Hey, I’m Zoe!
I'm a movement lover, mumma to two girls, home birther, surfer, a 1/3 Splenic Projector and I'm here to support you on your journey to fall back in love with movement.
Despite working as a personal trainer for 4 years, feeling connected to my body and having maintained a movement practice for more than a decade, birthing my first baby made me painfully aware of how little I actually knew about my body. Especially when it came to my pelvic floor.
I felt confident that I was doing all the right things when I returned to exercise, but I ended up with an anterior pelvic floor prolapse (POP), low back pain and hating my favourite exercises because they left me feeling wrecked. One main factor in this was my inability to manage pressure.
I felt so alone in this experience. I initially didn't have a clue what was happening with my prolapse because my physio hadn't discovered any issues at my post birth consultation. In my search for answers I struggled to find a solution that wasn’t “do more kegels” which only seemed to exacerbate my symptoms.
It wasn't until I was experiencing my own postpartum symptoms and anxiety that I realised how underserved women are in this incredibly vulnerable period.
Women shouldn't have to ask "why didn't anyone tell me! Women deserve better. I deserved better.
I knew I needed to relearn how to move in ways that suited my body, and so I went down a rabbit hole of movement and pelvic floor education in the 3 years between my first and second baby. In the year after her birth I undertook a mentorship which turned everything I thought about movement on it’s head.
What started as my own recovery journey quickly turned into a desire to help underserved mums navigate this huge change. I came out of my second birth feeling empowered and prepared to heal. I knew what my body needed. I knew how to connect to my pelvic floor and breath.
I came out of this birth knowing that I wanted to help other women feel this way too! I wanted to help women trust their bodies and to feel confident moving, playing, even just getting up off the floor without bracing for pain. I knew that I was becoming the coach I wished I'd had when I first became a mum.
Courses and Qualifications
Level 2 Exercise Professional
Bootcamp & Outdoor Group Fitness Instructor Level 1
Australian Kettlebells Level 1 & 2
Level 1 Pre and Postnatal Certified Trainer
The Empowered Performance Program - Katie St.Clair (I continue to learn week to week in the Empowered Performance Academy)
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Learn how to breathe to effectively stretch and strengthen from the inside out.
No amount of static stretching or mobility drills solved my POP, recurring low back or neck pain. Learning to expand and contract the body via the breath is a game changer. We need to open up space in the ribcage. This is where I now start with any movement practice.
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I love that strength training has given me confidence, made me feel more capable as a mother and proven to me that my body is so much more than the way it looks. I have learnt so much in the last 4 years about how to lift without experiencing pain, discomfort or pelvic floor symptoms. It wasn't until I Iearnt how to lift effectively by using my breath AND my pelvic floor that my prolapse really healed.
At my 15 month pelvic floor physio check-up ther was no evidence of any prolapse.
Strength training has given me confidence to move in ways that light me up, and given me strength to face the challenges of being a mum!
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The pelvic floor shouldn't only be a focus postpartum. When we facilitate movement in the pelvic floor muscles, it's not just for a healthy pelvis. It facilitates better movement options for the whole body.
When we let the pelvic floor move the way it needs to, the entire pelvis can move and offer relief from pain/discomfort all the way up the chain. When I learned how to release my pelvic floor and mobilise my ribcage to breathe properly, I was able to start the healing process for my prolapse, and ease pain in my low back and neck which I've experienced for years.
When I do experience pain or discomfort now, I have the tools to work out exactly what's going on to find relief. I want to teach you these tools too!
My Movement Values
I’ve practiced movement in some form for 15 years, and I’m still constantly learning new things about my body.
As a teen I didn’t really see the value in exercise. I didn’t like it because I didn’t know what I was doing. It just all felt really hard!
When I was 20 I met my then boyfriend (now husband), Kyle, who was into bodybuilding at the time and was studying to be a personal trainer. He convinced me that doing strength training would make me feel a lot better than the intermittent running and random follow along Carmen Electra workouts I was doing.
