35 - Movement, Mindset, and Magic—The Body Ready Birth Workshop (Guest: Adrianne Buyer)

In this episode, Doula Deb sits down with the wonderful Adrianne Buyer—a birth and postpartum doula, childbirth educator, placenta encapsulator, and Reiki practitioner in Tacoma—to dive deep into all things Body Ready Birth Workshop. Adrianne shares how this transformative class goes way beyond your average childbirth class to empower families with movement, mindset, and partner support that make birth a team effort.

✨ Here’s what we cover:

• Why birth is not just a physical event (hello, mind-body connection!)
• The power of movement during labor—and how it helps baby corkscrew through the pelvis
• How partners can step in and be true birth sidekicks (bye-bye, fish-out-of-water moments)
• Why oxytocin is the secret sauce for labor (and how touch supports it)
• How to harness affirmations, visualization, and emotional preparation to build confidence and calm
• Deb’s personal experience working with Adrianne on pelvic pain—and why this knowledge is a game-changer

💛 Key Takeaways:

• Movement is magic: learn how to work with your body and baby.
• Mindset matters: visualize, affirm, and down-regulate your nervous system.
• Partner power: bring them into the process—hello, oxytocin!

🔗 Links & Resources:

• 👉 Adrianne’s services and classes: adriannebuyer.com
• 👉 Deb’s upcoming sleep course: Rooted Rest – because sleep shouldn’t be a four-letter word!

💬 Loved this episode?

Don’t forget to share it with your fellow parents, like, subscribe, and leave a review—it helps us keep bringing you more expert insights and real talk.

Thanks for tuning in! Remember: trust your gut, embrace the messy moments, and know you’ve got this. 💛

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome & Introduction
• 2:20 Meet Adrianne Buyer
• 4:10 What is the Body Ready Birth Workshop?
• 7:45 Empowering Partners & Hands-On Support
• 11:30 Timing & Tailoring Movements
• 15:00 Mindset: Visualizations & Affirmations
• 19:50 Debunking Myths & Fear Around Birth
• 24:00 Reading Labor Progress: Beyond Numbers
• 28:30 Oxytocin, Touch, and Partner Connection
• 32:15 Postpartum Movement & Recovery
• 36:50 Trauma-Informed Care & Empowerment
• 41:20 Every Birth is Unique
• 45:10 Practical Tips & Accessing the Workshop
• 47:45 Closing Thoughts
• 49:25 Takeaways & Encouragement

Transcript

Deb (00:40)
Hey there, welcome back to Doula Talk, where we spill the tea on all things birth, postpartum, of course, getting that sweet sleep. I'm Deb, and today, I'm absolutely thrilled to have the incredible Adrianne Buyer joining me. She's not just a birth and postpartum doula, but she is also a childbirth educator.

placenta encapsulator and a reiki practitioner right here in Tacoma, Washington. Adrianne dove headfirst into the birth world after her own transformative pregnancy journey. And let me tell you, she's been unstoppable ever since. We're diving deep into the Body Ready Birth Workshop, which Adrianne teaches using the Body Ready Method Framework.

We'll explore how this workshop goes beyond your typical childbirth class to blend movement, mindset, and intuitive body wisdom so that you and your partner can work with your baby's journey through the pelvis. And here's a spoiler, it is not a basketball hoop. They just fall through.

Plus we'll talk about how this workshop empowers partners to step up and why oxytocin is your secret weapon in labor. And hey, before we get into the juicy details,

Don't forget that my Rooted Rest Sleep Course is launching this fall. It's your roadmap to supporting your baby's sleep foundations without all the stress. You can check out the details at douladeb.com/rooted-rest because every parent deserves a little bit more rest. Am I right? Okay, let's get this conversation rolling.

Deb (02:20)
Well, thank you for being on the podcast. Yeah, thanks for asking me. Yeah. appreciate it. Of course.

Why don't you just tell us a little bit about yourself and we will jump in. Okay, yeah. I am Adrianne Buyer I'm a birth doula, postpartum doula. I do placenta encapsulation, energy work, all in birth. ⁓

and I started this because of my own pregnancy and birth journey. I'm just wanting to give back to others in the way that I felt supported. great. And I brought you here because we wanted to talk about the body ready birth.

workshop that you do. It's really interesting new concepts that are really helping families, birth their babies. So, um, I really wanted to like dive in at what it is and, um, how it's helping people and how it might be different than a childbirth education course. Um, so for those of you who haven't heard of this and it's your first time, what exactly is the body ready birth workshop about? Yeah.

