What Is Functional Rehab and How It Helps Postpartum Moms

Womens Journal Staff 2 on July 25, 2025

Functional rehab has become a foundational element in postpartum care, offering a structured and purposeful approach to helping women rebuild strength and regain confidence in movement. It focuses on retraining the body to manage everyday tasks, emphasizing coordination, stability, and strength rather than isolated exercises. This method recognizes the unique physical demands that follow childbirth and provides tools that support long-term recovery.

Unlike general fitness programs, functional rehab zeroes in on movement patterns that translate into daily life, lifting, squatting, reaching, and carrying. For postpartum moms, these movements reflect the reality of picking up a baby, bending over cribs, climbing stairs, and navigating household routines. Recovery isn’t just about returning to exercise, it’s about reclaiming physical autonomy after pregnancy and birth.

Why Is Functional Rehab Relevant in Postpartum Recovery?

Pregnancy and childbirth place significant strain on the musculoskeletal system. Abdominal muscles stretch, pelvic floor integrity shifts, and spinal alignment adjusts to accommodate a growing baby. Postpartum recovery often requires more than rest and light movement. It demands targeted attention to muscles and joints that have been overloaded or weakened.

Functional rehab helps address common postpartum concerns such as diastasis recti, pelvic instability, and low back pain. These conditions don’t respond well to blanket fitness solutions. They require nuanced strategies that restore muscle engagement, breathing coordination, and joint support.

Rather than focusing on physique or performance goals, functional rehab centers physical rehabilitation around movement competence. The aim is to help postpartum moms feel stable, balanced, and strong while managing daily life tasks, not just during workouts, but across full days of motion and unpredictability.

The program format also considers energy levels. Sessions are often short, focused, and adaptable to fatigue. Unlike high-intensity routines, functional rehab progresses based on ability rather than output, allowing recovery to unfold at a steady pace.

How Does Functional Rehab Support Core and Pelvic Floor Health?

What Is Functional Rehab and How It Helps Postpartum Moms

Photo Credit: Unsplash.com

Postpartum challenges often start at the center of the body. The core isn’t just about abdominal tone, it includes the diaphragm, pelvic floor, and spine. When these areas lose coordination, movement becomes inefficient and symptoms surface, such as leaking, instability, or joint discomfort.

Functional rehab rebuilds these systems through breathwork, positional awareness, and progressive load. The process usually begins with low-intensity movements that connect breathing to muscle activation. This might involve gentle spinal articulation, rib expansion, and pelvic tilt control.

As strength and coordination return, exercises evolve to include lifting mechanics, asymmetric movements, and spinal stabilization. These mimic everyday tasks, allowing the body to reinforce supportive patterns during childcare and household activity.

Pelvic floor engagement is another central element. Instead of aggressive squeezing or long holds, functional rehab encourages responsive tension, where muscles contract and release smoothly, in time with breath and motion. This type of engagement is critical for restoring continence, core control, and postural strength.

What Postpartum Conditions Respond Well to Functional Rehab?

Functional rehab adapts to a wide range of postpartum experiences, from surgical births to prolonged labor. While no two recoveries are identical, several common conditions tend to benefit from this approach:

Diastasis Recti, a separation of the abdominal muscles that affects trunk stability and posture.
Pelvic Organ Prolapse, often accompanied by pressure or discomfort during lifting or standing.
Lumbar Pain, related to muscular compensation and joint overload from postural changes.
Sciatic Symptoms, involving nerve compression from muscle imbalance or inflammation.
Shoulder and Neck Tension, caused by nursing posture and carrying weight with altered alignment.

Instead of addressing these symptoms in isolation, functional rehab treats them as part of a system. Movement is not segmented, it’s integrated, connecting the dots between how the body compensates and how it can relearn efficient function.

Progress may include simple shifts, like adjusting where weight is carried in a squat, or how breath is managed during load-bearing movement. These refinements reduce strain, improve circulation, and activate muscles that have remained dormant during pregnancy.

What Does a Functional Rehab Program Typically Include?

Each program is tailored, but core components usually appear across formats. Here’s what often shows up in a functional rehab plan:

Breathwork and Alignment, diaphragmatic breathing matched with rib positioning and spinal control.
Repatterning Exercises, slow, intentional movements to build new muscle memory and correct faulty movement habits.
Load Progression, gradually introducing resistance, weights, or bodyweight challenges within safe ranges.
Unilateral Movements, training one side of the body at a time to address asymmetries from pregnancy compensation.
Functional Tasks, mimicking real-life activities like standing from a seated position, carrying loads, or reaching overhead.

Sessions might begin with floor-based work, then progress to vertical exercises, balance drills, and mobility transitions. Posture correction and grip strength are often included, recognizing the daily demands of holding children, pushing strollers, and reaching across uneven surfaces.

Rather than moving quickly, programs emphasize control. Stability comes before speed, and form comes before force.

Why Is Functional Rehab Considered a Long-Term Strategy for Postpartum Health?

