Is Pilates Safe During Pregnancy?
The Benefits of Pre- and Postnatal Reformer Pilates at Feels Pilates Is Pilates Safe During Pregnancy?
One of the most common questions we hear is: “Is Pilates safe during pregnancy?” The answer is yes!
Pilates for pregnancy is an excellent way to stay active, improve strength, and keep your body in balance. Reformer Pilates provides a safe and effective workout for expectant mothers, with modifications and specialised props available for each stage of pregnancy to enhance your comfort and safety.
At Feels Pilates, we take great care to ensure that each exercise is adjusted to your unique needs, providing you with a personalised approach that promotes safety and comfort. Our experienced instructors are trained in prenatal Pilates and understand the specific changes that occur in your body during and after pregnancy.
Benefits of Prenatal Pilates
Prenatal Pilates offers many benefits to support a healthy and comfortable pregnancy:
- Improved Posture: As your body changes during pregnancy, it’s common to experience back pain, especially in the lower back. Pilates focuses on strengthening your core, which helps stabilize your spine and improves posture, reducing strain on your back.
- Enhanced Flexibility and Mobility: Pregnancy can cause your muscles and ligaments to loosen as your body prepares for birth. Reformer Pilates helps maintain strength, flexibility and mobility, reducing the risk of discomfort and improving circulation.
- Strengthens Pelvic Floor Muscles: Strengthening the pelvic floor (and learning to relax the pelvic floor) is crucial during pregnancy. Pilates for pregnancy helps engage and strengthen these muscles, supporting your body through the natural changes pre and postpartum.
- Breathing and Relaxation: Learning proper breathing techniques is a key component of prenatal Pilates. Deep breathing and mindful movement help reduce stress, promote relaxation, and aids in managing intra-abdominal pressure.
Postpartum Pilates: Recover and Rebuild
After giving birth, it’s equally important to focus on recovery and rebuilding strength, and postpartum Pilates can help. Reformer Pilates is an effective way to rebuild muscle tone, regain your core and pelvic floor strength after childbirth.
- Core Rehabilitation: After pregnancy, it’s common to experience weakened or stretched abdominal muscles or “abdominal separation” (diastasis recti). Postnatal Pilates helps you rebuild strength in your core and pelvic floor, supporting recovery and stability.
- Increased Energy: It’s easy to feel fatigued after childbirth, but postpartum Pilates can help boost your energy levels. The movements are designed to gently activate your muscles, improving circulation and reducing stress and fatigue.
- Improved Mental Health: Exercise is well-known for its positive effects on mental health. Postpartum Pilates can lower stress and boost endorphins, giving you a refreshed sense of well-being
- Gentle Progression: You can ease into your postnatal recovery at your own pace, with our experienced instructors who can provide personalised modifications to suit your individual needs.
- Customizable Resistance: With adjustable springs, the Reformer can provide just the right level of resistance to challenge your body at any stage.
Pregnant or postpartum clients are welcome to attend reformer pilates classes at Feels, with clearance from your doctor. If you are new to reformer, we recommend starting with a Beginner class.
At Feels Pilates, we’re here to guide you every step of the way with expert instructors and a supportive community. Pilates for pregnancy and postpartum recovery doesn’t have to be intimidating – it’s about feeling strong, capable, and supported.
Learn about the support you didn’t know you needed.
We have cherry picked the most useful resources for you, so that you don’t have to waste precious hours searching.

Article - Louise Barton + Elisha Wildblood (Not Another Onesie)
End-of-Year Reflection Guide for Mums (Free Journal Prompts + Playlist)
The end of the year can feel like a whirlwind, especially for pregnant and postpartum mothers. While the world speeds up with celebrations, to-do lists, family dynamics, and pressure to “make it magical,” many mums quietly feel stretched thin, overwhelmed, or emotionally pulled in a dozen directions. If this resonates, you’re not alone. This gentle guide is here to help you slow down, take a breath, and soften into a kinder ending. A moment to honour the year you lived, the glimmers that kept you going, and the version of you that is emerging.