So we kind of like lure you in with this idea that it's focused on movement, which we do a lot of. Sure. We explain how the like body and the pelvis specifically really like move, how mobile it is, and then how baby moves through that pelvis during birth. ⁓

And it's a lot of positioning. do a lot of hands-on support for the partner and get them really into it. ⁓ knowing the moves and why you're doing the moves. So I know like as a doula, even when I was trained, it was like, here's all these positions you can do for birth, never telling us like when to use them for what purpose. And so it's the same in childbirth classes, right? ⁓ they give you a lot of movement.

Coping ideas that don't tell you like hey This is the optimal time in birth to use them right and how to tell where your baby is right and when that's appropriate Yeah, and with this workshop we focus on that okay like with that movement of the pelvis we also focus on like how to tell like what You're feeling as far as sensations in your body. Okay, know maybe where baby is Okay, are your sounds like so we're

teaching like the birther and the partners to kind of do some of the doula work in a little bit of a way. Sure. And are they are the partners helping the birthing person?

feel that like understand or decode like the sensations so that they can know what things to do. Yeah. So it's like helping the partners understand what to look for, what to be paying attention to. how is the birther are moving? How are they sounding? Where are they saying they're feeling sensations or where are they touching their body to kind of decipher like where they're feeling things. And then here's the next

that,

maybe we get an idea of where baby is. Okay. And so we talk about ⁓ what we call the stations through the pelvis of where like baby is descending through the pelvis. And I think the couples get a really good idea of that through the course. Right. And then they get to practice hands-on movement and techniques throughout. ⁓ And we talk about these movements in relation

to where baby is. Okay. So when baby is in what we call the inlet high in the pelvis, what moves are probably a little better for that time period. Right. And then when baby moves further into the pelvis and the mid pelvis, what's better than? Right. And then when baby gets to the outlet, what are some optimal positioning then? And that's so that...

birth is easier, quicker, I'm assuming. All of it. All of the things. Yeah, hopefully. mean, you know, who knows, There's a lot of factors in birth. can't promise. We can't know all the things. But you know, listening to your body and tuning in and then knowing like some things that actually do can be helpful. Yeah. I mean, if we can make an educated guess on where baby is and use targeted moves, potentially we can make

make

that birth easier and faster. ⁓

I like to just tell everybody like, go with your intuition though. And like, let that lead you into how you want to move. Right. But if at some point you're stuck and you're not just like knowing how to move or what to do next, that's when you can turn to the guides and like, can I do? What ideas sound good to get an idea of how to move my body? Yeah. Because sometimes I see it often as a doula. The birther is just like, I don't know where to go or what to

do

next. Yeah. You can feel overwhelmed and either your first time or the fifth time. mean every birth is so different that you know I know I'm a visual learner and like having an idea of you know given ideas can help so much more than just like coming up with like this doesn't sound good to me. Like I just want to say here. Yeah and and that's it like I always provide a handout printed and then so they can take

it

with them during labor and have that as a tool to like look at like what sounds good, oh that does not look great, okay don't do that. Yeah let's not do that. No yeah and then they get access to the online videos after they do the workshop and that helps them like practice the movement so then it becomes like muscle memory in their body and they're not having to think so much during labor.

Like hopefully then intuition just guides them into being able to flow through these movements and not have to think about it so much. Well, it kind of reminds me of like sports, like professionals where you're visualizing winning or visualizing how you're going to do that, that turn in the water when you're swimming or how you're going to do the hurdles and you're visualizing over and over so that your mind is ready, right? When that time comes. Yeah. So this is actually another key component of the class. Okay.

So we focus on that movement. I start to lure you in. But we actually do a lot of that internal work and the mindset work. I do a visualization with everybody that takes my class. ⁓ And I think it's important for the partner to do the visualization as well. each have our own idea of what birth looks like. is that seeing that goal, that achievement of this event

you want in the way that you want it because our subconscious believes what we want it to believe. Right. And so if we can lay this out in this way that looks the way we want it to be and keep visualizing that and having that, then ultimately our body is going to believe that. You know, it's the same for athletics and that's usually the example I give in the class is like, you know, this is what athletes do and it's been shown to really work. Yeah, absolutely.

