Ep 27: Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy with Dr. Tina Harris Part 1

As a doctor of physical therapy, Dr. Tina is looking at her clients as a whole.  She looks at how they are functioning, and she takes it a step further to assess the health and overall function of the pelvic floor.  Now don’t worry if you don’t know what bones, muscles, or ligaments make up the pelvic floor, or if you only think of physical therapy in terms of “post-injury care”, or what breathwork has to do with pelvic floor PT because we talk about ALL of that and more in part 1 of our interview.  Not only does Dr. Tina assess prenatal patients for functional movement patterns and postpartum patients for bladder issues (and more!) but she also adds in expertise as a doula, reiki practitioner and acupressure instructor.  She created her organization, Competent Heart Perinatal Specialist to help the birthing community find their tribe, create their village, and to support and empower themselves.  

She’s an author, life-long lover of birth, has dealt with infant loss; she continues to expand her skills to combine her talents and passions for holistic wellness, pelvic health, and childbirth to guide individuals towards healing and alignment of their body, mind, and spirit.  

How to reach Dr. Tina:
Website: https://www.chperinatal.com/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/chperinatal
Instagram: https://instagram.com/chperinatal
Book Link: (In)Fertility: Secrets, Struggles, and Successes

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Check out our individual websites:

Sunrise Chiropractic and Wellness - www.sunrisechiropracticandwellness.com

North Atlanta Birth Services - www.northatlantabirth.com

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Transcript

Hello, hello and you are listening to the aligned birth Podcast. I'm Dr. Shannon. I'm one of the hosts on the show. And today is interview day. And so today's super, super special. We have a wonderful, wonderful guest on the show today. And I want to do her intro and then I want to go into what we're going to talk about because, again, it's interview day it's going to split into episodes, because we have a lot to cover and it's so much good information. We're gonna split it up into two. So we have a doctor of physical therapy on today. I'm so excited. So I want to introduce you all to Dr. Tina Harris. So she's a Doctor of Physical Therapy and she specializes in pelvic health, focusing on the pregnant and postpartum community. And she's also a birth and bereavement doula. So she's been practicing since 2013. worked in a variety of settings as a travel therapist. But following the birth and unfortunate loss of her first son at 21 weeks pregnant, she listened and followed her heart's calling to seamlessly incorporate her passions and skills and created her organization. Competent heart perinatal specialist. So she does other things too. So in addition, she is an international best selling author of in fertility, secret struggles and successes and holds certifications as a birth and bereavement doula level one naturopathic and maternity Reiki practitioner and is currently a yoga and acupressure student. I know people have tons of questions already and I'm not even through with her if their intro it's amazing. As a self proclaimed, proclaimed lifelong learner, she continues to expand her skills to combine their talents and passions for holistic wellness, pelvic health, and childbirth to guide individuals towards healing and alignment of their body, mind and spirit especially during the childbearing seasons of life. I am so excited to have her on the show today because we're talking all things pelvic floor health, and so like I said, two episodes, we're gonna dive into what it what is the pelvic floor? Do we even know what the pelvic floor is? What does the pelvic floor therapist do? How does she incorporate that doula work into it? What does she see with her clients? How does she help them? What are people coming to her for all of those wonderful things? And then the second part we all know us as birth workers, we have stories that lead us to where we are and so I really want to dive deep into that story of what led her here and really get that all encompassing aspect of competent heart which is the organization that she has. So I am so excited to have you on the show today. Dr. Tina. Yay.

Unknown 2:43

Thank you for like just listening to you read my bio. I was like, wow, she does a lot.

