I have long been intrigued by Maya Abdominal Massage – even before my recovery. It seemed to hold the promise of releasing emotional and physical trauma in my abdomen and I have gone back and forth about taking the self-care training.
“A Life-Changing Experience!”
Well, I finally decided to do it – after talking to Pamela Gerry, an amazing colon hydrotherapist in ME. She and I discussed the benefits of abdominal massage and as I talked about my fascination with Maya Abdominal Massage, she decided to take the class in July. She reported that it was a “life-changing experience.” Pamela, already excellent at what she does, is now looking into the professional certification – and I can just imagine how many people she’ll be able to help in the New England area.
My Interview With Lucy Mitchella, Maya Abdominal Massage Self-Care Teacher
And if Pamela’s experience with the training wasn’t enough to get me excited, I was nearly on the edge of my seat after interviewing Lucy Mitchella, LMT, D.Ay., Herbalist – who will be teaching the Self-Care class I’m taking in August. Lucy is an incredible woman with just the right background to understand the mind-body-spirit connection in healing.
Lucy was kind enough to spend time with me as I asked her questions about Maya Abdominal Massage, how it helps eating disorders and digestive distress – and much more. What she told me shed some light on a few missing links in my own studies on eating disorders. There was so much great information in my interview with Lucy that I broke it up into two parts – this is part 1.
The Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Massage
The Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Massage, developed by Dr. Rosita Arvigo, is an integration of ancient Mayan abdominal techniques and modern naprapathic techniques (naprapathy is a form of health care that addresses connective tissue, a cross between massage and chiropractic). Maya Abdominal Massage works on connective tissue, such as fascia, tendon and ligaments to help reposition abdominal organs, release adhesions from trauma or surgery and restore the flow of blood, nerve and chi (energy) through the abdominal cavity. The techniques are not just physical – they also address spiritual and emotional levels of illness and discomfort.
Dr. Arvigo apprenticed for 10 years with Don Elijio Panti, the great Maya Shaman of Belize, Central America. She learned many of the techniques that were passed to him throughout the ages – and she combined this with what she learned from working with Mayan midwives. Dr. Arvigo then integrated the connective tissue work and packaged it so the Western mind could work with it more fully. She also brought in the concepts from Wilhelm Reich, so people could understand how emotional release could happen from abdomen and pelvic area.
What Will I Learn in the Upcoming August 2006 Self-Care Training?
In the Self-Care weekend, we study anatomy and physiology – and we’ll address the teachings of Wilehlm Reich — how emotions get stored in our tissues. This is really helpful for those who’ve had trauma in any way: bad falls, accidents, abuse or emotional trauma, for example. Self-care massage allows emotional trauma to release after years of being stuck in our abdomen.
We will also learn a guided imagery meditation that Rosita created to connect with the intelligence of our uterus. This meditation encourages an inner dialogue and mind-body connection for healing. But that’s not all we’ll learn – read on as Lucy explains some of the fascinating inner workings of the body – plus her work with people suffering from eating disorders.
How Does Maya Abdominal Massage Work?
The autonomic nervous system is made up of three parts: the sympathetic nervous system (responsible for the fight or flight response to stress and creates energy), the parasympathetic nervous system (responsible for relaxation, called “rest and digest”) and the enteric nervous system (also known as the 2nd brain or “gut brain”). It is very common in today’s stressful world for the autonomic nervous system to be triggered into fight or flight – or the sympathetic nervous system. The Maya Abdominal Massage techniques and allowing for release of traumatic emotions helps the body shift back into parasympathetic mode, where it can actually rest and digest.
My Theory on The Gut Brain
It was so interesting to me to hear Lucy talk about the sympathetic and parasympathetic responses. It made me think that Maya Abdominal Massage may be able to bring release in emotions because it also helps our enteric nervous system, or gut brain. You may have read about the gut brain in my previous post — where I shared that we have the same number of neurotransmitters in this 2nd brain in our intestines – as we do in the brain in our heads. This is in fact where serotonin is created so that it can go to our brain and help our wellbeing and satiation.