And

we don't visualize the fail. We don't visualize us falling. You know, you visualize that win, that successful culmination of this event and what you want it to feel like. So in the class, we focus more on what we want it to feel like throughout the process as well. Okay. So when I'm leading the visualization, it's really what emotions are coming up for you. How are you feeling through this process? Yeah. Because what a lot of people don't talk about is the importance of the emotional.

mental side of birth. Amen. Mic drop. We can end it now. Like it is it is such a mind game. is. Yeah. So do you think that there are some common misconceptions for preparing for your birth that maybe the body ready birth workshop might help reframe and help you shift your thinking? ⁓ Yeah, I mean I think

The way we hear a lot of people talk about birth is preparing for this marathon. And when you just think of it that way, you're thinking of just that physical event. And yes, it's a physical event. We don't know how long it's going to take. I say three hours to three days or five. We don't know. Which is part of the hard part about it, preparing of just the unknown and the fear. Yeah. And there's so much unknown about birth. And I think that's what most people fear is that unknown.

not having all the information. And unfortunately you just never will. But I think if we focus on that mindset piece, that can help so much in even the physical preparation. And I don't know that full childbirth classes go into that as much.

You know, they focus on a lot of the things that are done in birth. Typically. ⁓ I know a lot of them, at least in our area, aren't focusing a lot on the movement either. ⁓ not focusing on how baby comes through the pelvis, which is a big unknown to a lot of people. We need to understand. And when I show this in the workshop, people are always surprised about how much movement baby has through the pelvis as well.

Everybody thinks it's this like straight shot through this like basketball hoop. Right. And it's not at all. You truly like corkscrews all the way down through the pelvis. Yeah. And so we have to provide them that room. So that's the physical piece. Yeah. But to be able to cope through that. Right. Is where we need the mental side. Yeah. And so we talk about that and how important that is. And I think that is maybe a big difference than a lot of the childbirth classes. Yeah. Like understanding what that.

that descent really looks like and how you can help that or how you can prevent it from being optimal. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so I think it helps people to like understand how baby is moving and then being able to kind of like read signs of labor, you know? And I don't like just talk about this like 411 pattern that we're looking

for, you know? I'm not talking about a number. I'm talking about reading somebody's body language, the signs that they're giving off, to know how they're in labor. And I think this is what I hear from partners over and over and over again taking this class, is that they now understand how to support because they're understanding what to look for. It's not just this one number that they're being told to look for, because we know, like, for

one doesn't mean you're in active labor. Yeah. Or it could mean it's a little late. Yeah. Right? It could be either end. We don't know. Yeah. And so to look for this bigger picture really helps them. Yeah. And then they feel like so prepared with like...

ideas and actually like hands-on support like we do a lot of touch and I talk about the importance of touch right and for oxytocin right which is what gets your labor going which gives you your baby sooner yeah yeah and it helps like boost that process right but then it helps also boost the availability to like cope right right yeah well I mean if you're feeling good with oxytocin your pain receptors are not as accessible

Yeah, yeah, and so the partners really have that time to like touch And to get comfortable with it and also being a part of it, right? It's like part of that process So what I'm hearing is a lot of empowerment of being part of the process for the family together You know, it's not just something Your partner is gonna watch the birthing person go through and be like I am completely Helpless. Yeah, like I can't I don't know what to do, right?

They're

scrambling, you know, and that's a really common ⁓ feeling that I hear from families. It's like, want a doula so that I don't feel like a fish out of water. So if maybe a doula is out of price range or accessibility, maybe this is a good.

course to invest in. Yeah, yeah. And it gives them a lot of that ability to understand how to be present. And how important that is. And how important. Like that's something I always harp on. ⁓ That's my soapbox. Yeah. Is the presence because that will provide them the most support truly. And then how like they have their tools, they have their handout, they have the online access, which has the handout on that too. Sure. So if they forgot the paper, totally fine. it up on your phone.

amazing. And then it's there. Yeah. Okay. So I was in a birth last night and ⁓ the partner just started doing touch in like appropriate ways for where baby was in the pelvis. Okay.

He was just led to it. I love that. And so I obviously taught him this in the class. Sure. And I was their doula. Yeah. And he looks to me like, is this right? Absolutely. this. I'm like, you're doing it. Yeah. Yeah. And how cool is that connection? And that is so important for the birthing process is to have that connection. Like a doula can step in and do things, but I just love it when the partner goes in there and it's just this beautiful moment between them and they're just like vibing. Yes.

It's so perfect. I'm it feels so good for the birthing person, for their partner to be like right there. Yeah, yeah. To me like that's the best part of birth is watching them really work together. Yeah. And like the partner being fully present and just being there. Well and being a part of the birthing process versus outside of it, right? And I think that's like so connecting about that. And so with that like the class and then the online access, I tell them to practice, practice,

practice like together at home and then they get comfortable being together and doing these things and that already starts to boost that ⁓ and that confidence for them. So that sounds like so much more than just like a normal time.

education course, which I think is important. yeah, it's not a full child birth class. Right. And it has to be, it's an addition, right? It's an additional, it's more like bonus points. Yeah. But it sounds like so much more than that. To me, it sounds like it needs to be in there no matter what. So yes, I have a hard time teaching my full child birth class without adding most of this information. I like you're going to do a disservice if you don't. I do.