Unknown 2:49

Everybody says that when we do it, they're like, oh, yeah, like I sound real good on paper. Now, and I even read it and I was like, oh my god, this is amazing. This is amazing. So much. I'm so excited to have you now I do have to say this is really fun for listeners because guess what? Dr. Tina and I have never spoken to each other until right now. So this is true. This is true. Again we met into in the social media world which again, love hate relationship with social media. But then you know, as you can meet amazing people like Dr. Tina and see what she's putting out into the world and I love, love what you're putting out into the world. So I'm really, really excited about today and it's gonna be good. It's gonna be a lot of information. So grab your pen, grab your paper. And we're gonna start off with some definitions, probably because we were chatting before the episode. And even Rachel I do this, like, where do we start? And like, do people even know like the words that we're saying? Oh, yeah, so do people know what Yeah, pelvic floor health and I would love to know, what was that definition, pelvic floor physical therapy, like, take us on that route in that journey and kind of define some of those things for

Unknown 4:02

us. Sure. Absolutely. So we'll start off with physical therapy, just in general. So the people kind of get lost like you said in all the words it's like what what are you actually doing? And so physical therapy, a lot of times when people think about physical therapy, they think, oh, you know, if I had a sports injury, or I got in a car accident, or you know, I had to have surgery or something like that. That's the only time that a physical therapist might be, you know, ready for me. That's kind of a myth. So physical therapy encompasses so much more than just an outright injury. So as a physical therapist, we're experts in how the body functions to how the muscles move the joints, the bones and things like that. And basically teaching you how to move your body in a way that is safe, and that is optimal for you, to help you to return to full health. So you don't even really have to be in pain, or have an injury to see a physical therapist. If you're going about your daily life, you know, and you're like, you know what? I feel like I could be stronger in this area, or I wonder if, you know, my knee could be, you know, a little bit better so I can kick the ball with my kids or anything like that. The physical therapist could be very beneficial to go into see. And then so, all pelvic floor physical therapist we all start out as just you know, general physical therapist, and then if we choose to specialize, there's multiple different specialties within physical therapy, but we can specialize in the pelvic health realm as well. And what pelvic floor physical therapy sort of kind of a misnomer to people kind of think we're just like, philosophical view of just the pelvis area your you know, the nether regions down there. But still, honestly, just like you know, regular club general physical therapy, we are taking a look at you as a whole. So how is it how is your pelvic floor impacting your ability to function as a whole? And then yes, the pelvic floor does have specific functions. So we talk a lot about bladder health, about bowel health, sexual health, and just strength and mobility in general as well. A lot of times people come into clinic especially folks that come in with like, low back pain. So I find people that have chronic low back pain, they've gone through all the therapy, they've done all these things. There's, you know, the surgeon say, you know, there's really no need for surgery and like that, you would look fine, you're perfect. And people are still really frustrated, like, Well, why do I still have this pain? A lot of times the key is that there's a pelvic floor element. Maybe there's a dysfunction in the pelvic floor, maybe you've got tight pelvic floor because it's very tightly associated with the core muscles in our abdomen, which are really familiar with and focus on everyone's their six pack abs. I don't guarantee six pack abs and pelvic floor physical therapy, but being able to engage those muscles and be really strong in that area. And optimal function is what we're working towards with pelvic health.

Unknown 7:06

That I mean, I wrote some notes because I that's beautiful and I love that it's like focusing on the function of the body and looking at it as like a hole. And I think sometimes too, we lose that in some of the specialties that we have, you know, and trying to bring everything back to like how is everything functioning together as a whole and so yes, the pelvic floor is totally connected to everything in the body, right? I always say every, everything's connected. But I know I'm like hey, you know that this is all this is all connected, connected. It is and I love that you brought up the abdominal and core muscles because it is so intimately connected to pelvic floor and you can have I knew there's probably the aspects of and what I've seen too is having too tight of a pelvic floor and too loose of other pelvic floor you know, hyper hypo tonicity there and so, with the pelvic floor, I do want to ask when she specializes in working with the pregnant and postpartum community, so I want to talk about what is some of the what is some of the work that you do there in those parts of the community? It might be a little bit different for that prenatal community versus postpartum like some of the things you're focusing on. But let's talk about now we have defined you know, pelvic floor. Let's look at what is that prenatal pelvic floor health care look like?

