Episode 42 Dr. Ashley Harper’s Birth Stories (hospital birth to home birth) and the impact of BIRTHFIT

• Unknown 0:06

  Hello Hello, listening to the aligned birth podcast. Dr. Shannon here today and it is interview day and today I am interviewing Dr. Ashley Harper and she is a local prenatal pediatric chiropractor and I say local as in the show is based in North Metro Atlanta. So she is a local North Metro Atlanta chiropractor and I'm excited to talk to Ashley today because she's got really good information to share that I've mentioned on the show before I think there's several shows where I've mentioned something called Birth fit, and if no one has had the chance to look it up yet. Now you get to have a whole entire episode about it. And what we're going to do with this too, because Ashley has a really good history and Exercise Science and a really good background in what it means to be pregnant and go through postpartum. So we're going to split it up into two episodes as well. But I want to give a little bit of her intro then we'll talk about what those episodes are going to look like and honestly I don't even know what how I'm going to put them out I don't know which is going to come first because they like they're going to be so intertwined. So I don't know I don't want to say like oh, the first episode the second episode, but we'll we'll figure it out. But Dr. Ashley here with me today. Um, she started her work in a chiropractic office as a physical therapy technician in her undergraduate studies. So she was studying sports medicine, who will say this at the University of Tennessee right Ashley because yes, I'm a dog fan. You know, that will come up at some point but she so from a really really good school she graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Exercise Science there. But, you know, she found that her experience working directly with a chiropractic community taught her exactly how many different issues were resolved simply by supporting the body's innate ability to heal. Thus, how chiropractic entered her life and how she switched career paths then from physical therapy to chiropractic care, and she's going to highlight that you know, in one of our episodes, too, so, right now as well though she is a birth fit coach, and I'm excited to go into what she does with that she hosts classes regularly at the office that she works at she is Webster certified. She's adjusting kids and babies all the time. And she's also a mom to two young girls. So I'm really excited to have Dr. Ashley on the show today. So welcome my friend.

  
  

  Unknown 2:38

  Thank you for having me. This is really awesome.

  
  

  Unknown 2:41

  I know. So we were in school together at life. And I don't remember if we graduated at the same time, or if maybe I was like I had started before you I can't remember what it was. I

  
  

  Unknown 2:54

  can't remember either because you know how everyone's kind of just all over the place.

  
  

  Unknown 2:58

  That's the beauty of school too. It's like oh, well, you started after me. But yeah, you're down here and you went crazy and finished before me and you started after you finished out like chiropractic schools a little bubble. It's a fun bubble. But I do remember meeting Ashley in school there and I remember so my dear friend Annie, who I was in school with she's a wonderful chiropractor up in Michigan now and we used to take spin classes all the time. And I'll never forget showed up one day and I was like, Oh, who is this spin instructor I was like she's gonna be tough. Like I just remember seeing that and it was Ashley and she was our spin instructor and it I still remember the songs you play in that class. I was like, Yeah, so like when I'm at home doing my spin, I think about you. Oh, that's awesome. And how awesome you are. So I know I'm really really excited today to talk to you. And I want to I know it's so hard to start because I want to get all into that nitty gritty in that story. But like I've said before, I've talked about birth fit on several several episodes, because I think it's a beautiful way to support prenatal and postpartum families. And so I would love to hear a little bit more about what is birth fit and maybe kind of starting in that realm.

  
  

  Unknown 4:19

  Yeah, well, first of all, I I discovered birth fit back in like 2017 So what I fell in love with it was I was still in school then is because I switched from a sports chiropractic focus to a pediatric periodontal after I had my child in school. But I still was learning like yearning for like that like sports aspect. Because I've been an athlete my whole life. And that's when I discovered birth fit and was like It's everything I want and more with like the physical activity as well as honoring women where they are in season the life that they are, whether it's pregnancy birth or preconception and it encompassed everything I wanted. And so birth it really started back in like 2011 with Dr. Lindsay Matthews and she she is a chiropractor, now practicing in Texas but she was not even a chiropractor and Perinatal. She just worked a lot for like movie stars and stuff and like and she noticed when after they would have their babies like they had they like get back into like whatever the I'm doing quotation marks pre baby body back and they were having a lot of issues like a lot of different pains and a lot of mental issues. Trying to like wrap their head around being mother and then living a certain life and living up to these basically expectations that were they basically unreachable.