⁓

And so like I've actually like taken it a couple times and like mashed it up. Okay. And just made it like one program where I do childbirth ed with the body ready birth combined. And the clients that I've done that for just absolutely loved it. Yeah.

Well, I'm just curious if you could compare like, you know, what is the difference in their behaviors during birth? Have you noticed a big significant difference in people who have had the body ready workshop versus just the childbirth education?

I do feel people with the body ready knowledge have...

they're more ready to like move. Okay. And that's so important. So, so I get out of the bed, move your butt. Yeah. And obviously like I'm talking about the importance of that and showing them like with the pelvis and the baby. Why? Also pain management. Yeah. Like it feels so much better when you're moving. Yes. And then it clicks for them and it's like seeing it. And then like, so during birth they're more comfortable moving. They understand the

of it so they're not gonna fight it. So I do see that a lot more. Yeah, okay I can see that. And I feel like people, another thing we really touch on in this class is communication. Communication with your team, communication with your partner, communication with yourself, which is a huge one. So huge. Be kind to yourself. ⁓ can talk about affirmations all day long.

Right? And it really is so powerful. I mean, if someone told me that that was like with my first birth, be like, you need to be doing affirmations. I'm like, okay, like that's going to do anything. But I swear, like with my daughter, I had those up on my wall. I read them every morning. I read them not even intentionally. They're just there. Right. So I would just like read them. And my best friend had made them for me. And so it had this loving place in my heart already. means so much more. So much more.

when I was birthing my daughter in that same room, I unconsciously look at them and I'm reading them and it's like it just all that love all that joy. Yeah, and just the positive of like, this is hard work and I'm doing it. My baby knows what it's doing. My body knows what it's doing and it just brought this level of confidence of like, yeah, my unconscious knows this already, you know. ⁓ bringing that in early, right, was key for you.

And I think most people kind of just put it up in the room during labor and think that's gonna help and maybe for some people it does. But the more time we have to like integrate this and really like get it into our system beforehand, the better I see it working. Yeah. And so like I talk about the importance of being kind to yourself but communicating through this process and I think it gives people tools to communicate with their team better too. What having more confidence, empowerment around that. Yeah.

I think that's all really important to this. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I want to back up a little bit and talk a little more about the physicality of like this workshop and like what you guys focus on. So it sounds like you're doing a lot of body alignment, movement, functional strength. Can you walk us through what that looks like in pregnancy of like things that you maybe would focus on in the pregnancy to help with that? Yeah. So, okay. So there's this workshop that I teach. It's body ready.

birth. Okay. And then there's the overarching organization as body ready method. Okay. That I'm licensed under to teach this course. And

The body ready method, like the main purpose of this is to teach about alignment and movement in a functional way to support your body through pregnancy, birth and postpartum. Okay, good. Okay. So there's a three separate things. So I guess we'll start with the pregnancy part of like how, cause is that a separate workshop that you could do or consult in pregnancy if they're interested in that? So we don't have a workshop for that. So body ready method itself has online like

programs. Okay. And I think it's

open, like available to anybody and any body and at any level, which is really nice. You can scale it to what you need. They have different levels within the program and it does target this alignment and this functionality and then strength. So in our body, we need to counter this load of pregnancy in different ways. And our bodies are so smart and compensate in so many ways for our daily habits, for this load that we're putting.

putting

on it in pregnancy and we need strength in certain areas. ⁓ And so this program like teaches you that. Okay. In a very like gentle way too. Yeah. You're not like... ⁓

going to CrossFit. Right. Yeah. But it's teaching you some movements that maybe you can integrate into your day. Yeah. Of like maybe focusing more on like making sure that your alignment is good. Yeah. Yeah. And strengthening. Right. And so the importance of like the alignment of your body and how that can help like aches and pains, especially during pregnancy. We all think like just go to a chiropractor. They're amazing. Totally. I go to a chiropractor all the time. But if we could do something

to tweak our alignment and change a little bit of that and make some strength maybe where we don't have it to help that alignment then it becomes easier less work. Right. Well you wouldn't need that visit of the chiropractor as much maybe. Potentially. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You could help help your body strengthen in the way to keep that alignment and balance. Right. While you're rebalancing with the big belly. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It's a whole new thing to learn.