Unknown 8:38

Absolutely. So a lot of times who come into clinic because they're having pain again, you know, we wait until something's wrong before we go ahead and get things addressed. But I do have some patients that come as like, Hey, I'm either trying to get pregnant or I just want to make sure that throughout the rest of the pregnancy that I'm good to go and I am prepared for for birth. So a lot of my treatment sessions to include one if you're coming in for pain, we're gonna address that first. So because the pod the body goes through so many transformations during pregnancy, things are shifting, things are loosening, things are tightening. So we do an overall assessment of how your body is moving how you feel, when you do certain movements, and then addressing any kind of imbalances, misalignments, and things like that, that are occurring for you throughout the pregnancy. So that can include stretches, strengthening exercises, maybe using a pregnancy you know, support belt showing you how to do those functional movements properly, like simple things like getting in and out of the bed to avoid that round ligament, you know, screaming at you and bringing it down to your knees. And then out of the car. If you've got younger kids at home how to, you know, basically, properly maneuver your body so that you can enjoy your pregnancy during this time, although you're going through all these transformations. And then as we get closer towards you know, estimated due date, it's time for you to prepare for birth. We do some I do some positioning things with my patients, especially keeping in consideration if they're still having some lingering difficulty. So if they're having any kind of SI pain or sciatica, pain, things like that, we're going to address some positions that are going to help to avoid exacerbating any of that that's going on a lot of times I have them bringing their partners like Hey, come on in. Let's do some hands on work. I'll show you how to support and that's kind of like where the doula kind of mixes mixes in a little bit. But really just keeping in the physical therapy considerations as to how your body is at the moment. And yeah, with the pelvic floor, we do some internal work as well as long as there's no restrictions, pelvic restrictions or anything like that. And everyone is comfortable, will help to address any kind of pelvic floor again, attention if there's pelvic floor for not engaging pelvic floor by helping you to learn that coordination and function of the muscles so that you're not tightening up when we should be relaxing and releasing in order for baby to be born if you're planning for a vaginal birth.

Unknown 11:18

And now Yes, and I want to I want to talk a little bit about that too because the that tightness I mean, I I do think sometimes that pelvic floor eight can play a huge role in the labor and birth process like again, whether too tight or too loose and so I think it's amazing to kind of have that assessment beforehand. Do you? Are there exercises that you can do to say we do that internal pelvic floor work, we look at things and we say hey, you know, we've got an overactive pelvic floor, which that can impede labor and birth to when we're too tight and can't release and can't relax. So do you go over exercises or things to do or what does that look like?

Unknown 12:06

Yes, absolutely. So it can look like a combination of things. So we can do some hands on work either, you know, with your fingers or with tools that we typically recommend to help access to pelvic floor muscles to give a manual stretch to those muscles. Honestly, 99.9% of the time. first line of defense is breathing. Most of us don't breathe properly with stress in life. We are shallow breathers are breathing in their chest, not taking full deep breaths, which helps to facilitate that. Getting kind of sciency here but the parasympathetic nervous system to help down regulate and just bring that calming sense to the body. The safe and secure.

Unknown 12:52

Yes, I wish you could see me like my hands are up in the air. That's good. sciency that's so beautiful that you mentioned that breathwork to again, diaphragm core all connected to that pelvic floor and if we are that super tight. Oh, I love that you took it to the breath and the breath work. Okay, so even some breathing exercises Yeah. And absolutely it really reconnecting and yes, that's very calming. Oh, that's beautiful.