The Link Between Eating Disorders & Serotonin
I was struck by this because serotonin is one of the neurotransmitters often called out in eating disorders – basically, that we have low levels of serotonin in the brain. So what’s happening in our gut that is not allowing our brain to get serotonin? Most doctors prescribe anti-depressants, which work to move serotonin from the intestines to the brain. This can cause constipation because the intestines need the serotinin as well. In a future post, I will describe some theories I have about faulty digestion contributing to this process – and possibly being a precursor to eating disorders. This was the focus of my research paper in my graduate studies class on eating disorders.
Body Intelligence
Lucy shared that the body itself has intelligence in every tissue — and this intelligence is oftentimes not optimally functioning — or not functioning in harmony with other areas of the body. This is how “dis-ease” occurs. Allowing your body to relax, encouraging the healthy flow of chi and helping muscles relax, encourages the nervous system to be in full communication. This allows an unfolding to occur in your abdomen and lower back area so each part of your body can work together in harmony. In fact, intelligence has to flow through some physical form – through meridians, electrical energy, hormones, and the nervous system. All this communication is occurring on a physical level, even though there is a spiritual aspect involved.
The Diaphragm and Trauma
Your abdomen and pelvic area, Lucy explained, is between the rib cage and right down to your pubic bone. Within this area we have most of our organs: bladder, liver spleen stomach pancreas, small and large intestines and reproductive organs (mostly female). So much of what happens in this area affects all areas of your body. Take your diaphragm, for example. Your diaphragm lines the roof of your abdominal cavity, right under your lungs. Your esophagus, aorta and vena cava are three highways that pass through your diaphragm. If your diaphragm is in spasm, it restricts circulation from the top and bottom half of body. And when this connector is restricted, it impacts the communication of body intelligence. We can experience trauma in our diaphragm very easily, which impacts nourishment, emotions and reproduction.
My Own Abdominal Trauma
After Lucy explained this, I began to realize how much trauma I placed on my own diaphragm after years of bulimia. Self-induced vomiting causes pressure on the diaphragm, so it’s no surprise that I would need to heal this trauma. Looking back, I also remember a time when I was playing lacrosse with my father – he was a professional lacrosse player in his younger years and taught me to play at an early age. Playing goalie, I caught one of his powerful throws right in my abdomen and I can tell you – it took me down. I was okay and my father was so proud of the “nice save” that I made. I can just imagine the trauma I experienced then – I think I was in third grade. Learning this got me really excited about how self-care training could help me. I wonder how I will feel afterwards? And with the skill to keep it up on a regular basis? Could it help my constipation? Yes, Lucy said – I’ll get to that exciting information in part 2 — tomorrow’s post.
Eating Disorders and Maya Abdominal Massage
Lucy has worked with people suffering from eating disorders, distive disorders and reproductive disorders. In her experience, people with eating disorders or digestive disorders have had a lot of stress in their abdominal areas – and it doesn’t have to be about eating and nourishment. Just like the lacrosse ball experience I had, it could just be trauma to the body — or even emotional trauma — anything directly hitting into the abdominal cavity.
Fear and the Freeze Response
As I asked Lucy about this, she told me that in Chinese medicine, our kidneys have to do with the emotions of fear. And interestingly, our kidneys are behind our diaphragm. When we have fear, we go into the fight or flight response of stress (sympathetic nervous system) — or the freeze response. Lucy told me that the freeze response is a basic animal response for survival.
She explained that the body – or maybe just an organ – can go into freeze response and just stay there. The freeze response can stay there for years and is often experienced around the kidney band – where the diaphragm is.