for your body, right? And so, yeah, this program allows you to do that just from the comfort of your home. Yeah. And so like as an add-on to that, I am trained through them to be able to do like one-on-one assessments. Okay. So I come in and in your home and I do a little assessment to see what your body is doing already and to hear like how you feel about that. Sure. And then to maybe make some suggestions of movement and alignment.

meant little targeted tweaks to see how that helps your function and mobility. Oftentimes we can get rid of like some aches and pains. You know, we get a lot of pelvic pain, SI joint pain, sciatica. Which I mean, it might not go away all the way, because I mean, you're carrying a load, right? But like you said, if we could help strengthen and make sure that and help that process, it might not get worse. ⁓

and we're looking for less pain, right? Less aches. That would be great. Yes. And maybe it's just a little tweak. Yeah. And most of these things we don't even realize we're doing. Totally. It's just become habit for our body. And then somebody points it out and you're like, yeah. Yeah. Like, I probably shouldn't put my on my right side all the time. weighs 20 pounds.

throwing my whole body off. Yeah, maybe. Well, there's also things that you have to compensate with the belly, right? Like if you are getting in and out of the car and just like stepping up with and making your pelvis kind of move and stepping up with one big step, that might not be sustainable for a very long time. And you're causing and you're always going into the driver's seat, right? You're like right foot first and you're just stretching in a way that can cause pain in the joints. Yeah, a lot of that single leg movement like you're describing.

can really cause some of that pelvic pain that we have during pregnancy especially. Stretching out the ligaments and stuff. We already have so much relaxin in our body. Everything's already loose and wonky. Yeah, we don't need to stretch it more. No. So in that instance, I mean, I'm sure this is something that they're teaching me. It was like how to get in the car without causing more damage or pain if you're already having pain. Hey, let's compensate and make sure that you sit your butt, swing your legs. Swing. Right? And it's little silly stuff like that. There's like, ⁓ that's all I needed.

Right. Sometimes it's like the simplest thing. Yeah. Yeah. And then, ⁓ adding strength where maybe we need it a little bit more. Totally. Can help a lot. And stretching things that are too tight. And so that's kind of like what focus, what it focuses on too. Yeah. Yeah. That sounds awesome. Yeah. And then, you know, the, the labor, the birth part of that is body ready birth, but all of that is preparing you for it as well. There are all the movements that you're doing in this pregnancy time can be,

used during birth. And there's so many more than just what I teach in the Body Ready Birth workshop. Totally. This workshop's a four hour workshop. I can only do so much in that time period. ⁓ And then there's also a postpartum program where they just teach you soft, gentle movement for even a day or two after birth.

just to stretch your body. You're probably sitting in bed a lot after birth. Your body gets to feel a little sore and tight. And so when you get up to go to the bathroom, there's a couple things you can do to just stretch your body, stretch out your chest that often gets really tight, hunched over sitting in bed. Stretch out your back, your thighs a little bit, right? Just kind of gentle things where it's not a workout. It's gentle movement to help nourish your body.

time

period. Yeah, that feels good, right? It does. It's focusing on what is feeling good to you. Yeah. What do you need to help your body in that time period? And then as you move through and progress, you can get a little bit more of a workout. Sure. But in this early stage, it's about really supporting your nervous system still, which is a huge overarching piece of this whole program. Absolutely. It's supporting that. That's awesome. Yeah. I wish I had that. It just felt so good. I know. When I think back to my

pregnancy and birth and I took all the classes because I did nothing. Yeah. Right. I took, gosh, I think it was over four or five weekends. I took a childbirth class. So imagine like that's a lot of information, but I was never taught how to move in that class. it was focused on the mental side, which I loved. It's so important. Right. Like it was needed. but it didn't focus on the movement.

And so.

I myself strength trained for many years prior to that. Okay. And somehow in birth, found movement. Okay. And I did movements specific to my body and I didn't understand like why I was doing them in the moment. Sure. But looking back now after like understanding this, you're like, Holy crap, I did good. I was like, ⁓ I know where my baby was. That's awesome. As I was moving through birth now. Okay. Intuition.

thank you! of these movements I was doing. then I, you know, I know my progression timeline so it makes sense. I'm like, so it just like light bulb click, yeah, like this is what we need. Yeah.

And so it was a huge moment for me putting all these pieces together. That is so cool that you did that before you even took this class. Yeah. Like that. But it just, think it's helping people tap into that wisdom and that intuition that we all have as long as we just stop and listen. Right. And I think we are just like our society is not like in the mindset of pausing. what's that?

What is that? Maybe we have to pause and find joy, not just go to the next appointment. like go, go, go, go all the time. We all live in this like up-regulated heightened. Produce, produce. Yeah. Yeah. And that's just, unfortunately the way our society is right now. Yeah. We don't take those pauses. And so I do talk about the importance of that too. And how, how do we down-regulate our nervous system? Because that is extremely important to birth. Yeah.

