PostNatal | Pilates with Priya

Pelvic Girdle Pain and Pilates.

30 July, 2025 Priya Tew

Working with pregnant ladies I often end up advising and chatting about pelvic pain. I also have a few other non-pregnant ladies with this type of pain, who had this type of pain in pregnancy and it’s continued after birth.

Pelvic Girdle Pain (PGP) has been renamed Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction. Big terms for pain in the joint that make up the pelvis, the syphysis pubis joint and the front and the sacroiliac joint at the back. Pain can be felt in the lower back, groin, thighs, hips and pelvic floor. This can lead to pain walking, climbing the stairs, getting in/out of the car and bath, straddling, turning in bed and standing on one leg.

There are many reasons suggested as to why this pain can occur, in some cases the pelvic joints can be damaged or weak, there could be a biomechanical problem or it could be due to hormones. Between 14-22% of pregnant ladies get PGP and in many it is a random thing that cannot be predicted!

Pilates can really help prevent and minimise PGP. In my ante-natal classes we focus on strengthening the muscles above and below the pelvis, so helping the pelvis remain strong. We strengthen the core muscles and also muscles in the thighs, legs and bottom. For example a pelvic tilt or small roll up can strengthen the core and modified squats and oysters can strengthen the gluts and thighs muscles.

If you get pelvic pain then here are my top tips:
See a physiotherapist. In Southampton you can self-refer to the obstetric physio, which is an amazing thing. the midwifes will pass on the number to you. A physio will assess your pain, range of function and possibly realign your pelvis.
Once you have seen the physio, then Pilates exercises can help strengthen you to minimise any further pain. Try a one to one session for some specially tailored exercises to do at home or attend a class.
Remain active within the limits of your pain, keeping active is important and will help, but obviously you don’t want to be in constant pain, so you will need to judge how much you can do.
Avoid activities that make it worse, standing on one leg often does this or having the legs too wide apart. Try keeping some activites seated.
Using a pillow between your legs when sleeping can provide relief for some ladies.
Ask for help when you need it!

Priya will be releasing her own worksheets to help with this area and her own Pilates in Pregnancy DVD very soon, contact us to pre-order.

To book a one to one session click here.

How to get a six pack and recover from diastasis recti.

29 January, 2013 Priya Tew

Sit-ups, or any variation of this movement where you go into forward flexion eg when lying on your back, you bring your torso towards your knees to work the six pack muscle (called the Rectus Abdominus or RA), is considered a NO-NO for postnatal women, ladies post hysterectomy after some types of abdominal surgery, in those with abdominal doming or in diastasis recti (seperated tummy muscles). This isn’t limited to women, lifting heavy weights can cause it to happen in men too. Performing this exercise can cause more harm than good. So, if you’ve any of the above conditions and you’re doing sit ups, STOP them immediately.

How do you strengthen your abdominals? Pilates!!!

The first thing we need to do regarding this area is actually focus on strengthening your pelvic floor which is a bit like a sling of muscles supporting you from underneath, then locate the deep abdominal muscles which lie under your six-pack/R.A muscle. These deep muscles are known as the Transversus Abdominis (TA). If you work on strengthening the deepest muscles first, then focus on the next layer, then the next layer after that, then your abdominals will re-align to their original structure.

Sit-ups strengthen and work the R.A. During pregnancy with diastasis recti and after some surgeries, we know that this muscle has lengthened and separated. If you don’t have a solid foundation underneath this six-pack muscle before you work then sit-ups will actually make your separation worse, because you’re forcing the muscle to strengthen, when it’s still in a weakened, separated state. The amount of abdominal pressure placed on the six-pack muscle when performing a sit-up, forces it to separate further apart.

The best type of exercise to do for your abdominals, postnatally is Pilates-based. Pilates focuses on your pelvic floor and TA. As an instructor I’d focus on strengtheing your core first and then later on work on those sit ups to shorten the RA muscles.

So, I hear you ask: “Why do people do sit-ups?”. Well, in most cases, people do sit-ups in the hope that they will get themselves a toned, flat stomach and a noticeable six-pack. However I’d debate this, often sit-ups are not performed safely and unless you are super leaned with a strong core, they aren’t going to work.

So, to get a six-pack, there are three things you need to do: a) clean up your diet, b) make fat-burning exercise part of your routine (the best way to burn fat, is to build lean muscle eg weight/resistance training), and c) work your pelvic floor and TA by doing Pilates.

Pilates with Priya: Some photo of our classes in 2013

2013 A New Year and New Classes

16 November, 2014 Priya Tew

WOWSERS, I mean literally WOWSERS! We have been overwhelmed with the number of new Pilates enquiries, you lot are fitness crazy at present, it’s almost as if it’s the start of the New Year and there are some Resolutions being made…..oh hang on, that just may be it 😉

Before I get swept up in the excitement I wanted to say a HUGE THANKYOU to all of you who have been faithfully coming to classes over the past year. It’s been a real journey this year and we’ve just been riding the wave and seeing where it goes. It turns out that there is a lot of Pilates love around and as it is a complete pleasure running classes for such lovely people we are putting on new ones.