Unknown 13:16

A lot of the things I do is really, I mean when you think when you look at it, it's really simple. I like to go back to the basics. People want you know, all the fancy stuff and I went oh, show me all the exercises. I'm like, okay, we can get there. But right now we need to go back to the basics and really just focus on 3d is the first thing we do when we're born and somewhere in the mix. We lose connection to it and we lose connection to ourselves in our bodies. And we just need to find our way back there. And sometimes I've had people that they come in for their first session and maybe it takes a couple of weeks before they're able to get back in because of their schedule or whatnot. And I'll get an email the next day. They're like, Is it normal to feel better already? And I'm like, yeah, all we did was breathe, but yeah, it is normal. That's absolutely

Unknown 14:01

yes. Because it's that stress too, if we're holding that breath all up in that upper part of our chest. We're not breathing into the bottom part of the lungs. Right? Yeah, I love it. And I love that you go you keep it at the basics. I know I do. People do that, too. Oh, now, what exercise do you do when I do this? I'm like, Hey, let's, let's see where we're at. I know I'm like I know. I'm excited too. But yes. Oh, that back to the basics. That's so wonderful. Um, and I have some other notes down too cuz I want to write it down because I want to I want to hit back on some of these things where I'm like, I think I'm gonna say some words and be like, Okay, let's dispel the myths type of thing. But I know I know, right? I was like, oh, yeah, I forgot about this word. And I feel like it's a one word that people associate with it. I'm gonna leave that I'm gonna leave that hanging there for just a minute but okay, okay. So we go to you take it back to the basics. So that's what this prenatal care that's with. No matter what people are coming in with probably. Yes, I mean it doesn't matter whether they're in pain or they're just want that wellness aspect of care to. Absolutely. Now with what what about the postpartum world? And I think that people think now I feel like there's more conversations now about postpartum pelvic floor health and the more so than in that prenatal world, at least from what I'm hearing and seeing and hopefully that conversation continues to where we talk about that pelvic floor health throughout our throughout our entire lives, not just in these in these little moments. But what does the how does the postpartum care look like for you?

Unknown 15:41

Yes, so again, so one question that I get a lot is, is it too late? I had my last cut my last kid five years ago, is it too late? answer is no. Postpartum is forever and you can come in whenever for postpartum physical therapy, pelvic floor physical therapy. So anybody out there even if your child is 20 3050 years old, you can still come in for postpartum because they're still against the body went through a lot. of transformations during pregnancy, even more so at the time of birth, and then again, postpartum healing and recovery. And sometimes, you know, we just might need a little assistance, a little help here or there. And so postpartum I really didn't focus on the importance of recovery and especially if people are coming in pretty soon after within the first few weeks or months of postpartum. Again, they get really excited, like, I want to go back to running I want to, you know, do all the things I did beforehand and like, let's hit the brakes a little bit and see where you're at right now. Because a lot of typing just in society. In general. It's that snapback mentality. Like I got to get back to my pre pregnancy body. And one of the things I really try to hone in on is that and try to avoid saying it's like we're not getting back to anything to be very honest. You have made a complete transformation. You are now a parent of this child, and you're transformed. That's one reason I use a butterfly in my logo, because you're now a butterfly. Okay, you're you can't go back to being a caterpillar. You are a butterfly. And now it's a new a whole new body that we're learning to navigate and so, again, going back to pelvic floor assessment, seeing where the muscles are at this point, more often than not, they're tight, the muscles are tight and sometimes in society is like you know, I gotta get it tight. Gotta get it right, like II know, you know, strong and functioning is different than tight and non functioning and not doing the things that we're needing to do. And so again, kind of, like you mentioned early, kind of dispelling some of the myths like it's okay if I leak and you know, urinate on myself when I sneeze, laugh, cough jump, you know, that's normal because I had a, you know, I had a baby. It's normal for me to hurt it's normal for and it's okay for you know, if you had a cesarean birth or belly birth for for that to be numb or still kind of painful and it's okay, that sex hurts a little bit. So, really just getting all of that out of the way and really focusing on what is optimal for the body and what truly is normal versus common. So all these things are common postpartum, but we don't want to be common. We want to be functioning at our top, you know, living your best life. And if you're having those other things going on more than likely, that's not the story that you're having.

