TMI Warning: I will be getting into some detail about my personal physiology etc. so if that sort of thing doesn’t sit well for you, then you may want to skip this particular blog.
While I had heard about ATMAT once or twice during my massage career, I didn’t know much about it. Then my wonderful colleague in the world of healing, Cindy Mattingly offered to host a one-day workshop at her space, and Christine Lee did a lovely job with introducing the world of Arvigo® to me.
There were so many things that I learned that day. Things that I should have learned when I was a tween, in a body that was changing in ways that were exciting, confusing, and sometimes a little scary. My mom did what she could to prepare me but things weren’t really discussed much back then. Girls giggled about it during sleepovers and other female gatherings, but we weren’t really educating each other much more than the little we already knew.
For instance, did you know that it isn’t normal to have brown blood either at the beginning or end of your period? I didn’t know. It’s an indication that there is some stagnation, that the uterus isn’t completely cleaning out at the end of each period.
Did you know that a normal period doesn’t have intense PMS symptoms? Or heavy cramping, heavy bleeding? I didn’t know. I just accepted that my sore breasts, irritability/mood swings, sugar cravings, crying if someone looked at me the wrong way, and then cramping once my period started were all part of the process.
I learned these things and more at that workshop. I held a clay model of a uterus that represented the weight/size of it when it was ready to menstruate and compared it to one that represented a uterus during the rest of our cycle, and was amazed at the difference in both weight and size. The uterus is connected to our pelvic bowl via many different ligaments, which can get strained with uterus displacement – no wonder women have back pain, cramping, bloating during our cycles!
We were shown the self-care massage and practiced it several times during the workshop. Then Christine challenged us to go home and do it daily for a month. Many like to do it at night to help them fall asleep; I like to do mine in the morning when I first wake up. By the end of the month, I felt confident about the massage techniques and was able to complete it by around 5 minutes.
Then, I had my period. I was curious if I would notice any changes after such a short time. When I tell you that my period that month (and each month after) was transformed, I would not be exaggerating! It started on time and quickly, with no stagnation. I didn’t have my usual breast tenderness, and although I am fortunate that cramping was not debilitating, I still had been experiencing an increase in the past 5 years – that was practically gone! It lasted for 4 days, and I didn’t get the usual “stop on day 3 for 12-24 hours and then resume”. It wasn’t as heavy as previous cycles.
This is how it continued to be from doing the daily (well, I don’t honestly do it *every* day but usually I average 4-5 times/week) massages. I track my cycle, otherwise I wouldn’t know when it was coming because I just don’t have the symptoms that I used to. Last year I got hit with the flu around the holidays, so I stopped doing the self-care for a few weeks. My period that month was more like it used to be, which just showed me how effective the self-care is! I can go on, but I think you get the picture. I can speak from my personal experience that the Arvigo® Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy have done wonders for my monthly cycle. I’ve also had the added benefit of even more regular bowel movements; sometimes twice a day! As you can tell, I am a huge fan of this work, and I am convinced that it can help others who struggle with painful periods and digestive issues.
If you’d like to give it a try, click here https://harmonyintegrativebodywork.com/contact/ to schedule a session. I am discounting the initial consultation to $165 (from $180) for Beautiful Belly month!