  
  

  Unknown 5:59

  Yeah, that you're supposed to just snap back to exactly how you're you're.

  
  

  Unknown 6:03

  And so she realized there was like a need for it. And so she went down the rabbit hole and looked for postpartum care and there wasn't a lot of support. It's like everything is about getting your pre baby body back at least back then. And she realized that she needed to help women. It needed to happen so she started started with with actually like a blog. And then so many people love the blog that it became an actual like company of birth fit. A lot of times people hear birth fit and think it's all about CrossFit and it might have started that way because she is a CrossFit instructor and all that kind of stuff. But we have completely like definitely branched out of that aspect. It's every like exercise or every movement we and so our goal with birth fit is to leave industry and training for birth and rehabbing and postpartum. So what that means is like we give quality, quality and workouts as well as mental health and nutritional help. That is very intentional. It's because everything's about your intention. And and so all of our programming is based on you whether you're trying to conceive or if you are already pregnant or if you're in postpartum, or you are neither of those and you just want to move your body in a way that feels good and it's gonna help you have a stronger foundation. So we have different aspects of that and throughout all of our different programs in the past few years it started as postpartum and then we have gradually become what we are now where we serve every woman, walk of life, whatever you wherever stage you are in your life.

  
  

  Unknown 7:59

  That is so cool. And I remember I don't remember hearing too much about it in school, but I feel like now even at least because I know we've got revolution chiropractic, that's close. So we've got Dr. Shannon good. And Dr. Kristen Dominguez as well who are birth fit instructors. I feel like do they teach at life now? Like, is it a class that you can take? And it's

  
  

  Unknown 8:22

  not okay. Maybe an

  
  

  Unknown 8:24

  elective or something or

  
  

  Unknown 8:26

  I just think I CPA brings it in a lot. So I know every quarter Dr. Shannon will talk about it and stuff. Hey,

  
  

  Unknown 8:35

  that's so good because, um, you know, I when I first heard about it too, I was thinking that it was very CrossFit heavy. And so I do love hearing that. It may have the foundations you know, or the starting in that because the founder having that, you know, that type of fitness background but seeing how it's branched out into so many different avenues now is pretty cool. So starting out in that postpartum, but now we've got that pre conceptive we've got the pregnant mom, we've got the postpartum and then probably even just that support, and that just in that other realm of like hey, like you were saying, like you just want to move your body in that certain way and have those foundations. What are the foundations of it? Are there certain like pillars and aspects to how they approach like whole body wellness?

  
  

  Unknown 9:37

  Yes. So we've changed our pillars. We've had like four pillars, and now we've, we've branched it out to more like our nine core values. And so, movement is part of it, everything and come birth, it is birth fit is movement. We're also opening open is our one of our other values, connection because we connect we want mothers to connect with each other and have that connection whether it's you know, in person virtual like having connection is huge. And I think definitely in the past couple years, we've lost a lot of that. And keeping that connection is the big mental aspect of helping moms become mothers because you don't just birth the baby birth a mother as well at that same time and so that's a big aspect is the connection. We hear that a lot from a lot of the people that are part of the birth fit community is how they really feel connected and that really helps them overall. With being grounded in yours truth is another value leadership, you know, leading the way, you know, knowing what you want to do and leading that balance, having balance, you know, as best you can as mother, surrender, surrendering because sometimes especially you know, you've had your kiddos, there's a point where you have to surrender and labor, but there's many aspects of your life you need to just surrender and let go. Another core value is ownership. So owning who you are owning every aspect of you and then awareness is the last one.

  
  

  Unknown 11:25

  My Word of the Year this year is awareness. So no and I love I love all of those words. I know surrender really stands out to me. And because we've been doing a lot more birth stories on the show here and that word is something that comes up and over every it almost every birth story. You know that one moment where the moms like and then I just had to like embrace that fear and understand I wasn't in control and surrender. So that's beautiful. And the connection is huge too. Because I guess when you look at you know when you think of births in the past and we're thinking of midwives and doulas and that labor support, it was like women were birthing in a community you know, and together and using that wisdom that was passed down and yeah, I think in those past few years, that connection can definitely feel lost. So when these, these pillars are these core values, how are the classes set up? So I'm assuming that if you've got a preconception of one, it might look a little bit different than the prenatal prenatal might look a little bit different than postpartum? Is that correct?

