Pilates and My Perinatal Journey

Written by Garrett Kusmierz, founder and CEO of kozēkozē, a perinatal products company on a mission to reduce the mess and stress of motherhood so that moms can better bond with their babies.

I took my first pilates private class when I was 18. In peak physical shape, my 18-year-old body left feeling refreshed and intrigued by how challenging the class was despite the slow pace. From that moment until I became pregnant, I used it in my back pocket as a form of exercise to do if I felt things were out of balance in my body. It was a great tool.

When I became pregnant, I felt like I was instantly off-kilter, which triggered me to think of how I might be able to add pilates into my regime on a regular basis. As soon as I began taking mat classes at home, I realized the other reason I needed pilates was that I could do pregnancy-safe core movements to help my low back. You see, as an avid weightlifter, I loved lifting, but it felt like some of the heavy lifts were doing more harm than good the more my body moved away from its natural alignment.

The first thing I did post-baby were pilates core activations about six days postpartum. They were not intense. It was more of a cat-cow movement as one hand pressed into a pilates ball, as well as laying on my back and squeezing the ball between my knees. Pilates became the entryway back to self-connection for me.

If you know, you know—but the "vacancy" feeling in your body days after you birth your baby is strange. The organs are making their way back to "home base," so to speak, and learning to use your muscles in a mindful way is not as intuitive as it once was.

Finally, where I think pilates has played the most important role for me as of late is that it's finally my main form of exercise. I've found myself on an unexplained infertility journey and, to reduce extra stress from high-impact exercise, I've been doing reformer pilates two or three times a week. Not only is it helping me finally feel strong in my core again (I believe a strong core helped my first pregnancy), but it's reducing my stress while keeping me strong and helping me stay in the proper rib-cage and hip alignment, which helped me postpartum. 

Even more? My torn labrums in my hips and my low back pain is no longer bothering me, which is so powerful for me as I hopefully look towards carrying a second baby.

Needless to say, pilates has been the one thing that has been there for me along my entire perinatal journey and, for that, I am grateful.