You know, how can we get into this right mindset? Right. And if there's ever a time in your life to pause and to slow down and just be in this moment.

like it is pregnancy and being with your newborn and postpartum. It doesn't last forever. It's this blip. Yeah. And all like for those of us who've been through it, like we, think I hear it more and more is that it goes by so fast. Yeah. It's the longest, fastest time of your life. Cause you're like the days are long, but the weeks and months are short. Weird time warp thing. It's weird. ⁓ but then, know, all this time,

is just gone before you realize it. And so... So savoring. Yeah.

Yeah, save that joy and that happiness where you can and it all of it is roses like I totally understand that ⁓ I mean, no, it's challenging when it breaks you down and it's it's dark it can be dark But is is that a problem? I mean, it might be just a season of your life and we look at seasons and like, you know Four seasons of the year but like really we can look at our lives of like there are seasons where we're growing and like, know having children is one of the most transformative

experiences and to give it that weight and importance is just so valuable. ⁓ So I want to get back on track because that was I love that. I love just talking about birth like that. But I want to ask about when you're preparing your body in this way for birth, ⁓ how does that impact that experience?

birth and labor and we can talk physically or mentally or both Both I mean like we've been talking if you can prepare your mind in the right way

You know, your nervous system can be downregulated. And you can be ready to take on that emotional load and that challenge, those things that are thrown at you that you're not expecting. And you can take that pause and really sit with that information to figure out what you're going to do.

I think it can help you move through birth so much easier to be able to be in the right mind space and have that movement availability. When we take that away, it's hard. But you know, do also, because not everybody wants an unmedicated birth and that's totally fine to each their own. I think everybody needs to birth in the way that feels best to them. I'm a huge advocate for that. And so when we talk about medicated birth too,

these movements aren't all gone. Right. Like you can be medicated and still have movement available, which people don't know. Right. People think if you like get an epidural, you have to lay in the bed and do nothing. Yeah. That's not true. We can still turn you on your side. We can still get you on hands and knees. We can still get you upright in a squat. Yeah. Depending on the availability of your body. Right. To do some of this. Yeah. But worst case, we move you on your side and get some leg rotation in. Yeah. Yeah. And still get your hip.

Yeah, right. Yeah, we get your sacrum room moving back and forth out of the way. Yeah Different things like that. Yeah. Yeah. Also, I'm thinking There's a lot of time before you can get an epidural. Yeah, like this is the part that that missing piece that I find in hospital childbirth education courses is that They're gonna talk about procedures and things available at the hospital and things like that once you're in well What do we do before we get there? Like some

most or some hospitals at least in our area won't admit you until five to six centimeters. That is a lot of labor. That's a lot of early labor to get through. To cope and to get movement toward active labor.

to be able to just get that epidural. Yeah. And so imagine if you are tense and fearful and scared and you just kind of sit there and like grin and bear every single one of these. It is going to be miserable until you can get that epidural. Right.

So if you can find that way to relax your nervous system and move your body, because often when we're moving our body, like,

A lot of these are done during a contraction, which is very targeted movement to help work with the contraction. Right. But between that, we often find this rhythm and this sway to birth. Right. And we get this routine and then that helps calm our nervous system. Nice. And that helps us be in this more relaxed state. then maybe we can get a little further. Yeah. So it's like kind of the two parts of like in between, we're finding our rhythm, down regulating, relaxing, maybe even taking a little teeny tiny nap.

I've seen that, I've seen that and I love it. ⁓ And then during the contraction we are figuring out where baby is, doing movements to help your baby find a good position, find the alignment so when those contractions are happening it's pushing the baby in a good spot. that we're like getting more progress. We're working with our body. That sounds so good. Yes, I am absolutely loving teaching this class. It is my favorite thing.

Yeah. And I think everybody who's taking it is just loving it. Yeah. it's great. I love, I'm so proud of it. Yeah. So what would be one thing that stands out with this method? Because I can see how some women might feel like...

We're trying to fix things. know, like your body's broken. So we need to fix the alignment rather than working with it. Yeah.