Photo Credit: Unsplash.com

Recovery from childbirth isn’t linear. Days vary, symptoms shift, and energy fluctuates. Functional rehab respects those variables, providing frameworks that adjust based on life’s demands.

While short-term benefits may include reduced discomfort or improved coordination, the long-term value lies in resilience. Muscles don’t just get stronger, they get smarter, adapting to life’s patterns, whether that means toddler-carrying marathons or navigating uneven terrain during errands.

Functional rehab also blends well with other modalities. Its foundation in movement awareness makes it compatible with manual therapy, massage, yoga, and traditional physical therapy. It offers a bridge between early healing and full activity, anchoring the transition from postpartum rest to an active routine.

Ultimately, the success of functional rehab isn’t just measured in reps or milestones. It’s reflected in how postpartum moms move through their day, with strength they can trust, coordination that feels intuitive, and a sense of ownership over their own recovery path. That reliability, even in the small moments, makes functional rehab a quietly powerful ally during one of life’s biggest transitions.

The Hidden Ways Women Sabotage Their Executive Presence

Women's Journal Staff on July 25, 2025

By: Shinese M. Collins

You’re innovative, strategic, and successful, but you still feel overlooked in rooms you know you belong in. Sound familiar?

For years, I’ve coached women who checked every corporate box, only to wonder why their confidence was questioned—or worse, their presence ignored.

The truth is that executive presence isn’t just about how you speak—it’s about what you signal.

Many high-achieving women unknowingly send the wrong signals by defaulting to one of these three behaviors:

Over-Explaining – Trying to prove credibility with too many words.
Performing Instead of Leading – Doing more to be seen instead of leading from identity.
Shrinking to Keep the Peace – Avoiding assertiveness to avoid discomfort.

Personally, I thought if I worked harder, they’d notice. Instead, they assumed I was content being in the background.

Sabotage is Subtle But Costly

It affects how you’re perceived in the boardroom, whether you’re chosen for stretch opportunities, and even how you negotiate your worth.

And the worst part?

You’re not doing anything wrong.

You’re simply leading from performance… instead of presence.

I Know Because I Lived It.

There was a season in my career when I didn’t realize I was shrinking, masking confidence with performance and overcompensating with perfectionism. From the outside, I looked in command. On the inside, I was managing perception more than purpose.

But everything shifted when I realized I wasn’t leading from the wholeness of who I was—I was leading from what I thought others needed me to be.

That was my wake-up call. So, I stopped chasing validation and started building alignment. And that’s when I created the SHINE Goal Method™—first for me, then for the women I coach.

It became my personal blueprint for reclaiming power, clarity, and presence.
Now it’s the strategy I teach every woman leader who’s ready to stop performing and start leading with identity, authenticity, and intention.

How To Shift

Lead from identity, not insecurity.

First, Discover Your Identity:

“Am I dimming my light to keep the peace?”
“Do I overcompensate to earn a seat I already own?”
“What would change if I trusted that being is enough to lead?”

Next, Reclaim Your Power with The P.O.S.E. Shift™:

Pause before over-explaining.
Own your message in under 90 seconds.
Stand in your values even when it’s uncomfortable.
Expand your presence by practicing bold stillness.

Then, Elevate Your Leadership posture using the SHINE Goal Method™—a purpose-aligned tool designed to help women reset their internal leadership compass and stop leading from depletion.

SMART goals measure activity. SHINE goals activate alignment. For leaders and organizations that desire integrity, impact, and intentionality, SMART isn’t enough. The next evolution is goal-setting that centers the whole leader, honors the mission, and fuels meaningful, measurable change with heart.

The SHINE Goal Method™ for Executive Presence

When presence falters, purpose must lead. Here’s how to bring your leadership back into alignment:

🔸 S – Simple & Strategic

Cut through the noise. Your presence doesn’t need to be loud—it needs to be clear.

Speak with focused intention, not filler. Strategy is felt in simplicity.

🔸 H – Holistic

Presence isn’t a performance—it’s an embodiment.

Show up aligned in mind, body, spirit, and energy. That’s the version of you that commands rooms.

🔸 I – Impactful

Your authority isn’t in how much you say, but in how your message lands.

Focus on outcomes, not output. Speak to move decisions, not just discussions.

🔸 N – Non-Negotiable

Boundaries build presence.

Decide what you will no longer tolerate—internally or externally. Presence without boundaries is performative.

🔸 E – Evaluable

You can’t grow what you won’t measure.

Ask: Did I show up in full alignment today? Did I shrink or stand? Was I on purpose in this moment?

Presence is a Posture, Not a Performance

You don’t need to work harder, talk louder, or prove more.
You need to trust yourself more, your instincts, and your divine leadership assignment.

As a Leadership & Mindshift Coach, I help high-achieving women rewrite the silent scripts keeping them small—so they can lead boldly, live on purpose, and command with presence.

And when you align your leadership with both your purpose and your power—
You don’t just shine.
You shift everything.