  
  

  Unknown 12:41

  Yes. So everything there is a foundation for all of it. So everything is built off the breath. So I don't know if you've ever heard of DNS dynamic neuromuscular stabilization. It's basically moving your body with intention and moving back like a baby. So it's teaching everyone to move more foundationally from as starting with the breath. So like learning how to diaphragm breathe again. It's like first and once you get that down, then we move into intra abdominal pressure and teaching people how to take control from different pressure systems in your core. It's not about sucking your belly button to your spine. It's about controlling the pressure gauges that allow your store to be more stable and stronger. And then from there, we build on to different like movement movements caught like the debt you know, like dead bugs and bird dogs and but doing it all with the breathing and the into holding the pressure with a stability breath. So every movement should be intentional. We're all about quality, over quantity, so if the movement doesn't feel good, and it's not proper movement, then you shouldn't be doing it. Or your maybe your core is not ready for that or your body's not ready for it. And so like a lot of so that's the biggest thing is that like they start there. So all the programming starts with that foundation, and then based off of what you choose, so preconception. It's pretty like normal basic, like strength work. Everything encompasses strength work and all our programming because every woman, every person should have some kind of resistance training in their life, whatever that looks like. It doesn't have to be picking up heavy weights and being a crossfitter. I mean, it can be something like yoga yoga is straining their strength aspects of it. You could have Pilates like whatever like that looks like for you but we are so we encompass a lot of different strength works, that doesn't always involve picking up a heavy weight and putting it back down. And so with prenatal it's based off of our 40 weeks, and so every week, you get four workouts, and that'd be actually programmed for you from a warmup to accessory work to strength portion to a cardio portion to a proper cooldown as well. And it will base it off of like how far along you are so it like week 14 versus week 36 looks completely Yeah, so

  
  

  Unknown 15:22

  body is completely different. Oh, yeah. Okay,

  
  

  Unknown 15:25

  so none of the workouts look the same. I obviously have done them myself throughout my whole second pregnancy. I did and you know, the even like, equipment changes. So like we also when you choose what programming you have you also it's like we try to pick equipment for the workouts more than like people have or if you don't have anything, we give a lot of different options. Whether it's like grabbing a jug of water or you know like using different things to your house that you may not have weights all the different weights in like a gym. So and then like when you get to certain like weeks we it also has a connection component in every aspect too. So the connection is like there's a mindset portion. The warm ups look like breathing. You always start with the breath and maybe a meditation isn't part of it with it too. And then from there, you do actual accessory warm up work that actually is going to help make that workout, decrease injury and actually be more productive from there. That's most of how the program is laid out. So that's prenatal postpartum. It's very slow. So we don't allow any but we say the first 30 to 40 days. Don't even think about exercising lifting a weight or anything like that. That should be we call it our lying in program. So lying in is a 30 day programming which is just like, day one. You might grieve today or day two like it's super like there's 90 Crazy movements there's nothing insane you can last 30 days or can last 60 days. You can kind of like to figure out how you want to do it and how long you want it to last. But we're really big about like, I don't want anyone do any crazy working out unless they're like over eight to 10 weeks postpartum. So in depending on their birth if they had a vaginal or C section that also comes into play. So in from the lying in program comes our postpartum basics, which is starting from scratch with just super easy movements, mostly bodyweight, and then that rolls into our postpartum like actual like plan which is like actual workouts which is like that brings you it's 30 days. The second plan brings you out to three months postpartum and then the other one will bring you all the way up to like 12 months postpartum. So everything is gradually builds upon each other so you're not hurting yourself and pushing yourself too hard or starting things to sit.

  
  

  Unknown 18:10

  Yes. That's so important though, as far as the starting things too soon. So I love how the postpartum plan is laid out. I've had several moms in my office use birth fit as well too. And they've really loved it like prenatally and postpartum. And then now some of them are coming up to prenatal again. So with like, if it's can they start at any point in printing, like say they don't find the program until they are 25 weeks or something like that? Are there easy ways to get to rev up to that point or how does that work?