Unknown 18:39

So much. So many good things there. Oh my gosh, no, I have to I have to commit to I love that it's not too late to come in. And I love the aspect that I'm always saying I think every time on the show too. I'm like you will forever change like you still have cells of your child in your body like you are forever changed. And so I love instead of the comeback I've even turned it like my come into like who? I'm new, you know? So yeah, like it's just new and different and so I love to that you we mentioned that I think we need to mention that in society it's not that like come back like other pre baby you know pants and all those sorts of things. I mean that right? All well and good. But yeah, you are forever changed and that pelvic floor definitely is going to be forever changed. So addressing normal versus common is so big. And I'm glad you mentioned all of those myths of like, what you hear some postpartum you know, people say as far as Oh yeah, do leak and this is painful. And that's their thing. And it's like, well, it doesn't have to be. Exactly. So I think that's so important now, our postpartum folks coming to you with those things. Do you see a lot more? What's the what's the climate and culture of that now? Do you see a lot more women or people coming in that are advanced in their postpartum journey? You know, like, I've had, you know, get this 20 years old, they're like, oh my gosh, I have to take care of this now. What are you are you are you seeing people that are coming in right after birth and addressing some of these things?

Unknown 20:26

It's a mix of both. So I would love to see more people coming in sooner. But you know, having a newborn is hard. You know, just the logistics. It's it's challenging. The house is hard. Get out the house. Yes. I get it. A lot of times, people are coming in maybe several months out. But then there are the mixture people that are coming in, you know, years down the line. They're like okay, I finally the kids are out of the house. You know, I've got a you can finally focus on me. So there's a mixture of you know, people coming in from all walks of life, all stages and phases and ages. And you know, we're here for adults. As you mentioned, pelvic health is not just for these blips of time during the childbearing season, but for the whole every life stage.

Unknown 21:16

Do you find that if you worked with someone during their pregnancy, and then it's probably a silly question, I probably could answer it. But do you find if you work with someone during pregnancy and then they come in during postpartum that? That it's easier, like, not easier for them as far as birth but just they maybe have a better a better body awareness or is their recoveries different? Do you notice?

Unknown 21:49

Definitely a better body awareness and also have had the foundation's already set because we've gone over that already, you know, during the pregnancy, maybe a couple shifts, you know, here and there for postpartum and again, depending on how birth went back can have a huge impact on how they're coming in presenting postpartum, but at least they've got the foundation set and most times, if I'm seeing them during pregnancy, we get into it and 3738 weeks I start saying, Hey, you remember the things we did when you first started? When you're still in recovery after your baby is only several hours old. You can start doing those things, especially the breathing the breath work returned to your breathwork and returned to start gently engaging in the deep core and the pelvic floor muscles to start getting that reconnection that bloodflow that mobility back. There are things you can do right away. You don't have to wait until the six week mark you know after your OB or midwife clears you. There's things you can do immediately.

Unknown 22:50

Yes, you can start. I love Yeah, yeah, I can breathe immediately. Yeah, yes. And I love the foundations and that you're setting those foundations. And I think Rachel has said on some of the episodes before too, I'd like never having dealt with a pregnant person saying like, Oh, well, I just know too much information like you know, like, so I never heard that. Yeah, no, I feel like this could even add in almost a level of ease and comfort with like Oh, I did get my pelvic floor looked at and you know what? It's not too tight, not too loose. Everything seems good. I'm going to do all these things to help keep my body mind spirit and alignment. And that can give you that confidence. You know, or it can give you the aspect of like, you know what, it is tight but now we're starting on the breath and I'm doing these things. And it just gives you I don't know it sounds like that gives you that level of confidence in there. Yeah, you know, our meant yes.

