Navel Gazing in Belize with Maya Massage

Click on the rainbow to watch a short slideshow from my trip

Though you might not know it from my  previous post about squeezing lemons in our Capital this week, I have actually just returned from the jungles of Belize feeling somewhat transformed and completely inspired by my Professional Training in the Arvigo Techniques for Maya Abdominal Massage (MAM).  It wasn’t just the breathtaking views from Rosita Arvigo’s mountain top home where the class was held.  It wasn’t only jungle walks to said mountaintop from the camp along the Macal River where I slept at night to the sound of Howler monkeys in the trees overhead.  And finally, it wasn’t just the fact that I spent 7 entire days without making a single meal for myself or others.  What actually facilitated this feeling of deep satisfaction and well-being were the healing techniques themselves. 
Based on the teachings of Don Elijio Panti, a Mayan Bush Medicine legend in his country, and developed by his apprentice, Dr. Rosita Arvigo, the techniques apply anatomy, physiology, herbology, and naprapathy (the study of the ligaments, joints and muscles) with Ancient Maya healing techniques to address common female and male complaints.
I think it was the holistic blend of traditional and modern perspectives that helped me to connect so deeply to this work. Don Elijio and the mayan shaman who trained him did not need to understand why certain points in the body coorespond to specific illnesses and symptoms.  They believed it worked because they were connected to a lineage of healers that can probably be traced back for hundreds of years of first hand knowledge of rainforest plants and their medicinal properties, massage techniques, and healing through a deep connection to the elements of both the natural and spiritual world. The only other healing technique with this kind of lineage is Chinese or Tibetan Medicine and ironically this work has many parallels in it’s underlying concepts and techniques.
I am so excited to be able to begin to offer this work to my midwifery clients (past, present, and future) who will potentially benefit from the 40% reduction in labor time reported from the midwives who are using these techniques.  I learned methods for getting labors started and keeping them going and most importantly, improving well being in pregnancy for a healthier birth.  
For non-pregnant or peri and post menopausal women, and for men there are health benefits from this work as well.  Fertility support, endocrine, lymphatic, and chi balancing, and low back pain relief are universal results of the massage techniques. I experienced this first hand as my classmates and I performed the techniques on each other throughout the week.  Within two days of having mere novice MAM practitioners work on my low back and abdomen, I experienced relief from symptoms that I have had since a fall onto my sacrum when I was 18.  Some of the other benefits I had are too graphic to share in a blog post, but suffice to say…I am a convert!
Check out our website for more information on massage services through our practice.