Do You Feel Disconnected From Your Body? This Is Why
Do you ever feel completely disconnected from your body after having your baby?
Like you don’t recognize it anymore, like it isn’t truly yours? You may be having to scale workouts, and even that doesn't feel right. You wonder if you’ll ever get back to those heavy weights or be able to jump rope without leaking.
If you’ve said yes to any of these feelings—the belly looks different, the core feels like "Jell-O," you have a diastasis recti that won’t heal, or you experience leaking, heaviness, or back pain, maybe you even have nagging injuries in other parts of your body that won’t heal—trust me, you are not alone.
This isn't a mind-over-matter problem; it’s a neurological and mechanical disconnect caused by immense physical change.
The Three Shifts That Create The Disconnect
Pregnancy, labor, and delivery require our bodies to perform one of the most incredible feats of strength possible. But this process causes massive, systemic change. Feeling disconnected is valid, because your body is different.
1. The Hormonal Tidal Wave & Mental Load
It all starts here. We experience massive hormonal changes from the first trimester through pregnancy, labor, and delivery, and well into the postpartum period (especially if breastfeeding). These hormones are responsible for making ligaments and joints looser, which creates the instability and vulnerability you feel.
Beyond the physical laxity, these hormonal shifts profoundly affect your mental and emotional well-being. They disrupt sleep cycles, amplify stress hormones, and create massive shifts in mood. Crucially, these changes—combined with sleep deprivation and the pressure to "bounce back"—often lead to mental health struggles like Postpartum Depression (PPD) and Anxiety (PPA). The physical disconnection you feel with your body is often intertwined with the mental/emotional shift.
2. The Physical Re-Modeling
Your body is truly amazing, but creating a baby requires massive physical re-modeling:
- Abs & Core: As the baby grows, your core muscles (the abs and the pelvic floor) get stretched out.
- Muscles Turn Off: This stretching actually causes these muscles to "turn off" and forget how to work.
- Systemic Imbalance: This shift drastically affects the way your deepest core muscles work, which then leads to muscle imbalances that cascade throughout your body, from your feet and pelvis all the way up to your head and neck. Think about the stereotypical pregnant woman walk: pelvis tipped forward, low back arched, feet turned out, “waddling”. Remember: everything is connected.
3. The New Responsibility Load
The added responsibilities of caring for your baby pile onto the physical stress. You are constantly lifting, carrying, bending, and sleeping in awkward positions. This lack of rest and constant, asymmetrical loading adds to the strain on muscles that are already stretched and confused.
The Core Problem: Your Body Defaults to COMPENSATION
When your abs and pelvic floor muscles forget how to contract, your body adapts annoyingly well.
Other muscles start to compensate for the work the deep core isn't doing. This is what leads to pain and injury! Your body is trying to be efficient, but it's using the wrong muscles, which creates:
- Tight, Overactive Muscles: These take over the job of stabilization.
- Weak, Underactive Muscles: These remain asleep or “turned off”.
This compensation pulls your joints into different positions and sets up dysfunctional movement patterns. You leak, your core domes, and you have back pain because your body is performing using compensations, not genuine strength.
The Good News: You CAN Retrain the Connection
The feeling of disconnection is real, but it is not permanent. The good news is that these muscles can be retrained.
The key is to stop pushing through the dysfunctional patterns and start at the deepest layer of muscles (the pelvic floor and diaphragm). We work our way out from there to build an amazing mind-body connection.
Once you restore your core and full-body foundation, you will:
- Re-establish your mind-body connection again.
- Learn your new body and how to manage symptoms.
- Find that the pain and symptoms actually go away when you stop compensating.
You CAN feel like yourself again and get back to those workouts you love. You just need the right roadmap to retrain your body how to be strong.
How to Start Reconnecting with Your Body
If you want one cue to apply to your workouts (or anything in mom life, really) right now, it's this: Start bracing IN and UP like a corset tightening, instead of bearing down or pushing out.
This helps counteract the compensation pattern that puts downward pressure on your pelvic floor and outward pressure on your core (which can worsen a diastasis recti). The deep core is meant to brace in and up, not just outward like a balloon.
Try This Simple Swap:
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Before You Go To Lift: Take a full 360-degree breath, feeling your ribs expand (the diaphragm) and your belly, back, and sides expand.
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During Your Rep (Lifting/Jumping): Instead of bearing down or pushing out, imagine a gentle lift of your pelvic floor and flattening of your entire abdominal wall. This creates intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) that stabilizes you without causing strain or compensation.
This one simple change is the start of reconnecting with your body.
Ready for the Roadmap?
I work with clients 1:1 to create individualized plans to help them build that strong foundation and achieve their goals.
Explore my 1:1 coaching packages and book a consult call today to see if we are the right fit to work together!
(Note: If the feeling of disconnection is severe or lasting, please know it is okay and necessary to seek support from a mental health professional alongside your physical recovery.)
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