Article - Kendra Greig (The Homecoming Concierge)
Inside the Postpartum Home Preparation Service Transforming New Parents’ First Days
Bringing a newborn home is one of the most transformative moments in a family’s life, but it often arrives with overwhelm, exhaustion, and a steep learning curve. While many expectant parents spend months preparing for birth, far fewer have the time, support, or energy to prepare their home for the postpartum period. That’s where the NEST postpartum home preparation service steps in. Designed to create a soft landing for new parents and parents travelling with young children, this offering blends practical support, newborn home organisation, nourishing postpartum food, thoughtful touches, and a deep understanding of what new mothers and families truly need in those early days. We interviewed Kendra Greig the founder of NEST, to explore what inspired this unique service, what families can expect, and how a beautifully prepared home can ease the transition into newborn life.

Article - Ali Mills (Grief Guide)
Navigating the Hidden Grief of Motherhood
To gently unpack this invisible grief in motherhood, we spoke with Ali from Grief Guide, a registered counsellor and grief specialist based in Brisbane who supports mothers and families in person and via telehealth. In this conversation, Ali explores the hidden losses woven through matrescence, how grief shows up in our bodies, and what compassionate support can look like for mothers navigating this profound life transition.

Article - Kylee Shepherd (Ma Wisdom)
Keeping the Village Strong: How Modern Grandparent Workshops Support Families
Becoming a parent doesn’t just change your life; it reshapes the whole family. As new mums navigate sleepless nights, identity shifts, and the steep learning curve of parenthood, their own parents are experiencing a transition too. That’s where modern grandparent workshops come in. Across Australia, these programs are helping families strengthen connection, understanding, and boundaries so that everyone, parents, grandparents, and babies, can thrive together.
You may also be interested in...


Kaylana Wellness Collective
At Kaylana Wellness Collective in Hurstville, Sydney, we’re here to support women through every stage of pregnancy and postpartum—through movement, connection, and whole-person care.
Led by Alannah, a senior Physiotherapist and Pilates instructor with a special interest in women’s health, our focus is on helping you feel strong, supported, and confident in your body. With years of experience and a passion for functional movement, Alannah combines clinical knowledge with a down-to-earth, personalised approach to care.
We offer tailored physiotherapy and exercise programs designed to meet the needs of your changing body. Whether you’re managing pregnancy-related pain, rebuilding core and pelvic floor strength, or looking to move safely after birth, we’re here to guide you every step of the way.
Our offerings include:
- Pregnancy-safe Pilates
- Birth prep exercises
- Therapeutic ultrasound for treatment of mastitis and blocked ducts – same day appointments available
- Postnatal rehab and return-to-exercise plans
- Mums and Bubs classes (yes, your little one is welcome!)
- Support for everyday concerns, including pelvic girdle pain, abdominal separation, pelvic floor issues, and low back pain.
Our Mums and Bubs classes are a welcoming space where you can move, recover, and connect—with your baby right there beside you. These sessions are designed to support your physical recovery while building strength, stability, and confidence in a community of like-minded mums.
At Kaylana Wellness Collective, we listen to your goals and create a care plan that fits your life. We believe movement is powerful—especially when it’s supportive, enjoyable, and tailored just for you.
Let’s help you feel your best, so you can get back to doing what matters most to you.


The CALMM
The CALMM is a space for our clients to ‘be’, a space for them to notice themselves, be present, listen to their body and nourish it where needed. We have been operating in Sydney since 2018, offering treatments in Rose Bay and in Newport on the Northern Beaches. We provide remedial, lymphatic and pregnancy massage, and c-section scar release.
Across both locations we have a number of modalities to support mothers, including naturopathy, energy healing, holistic counselling and nutrition to support our mums from the inside out.