  
  

  Unknown 18:54

  Yes, so we've had many people that will start it not the right from pregnancy, like the beginning of their pregnancy. So a lot of women like me, I mean, I didn't feel like actually doing a workout till I was like, over the morning sickness aspect. So I didn't really start until like, week, 16 or 17 weeks, like prenatal pregnancy. And so and then I'll get some women that don't do discovery until 25 weeks and so I always tell them, like, look at it at the 25 week, but if it's too much, then you can just pull back and like we'll go five weeks back and started like 20 weeks or something like I kind of gauge it by the person and everything. There's a modification modification for every workout. So that's built in. So what we just tell women it's never too late, like movement is movement. You know, like as long as you start moving at some point, and what that looks like, is depends on where that person is in their like fitness, you know, world and their like life,

  
  

  Unknown 20:00

  right? Because everybody too, is coming in with those different levels of that. You know preconception fitness as well too. So having been someone that has worked out a bunch or not like I love that you

  
  

  Unknown 20:10

  offer those modifications there as well too.

  
  

  Unknown 20:15

  Now are these in person classes or and I guess you can speak for like the local because I guess every state is kind of different cuz I would kind of wanted to get into that too as far as where is all of this offered. But how does that look? Is it in person? Is it online? I think some of the moms I've had done it online just because it worked easier for them but I wanted to touch base on how that looks.

  
  

  Unknown 20:37

  So 2020 has pushed all of our programming online. Okay. Yeah. So most of it is everything's available online now. But it was mostly in person, like everything pretty much was until 2020 But depends on where you are. So like our website shows like a directory of all the birth fit leaders and Burfict coaches all over the country all over the world. Because we're international as well. That's so cool. Yeah, we're like all over the place. And then but like it'll show you so you can reach out to that coach or that leader and be like and do you have in person classes and a lot of us do is just finding if there's one near you. So and it's nice. We really do like programming too, because there are we're there's a lot of us there are leaders and coaches but there's still so many places they're not like being like you that are not close enough for some people you know, so they're able to do the online but also with the online programming are one of the writers and creators of like the programming is Leah Bartow, it that her and Dr. Lindsay Matthews do it together. We have our toe she's over the online coaching so you also get with it like personal online coaching with her that is you can schedule in with her. So if you're having questions about their certain movements, or if you're doing things right, you know, that's, she can like personally have there's like personal training sessions built in

  
  

  Unknown 22:11

  so, okay, now is there if you do it online, is there the option to connect with others? Like is it or is it just the one on one or do you see other people or is there an option to say like, Hey,

  
  

  Unknown 22:25

  these are other people that are signed up in your area, you know, online?

  
  

  Unknown 22:28

  Yeah, so there's either a one on one or you can also there's also groups too, so like some she tries to make it like women that started around the same time, same, like, if it's prenatal, like same like weeks, like you know, like we tried to like organize it as best as we can. It's like you guys are on the same journey together. Yeah. So yes, there is the group aspect to so where it's like virtually like group sessions as also that are built in.

  
  

  Unknown 22:59

  Now how do those I like that because that's touching on that connection aspect now. So we mentioned those nine core values. Are those mentioned in every in every class or every session, or is there a moment where it's like, okay, we're, you know, this is the grounding aspect of this when this is the leadership aspect or is it just kind of woven in throughout the entirety of the program?

  
  

  Unknown 23:23

  It is definitely discussed. And, like the beginning and through the entirety of it, so when you look at the programming when you get it, or have like a, like a little blurb about the connection piece, like connecting to yourself because it's not just about connecting with others, it's connecting with you if you're pregnant with your baby. So like it gives you different little exercises for that. And so like it's encompassed throughout it, but we do it's like mentioned very much on the forefront and then throughout the whole programming, so when I'm in person I like do my in person classes, I'm talking about it throughout the whole, like weeks that we are together.

