Do you feel as if you have no core strength?
That you no longer have ownership of your post pregnancy body (even if you had your babies’ years ago)?
Do you get asked when your baby’s due, but you’re not pregnant?
Do you have…lower back pain? Incontinence (or leaking) when you sneeze, cough, laugh, run, jump or lift heavy things? Diastasis recti (separation of the rectus abdominis aka six pack abs)? Pelvic organ prolapse? Pelvic floor weakness? Pelvic floor pain or heaviness?
I’ve been there! Several of these were real issues for me after giving birth to both of my daughters.
I was certain that this could not be my body’s destiny. I believed in my own body’s power to heal itself and I was convinced that to have long term healing I needed to get to the root cause of my problems (not just look for a temporary sticking plaster), so I embarked on a journey of discovery to resolve my postnatal issues.
I am Emma Riedo and I am passionate about empowering women to take back control of their bodies whether they are planning to have a baby, are already pregnant, newly postnatal or long time postnatal. Through my own postnatal journey, I have amassed a wealth of knowledge to teach others how to understand their own bodies and how their movement patterns affect how their body feels and functions in exercise and in every day actions.
I no longer see fixing my postnatal issues as a means to an end, but rather the start of a journey to move better for the rest of my life. My body has almost healed (and I believe with time over the next few months it will have healed completely), I feel strong and move efficiently. In time, I am pretty sure I will be updating this page to say that I am stronger than I ever was pre-pregnancy!
You can learn to help your body heal itself and to be strong and functional too!
I have always led an active life through a childhood of horse riding, living on a farm and later, whilst working as a lawyer, I took up running and completed the London Marathon in 2007. Since then I have enjoyed hiking, skiing, gym classes (circuits, boxing), swimming and Pilates. I was living and working in Switzerland when I met my husband and, after our marriage in 2012, had our first child the following year. I fumbled my way through the postnatal period without ever feeling like I had truly recovered. I returned to the UK with my husband and daughter where I had my second daughter here in November 2015.
My search for something or someone who could help me to resolve my postnatal issues led me (after a few false starts) to Katy Bowman (biomechanist and author of many books). Whilst reading through Katy’s books, I had a number of lightbulb moments – it just all made so much sense. However, I didn’t find it so easy with two young children to spend the time required to look in depth at each exercise and work out exactly what was going on in my body.
As the postnatal issues continued and worsened, I kept searching and discovered the amazing Restore Your Core (RYC™) program created by Lauren Ohayon. Lauren has studied under Katy Bowman, as well as numerous renowned personalities in the anatomy and pelvic health world. She is also an instructor in Pilates and yoga. In creating RYC™, she has brought together all her knowledge and years of experience into a unique programme that works on many levels to restore function to one’s core. RYC™ is a whole body approach designed for women who want to be strong, long, mobile and functional and to know how to exercise well and move efficiently.
In 2017 I was very proud to be part of the first group of teachers to train with Lauren in the RYC™ method. There are currently only 6 certified RYC™ teachers in the UK and 22 in the World.
Other than marvelling in the imaginations and abilities of my children (particularly in their own ability to move well), I love to spend my spare time cooking and baking. I love fresh home-prepared food and have recently started a course in postnatal nutrition to bolster my own understanding of food and its nutritional values and also to support postnatal mums in their recovery journey. I also love the great outdoors, whether that be walking our energetic labrador in the English countryside or hiking and skiing (hoping to get back to that once the children get older!).