Unknown 23:53

Yeah. And that's what I'm things like I feel like education knowledge having the tools. Having that empowerment piece like one you can feel good within yourself and be an advocate for yourself. Because a lot of times people come in especially postpartum and they're coming like years later. It's like, Well, why didn't my doctor tell me? They say you know, six weeks I was fine. Everything was perfect. I didn't they sent me the PPT and I'm just like it's we're working on it. Education fee fees for more referrals, but with you being more knowledgeable and within yourself, you can be like, Hey, Doc, I'm thinking of going public more physical therapy. And that's actually what I personally did. After my birth, the birth of my second son, I was having some leakage. And I was having some pain at where I had a tear. And I think it was probably three or four weeks. I hadn't even gone in for my checkup yet. And I booked myself an appointment with pelvic pt. And I was just like, and when I went in for this six week checkup, they're like, did we give you a referral to pt? And I was like, No, I knew what I needed. And I went and got it done. I was an advocate for myself. And at this point, every state in the United States has some form of direct access to pelvic floor to physical therapy. So check your state laws and guidelines, and you can go in for at least an evaluation without needing a referral from a doctor.

Unknown 25:15

Ah, that is way powerful information to have. Yes. Yeah. And just just that evaluation, just a console, just talk and get a feel for where am I at what did they do and where is that connection? You know? How can I help you? Ah, I love that you that you advocated for yourself, too. I know I never heard the words, pelvic floors, anything. After mine, it was just the hell you wait till the sixth week. And then it's just it is so such a transformative process the labor and birth that price. I know it needs to be looked at and considered like that long term pelvic health. Okay, so the one word that I wanted to mention where I think a lot of people are at like if they're just now learning and defining okay, what is pelvic floor and my breathing is connected to my pelvic floor like all of those fun things. I say the word cables, because that's I think a lot of people think oh, well, I you know, I sneeze and I think a little bit I do these exercises. And and that's good. So what what do you want to say or what are your thoughts on that? Yeah,

Unknown 26:35

so the messaging the messaging that we hear is like, do you Okay, guilty, guilty, guilty data, get it right. Get it get it tight. And that goes back to really known what, what's happening with the pelvic floor? Is it too tight or too loose? And where are you even activating the right muscles when you're doing, you know, the Kegel exercises, that half people aren't doing it properly. They're not using the right muscles. Either they're squeezing their butt cheeks, they're, you know, lifting up the hips. They're holding their breath. You might be bearing down, you know everything else except actually engaging the pelvic floor muscles. And then the flipside is if the muscles are too tight, and you're continuously trying and you are engaging the right muscle, but you're continuously contracting and making them tighter, tighter, tighter, and they're not having the ability and the opportunity to relax, then we're not doing any good right? So I always use analogies like think about your your bicep muscle. Okay, if you wanted to lift up a nice five pound 10 pound weights, your bicep muscle needs to stretch out completely, and then you bend your elbow to fully contract it. That is a normal function of your bicep. Right? Any stretch in contract. If your bicep muscle was stuck in a bent elbow position, and you tried to lift that same weight, you might get a little bit but it's not functional, like you're not doing anything with it. Right and you can't do your bicep muscle you would go to physical therapy to go get it seen about or you can go to see someone who's like Hey, I can't I can't move my arm. Right and so the same thing in the pelvic floor muscles. They're just muscles just like anywhere in the body. So just in a special place, but they also need to be able to fully contract be tightened and fully relax and stretch that stretched out. And so if they're but they're they're chronically tight and you're tighten, tighten, tighten, tighten, then that's not healthy as well.

Unknown 28:35

Do you think and I love that you said that because it really that's what I wanted to hit home was you can't you you read about those exercises. Maybe I'm like, I'm going to do them but if you if the issue for you is that they're already tight. Well, that's going to be adding to it. So do you find that? There seems to be more people that have a too tight pelvic floor, or is it one that is underactive, or is it not really, you know, or is it something else entirely?

Unknown 29:06

From the people that I see? It's mostly that is too tight? Yeah, there's some sort of underlying tension at rest. They're not trying to contract it. But upon assessment, it's just like, it's tight, and it's probably painful as well. They might have some tender spots. They might also come to realize that other things are being impacted. You're having that leakage, maybe you're dealing with constipation. Maybe pain with sex is an issue. It's uncomfortable with those things. And so again, everything is connected. And so other issues might be presenting as well.

Unknown 29:41

And you can have leakage and be too tight. Correct.

