Reclaiming Your Body Postpartum: Healing Beyond “Getting Your Body Back”
There’s a quiet pressure many mothers feel after birth — a whisper that slowly gets louder:
When will you get your body back?
Are you back to your pre-baby jeans yet?
Have you started working out again?
But what if the goal isn’t to “get your body back” at all?
What if the invitation is to reclaim your body as it is now — changed, wiser, and deserving of tenderness?
At The Denver Village, we believe postpartum healing goes far beyond physical recovery. Reclaiming your body is about reconnecting to yourself — physically, emotionally, and spiritually — in your own time.
Your Body Isn’t Broken — It’s Integrating
Pregnancy and birth transform every system in your body: hormones, fascia, nervous system, brain chemistry, identity.
Research shows that postpartum recovery extends well beyond the six-week medical checkup many women receive. Hormonal shifts alone can continue for months, especially for breastfeeding mothers. Sleep disruption, stress, and the intensity of caring for a newborn also deeply affect the nervous system.
You are not behind.
You are in a profound recalibration.
1. Start with Nervous System Safety
Before intense workouts or rigid routines, the foundation is regulation.
Your body heals best when it feels safe. Gentle practices like:
Slow breathwork
Restorative or postpartum yoga
Guided relaxation
Warm baths and intentional rest
help shift your system from survival mode to repair mode.
When the nervous system softens, muscles release more easily, digestion improves, and emotional resilience grows.
Reclaiming your body begins with calming it.
2. Release the “Bounce Back” Narrative
The idea that you should quickly return to your pre-pregnancy body can quietly disconnect you from your lived experience.
Instead of asking:
“Why doesn’t my body look like it used to?”
Try asking:
“What does my body need from me today?”
Strength may look different now. Your hips may feel wider. Your belly softer. Your breasts fuller or changed.
These are not flaws.
They are evidence of creation.
Reclamation isn’t erasing change — it’s honoring it.
3. Rebuild Strength from the Inside Out
Postpartum recovery is most sustainable when it starts with:
Pelvic floor reconnection
Core stabilization
Gentle mobility work
Breath-led movement
Research suggests that mindful, progressive strengthening supports both physical healing and confidence. Working with trauma-informed instructors or pelvic health specialists can make this process feel empowering rather than overwhelming.
Strength after birth isn’t about punishment.
It’s about partnership.
4. Tend to Emotional Healing, Too
Birth — whether empowering, complicated, traumatic, or somewhere in between — leaves an imprint.
Your body holds memories.
Postpartum mood shifts are common. Studies estimate that up to 1 in 5 women experience significant postpartum depression or anxiety. Even without a clinical diagnosis, many mothers feel grief for who they were before, confusion about identity, or loneliness in the early months.
Talking about your experience.
Being witnessed.
Sitting in community with other mothers.
These are powerful ways to reclaim your embodied sense of self.
5. Practice Small Daily Reconnection Rituals
Reclamation doesn’t require hours of free time (because let’s be honest — that may not exist right now).
It can look like:
Placing your hand on your heart before bed
Stretching for five minutes while your baby naps
Journaling one sentence about how your body feels
Attending a supportive postpartum class when ready
Small rituals accumulate. They remind you: I am still here.
A Different Kind of “Getting Your Body Back”
What if the goal isn’t shrinking yourself —
but expanding into who you’ve become?
Your postpartum body is not a project.
It’s a living story.
Reclaiming it means listening instead of criticizing.
Strengthening instead of punishing.
Softening instead of rushing.
At The Denver Village, we honor postpartum healing as a layered, communal process — one that deserves patience, informed support, and warmth.
You don’t have to navigate this season alone.
And there is no deadline for coming home to yourself.
References
Glynn, L. M., Davis, E. P., & Sandman, C. A. (2013). New insights into the role of perinatal HPA-axis dysregulation in postpartum depression. Neuropeptides, 47(6), 363–370.
Slade, P., et al. (2010). A longitudinal study of maternal emotional experiences and postnatal depression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 124(1–2), 152–160.
Bo, K., & Hilde, G. (2013). Does pelvic floor muscle training prevent and treat pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence postpartum? British Journal of Sports Medicine, 47(14), 1–6.
