Body Recovery, Prolapse and Franklin Method - with Rachael Hall
Starting at age 11, Rachael attended the Royal Ballet School and received full-time professional classical ballet training. It taught her to strive for the impossible, to push her limits. She says on her website:
“I was so caught up in what I looked like from the outside, that I didn't pay attention to what things felt like on the inside…all I felt was frustrated. As my Franklin Method teacher, Eric Franklin himself always says “You get better at whatever you practice.” So what was I getting better at? A lot of tension, stress, injury, and anxiety.”
In this podcast Rachael describes the difficult transition out of a dance career and into finding herself.
“This is your amazing body…the fact that you can breathe like you do, the fact that you digest like you do, that you can think like you do…”
Rachael tells me about pilates and the Franklin Method and how they have shaped her life and connection to her body.
“If you can get to know your body and work with it - it feels like that’s the answer to everything…and not feeling guilty for giving it what it needs.”
We discussed how parenting has affected our bodies. Not just the births, nursing, sleepless nights, but me putting my back out wrestling with the kids when I should know better! I talked about the fear of doing fun things with my children for the last time to protect my body.
Rachael talked about all the preparation she did during pregnancy for labour.
“But then it was really disappointing to feel something’s not right in my pelvic floor…I felt embarrassed to go to the doctor.”
We looked at the impact of having a prolapse, how common it is, and Rachael’s approach for recovery and strengthening. Rachael runs a 6 week course on the pelvic floor, starting in Autumn 2021 (and at regular intervals each year. Check out https://www.rachhall.com/pelvicfloor
Rachael also does a Your Dream Body membership. You can get free classes on her website to get a taste of Rachael’s approach. I did one yesterday and it was fantastic. https://www.rachhall.com/yourdreambody
Thank you Rachael!
Take aways:
Don’t underestimate the impact sleep deprivation can have on your ability to maintain self-care. Reflect on how you can still make time for what your body needs, in small, simple ways.
Find pockets of time, even for 5 or 10 minutes. Promise yourself if will be brief and manageable and if you then crave more, go for it.
Hydrate and put goodness into your diet rather than focusing on what you want to take away.
Practice self compassion for how adaptable you need to be to the unpredictability of parenting.
Make the time to check in with your body daily. Stop and listen to how you feel and what you need, even for a minute.
Sit and reflect on how amazing your body is.
Protect your lower back whilst being a fun parent - that’s my one!