Have you ever laid down to exercise and felt like you couldn’t find your core? Like you know your body is there, you know the muscles should be working, but when you try to connect to that deeper strength, it feels quiet, distant, or completely unavailable. And if you’ve had a baby, especially after a C-section, that feeling can be so frustrating. You want to feel strong again, but your body doesn’t always respond the way it used to. In this episode, I’m joined by Brie Mazin, also known as Florida Yoga Mama, a 15-year yoga teacher, mom of three, and someone who understands the body from a place of movement, breath, motherhood, and lived experience. What I love about this conversation is how honest it is about the gap between being “active” and actually being connected to your body. Brie is deeply in tune with movement. She teaches yoga, understands breath, and has spent years guiding other women through their own practice. And even with all of that awareness, she still experienced that moment of realizing there were parts of her core and pelvic floor she couldn’t fully access after birth. That matters because so many women assume they should just figure it out eventually. Maybe they wait until the baby is older. Maybe they return to Pilates, yoga, or workouts and hope the strength comes back on its own. Maybe they keep pushing through movements that feel strange because no one ever told them that connection has to be rebuilt. Pregnancy and birth change the way your body communicates. Your deep core, pelvic floor, breath, ribs, scar tissue, posture, and nervous system are all part of that story. When one piece isn’t coordinating well, you can feel it everywhere: in your workouts, in the way you get out of bed, in your balance, in your back, in your bladder, and in that general feeling of not being fully at home in your body. This is why postpartum recovery deserves more than a “wait and see” approach. You shouldn’t have to wait until you’re leaking, feeling pressure, dealing with pain, or avoiding certain movements to get help. Sometimes the most powerful work is learning how to reconnect before symptoms become louder. Brie’s story also holds so much tenderness around birth, grief, trust, and redemption. After two premature births, two NICU experiences, an emergency C-section, and the emotional weight of leaving the hospital without her babies in her arms, her third birth became a healing moment in a way she had deeply hoped for. That part of her story is such a reminder that our bodies carry memories, but they can also experience new ones. And through all of it, yoga becomes something bigger than movement. It becomes a practice of returning to yourself. Breathing when life feels loud. Finding steadiness when the world around you is unpredictable. Learning that your peace doesn’t have to depend on everything outside of you being calm. If you’re pregnant, postpartum, or years out from having babies and still feeling disconnected from your core, I hope this episode reminds you that it’s not too late. Your body is not failing you. It may just need the right support, the right cues, and someone who can help you find that connection again. With: @floridayogamama Postpartum Progression Program
