When Caitlyn Wooten first tried Pilates in 2023, a couple of months after giving birth to her son, Taylor, she wasn’t looking to bounce back into her pre-baby body. She just wanted to find herself again.

Now, the Caledonia mother is partnering with Lowndes County Recreation to offer her second free Mommy and Me Pilates class this morning at 9 a.m. in Crown Park, 301 Third St. N. Her goal is for mothers to move, heal and build community together.

“Pilates did as much for me mentally as it did physically,” Caitlyn said. “When you’re going through postpartum, it’s just a big change, and it can also feel kind of isolating.”

Studies have found that around 82% of new moms struggle with feelings of loneliness and isolation. Research suggests that this could be due to “insufficient social support, stigma and unrealistic societal expectations.”

For Caitlyn, this research rang true. She said that when she went to exercise or take time for herself, she struggled with “mom guilt” – a feeling of self-doubt and shame that you’re failing to meet society’s standards of what a “good mom” is. Pilates is what helped her understand she wasn’t alone in these feelings.

“One thing I also didn’t expect to find when I started Pilates was just like a community of women,” Caitlyn said. “Getting to work out together in classes with women, and just being in a room with other women, I think, was really helpful to me. And a lot of women had similar experiences. They had been having a hard time finding the time for workouts.”

She was only 2 months postpartum when she tried her first Pilates class at Studio Pilates in downtown Columbus. She said that as her instructor guided her through the motions, she felt her mind relax. By the end of class, she was hooked.

Now, Caitlyn is a certified Pilates instructor at the same studio where she took her first class – and at the YMCA and The Gym. A moment she called “full circle.”

Despite that, she wants every mom coming to her class to know that change doesn’t happen overnight.

“I’ll be honest, when I first had my son, I had a really hard time those first few months,” Caitlyn said. “Because, you know, you compare yourself to others. Some women are really active during their pregnancy, they just went straight back into things – they just bounced right back. And that definitely was not the case for me. I did not bounce right back, it took time.”

Dr. Jennifer Lincoln, an obstetrician-gynecologist and lactation specialist in Portland, Oregon, spoke to the BBC about “bounce-back” culture – defined by her as the societal pressure on new mothers to quickly return to their prepregnancy body weight, shape and fitness levels.

“Many new mothers feel that they have to do a lot to prove that their pregnancy didn’t change them or their bodies at all,” Lincoln said. “But this is an unattainable reality for many, yet women still internalize this pressure.”

Lincoln said many women will “look fine” while navigating birth injuries that can take months to heal. Pelvic organ prolapse, though not always symptomatic, can affect up to 90% of women postpartum. About a third experience urinary incontinence, which can be caused by a too-tight pelvic floor, scar tissue or nerve damage.

Diastasis recti – when the abdominal muscles that separate during pregnancy haven’t yet knitted back together – affects 60% of women postpartum. The condition can cause the belly to bulge and lead to pain, constipation, urine leaks and difficulty walking or lifting.

Caitlyn said all of these things and more are sometimes happening for the women in her classes, and even in the absence of specific pregnancy or birth injuries, the drastic physiological changes mean that it takes a long time to recover and heal.

She said Pilates, due to its adaptable nature and flexibility, can provide a safe, slow foundation for healing, confidence and strength.
“I want women to know this is not about rushing back into things,” Caitlyn said. “When you think of working out, you think about how fast you can go, how strong you can go … Pilates rewires your brain. It’s about slowing down. It’s about listening to your body and starting small and building up strength bit by bit, and even if it’s just once a week or a few minutes at a time.”

And that sort of slowed-down, intentional movement is the foundation for rebuilding your strength as a new mom, she said.

Since beginning Pilates, Caitlyn has begun to incorporate strength training, cardio and more into her own routine. She said she’s no longer thinking about “pushing her body to the limit” but instead thinking about breath and movement with intention.

And in addition to giving her a way to move her postpartum body safely, Caitlyn said the support she received as a new mom and new instructor was invaluable.

There have been times she had to bring her toddler to class – something she worried would be distracting – but she said clients have always been kind, gracious and positive, often playing and chatting with him during the class.

That sort of experience – where moms can work out without worrying about what their toddlers are up to – is what she’s hoping to provide this morning at her Mommy and Me class.

“If I need to help out with a toddler or hold a baby, anything I can do to help the moms have a good time, I’ll do it,” she said. “I’m going to include some exercises where moms will have the option to hold their babies so they can physically do it together.”

By the end of the class, Caitlyn hopes every woman knows she has accomplished something big. Showing up and moving your body, she said, is a sign of strength regardless of where a woman is in her journey.

Beyond discovering a love of Pilates, she also wants moms to connect with each other. At the end of class, Bailey and Bloom, a local flower company, will be set up for the moms to make their own flower bouquets, and Caitlyn will provide refreshments. She’s hoping this will encourage community connection – something she believes all women and mothers need to thrive.

“I would love for moms to connect through this class,” Caitlyn said. “Even if it’s not necessarily for Pilates, but for play dates, just to meet other moms in similar phases of life. I would love to make this a continuing thing, because I think we definitely need more of that in our community.”