Shinese M. Collins
Founder, Your Purpose Starts Now™

Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and does not guarantee specific results. Outcomes vary by individual. The SHINE Goal Method™ and P.O.S.E. Shift™ are tools for personal development, not performance guarantees.

Dismantling the Model: Amy Vasterling’s Call for Inner Knowing and Collective Transformation

Women's Journal Staff on July 25, 2025

By: Michael Beas

Amy Cerny Vasterling offers a transformative—and refreshingly quiet—alternative: Know. Her upcoming book, Know: Where the Status Quo Ends and You Come to Life (releasing September 16, 2025), blends memoir, manifesto, and intuitive field guide into a single, potent invitation: to step out of “The Model,” a silent societal script that defines worth through hierarchy, and into the innate wisdom of what she calls “Personal Knowing.”

At the core of Vasterling’s work is her bold concept of “collapsing narcissism,” a term drawn from 22 years of observational research. Through this lens, she examines how control-based structures—rooted in childhood misattunements—strip individuals of their self-governance. “As babies, we know when we’re hungry, tired, or upset,” Vasterling explains. “But when our caregivers dismiss or mislabel these cues, we begin to doubt ourselves. We stop asking for what we need.” That fracture, she argues, grows into a lifetime of posturing, striving, and self-abandonment—what she calls “acting inside The Model.”

Her findings suggest that societal narcissism—evidenced in power imbalances, immaturity in leadership, and a general emotional stunting—stems from this early disconnect. “We’ve not matured collectively past age 16 emotionally,” she says. “That’s how deeply embedded the hierarchy and control patterns have become.” But it’s not all bleak: Vasterling insists that reclaiming our internal compass through Personal Knowing is the way forward. This grounded self-awareness allows us to ask, “Is this for me?” and act from alignment rather than reaction.

A central figure in this paradigm shift? Highly Sensitive Persons (HSPs). Vasterling, an HSP herself, sees them as society’s early-warning system—like elephants that sense natural disasters before they strike. “HSPs process more, see patterns faster, and want deeply to help,” she explains. Yet many are trapped in a feedback loop of permission-seeking and self-doubt. Her message to them is clear: You are the signalers. Your discomfort is a signpost that the system must change—and you’re here to guide that change.

This ethos pulses through Know. Far from a conventional self-help manual, the book is a clarion call for those who feel anxious, stuck, or disconnected—not as a personal failing, but as evidence of living inside The Model. “The Model,” she says, “is upheld by control masquerading as power. But true power is knowing. It’s quiet. It’s calm. And it’s deeply personal.” Writing the book was no small feat; it took Vasterling five years, three of them working with an editor. “We think fast is better, but truth takes time,” she reflects. “There was a calm in me as I wrote, a knowing that this was meant to come through.”

The process wasn’t just creative—it was transformative. As she moved deeper into the work, Vasterling realized that the outcome was more than personal—it was social. “Two years in, I saw the result was natural equality,” she recalls. “I cried. After a lifetime in spaces that prioritized disconnection, this felt like real hope.”

Natural equality, as she defines it, is not about sameness. It’s about each person being fully themselves, unencumbered by imposed roles or outdated structures. It’s the opposite of hierarchy—and the antithesis of narcissism.

So how do we begin to break free from The Model in practice? Vasterling’s method is what she calls “Snoopy Simple.” The phrase is playful, but the approach is profound: begin with what’s easy, with what feels right. “It’s logical to agree that it’s easiest to be who you truly are,” she says. “But The Model convinces us to stay in jobs, relationships, and roles that drain us.”

She illustrates this with a story from her high school ski team. After a teammate dramatically improved her race time, the coach praised her not by comparing her to others, but by affirming what she herself had accomplished. The result? Every team member improved at the next race. “That’s inversion,” Vasterling says. “We heal what broke us—by seeing and naming what’s already working in each person.”

This spirit of affirmation and gentle transformation also informs her Wisdom Gatherings—monthly community events for women, creatives, and HSPs. Equal parts energy reading, support circle, and intuitive coaching, these gatherings provide the repetition needed to shift lifelong patterns. “It’s like learning a new language,” she explains. “The gatherings give us a place to talk about it, to be seen, and to realize we’re not alone.”

For Vasterling, community is key to dismantling The Model. “When we find people who meet us in a Model-free way—even if just for now—we begin to remember who we are. That’s where the real change begins.”

Ultimately, Know is not a guidebook for perfection. It’s a permission slip to be human—fully, expressively, and imperfectly so. “We didn’t create The Model, but it is ours to heal,” Vasterling says. “And when we do, we rediscover what it means to be alive—not just surviving, but truly, deeply living.”

To learn more about Amy Vasterling’s work or attend a Wisdom Gathering, visit amyvasterling.com.

Disclaimer: This article is intended for informational and reflective purposes only. The concepts discussed represent personal perspectives and experiential insights and are not a substitute for professional psychological, medical, or therapeutic advice. Readers are encouraged to seek guidance from qualified professionals when addressing mental health, personal development, or emotional well-being.