Unknown 29:50

Sorry, I lost you there for a second. Oh, no,

Unknown 29:53

I'm saying that you can't have leakage. So like, you know whether you're running or whether you sneeze but also have a pelvic floor that is too tight. Oh, yes, absolutely.

Unknown 30:04

Absolutely. Because if it's too tight, again, it's not functioning the way that we need it to. It's constantly given a squeeze and squeeze, although it's tight and might not be effective and efficient to keep you dry.

Unknown 30:18

Yep. And I know and it's looking at that function and I love that you talked about the that's the importance of it is the function of the muscles, but then that overlying and underlying you know, function of the whole body as a whole and how it is all connected.

Unknown 30:35

Yes,

Unknown 30:37

I love it. So it's not just it's not just certain exercises, and that's why I think too with you going back to the Go have that console. Like let's find out what's going on, and it's never too late. I know I whenever I've talked to Rachel episodes I'm like well you know the best time to have you know gone in as a car wreck going going and get a jet was yesterday but you know we still can do it you know or like way back. But you know we can still work with things here.

Unknown 31:06

So absolutely.

Unknown 31:08

With I want to touch on a little bit of and you mentioned it a little bit in that that prenatal realm, but looking at the doula work that you do, because now I kind of wonder if you're focusing so much on the breath work with pelvic floor. How does that translate do you look at some of the like childbirth classes or childbirth education as related to breath work? Or what does you know? How does it look like when you combine that doula work with your prenatal pelvic floor care?

Unknown 31:47

Yeah, so it's, I find it's very powerful. And people are always like, oh, man, I'm so glad that I came in and got this information because also for me, I think a lot of times you kind of mentioned this before that we kind of compartmentalize a lot of things not only just like in the medical round with specialties and things like that, but even in the birth world, it's like, okay, you're going to go to this person for that service in this person for that service. And that's great. But I would love if we could all come together and provide like, all the services because I don't feel like one person has all the answers. Basically. And so I'm able to provide my perspective, my insights in my from my experience and my knowledge set as a physical therapist as well as a doula. But I do also recommend my clientele to, you know, go to a childbirth education class, because they're going to have, you're going to have the time to dive a little bit deeper into certain topics that we just honestly don't have the time to get into all of it, you know, when we're together, and so really just encouraging. Seek out as many resources as possible. And yet again, a lot of times we're giving similar information, but getting it from a different perspective can be super helpful. Like oh, it might click a little bit differently hearing it from this person, you know, and being able to go to a childbirth education, class, learning, maybe some, some other techniques with breathing. I tend to incorporate a lot of like yoga type breathing with my my patients and my clients with doula. And I find that very helpful and very effective. But there's all sorts of breathing styles, you know, just whatever, whatever resonates and works with that person. And we'll go with that.

Unknown 33:32

And it's just exposing people to those things like oh, yeah, I didn't know that you know, like, so maybe one Yeah, like you said one breathing aspects gonna work better for someone else and I love that you talked about even the compartmentalizing within the birth worker world and and I even think too, I love the the conversations with other birth workers when you have maybe a shared patient or client because I think that offers such good care because then I can talk to me I can talk to lactation consultant, if I'm working with the newborn to and we're talking about the nursing stuff, what do you see and what do I see because we're looking at two different things and then I think to that offers such a benefit to the population. And so I kind of feel the same way to was like, having those conversations. And that's where you were talking about to those, like, getting that knowledge into the hands of that OB world because I feel like the midwifery world might be a little bit more open, receptive and knowledgeable of pelvic floor PT. That's just in my eye. Maybe that's just my own vision of that. But I'm really having those shared people understanding and having that knowledge and then being able to work together for the benefit of those clients. And so I kind of see that aspect of it too, with what you're saying. Yes, yes. Absolutely. I mean, that shared knowledge is so is so important. Now, you said that do people do people just come to you specifically for the doula work, and you just are just help them in that doula world or do you try to is it all together?