Bump Day Spa
Bump Day Spa provides a nurturing, pampering experience to all women, specialising in pre & post natal services.
Your journey to motherhood is extraordinary, and so are your needs. Our therapists are trained to support you with tailored treatments, from pregnancy massages to post-natal recovery. Indulge in treatments designed with care. From massages to facials, our premium products are safe for pregnancy and beyond, ensuring comfort and rejuvenation for every stage of womanhood.
Bump Day Spa’s experienced and qualified therapists provide pampering treatments including massage, facials, and spa packages. Combined with our beautifully designed spas and custom equipment, while everyone can enjoy a treatment at Bump Day Spa, we pride ourselves in specialising in pre & postnatal pampering. All our professional products are carefully selected to ensure they are pregnancy and breastfeeding safe and of the highest standard.
Bump Day Spa was founded by friends Kerry Crossling and Tegan Natoli in 2017. Tegan & Kerry’s passion for supporting women, no matter who they are, or where they are at in their womanhood journey, is what inspires Bump Day Spa’s mission and continued quality service and dedication to provide a nurturing environment for women to enjoy some time out.
Discover the ultimate spa experience tailored for women at every stage of life, specialising in pregnancy and postpartum treatments. Explore our range of luxury treatments and packages, thoughtfully designed to nurture, relax, rejuvenate and empower your mind and body.
Membership options and gift vouchers are available.
Locations in Double Bay & Cronulla (Sydney), Fortitude Valley (Brisbane)
Learn about the support you didn't know you needed.
We have cherry picked the most useful resources for your fourth trimester so that you don't have to waste precious hours searching.

Article - Winnie Wu (Papaya Clinic)
Abdominal Binding, Tubigrip, and Recovery Shorts: A Postpartum Guide
In this guide, we’ll explore the role of these three postpartum support options, outlining when and how to use each one. We’ll also provide evidence-based insights into their benefits and explain how they can complement a broader recovery plan that includes core-strengthening exercises and professional care. Whether you’ve had a vaginal birth or a cesarean delivery, this article will help you make informed decisions about postpartum recovery.

Article - Jackie Gorman (Nurture By Touch)
Jamu Postnatal Massage: The Nurturing Tradition Every New Mother Should Experience For Deep Recovery
This is truly special to witness; it's a real privilege. As I’m within the sanctuary of the family's home for up to 4 weeks, you subtly and gratefully become part of the furniture, quietly and respectfully. So as the days pass through this ancient lineage of care, you see things shift physically, which is pure biology to me, but also her smile changes as you walk through the door, her eyes are more vibrant and her skin colour changes

Article - Dr. Erin Hawken ( Home Chiropractic Studio)
Why Chiropractic Care for Pregnancy and Postpartum Could Be a Game-Changer
Chiropractors use specific techniques to help ease this physical load and support more comfortable movement patterns, all without drugs or invasive procedures. Care is always adapted for each individual, with your safety and comfort as the top priority.

eBook - Louise Barton + Elisha Wildblood (Not Another Onesie)
Mama’s Guide to Prepping for Pregnancy, Birth & Beyond
Mama’s Guide to Prepping for Birth, Pregnancy & Postpartum is your ultimate pregnancy and postpartum guide designed to help you feel informed, supported, and ready for every stage of motherhood. Covering key topics for each trimester, birth preferences, a hospital bag checklist, breastfeeding tips, and essential postpartum care, this downloadable PDF is packed with expert-backed advice and practical tools.

Article - Louise Barton + Elisha Wildblood (Not Another Onesie)
How to Use Not Another Onesie: Find the Best Pregnancy, Birth & Postpartum Support in Australia
At Not Another Onesie, we’ve created a beautiful, easy-to-use space to help you access the best pregnancy and postpartum support in Australia, from doulas and physios to lactation consultants, sleep guides, and emotional wellbeing tools. This is your step-by-step guide to using our site, finding your village, and getting the kind of care that truly supports you.