I don't think the point of it is to fix anything, right? I said our bodies are really smart and they compensate in so many ways. And that's amazing. Yeah. Our bodies are so wise. goodness. Otherwise we'd fall over if we get off balance a little bit. And our bodies do that in birth too, right? Baby's wise, our body is wise. Baby is going to navigate the space given. ⁓

They will, eventually, in one way or another. And that's absolutely OK. ⁓ But do we feel better when we move? Mostly. It's rare that I've seen somebody feel better when they don't move. ⁓ And then if we can move and make that space available to baby.

a bit better, a little bit more open, why not make their journey a little easier as well? Absolutely. So it's not about trying to fix anything. I don't think anybody's broken. I think it's just about making things a little easier if we can. Yeah. And we are where we are. You can't change your past, what your mind has been through to get to where you are pregnant. ⁓ Not everybody wants to do these things either.

okay. Not every, know, some people are like, yeah, that alignment, that movement, that's not for me, you know? Yeah, that's totally okay. You don't have to do it. And some births are just fine without it. Totally. Yeah. I think a bigger part of it is that mindset piece.

So thinking of like your past and you aren't just some pregnant person who has the perfect everything and you're just like have no history of like pelvic pain and trauma and difficult births like in those situations, which we all come with a past. Can you see this being a really helpful tool? And how accessible is it for people who are coming into it with those pasts with me that they might be hesitant of like,

know if this is gonna work for me because I've had trauma, difficult birth, like my pelvis hurts. Yeah, yeah. So I think actually I have quite a few like second, third time birthers come take the class. Interesting. Because they want to do something different. I love that. ⁓ They realized that maybe they did lack the movement in their first birth and to them that's what needs to

I have lots of people who take it with trauma. I mean, who doesn't have trauma in some way, shape or form? And I think...

That mindset piece is huge in that. And talking about that, and talk about how to work on that for ourselves, how to have tools and techniques that work for us going into it. And then the focus on those being daily, which help.

Yeah, right. And I feel like it would really help with the empowerment piece and like autonomy and like making your own choices and decisions. Absolutely. And when you're tapping into that intuition of like what your body and your baby may need, it is so much more so powerful to be able to use that information to make empowered choices in your birth, which is the number one thing that people remember about their birth, whether it ended in a C-

section or unmedicated outcomes have nothing to do with how you felt about your birth. ⁓ And that empowerment piece of like feeling a part of those decisions and that things were not being done to you, but with you and with your autonomy. Yeah. And I think, you know, that's, that's the point. Like this program meets you where you're at and whether that's the like pregnancy portion online or that's the body ready birth workshop, right?

And it gives you those tools to really understand yourself and how to make those choices for you. Because my choice is different than your choice for a whole different reason. All the reasons. Yeah. You're the only one in your body to know what feels good for you. Yeah. And I think that we have to learn to sit with that and really feel into that.

to make those choices and not just make the choices because somebody is telling us that we should or X, Y, and Z reasons, but to feel in our body what decision is right. If I say yes, how does that feel in my body? If I say no, how does that feel in my body? And that's why we talk so much about that like mindset component. And we talk about that communication is because it's all super important. Yeah. And I think, you know, for people who do have trauma, those things are

huge.

⁓ Sometimes the trauma comes from not being informed, not being given choice, being forced into decisions that we maybe didn't want. And looking back you're like, man, I wish I would have made a different choice. Yeah. Yeah. And so that's why I think some of these tools are so important. And I do find that it gives people more voice. love that. That's such an unexpected.

thing to come out of this. Right. You know what I mean? Because we're so focused on the physicality of alignment and strength and I think...

this can just give such a different view of like what this actually is. And I love that. So if someone is like, gosh, this all sounds really good. You know, say they're pregnant and they love all three pieces. How would they, how would they go about, we'll just start there. How would they go about like figuring out? Yeah. How to sign up. So if they're looking for like the main like pregnancy, like workout type programs,

And I say workout loosely. Well movements, right? It's like learning to move with your body. Yeah. As it's changing. That's through the Body Ready Method website. Okay. They can find all the programs that they have available there. Okay. And then...

if they want to sign up for like the local workshop. I teach that and they can find me on my website at adriannebuyer.com. Great. And then if they're in pregnancy and they do the online course or maybe they just want that tailored like one-on-one support, you can do the consult in their home. Yep. Okay. How far do you travel? Cause where are you located? I'm in Tacoma, Washington. Okay. 45 minute to an hour radius. Okay. So just reach out to make sure that you can.

can get there. Yeah. ⁓ and I know others in the area or a little further out as well that are, also, can also provide the support. also on the body ready methods main website, have a listing of providers in the area, in your area. So you can find us by zip code by city. ⁓ you can find who's teaching in person or online workshops. If that's your jam. I am a very in person person.

Okay. And so I like being having my courses in person. Yeah. And to really get to connect with everybody taking my class and show them hands-on. Because I'm there to guide them. Yeah. You know, sometimes it's like, my hand in the right place or am I doing this shake correctly? You know, and so it's very much like visual hands-on type of thing for me. It's more effective. And so I like to provide that for them. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And then postpartum.