To start off 2013 we are running:

Sun 10-10.45am Beginners class (FULL for Jan)

Wed 5-6pm Beginners class at EXILE Gym, Shirley.

Thurs 7-7.45pm Beginners class (FULL for Jan)

Thurs 11.30-12.15 Post natal class for mums and babies

If there is enough interest we’d also love to put on :

Wed 9.45-10.15 Toddler Ballet

Please spread the word for us and we so appreciate your support!

NCT Nearly New Sale and Us

30 July, 2025 Priya Tew

Today we had a trade stand at the Southampton Nearly New Sale…. probably doesn’t sound that exciting, but it was the first time we had done something like this.

I’ll be honest….James did all the hard work, he got all the literature, DVD’s and forms together. I just turned up with a toddler and a smile on my face, did my thing of chatting, demonstrating moves and chasing a small girl around.

We’re such a small business, we don’t yet have lots of fancy giant posters, stands or amazing things to give away, but we do love to talk to people and help them. This morning it was lots of chatter about pelvic girdle pain, weaning and tummies!

As a result it looks like our antenatal classes will be full and overflowing, great news as a lot of our current mummies to be are about to give birth. I also sold a few DVD’s and hopefully we may have got some interested in our Weaning EBook – Baby Breakfasts.

A lovely morning, talking to lovely people. Thankyou to all who said Hello. The added bonus – meeting some of our Pilates babies and seeing their mummies!!

Pilates with Priya: Post Natal Pilates Class

Abdominal Seperation can be Fixed!

4 November, 2012 Priya Tew

I love working with my post-natal mummies (and that’s not just because I sometimes get a baby to cuddle), one of the key things we focus on is strengthening the core post-birth.

As part of these classes I often perform “rec checks” on mummies to see how their tummy muscles are, that also means we get exciting moments when we realise Pilates has done it’s job and the muscles are back in line again – WHOOP WHOOP!

Here we are in action:

Here’s some more info on what I mean:

The six-pack muscle (Rectus Abdominis) runs from your breast bone to your pubic bone and is joined together with a strong fibrous sheath called the Linea Alba. In some pregnancies, the Linea Alba becomes a little darker in colour and is visible on your stomach. This is called Linea Negra which simply means “dark line”.

You may have heard people talk about your abdominal muscles “splitting”. Your muscles don’t “split”, because they’re already in a separated state, as they’re held together by the Linea Alba which I mentioned above. A split muscle is like a torn muscle, so if you’ve ever torn your hamstring, for example, you’ll know what this pain is like! What happens to the abdominal muscles during pregnancy, is completely painless, you aren’t aware of it, and I like to refer to it simply as abdominal “separation”.

The Rectus Abdominis stretches vertically (up and down your stomach) to accommodate baby bump at your front, and when it can’t stretch any further up and down, it then starts to separate horizontally (from left to right).

I guess it’s a little bit like the Linea Alba is heavy duty cling film stretching apart. The muscles don’t separate in every pregnancy. It depends on a number of factors. The separation can take place above the belly button, below the belly button, or both.

Doing Pilates-based exercise and lots of pelvic floor work during pregnancy and immediately after birth is the best thing you can do to help your muscles re-align.

Why not do 5 “draw up and hold” abdominal/pelvic floor exercises now? Breathe in, filling your belly with air to prepare. Breathe out, draw your tummy muscles in and draw your pelvic floor up slowly and keep holding on (like you’re stopping yourself going for a wee). Stay there and breathe in to hold. Then breathe out and slowly relax the pelvic floor/ab muscles. Repeat this again, throughout the day.

Happy Birthday Post Natal Pilates!

22 July, 2025 Priya TewLeave a Comment

I’ve just realised that February saw the Birthday of my post-natal Pilates class. I know it’s now March but it felt like this needed marking.

This class came about because I had a baby…. which highlighted to me how difficult (but not impossible) it can be to exercise with your little one in tow. I knew I needed to get back into Pilates for my health, fitness and peace of mind, so why not do it with other mummies. Also having received an extremely poor information sheet in hospital about how to do pelvic floor exercises, I felt I could do better myself!