In Wilhelm Reich’s Character Analysis, he says the largest trauma — or fear — is lodged in the diaphragm ring (kidney or stomach). This area, he says, while the hardest area to release, is also the most powerful. He worked on this area – massage, pulling, etc., and found that once this area was released, the problems caused by it were often alleviated.
Fight or Flight and Digestion
Lucy also told me that the fight or flight response, when dominating our nervous system, shuts down our digestive functions. Sphincters shut down, digestive juices stop secreting and saliva stops secreting. Body intelligence says that we don’t need to digest during fight or flight – we just need to survive — to fight, flight or freeze. Digestion shuts down until later, when we feel safe — and then shifts back into parasympathetic mode (rest and digest).
Eating While Experiencing Stress
I was interested to hear Lucy’s point of view on this – because Donna Gates says something similar, but in a different way. She also says that digestion shuts down when our body experiences stress – although she often focused on the gut lining opening up – meaning we have temporary leaky gut. This can be a big problem if we eat while under stress. Now I see why – we are in fight or flight, or freeze — in sympathetic mode. And to digest, we need to be in the rest and digest mode. Lucy said that this is very relevant for people with trauma or emotional issues around digestive functions.
In tomorrow’s post, I will continue my interview with Lucy, covering more on eating disorders and digestive distress, nourishment, IBS, constipation and frequent nighttime urination, among other things. Stay tuned!
More on Lucy & Her Maya Abdominal Massage Self-Care Class — Calling all New England-Area Bloggers & Readers – Come Join Me in August!! I’d love to meet you there!
About Lucy Mitchella, LMT, D.Ay., Herbalist
Lucy, a former teacher of Transcendental Meditation and health food store co-manager, is an herbalist and Licensed Massage Therapist who has integrated all of her healing work with her Diploma in Ayurvedic Medicine. She has a private practice in Maya Abdominal Massage, Ayurvedic Counseling,Healing with Herbs and Plant Spirit Medicine. She also practices the art of handcrafting herbal skin care with her daughter, Ananda. Lucy and Ananda combine their collective experience to create the beauty and healing of Blissful Botanicals Skin Care.
Lucy has a genuine respect for the laws of nature and lives her life according to its rhythms. Her practice is in Manchester, CT, conveniently located next to an herb and tea shop, Useful Weeds. Lucy also treats clients in Marlboro, MA – at Earthsong Yoga Center – a few times per week. She teaches Maya Abdominal Massage Self-Care in MA and CT.
Products and Services Lucy Offers:
- Herbal consultations
- Ayurvedic counseling
- Maya Abdominal Massage
- Blissful Botanicals – natural herbal skincare products
- Rainforest Remedy products
Lucy is also available for phone consultations
You can reach her by calling her cell phone: 860-478-9585 or via e-mail: lucymitchella@comcast.net
Maya Abdominal Massage Self-Care Training in Marlboro, MA: This is the class I am attending — I hope to meet some of you there!
Maya Abdominal Massage Self Care Technique
August 11 – 13, 2006
Earthsong Yoga Center
186 Main St.
Marlboro, MA
Maya Abdominal Massage Self-Care Training in CT:
November – 10th 11th and 12th,
Lotus Yoga
192 Hartford Road
Manchester, CT 06040
Sign Up Now for the Self-Care Training!
To register for training, you can call Lucy, call the main office(603) 588-2571 or sign up online.
Hey Heather, very interesting stuff! Sounds like it would be a good experience. I responded to your post in my blog. I thought the workshop was in Oct. Now I see it’s in August. I still can’t go because I am house sitting, but maybe sometime in CT I can make it.
xo
ptc
Comment by palmtreechick — July 21, 2006 @ 6:14 pm
Hi Ptc, too bad — I would have loved to meet you, but maybe another time! I’ll write about my experience after class — I can’t wait!
With love,
Heather
Comment by Heather — July 21, 2006 @ 7:36 pm
I would have liked to have to have met you too!!
Comment by palmtreechick — July 22, 2006 @ 3:22 pm