Maya Abdominal Therapy and Yoga:
Time-tested Tools for Getting the Body “In Tune” for Birth
You spent your life dreaming of the birth of your child. You imagined that moment, after your hard laboring, when your child journeys from your body into your arms, as a moment filled with light and love, one of life's most amazing and joyous memories.
Come the day, you feel exhilaration as the “It’s time!” is messaged from your belly. Your bags are packed, your spouse is primed, your birth caregiver is apprised, and the excited parents-to-be set out for their birth location.
Fast forward to hours later. You’re in the delivery room with your spouse holding your hand. You’re exhausted, dazed, and confused, having just had your baby pulled from your body. Your newborn is being poked and prodded nearby as your spouse is trying not to look stunned as your abdominal stitches from the c-section you just had are being laced.
What a stark contrast from the birth moment of your dreams!
As the days rush by your life is filled with the unrelenting challenges that only new motherhood can bring, combined with healing from a major surgery. By the time your hormones begin to even out and the sleep-deprived haze of new motherhood wears off -- perhaps months later -- the myriad of questions starting with “What happened?” surface, no longer to be silenced.
Anger. Grief. Blame. Judgment. Self-condemnation. These are but a few of the intense emotions that may have been kept at bay. Emotions difficult to give voice to and which make others so uncomfortable that they make no attempt to help soothe or validate.
And behind them all: Fear. That you weren’t good enough. That you should have known and done better. That your body was and is now and evermore...
Broken.
One in three women today in the U.S. have their babies by C-section. Sadly, this rate is over 20% more than the World Health Organization recommendation. Days could be spent addressing all the possible reasons, but in truth it would only serve to feed into the problem: the gnawing sense of disempowerment, victimization and ‘broken-ness’ that so many women begin to internalize when they are wheeled away from the hospital. Few resources are available to help women work through the mental and emotional anguish spawned by birth trauma; and even fewer offer solutions for helping the body heal so that she might never have to experience this again.
If any of this is hitting too close to home, consider doing some work both to shift the view of your body as broken and make an effort to embrace instead the idea that
- The body is wounded but capable of healing
- Just as a musical instrument is tuned in order to play well, the body can be brought in “tune” to prepare women for better birth outcomes, and
- Time-tested tools are available for doing so
How unlike Western culture where living in community is but a shadow of it’s former self and stress is oftentimes a way of life.
We have many lessons to learn from the traditional medicine of other cultures. It's fortunate that we have a few who have recognized the need to study and learn from traditional healers before such ancient wisdom becomes hopelessly blurred or even lost to Western influence. One such individual is Dr. Rosita Arvigo, an American-born woman who has spent more than 35 years following and later teaching the ways of Mayan Traditional Medicine. She has spearheaded a growing movement to support traditional healers of Latin America, and preserve and spread their wisdom. (The telling of her story is beyond the scope of this blogpost, but those who would like to learn more should read Sastun: One Woman’s Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer).
As an anthropologist of heart and by training, a student of Rosita’s, and a practitioner of the Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy ™ I feel qualified to share some of the Mayan story:
In ancient Mayan times when a young girl first began to menstruate she was sent to a place called La Isla Mujeres, Island of the Women. It was there that the elder wise women, the Crones, would teach them the ways of womanhood and the secrets of Nature. This journey into deep community with other women was revered as a sacred rite of passage, bearing fruit and the passing along of much practical knowledge on caring for the body.
One such piece of wisdom was the understanding of the delicate nature of the female reproductive system and how to keep the uterus well-positioned. Unbeknownst to Western medical caregivers, it is well understood by many traditional healers of South America still today that when the woman’s uterus is tilted out of place it creates a domino effect of reproductive, digestive, hormonal, and circulatory challenges. Strong awareness of uterine positioning was required for overall health and well-being, particularly for childbirth and post-partum well-being. Use of herbal medicine and massage techniques were commonly utilized and whenever a young girl or woman had any kind of jolting and straining impact to the uterus and pelvic area, the village healer or elder women of her family immediately were brought to her side to check and reposition the uterus as needed. Second-nature common sense prevailed.
And, though much has been lost to modern scholars, the Mayans are said to have also had their own form of exercise to keep the body in balance- which is thought to have been much like the yoga of India practiced around the world today.
Like today, the Mayans used the number of physical poses to both build and keep bodily stamina and help maintain the balance between strength and flexibility to support optimal health naturally. Many women around the world today benefit from yoga. It does the job of keeping the mental, physical, and emotional bodies in balance which for some, helps in their strivings toward peace and spiritual growth. Women have found yoga to be of specific benefit to help with infertility, pregnancy, and other reproductive health challenges. It has been noted that Mayan women share two things in common with women in India:
1. They have easier and shorter births
2. They don’t struggle to the degree that Western women do with menopausal symptoms such as extreme hot flashes and mood swings.
In essense, the wisdom of these two traditions offer much hope for Western women who are seeking better birth outcomes and overall reproductive wellness. We have but to choose wisely our caregivers, open our minds, and embrace, trust, and utilize wisdom of the ages in order to find out how capable and powerful we can be in birth.
Reid Forrester of A Natural Path (www.anaturalpath.org) is a massage therapist who specializes in Maya Abdominal Therapy and Prenatal Massage. She is also a yoga instructor who specializes in Prenatal Yoga, Partner Yoga for Childbirth, and Yoga for Reproductive Health. Her office is located in Candler Park, near downtown Atlanta.
She will be co-teaching the upcoming class Vaginal Birth After Caesarean: Gathering Information and Making Choices with veteran VBACers and birth educators Pam Roe and Guina Bixler of Labor of Love on Saturday January 22nd from 1:30-5:30 pm. Those interested in learning more about this class please visit www.alaboroflove.org.
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