Our first few classes were held in a community centre with the babies at one end of the room with Daddy day-care rocking them in their car seats. All except my little one who tended to fall asleep in the sling before class started and I taught with her attached. (Health and Safety Note – do not do this yourself unless you know what you are doing, it’s a lot harder!!). I’ll admit it, these first few classes were hard, I was tired, my baby was 3 months old and a breast feeding milk monster so sleep was not forthcoming, but I was also determined and teaching classes kinda keeps me going 😉

Moving venue in April to our new home based studio was such a relief. Even though my studio is tiny, we suddenly we had more space as the babies hang out in the lounge with Daddy day-care. We have access to lots of toys, all manner of baby bits so if anyone forgets anything we can help out and there’s no pressure to rush away so the kettle goes on at the end of class. This has led to lovely moments of mummies supporting each other, sharing tips, books, sling demonstrations, many baby cuddles and even weaning talks from the dietitian who happens to be there every week (that’s me – Dietitian UK). It literally becomes a community of it’s own and many mummies transition into evening classes when they go back to work.

I have absolutely LOVED this class over the past year and look forward to many more classes, baby cuddles and cups of tea.

Ante-Natal and Post-Natal Pilates supporting the NCT.

15 December, 2011 Priya TewLeave a Comment

A new exciting development for Pilates with Priya in 2012…. we will be running not just Post -Natal Pilates classes but also Ante-Natal classes. Pilates was a complete saviour to me not only during pregnancy but also during labour and very much so post-birth. All those pregnancy aches and pains were minimised through Pilates. So I am so looking forward to being able to work with some mummies to be and help them with their pregnancy and prepare with labour and beyond. We will be doing exercises that are safe for your stage of pregnancy, using relaxation and breathing techniques that can help you in labour, and preparing your body for post-birth too. Pilates is safe to do all through pregnancy.

These classes will be supporting the Southampton branch of the National Childbirth Trust (NCT). This branch has done so much for me….we attended an NCT ante-natal course and then in the past year have been so well supported by the NCT groups and community. I have made some great new friends, been helped so much with my journey into mummyhood and am amazed at how much work my local branch does….so this is one way I can help give something back to help them do even more.

You do not have to be a member of the NCT to attend these classes or in fact any of the NCT groups that run across the city.

Classes will be Sundays 9.30am starting in January, please let me know if you would like to come along, £25 for 4 weeks.

Sad Goodbyes and Happy Hellos

31 March, 2012 Priya TewLeave a Comment

After about 6 months of having a certain 3 mummies and their babies in my post natal class the time has come for them to return to work 🙁 Its been such a pleasure having them in the class and learning with them as our babies grow and as the class moved location and developed. In the early stages the babies all sat in their car seats and slept (well mine was in a sling), and over the months they have progressed to laying on mats, rolling over, sitting up and now crawling and standing. We have had classes where its been feed, feed, feed, other memorable moments where there have been epic dirty nappies (!) and times when all the babies have cried at once 🙁 then occasionally, and more frequently as they have got older, there have been times of peace. In those moments we have often looked at each other, savoured the time and wondered how long it would last! These 3 mummies and babies have become firm friends of mine and of each others, showing how friendships can blossom as you exercise, especially in a small class. Special thanks must go to them for supporting me and coming along, sharing their top tips and to their babies for being stars! Extra mention must go to the fabulous Daddy day-care for his expert care of our babies too.

It seems I’ve got these mummies hooked on Pilates as they have all transferred over into different classes, in fact I put new classes on to cater for them 🙂 and they are enjoying the difference of Pilates without babies.

So although it is very sad to see faces leave post natal Pilates I’m pleased to see these ladies progress and move forward, plus I have been able to take new mummies and gorgeous babies into the class. Today saw 3 new mummies come along and I got to have lovely cuddles. I’m looking forward to getting to know them and help them strengthen their bodies and tone up their core.

Here are a few photos of the babies who have moved on….

Baby carrying and alignment

18 August, 2011 Priya TewLeave a Comment

So I’ve certainly noticed that as my baby is getting older she is getting bigger and heavier. Those of you who know me may well smile at this as it’s a well known fact that I have a petite baby who really isn’t heavy compared to others her age 😉 But the fact remains she is getting bigger and I have been very aware that I need to be using proper alignment to carry her safely and protect my back, pelvis and shoulders. Pilates is so good at helping train your brain to think about correct alignment, it also strengthens your core so helping you lift safely and in my post natal classes we target the shoulders and arms as well. So if you manage to get to a Pilates class you will certainly be helping your body out.

The very lovely Katy Bowman has done a fab video post on how to carry your baby safely and so here it is for all of you, it made me think, hopefully it will help you too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CaNN8DiIn4&feature=youtu.be

Pilates a good tonic for sleepless nights.

31 March, 2012 Priya TewLeave a Comment

This week I’ve had a teething baby which has meant little sleep and lots of energy exerted in looking after a grizzly one. You’d think with all of that teaching Pilates would seem like a chore. But not at all. Its totally revived and refreshed me.

And its not just me, I quote a lady from my post-natal class:

It seems that Pilates also cures headaches – feeling so much better now. Thank you Priya .

So if you’re feeling in need of a little pick me up Pilates could be the perfect tonic for you!

After another night of little sleep I’m looking forward to a Pilates and stretching session all of my own later on.

Category: PostNatal