9| Catherine Apicella, pelvic floor physical therapist: Why not Me?
Catherine's bio
Catherine is a mother of 2 active boys, and a pelvic floor physical therapist. She has been an athlete all her life, and has combined her passion for fitness with her training in yoga, the Feldenkrais Method, barefoot rehabilitation and corrective exercise to empower women at all ages and stages of life to regain awareness of the ways their bodies function, especially during exercise. She recently launched both her own for-profit concierge physical therapy business AND a nonprofit, whose mission is to provide health and wellness services to women in at-risk groups at little to no cost.
Connect with Catherine
Website: www.breathe-blossom.com
Facebook: Catherine Repak Apicella
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-apicella-a0907b2/
In this episode, we talked about...
Catherine's journey from feeling uncomfortable in her body to feeling like she’d come home to her body
What it means to Catherine to be embodied
Closet eating while growing up in a restricted household as a people pleaser
On being a pleaser
On never feeling like she met the beauty standard ideal
How becoming a mother changed her approach to body image
How to become more embodied in 60 seconds
Hiring a business coach
The power of time blocking
How to cope with impostor syndrome
What is pelvic floor therapy?
How pelvic floor therapy helps women athletes
How pelvic floor therapy helps with sexual function, including painful intercourse, difficulty reaching orgasm, and erectile dysfunction
How pelvic floor therapy can help with pelvic pain and bladder dysfunction (in both men and women)
What is diaphragmatic breathing?
What to look for in a pelvic floor physical therapist
Why your pelvic floor physical therapist needs to perform an internal exam
Why kegels aren’t necessarily the answer for everyone
Busting myths about diastasis recti
Why imperfect action beats paralyzed perfectionism every time
Links/Resources
Dr. Ginger Garner, Integrative Physical Therapist
Catherine’s diaphragmatic breathing post on IG
APTA’s pelvic heath designation
PRPC- pelvic floor practitioner certification
Quotes
“We tend to be disembodied because we’re busy chasing the next thing."
“You are literally at home experiencing yourself through your senses."
“Most of us go through life like we’re driving with the emergency brake on.”
“I let myself be seen the way I was. I never made an apology about it.”
“You can’t change what you’re not aware of. Meditation is not about emptying your brain of thoughts. It’s acknowledging that the brain has thoughts and being okay with it. And allowing yourself to acknowledge and release the thoughts.”
“I could look like a million dollars and feel like crap. How is that of any benefit going forward? I want to be capable and mobile.”
“There are no exercises you cannot do… things are not automatically off limits to you just because you have a diastasis.”
“[Pelvic floor PT] is not a cookbook.”
“Why not me?”
“In order to grow, you’ve got to move toward what scares you. You’ve got to face it.”
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