  
  

  Unknown 24:05

  That's okay, that's good. So you kind of can kind of, I guess, say like, don't forget, you know, like her. remember some of these things that we're going over, you know, like balance and surrender and that type of thing, too. Yeah. Oh, now, I like that there's that online and in person option. With the I want to know a little bit about the coaching process or how that looks. As you know, as a chiropractor going in learning that like what's the basis of it, just so that people have an idea to have, you know, the training that goes into becoming that the birth fit coach, and if there's different levels of coaching.

  
  

  Unknown 24:54

  So, yes, so now we have just leader or coach. Back in the day we used to have professional perfect professional perfect coach river professional Was anyone that was a professional so a chiropractor, a nurse because a doula like anyone that's a professional in the birthing community. Okay. And then, and then we have birth that coaches who are actually you have to actually be certified as a personal trainer or have some kind of like group fitness certification. of some sort and it just can't be anybody. And that so if you're, so you have two options, either a leader or a coach, or you can be both. I'm a leader and a coach because I started off as a coach, because I have my personal training and my group fitness but I'm also a leader. So not everyone is a personal trainer and everything like that, right has that background. So you can also be a leader and have the only biggest so when you become a leader, we have a whole leader programming. So it's like 12 modules, that you go through on your time you have a year to complete them all. And then you apply to be a leader and it's like an interviewing process and everything like that. But more than likely everyone usually at this point gets leader me like if you if you've done all the modules in you like like a foundation, then you are going to become a leader and so then you become on our directory and then you can start teaching certain classes so you can't do everything. Because for one the coaching like the coaches have their classes where it's actually like in the gym, doing the workouts with them like they have you want people when they're doing the in person classes to have an actual background in like fitness to so that they're getting proper training on top of it. Leaders can do more the consultations we have like later consultation like programming, they can do the lying and program. We have a prenatal program that's more like a like a birth education. So like instead of doing the normal birth education like you it's also like preparing you and your husband for birth as well like birth and pregnant like inhabit being a family. So there's different aspects of it that you can teach as a leader, but then there's us classes that you can only teach as a coach so

  
  

  Unknown 27:34

  okay, and I like that there is that aspect of having that background and that foundation and that's kind of what I wanted to touch on just so you know if unexpected on this listing, say like okay, I know that these coaches have a certain level of background knowledge and training in addition to that knowledge and training that's offered within the community,

  
  

  Unknown 27:59

  right, because yeah, because the code leaders just do the 12 modules online and then they just apply but the coaches have to do the 12 modules and do it in person, three days seminar and have their personal training or group fitness or Olympic lifting, you know, whatever your fitness certification is, so yoga, any you know, pilates, anything like that.

  
  

  Unknown 28:21

  Yeah, where you have really studied that exercise science aspect. So, um, I think this is pretty neat that that the time that you were in school was when you found this and that you were originally going into that sports chiropractic field. I hear that a lot from chiropractors to like, when you go to school, you're like, Oh, I think I'm going to do this even the office in my mentor Dr. Pam stone, like started in chiropractic. she too wanted to do the sports thing. And then this like pregnant women and babies came up and it was like, oh, yeah, what is this? And this is more interesting to me, and this aligns you know, more. So I think that's pretty cool how that kind of came into your life at that opportune time. Now,

  
  

  Unknown 29:08

  yeah, definitely. I know it was like, I knew it was meant to be because I was definitely searching you know, not like physically searching but like, the universe obviously knew. I was like, yeah, he itching for finding something else. You know. So yeah,

  
  

  Unknown 29:23

  to kind of mash those things because again, and I guess, lately, it seems that yes, there is more. There is more talk about this. There's more talk about the postpartum there's more talk about rest is more talking about lying in the importance of rhetoric, but I think it took these type of things and realizing that there was such a lag to come to bring these things forth. You know, and I think a big thing to to honor with the postpartum aspect of classes is not that necessarily I like to call it not like a come into like a comeback thing but more of like a come into because you're completely different and changed. I'm sure you've noticed that with your postpartum body. Yeah, yeah. Different and it's like, well, that was then and this is now and this is how things are going to feel and move now and so I think it's nice to have a program that honors that. This the breath work, though, is very intriguing to me. Because I don't It's funny to think about like retraining people how to breathe. And thinking of that, I don't know if you noticed this, you know, in the office I'll have I'm like, take a deep breath in all the way out like when I'm doing certain adjustments and a lot of times too. Yeah, like it makes the adjustment easier. It relaxes them, but I can also assess like where are they breathing? are they breathing into the upper chest? Have we even used you know, the diaphragm, the lower lungs? So where? I don't know, I just want you to speak a little bit more because I know you talked about DNS and I know we talked about some of that breath work, but really why the foundation starts there. You know, like is the issue of us losing that? Not the ability to bring it but just focusing on the breath like how we lose that, you know?

