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Dates
Saturday 05/11/2024 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Pricing
$150.00 Full Series - Pelvic Floor and Core 2024
$60.00 Single Session - Pelvic Floor and Core 2024

Missed the sessions on March 9 and April 13? No worries! You can still join us online for the May 11 session (in-studio space is full).

The discounted fee for co-op members is $55 per individual session. Not a member? Learn more and join today.

Join physical therapist Tamika Hardy and yoga therapist Alex Phelan for this 3-part workshop series focused on optimizing your pelvic floor and core recovery after pregnancy and childbirth and in the years beyond. (Yes, pregnant students are welcome to join as well!) Together, the disciplines of physical therapy and yoga blend medical and wellness perspectives as a way to more successfully heal and thrive after an event that can change our bodies and leave us with questions, pain or activity-avoidant behavior.

The pelvic floor is a complex set of muscles that are integral for quality and normal movement, abdominal and organ support, and breath. Pregnancy and your childbirth experience, whether vaginal or by c-section, can have a profound effect on how these muscles work and rest.

Pelvic floor and core dysfunction may cause issues immediately after birth or in the weeks, months or years following. These concerns may include uncontrolled urine or bowel leaking and flatulence; low back, pelvic or hip pain; decreased stamina and general strength; painful sexual activity; or increased upper back and neck stiffness and pain.

In this series, you’ll learn from an expert clinician in pelvic floor health and function and explore how to use activation and relaxation techniques to help your pelvic floor and core better support you—now and for years to come. Also, with the guidance of a yoga therapist, you’ll experience through yoga practices how breath, stress, core support and posture can impact the health and function of your pelvic floor.

Each session will include an educational component with Tamika, including an opportunity to ask questions in an anonymous way. No question is wrong, so take advantage and just ask! Following the educational discussion, Alex will guide a yoga practice to help you regain function in your pelvic floor and associated core and postural muscles.

Sign up for the full series or individual sessions. All sessions will be hybrid and recorded. So, if you can’t make it to a live session, you can catch up with the recording at your convenience. Recordings will be available for 30 days after the series ends.

Sat March 9 – Pelvic Floor Basics: Finding a Balance Between Strength and Release
In this initial session, Tamika will introduce the basics of pelvic floor function and how it supports organs and joints near the pelvis. She will also explain the impact that pregnancy and the process right before birth has on the pelvic floor, regardless of a vaginal or c-section birthing experience. Alex will then lead a yoga practice designed to balance the need for regaining pelvic floor strength postpartum and finding release and relaxation for those muscles that are most chronically stressed.

Sat April 13 – Staying Strong with Feeding and Lifting While Managing Stress
In this second session, Tamika will continue to address specific questions and present information on how bottle or breast feeding, lifting, and the stress of early motherhood can impact the pelvic floor. Alex will then lead a yoga practice designed to help build strength in the muscle groups needed for feeding and lifting your growing baby and introduce strategies for managing the stress that comes along with a caretaking role.

Sat May 11 – It’s Never Too Late to Build Postural Strength
In this final session, Tamika will continue to address specific questions from the group and present information on the relationship between the muscle groups outside of the pelvic floor that support postural strength and the pelvic floor. Alex will then lead a yoga practice designed to strengthen those muscles of postural support, with a focus on exploring the connection between core support and breath. This will allow you to tie it all together and see how yoga can support your pelvis and lead to strength, security with activities, and lifelong wellness.

Alex Phelan

As a Yoga Alliance certified E-RYT 500, Alex has been teaching yoga since 2009 and completed over 1,000 teaching hours. Exploring within the diverse traditions of yoga has been a profoundly transformative experience for her, and she aims to share her own sense of wonder and empowerment with each of her students and clients.

In 2017, Alex helped to launch the 200HR Circle Yoga Teacher Training as a founding lead trainer. In her role as teacher trainer, she is passionate about providing trainees with the skills they need to offer yoga beyond the confines of a traditional studio or gym setting. This includes understanding the anatomical basis for asana in a holistic, mindful and balanced way.

Additionally, since 2021 Alex has been a Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT). She has worked in a variety of settings, from physical therapy clinics to yoga studios to community and workplace sites. All of these experiences infuse her approach to ensuring that each student or client is offered a balanced practice that is appropriately challenging and matched to their needs and goals.

Tamika Hardy

Dr. Tamika Hardy, PT, DPT, OCS, began her physical therapy career in 2013. She follows the philosophy that therapy is most successful when people are treated as whole human beings, not as individual parts. Her work is focused on finding and treating the root causes of each patient’s pain, discomfort or dysfunction.

In 2020, Tamika developed a keen interest in helping patients dealing with pelvic health issues. This interest was triggered by her personal experience following the birth of her first child, when she encountered difficulties finding a skilled pelvic floor therapist.

Tamika is a Board-Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopaedic Physical Therapy and has been working in an outpatient orthopedic clinic since 2013. She received her Bachelors of Science in Athletic Training in 2008 from Weber State University located in Ogden, Utah. She then continued her postgraduate education at the University of Utah, where she received her Doctorate in Physical Therapy in May of 2013.