor. She shares great insight as to what to do to stop perpetuating the fear of birth that is common in society.

The “pain-fear-tension cycle” that can happen during labour is important to know about.

Find everything you need to Stay in touch with Nikki

Don’t forget to follow her on Instagram for such amazing info you won’t want to miss!