I am in love with Maya Abdominal Therapy, just like I am in love with Ayurveda.
Combining the two is a dream when it comes to women’s health.
A couple of years ago, I wrote a post sharing my experiences with ATMAT (which I will use now instead of writing out Maya Abdominal Therapy) and how it helped to heal my extremely painful periods.
I want to continue sharing my story, and tell you how I feel this helped me into easy conception, comfortable (ish) pregnancy and vaginal home birth.
A Recap
ATMAT is a massage technique and healing modality that comes from Belize and Mayan Medicine. Its founder is Dr. Rosita Arvigo, and she lives and studied in Belize with a Mayan Medicine Man, Don Elijio, for years. There may be many ‘Mayan’ abdominal massage techniques, but I come from this specific, authentic lineage. There is use of massage, self massage, herbs, yoni steaming, and spiritual healing modalities.
I came across this technique when I was looking for additional help, beyond Ayurveda, for periods which were becoming debilitating. According to Ayurveda, I was experiencing Vata like symptoms, and great stagnation, leading to pain and brown blood, as well as long cycles (35+ days sometimes). You can read more details in that first blog post – basically, I found out that my uterus was tilted, leading to more stagnation. I found a therapist local to me, and received a few treatments from her. My pain did not completely disappear, but became more of just a nuisance.
I knew I needed to study this modality, so I did. I also knew that I wanted to conceive one day, within the next year or two, and believe that healing an imbalance in my womb was vitally important before conceiving.
How it works
ATMAT works by improving blood flow and homeostasis, as well as actually sometimes changing the uterus position. From the Eastern medical perspective, if there is pain, there is some sort of stagnation going on. This could be stagnation of energy, prana, or emotions, mind, or actually tissues or physiology. One affects the other, eventually, anyway, so really, no matter on what level, we know the flow is not…flowing happily.
Massage helps encourage flow. And what can impede flow greatly are misplaced organs, especially if they are blocking veins or arteries or lymph vessels. The uterus is relatively mobile in the abdominal cavity – its nature is to move and grow, holding and feeding the fetus as it does so. Falls, accidents and exercise can jostle the organ very easily, especially when she is full and heavy before and during menstruation.
A misplaced uterus is not the only cause of stagnation, nor is it always the case she is misplaced when there is pain. But it is quite common. Many women are told this by the gynecologist, that is it ‘normal’ and that there is nothing to do about it. I was told this. It is very common, but it is not ‘normal’ and there are things that can be done, or at the very least help manage the symptoms, naturally. (As in, without using hormonal birth control to mask the issues.)
Homeostasis is just an awesome biproduct of proper flow. Good stuff gets to where it needs to go, and wastes can easily leave. This helps the body maintain health and balance, because, really, that’s what it wants to do. We just need to get out of the way.
My process | Conscious conception
I have been seeing another local practitioner for 3 years this month. About 18 months before I conceived my son, I started receiving treatments.
She mentioned to me that I should go to at least 3 sessions. After about 2, my next cycle was closer to 28 days, and almost pain-free. I was hooked. I go for massage every other month. It’s part of my health care plan for myself. She gives me a full body massage as well as working on the uterine/abdominal area, because she happens to be a massage therapist too (this is also how I offer my sessions). This is something not all practitioners do. So if you’re looking to book, be sure to check in ahead of time what to expect.
I also use Ayurvedic herbs, castor oil packs, uttar basti, yoni steams, and daily self care massage of my uterus to maintain the benefits. It is important to have guidance with thee modalities, as there are times when it is contraindicated to use them, especially when trying to conceive.
About 6 months before my husband and I agreed to begin trying, we stopped drinking any alcohol, and did an Ayurveda home cleanse. We did another, 3 months before. We started more openly inviting a new being in. We did some intention setting, and he even found some chants that felt important to him.
I was charting my cycles, learning about when and if I usually ovulated each month, and how the practices I was doing affected my cycle. It was really cool to see the temperature shift each month! I found that I usually ovulated between day 14 and day 20, depending on if my cycles were 27 or 32 days, which is what they tended to fluctuate between.
To our excitement (and surprise!) the first month we tried to conceive, which happened to be a 32 day cycle, we found out we were pregnant! I felt excited, scared, hopeful, and all sorts of indescribable emotions. But it was amazing knowing I did my best to bring a healthy being into the world.
Pregnancy and postpartum benefits
I also received massage during my pregnancy. ATMAT has many benefits, and can be perfectly safe after 20 weeks. The massage helps to keep the uterus centered in the pelvis, relieve stress and strain on the ligaments, and my favorite, aid sluggish bowels.
I am a small person, and it was important to me to have the best chance at a vaginal home birth as possible. I believe that the techniques helped keep me as aligned as possible so that could happen without any intervention.
And post partum, I have received a few treatments as well, after I stopped bleeding. I have more awe and respect for the uterus than I ever could have imagined before, and I want to continue to care for her! I am also extremely curious to find out what my post partum periods will be like, now that so much has changed.
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As you might have gleaned, there were multiple levels going into my journey to pregnancy and motherhood. I started with ATMAT, but I learn how to chart my fertility signs, cleanse, and balance my hormones and my cycles with herbs.
I am more inspired than ever to put this all together for other women. Though I really only wrote about ATMAT here, Ayurveda has an traditional and beautiful protocol for preparing for conception, as well as powerful womb healing and hormone balancing practices. I look forward to sharing more on this on the blog in 2016. If you’re interested for yourself, reach out and contact me – this excites me so much, I want to talk about it, share it, and help you do the work. It really works. And it seems that, in regards to reproductive issues, western medicine stops falls in what it has to offer.
And just a note:
You don’t need to want to get pregnant to do this work.
You don’t need to be of childbearing age to do this work.
All the uteri deserve TLC!
Love,