Unknown 35:28

So people do come to me just for doula work as well. Yes. So I do in person in the clinic or pelvic floor, physical therapy. And then my Doula services are virtual. And so I do have clients that are just strictly do a client's they may be in a different state or anything like that. I always say, Hey, let's go find a pelvic floor therapy clinic in your, in your area so that you can go ahead and you know, get your assessment and you know, get all of that taken. care of, as well as get your get your education and, you know, working with the pelvic floor preparing for birth.

Unknown 36:07

I think that's perfect. I love that. And having that. I don't know just having that knowledge there too. And but you probably giving nuggets of information where people are like, Oh, I hadn't thought of that.

Unknown 36:17

You know, do I do get because you know, I do both things. So even if I do try to like, officially separate them. Everyone gets nuggets from both sides. Yes. I can't really take off the hat cuz it's like,

Unknown 36:30

yeah, it's like the hat stays on. It's got all these little flowers on me like flowers, the PD and this fire over here. We're gonna get into the naturopathic and Reiki like, No, you had a little flowers and I love it. Yes. And, you know, two weeks I did an interview earlier with Dr. Tiana sepik, who is a chiropractor, but she's also a doula. So it's kind of that same thing to she's like, well, you know, people will come in for chiropractic care, but then it's also like, I've got the same thing like the doula flower on her hands always stay in there. So she will approach it. So I see that it's probably very similar. For you to now I want to talk a little bit about this level one, naturopathic and returnee Reiki practitioner aspects that you have and I want to go into this yoga and Acupressure is it classes and that sort of thing that you're taking? So what what is that? What is the naturopathic and maternity Reiki practitioner?

Unknown 37:32

Yes. So it's basically a Reiki certification that I did. So for anyone that doesn't know what Reiki is. It's in a nutshell, I try to try to make it as simple as possible. It is really simple and easy to understand, but explaining it can get a little complicated. But basically, the principle is that we all success, like healing power within ourselves. And so for me, like I grew up in the church and things like that, you would probably see people you know, doing laying on of hands anointing and things like that for for healing purposes. And it's basically a form of Reiki and so you're using your hands in different positions throughout the body of the head and throughout the body, to help facilitate and be like a conduit for the healing power. And so for the level one, Reiki, the naturopathic Reiki also incorporates some other like lifestyle practices or holistic health and healing. And the maternity Reiki aspect is, can be done for fertility. As well as for you know, throughout pregnancy and to prepare for birth as well. Just ran on really calming, soothing healing energy into the person that's receiving the treatment session and opening up any kind of blockages in the energy centers and allowing that lifeforce energy to flow group and that's what Reiki means. Basic Reiki means is a translation for lifeforce energy, or universal lifeforce energy.

Unknown 39:10

Yes, you know, I the statement to that you said the that we all have that healing power, you know, within us. I think that we share that view, you know, and I like a lot of times say that I facilitate healing and I'm sure you probably think of it the same way too is it's like you know, it's the person who's coming in, it's their body doing the work, we just, we're just helping that helping that optimal function and just kind of facilitating that, but we do have a lot of power within ourselves of healing. So I bet that adds a beautiful, calming aspect to that prenatal time. Yes. You know, because it can be very stressful whether it's your first or whether it's your eight kids, they can unit I have every birth is so different. Every pregnancy is so different. And so I think that's a really I don't know, I just get that very calming sense from it that because I do feel because birth is so unknown, again, because every pregnancy every birth can be so different. There's that unknown there's, I feel like there's just that level of fear. And that can oh, gosh, the Body Keeps the Score the body can hold that fear and say my song Yeah, right. And so but that's what I think and even hearing you say those things, it's like oh, yeah, he's got a release that you know, we know so as hold a lot of fear. So when you're talking about breathing exercises, and taking it to the basics, that's also helping to dispel that and release it. So I love that you add in that Reiki aspect too is just that other the other ounce of goodness that you're adding that you're adding ah that's so fun now is that a separate service that you offer?