I loved strength training from day one, and I’ve consistently done some form of it ever since. In fact I loved it so much I left my degree in Psychology & Psychophysiology to become certified as a personal trainer.
I started out working at an all women's gym, and hated it. I wasn't suited to the rigidness of the gym. There were strict “formulas” to follow and no room for creativity, even when women asked for something different.
While I was still working at the women’s gym I picked up a client at a local personal training studio where Kyle was also working. It ended up being the best experience getting to work alongside my boyfriend, and also for our boss who really valued my ideas and encouraged me to try out everything I was learning on my clients.
This is where I learnt how to work with a wide range of people from teens to older adults, pre/post-partum to menopause, people with chronic pain to super fit clients who wanted to be pushed to their limits. I worked one on one, did buddy and small group sessions, ran fitness boxing classes and group strength training.
More on my Movement Story
I worked in the industry for 4 years, and after Kyle and I got married we decided to travel. We got creative with how we moved our bodies between flights and staying with relatives or random Airbnb's, and I followed my creative passion at the time (photography) while we travelled
When we came home from travelling I returned to the studio doing more behind the scenes work with our boss, and I learnt a huge amount about how challenging it is to run a business! I’m forever grateful for the experience.
In my spare time I picked up drawing and painting and loved it. I received requests for commissions not long after sharing some of my work and the ball kept rolling. I took some classes, but I was mostly self taught.
I continued on this creative path over the next few years, while working part time at a local retail store. I had left the fitness industry but continued my movement practice, continuously seeking out new ways to find what worked for my body. During this period I went deeper into yoga, taking multiple courses in Kundalini and Tantric Yoga, which was my first real introduction to the power of breathwork.
In 2017 we moved to Phillip Island, fell in love with this beautiful place and have been here since.
I got pregnant and had our first bub in late 2018, and this is when my movement story really changed.
Despite a beautiful and easy pregnancy, my baby really didn’t want to leave the luxuriousness of my womb and decided to stay put until she was forced out via a very much unwanted Caesarean at 42 weeks and 6 days. I had layers of birth trauma which took years to resolve.
I ended up with Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) but had no idea about it at the time and felt so alone. I didn’t really know where to start back with movement, let alone strength training. Despite my training as a fitness professional, I was lost when it came to my pelvic floor.
And so this is why I decided to come back to the industry after a long break. There's a huge gap in what women need postpartum, and what's available.
A 6 week checkup where you're doctor eyeballs your C-section scar and says "yep, you're all good" (literally what my experience was) isn't good enough. Our bodies are drastically changed by pregnancy, and it's not as simple as just going back to what you were doing before. Our bodies do not just "bounce back."
I learned so much in the 3 years between my first and second baby from some amazing women sharing all they know online.
I continued strength training and surfing through my entire second pregnancy, even surfing on the day I went into labour! (Just little baby waves haha).
My second birth was a beautiful, quiet homebirth. I had minimal tearing and my 4.46kg baby girl arrived at 42 weeks.
I came out of this birth feeling empowered and prepared to heal. I knew what my body needed. I knew how to connect to my pelvic floor and breath.
I came out of this birth knowing that I wanted to help other women feel this way too! I knew that I wanted to help women trust their bodies and to feel confident moving, playing, even just getting up off the floor without bracing for pain.
This lead me to sign up to Katie St.Clair’s Empowered Performance Program and everything I thought I knew about my body felt like a drop in the ocean.
I put what I leaned into practice, and my understanding of movement has deepened, and I’ve learned to trust my body on a whole new level.
Tailbone pain that I’ve experienced for years and thought I would always have has melted away. Tension in my pelvic floor truly let go. My prolapse has healed and I rarely think about it.
My low back stopped aching when I stood up from the floor. I feel safe in my body to test my physical limits. I’m stronger than I have been in years.
I want to share what I know. You deserve to feel comfortable, strong and confident in your body too.