  
  

  Unknown 1:16

  Yeah, well, like breath is life. I mean, when your baby is first, when you're first born in general, you take that first breath coming out of your mother. It's like, instantly, like that's where you begin. Right? You know, like you there's really like, and so like, babies breathe and their diaphragm, like they properly breathe like they're supposed to. Kids do to a certain point. I don't can't tell people exactly when it changes and your diaphragm just doesn't work as well and then you become more of a chest breather. It could be I don't know when that time happens, but people forget how to breathe with intention and using the proper muscles and the proper or like proper muscles to breathe. A lot of us our chest breathers we're using our sensory muscles or their neck in our upper back and like chest to breathe when and that makes you even more stressed, anxious, you're more tight, you know, causes pain. And so switching that dynamic and like flipping the switch and being like brain body connection is huge. And that's why we start with the breath. The breath is that brain and body connection. And when you don't have that connection there from the diaphragm breath, it also affects the pelvic floor because when you breathe in, it affects it like the pelvic floor. expands and then when you breathe out, it can descend and so it's like it's that connection there as well. So that's why we start with the breath is because not only use this breath is life and that's where we start and that's how we should be breathing. That's also encompassing in like, how it affects every aspect of our body biomechanics and how we move and function with like breathing properly, so that I teach it literally every day in the office, not whether you're pregnant or postpartum, or you're just a 20 year old in college or my 10 year old kids. That we take care like literally everybody learns how to diaphragm breathe in our office, you will not come to our office and not know how to die friendly. So

  
  

  Unknown 3:26

  that's how important it is. Yeah, super important. Yeah. And I love that you connected that breathwork with the core because I know you've probably dealt with, you know, even sending moms for you know, pelvic floor therapy, but from a physical therapist, but then also sometimes they're shocked when they have you know, major abdominal separation. And we're looking at healing that postpartum but then I also talk about, well, it's connected to your core. And so a lot of times I don't know if you've seen that in office where I'm like, women don't know, a weight that that my abdominal separation is really connected to like core, helping core and balance. So I love I love that you connected that there and that there's that focus within birth fit too.

  
  

  Unknown 4:15

  Yeah, and I like when we teach birth fit like I guess a lot of us have like take the DNS classes and that's literally what they talk about is moving back like a baby again. And so how do you think a baby's able to roll over? And eventually sick and eventually crawl and eventually stand or pull themselves up? It starts with a breath. I mean, they're just walk there. There's they're hanging out and really all they're doing. They're They're straining their core by learning how to breathe and then eventually like that, learning how to connect everything and then learning how to roll. So like, everything starts with the breath. So I usually tell people that they're like, Oh, that makes sense. You know, like, especially if they have a baby in it is a new mom. And like, just watch your baby. Feel their stomach like you feel like here's the breath more here. And like just seeing them move and like when I teach my classes, especially like postpartum ones, I do more postpartum ones. And they'll really like a lot of our movements will be like my baby did that or will be in the class and the babies in the class with us and they are like, doing like one of the moves that we do and like they're like, oh, that's kind of supposed to be doing that looks so easy.

  
  

  Unknown 5:26

  We're learning from the baby's like Now how did you roll over okay, now I need to do that. Well, you know, I mean, I tell I try to people crawl in the office, you know, like sometimes taking it literally, you know, I'm sure you say it's a lot like taking it back to those basics. Because when we lose those foundational movements, it you can't build upon it without, you know, really instituting and making sure we've got that foundation good. So any other birth fit things that you want to mention or anything that you you know, words or thoughts from some of the families that you've worked with that have gone through birth that that have some of their statements that have maybe, you know, stood out to you or things like that?

