WHAT IS ABDOMINAL MASSAGE?
From the perspective of the Mayan people, a woman's body has been considered a sacred temple, whose value lies not in its superficial appearance, but in its very essence. The connection that exists between a woman and her inner self is achieved through self-love and the support of the medicine women who are born with the mission of caring for us, helping us reconnect with our bodies, and guiding us. In the Mayan worldview, this mission resides in the midwives, who know us even before we are born; in the healers who alleviate our physical and emotional pain with sacred plants; and in the spiritual guides who help us understand, accept, and embark on our own path at our own pace, from a place of love, freedom, and awareness.
We know perfectly well that although we take different paths, in our roles as daughters, sisters, workers, academics, mothers, friends, partners, activists, and wives, we always converge at the same point: we are all women. We encounter joys and frustrations that we can handle with equanimity, but there will be other instances where it will be necessary to understand that we are not obligated to resist, endure, and acquiesce, that it is necessary to learn to let go and close chapters that do not belong to us or to which we no longer want to belong. We must do this before it's too late and affects our well-being. For this, it is essential to learn to heal ourselves and each other.
In response to the physical and emotional needs of many women from different cultures, especially those unfamiliar with the ancestral practices of the Mayan women of Iximuleew (Guatemala), we are opening this network of support and healing. It will allow us to accept, value, and honor our bodies by recognizing both their strength and vulnerability, and the love that emerges within the body through pain. This process will be guided by our midwives, healers, and spiritual guides who will help us understand the mystery that resides within us, through pixaab' (the word, the sacred counsel), and the connection with our wombs, accepting them as temples that house emotions which, if not processed, can manifest as physical pain. This pain can be released through abdominal massages and natural remedies.
We consider this space a refuge and a stage for learning and unlearning, for getting to know and recognizing our bodies, accepting and embracing our intimacy in a world full of insecurities, while respecting the strict rule of honoring the unique and special gift of our life teachers, from whom we can learn, but never imitate, because "the gift, the special ability, is something you are born with." Therefore, we clarify that this is not and will not be a course that certifies its participants as midwives or healers, but rather an approach to our inner woman, a safe connection with your own womb and body, "always doing everything with love."
“The Mayan Abdominal Massage: Balancing the Woman's Womb,” with Tz’utujil Maya practitioners, coordinated by Nana Marina Cruz, a Tz'utujil Maya spiritual guide (Ajq'ij) from Tzunun' Ya, San Pedro la Laguna on Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, daughter and student of Tata Pedro Cruz, k'u'x Ya' (Heart of the Lake). For years, Nana Marina has dedicated herself to working with various elder healers, especially midwives, with whom she coordinates healing events, focusing particularly on women's health, both within and outside of Guatemala.
What to Expect During the “Mayan Uterine and Abdominal Massage” Course
The program will be taught in Spanish directly by women knowledgeable in the subject, with live English translation.
WHAT WE WILL COVER:
- Opening ceremony or circle with cacao.
-Lectures on the importance of abdominal massage. (Recipes and practices related to women's health (menstruation, pre- and postpartum)
-Benefits of abdominal massage
-Teachings and practice of massage (self-massage)
-Massages and baths with sacred plants
-Steam bath
-Preparation of a special ointment for the abdomen.
Sacred advice (pixaab')
-The importance of using a binder/wrap
-Question and answer session
-Closing ceremonies
*Please note that if you are on your menstrual cycle/period during the course, some treatments may be adjusted accordingly.
ECONOMIC EXCHANGE:
Nana Marina Cruz is an Ajq'ij (spiritual guide) of the Tz ́utujil People of Guatemaya. She is the daughter of Tata Pedro & works not just as a healer and therapist with natural folk methods, but as a ceremonial leader of fire, tobacco, cacao and temazcal. She is a teacher of the Mayan calendar and the Mayan cosmovision. She works closely with the midwives of her community to coordinate prenatal, birth, and postpartum care. She emphasizes the importance of being truly connected in body and spirit. She believes that all things have a meaning, every emotion, every disease, and that these energies all have their origin. It is by finding the origin, that we can truly heal the spirit and body.