⁓ same thing. There's sounds like there's an online component and then if they do want like consults, do you those for postpartum as well? Yeah. Yeah. We can absolutely do that for postpartum too. Kind of tailor whatever's happening at that time. Yeah. Cause our bodies do change from pregnancy to postpartum. And so maybe something different is coming up. So what if your kids are like 10 or 13? Could you do consults then? Yes. Okay. Yeah.

I mean, technically everybody has a pelvis, right? Most everybody, right? Yes. Well in all the transparency, I had Adrianne, what was that, two years ago-ish? Probably. About close to one after you took it. I've always had pelvic pain after my son having him and I've struggled with it so many different ways and I had her come over with two or three times and I found it really, really helpful. Turns out I don't walk right. Turns out not right. No, no.

But there were things that I did not understand I was doing that was

contributing to the pain, right? Right. So I had to change some things. Um, I didn't breathe right. mean, like, but it brought into awareness the things that I had struggled with for probably my whole life. Um, and I still practice a lot of those things today. Yeah. And so, does, do you feel better in your body? I mean, I'm still over 40 girl. mean, it's still always work, but I think it gave me some really helpful tools, um, to be able to,

⁓ work with my body, like work with my pain, and you know improve over time. And none of them...

took you a long time to do or manage every day, right? And some of them were just awareness of how you were moving your body in space. Like, you have to use your ribcage to breathe. What? Yeah. I didn't know that, you know? Pick up your feet when you walk. I mean, I think I've been waddling, you know, to compensate with my pelvic pain since my son was born. And I had no, I always wondered why my husband walks so much faster than me. I'm like, can you slow down?

I cannot walk that fast. But turns out if you're not propelling forward, you're just shuffling along. Yeah. And it's something that I randomly just go back to and then I bring awareness to it. I'm like, okay. I need to get back to better And it was just pointing that out and then showing you a proper gait pattern. Yes. And then you practicing that, that you were like, my gosh, this actually feels so much better in my body. So much better. I can walk so fast now.

It's whoa. Yeah. But it's, funny how like, you know, your body will just get into these compensation patterns and how much it helped. Right. And so I've also supported my mom in some of this, right? You know, she's not in that birthing world anymore. She's well past that. all have bodies and pelvis is right. But yeah, it's a pelvis issue and alignment issue. And so I can help support that. Right. And any

know, body ready method pro that's gone through this training and is certified. We've all done the work to be able to make these assessments. So I don't do anything online. That's just not who I am. But there are people who do that where there's people in like, seriously now it's like all over the world. We're not just limited to the United States. It's great. Yeah. Yeah. So you can find practitioner anywhere. That's awesome. All right. Well, that's all my questions. Thank you for having

You've answered everything in so much more than I ever imagined. I love chatting about all of this. I love the body ready method so much. ⁓ It was just really this eye opening movement like way for me and just made me realize how much it meant to me like movement in general. And so I love teaching it and supporting others through And even if you don't take the class like in my client, I still

this knowledge and I still use it in birth because it can be used. Yeah. I just love it. Is there anything else you want to share before we wrap up? No, there's not. All right. Thank you. Well, thank you so much for being here. Thank you. ⁓ I'd love to have you on again sometime. I'm available anytime for you. All right. Have a good day. Thanks. You too.

Deb (49:25)
Adrianne brought so much wisdom and warmth to the table today. From understanding how your baby corkscrews through the pelvis, seriously, no basketball hoop here, to the power of tuning into your body sensations. She reminded us that birth is about so much more than just getting through it. It's about feeling confident, connected and empowered.

Here are few takeaways from today's episode. Movement matters. Learning to move with your body during pregnancy and labor makes a world of difference. Mindset is Visualizing affirmations and down regulating your nervous system can shape your birth experience in powerful ways. Partner power. Partners are not just a spectator.

The Body Ready Birth Workshop teaches you how to tune in, support, and be part of the process. No more fish out of the water moments. If you want to learn more about Adrianne's classes or book her as your doula, head over to adriannebuyer.com and I will link that in the show notes for you. She is your girl for all things birth, postpartum,

And even those game-changing pelvic tweaks. If you loved today's episode, it with your fellow parents and parents-to-be.

like, subscribe, leave us a review so that we can keep bringing you more real talk, expert insights, and a whole lot of love. Thank you so much for tuning in. And remember, you are capable and strong and absolutely not alone on this journey. I'll be right here cheering you on every step of the way. Until next time, trust your gut, embrace the messy moments and know that you've got this.