  
  

  Unknown 6:11

  I will say with all the different series I've done like and I love face to face so during COVID I did a lot of like I did virtual and face to face which when things started acquiring downwards when I started that classes in well version of quieting down but I had the virtual option and I had the in person option. So I was teaching virtual and in person at the same time and what i Everyone loves the beam on the move again and knowing that they're moving well but what I hear the most is when I get my like I usually make them do like a little survey after and what they got out of it is connection like beam will also just like take time for themselves. Be able to like have grace and be able to know it's okay to slow down and do things for yourself. Like I think that's the biggest thing about birth fit is like on the outside looking in. You think we're just only about movement and like working out and like you know stuff like that and making sure you have foundational movements but it's also like what I've gotten the most out of it being a coach for five years is like being there for a mother and for being there in for those families and knowing that this season of your life, you need that support. And whatever that is whether it's like holding your hand being there for you connecting with other mothers like giving no teaching what foods you should be eating. Like we look at every aspect and like throughout our trainings. I mean that's we do that with each other as coaches and leaders like I have such a good like, like basically tribe around me and we want to we extend that tribe to everyone when we teach our classes. So that's the biggest thing I want people to get out of birth it is that like, yes, we have these amazing foundations, this movement, but the movement aspect, but we also want to teach and guide people what health looks like, what true health looks like and what it looks like for them and like how to live an overall wellness lifestyle as well as reconnect with yourself and with everyone around.

  
  

  Unknown 8:32

  I'm sure that feels so good and to make that impact or you know, it's like giving it like you said that grace to say it's okay. To honor your body where you're at, connect with others start at the basics. You know, I think that's so important for I think for moms to hear. Now, I follow birth fit on Instagram, so I would recommend everybody do that. And I noticed the other day so I love the book. Real Food for pregnancy. Yes by Lily, Lily Nichols. And then I said I saw something that she is going to be at the birth of leaders meeting that's coming I was like yeah, if tomorrow I think I don't know. I saw on Instagram I was like because I talk about her book a lot. So yeah,

  
  

  Unknown 9:20

  I'm so excited where we are been like I can't wait this time we've had her on there like she like our leader means we have and that's also with being a leader and a coach every month we have a leader meeting and sometimes it's just Dr. Lindsay and Dr. Like Leah and like us just like learning something new or we bring speakers in like last year we had Dr. Lowe who from the prana foundation.

  
  

  Unknown 9:46

  She's talking about Vegas. Love her.

  
  

  Unknown 9:50

  We're they're always bringing in these amazing speakers. They're like our top notch like in every part of the birth world. Dr. Birthing instincts you know, was I haven't heard of that. Doctor, hold on one second. I'll have to share him with you but he's the only OB in the country that births baby breech babies vaginally multiples vaginally and at home and at home and not in hospitals. Like literally because he did California they won't let him do it. So yeah, desert my home successfully. He has like a 95% success rate of like without having to take anyone to the hospital. Doctor Yeah, so like we always have these amazing people so we're growing so we can be the best perfect coach and leader for the people that we're going out there to help.

  
  

  Unknown 10:49

  That's important for people to know to those coaches are getting this additional knowledge every month, you know, and staying up with the times and staying up with the current literature and stuff out there. So okay, so tell me all the places that people can find, okay, first of all, find you and then where we can find birth in and find people in their area that are coaches. So where does all of that live? So our website

  
  

  Unknown 11:19

  for fit.com is where you'll find everything on the programming that you can get. Also like the directory for the coaches and also how you can become a perfect leader and a coach as well. Our Instagram which is just birth fit on and then my Instagram is Dr. Ashley Harper. Just one word Dr. Ashley Hartford

  
  

  Unknown 11:42

  and well I want to go so we're gonna actually know you're talking again like I said, I don't know when I don't know what episode is going to come out first. I hate to say like in the next episode, but we're talking again and I want to go a little bit more to into your, how you incorporate birth fit into your office because you talked about doing breath work, but I want to I want to go a little bit more into what that looks like when patients come in. And then you're always doing fun exercises and fun things with your kiddos. With your family with yourself. And so you're always posting that. So I love seeing you on there. It's so good to talk to you today and learn all of these birth fit things and all the wonderful things that you are offering in our area. It's so perfect.

  
  

  Unknown 12:33

  Thank you so much for having me. All right. Thank you Fred. Bye