Like many of you, I’ve followed Jacqui Kingswell‘s journey from afar on Instagram over the last few years. From a professional dancer and Pilates instructor to founder of The Pilates Class and mother of two, I’ve been quietly cheering her on. As a first-time mother myself, I sat down to interview her, eager for an honest conversation about motherhood, matrescence, and movement.
The moment Jacqui picked up the phone, I got a glimpse into the delightfully raw reality of being a global founder and mother. I’d caught her on a travel day, heading from her home on the NSW North Coast to Los Angeles.
After a warm hello, she explained the chaos of her morning commute. Before picking up, she had been sitting in a parked car on the side of a coastal highway, contorting into the back seat to feed her baby while desperately hunting for a single bar of reception. It was a moment any mother could relate to, instantly setting a warm, candid tone.
As the co-founder of The Pilates Class, Jacqui has built an empire teaching millions how to move mindfully. Having experienced postpartum and matrescence twice now, she felt like the perfect person to talk to as I struggle to find my own way back to my body. We spoke about dismantling toxic “bounce-back” expectations, navigating the psychological shifts of motherhood, and why a five-minute roll-down is sometimes all you need.
On the Postpartum Journey and Embracing a New Body
The transition from one child to two is famously intense. For Jacqui, the secret wasn’t managing the chaos perfectly — it was leaning into it.
“It’s absolute chaos, but it’s the best kind of chaos,” she explains. “I really didn’t put any pressure on myself to return back to being the face of this brand or to buy into the bounce-back culture. I did return to work really quickly, but I didn’t return to movement and showing off my body until I was really ready… My main focus was just healing my body, actually recovering internally, and getting my pelvic floor stronger.”
For many new mums, the postpartum body can feel completely foreign. Jacqui admits that embracing these changes takes time.
“As a first-time mum, I think you do have to come to terms with this new body. I remember just not being able to fit into my jeans… Even now, I still can’t fit into half of my clothes. But I have no pressure on myself as a second-time mum, because I know that I have the tools to get me back eventually when I’m ready.”
She recalls the frustration during her first postpartum experience, trying to perfectly line up her baby’s schedule with her own self-care, only to be interrupted.
“You would go to the effort of putting on a workout outfit, get on the mat, and five minutes would happen… and then my baby would be losing her mind,” she explains. “Very quickly, I realised: you know what? Even if you just get a roll-down in, it’s going to make you feel so much better. My expectations just completely lowered.”
Ignoring the Internet Head Noise
The internet can easily become a toxic, overwhelming space that makes new mothers second-guess their instincts.
“There is so much head noise on the internet, and there is a guide for every single little thing,” Jacqui says. “There’s a guide for sleep, for crying it out, for how you should feed your baby… and because of that, we’re not following our intuition. As mothers, you know best. What sits deep within your gut is going to be the best for you.”
When Should You Return to Exercise?
Clinically, doctors often clear women for exercise at six weeks. But when I hit that milestone — breastfeeding, battling mastitis, and running on four hours of sleep — my body wasn’t remotely ready. Every mother’s timeline is different.
“It depends on what kind of birth you had, whether you were a fit person beforehand, and where you are now,” Jacqui says. “Whether that’s six weeks, four weeks, ten weeks, or three months, it doesn’t really matter. It’s just based on the individual.”
When you do return, Jacqui emphasises the importance of moving slowly, especially if you are navigating diastasis recti (ab separation), rather than jumping straight into the planks and crunches popularised by social media.
“What you need to do is work those deeper abdominal muscles — the transverse abdominis and the pelvic floor — to close the gap first. Then you can start to build your superficial muscles like your six-pack… The six-pack doesn’t even really do anything for you; it just looks good to some,” says Jacqui.
“It’s the deeper abdominal muscles that are really going to serve you and protect your lower back when you’re carrying 14 kilos around all day.”
Navigating Matrescence
Matrescence is the physical, psychological, and emotional transition of becoming a mother. Much like adolescence, it involves surging hormones, a rewiring brain, and a completely shifting identity.
“Women have been having babies forever, and it’s only now that we’re talking about matrescence and how we become these new versions of ourselves,” says Jacqui. “Just educating women and actually knowing that it’s happening makes us feel less alone. There’s less pressure to go,‘You know what? It’s actually okay that we’re feeling this way,’ or that we’re not as sharp as we once were.
“With social media, we get the most shiny versions of everybody. But if you sit down and have a conversation with them, you realise most people are living very similarly. We are going through highs and lows, ebbs and flows… There is a big shift happening right now, allowing people to be a bit more real and authentic.”
Debunking the “Bounce-Back” Myth
According to Jacqui, the biggest myth the fitness industry sells to postpartum women is the overnight ‘bounce back’.
“The clickbait of ‘how to get abs in six moves’ is really just not how it works. It takes consistency, hard work, and dedication… Nothing happens overnight.”
Her final parting advice for new mums carrying the weight of expectation?
“Really recognise what your body has just done. You grew, and you birthed a baby. You just have to take that pressure off and tell yourself, ‘I am doing the best job that I can’. That’s all we can really do — as mothers, as businesswomen, as friends,” she advises.
“I used to work out four or five times a week for 45 minutes, and now I’m doing 10 minutes here and there. Yes, my stomach — especially after the second birth — is definitely not coming back as quickly, but that’s just the nature of it.”
Where to start on The Pilates Class
Exercise overwhelm is very real as a new mother, and I imagine even more so when you add multiple kids into the mix. As someone who fully understands that battle, Jacqui has designed bite-sized classes for every stage of motherhood on The Pilates Class.
“We have a Postpartum Program that everybody can do at any time, but I specifically recommend a class called the Life-Changing Core Techniques,” Jacqui says.
“It literally is life-changing. Once you learn these techniques, it will change your life on and off the mat. It’s the technical practice of holding your pelvic floor, engaging the transverse abdominis, drawing your belly button back towards your spine, and keeping your ribs down towards your hips. Once you learn that, you apply it everywhere you go: when you’re standing in line, when you’re walking, or when you’re doing squats.”
You can sign up to The Pilates Class here.
Lead image: The Pilates Class / Jacqui Kingswell
