If you have not read part 1 of this very enlightening interview with Lucy Mitchella, LMT, D.Ay., Herbalist and Maya Abdominal Massage practitioner, you may want to start there. This is part 2 of our discussion and in this post, I will cover more of Lucy’s insights on eating disorders and digestive distress, nourishment, IBS, constipation and frequent nighttime urination, among other things.

Calling All Bloggers & Readers in the New England Area
Lucy will be teaching the Maya Abdominal Massage Self-Care class I’m taking in August. The dates are August 11th – 13th in Marlboro, MA. I’d love to meet other bloggers and readers there – so if you’re thinking of going, let me know!

I was hoping to see Palmtreechick there, since I think she lives in New England — but unfortunately, the dates don’t work for her. It would be amazing to meet others there. Lucy will be doing a 30-minute personal evaluation with all students, so this will be a great opportunity to be treated by an incredibly knowledgeable woman, while learning to maintain our own health!

Nourishment
As Lucy talked to me about eating disorders and digestive distress, she said that in addition to trauma, emotions, fear, digestion and the freeze response, we also must consider nourishment. Nourishment occurs in stomach and spleen — including the feeling of being nurtured. Both nourishment and the feeling of nourishment are a physical and emotional aspect of self-love. This is where we are reminded of the mind-body. Our body gets messages from our mind and our mind also hears messages from the body.

The Body-Mind Connection & Negativity
So here’s what happens: any kind of negative messaging that has occurred in our lives, are believed by our tissues – and they end up functioning according to those messages. In shamanics, this is called “stories.” This sets up neural pathways (in your brain) and creates manifestations of those messages.

Neural Pathways Explained
Think of a neural pathway like a map from point A to point B. If you wanted to drive somewhere and someone highlighted a route on the map for you, you’d follow that route, even though there are probably several other ways to get to your destination. If you memorized this particular way to your destination, it would become habit – so much so that if there was a detour one day, you might freak out and wonder if you could make it to your destination.

Well, the same is true for our thoughts and beliefs. Most of our thoughts and beliefs are created in early childhood – a time when adults and others tell us “don’t,” “not,” and “no” quite often. It is also a time when, although we are aware of things, we don’t fully understand them and/or we can’t really articulate them. At that fragile time, we may actually believe something based on the reaction our parents or others had – or from something that occurred as a result of our thoughts or actions. This is where we start to believe something is true – and our beliefs are formed. We may even cut ourselves off from the many other “routes” or possibilities that exist for us – locking ourselves into one reality. That’s a strong neural pathway – and we can break them! We can use principles of law of attraction, positive affirmations, holding our ideal vision in our minds – and we can use other techniques, like nourishing food and bodywork.

How Maya Abdominal Massage Helps Break Negative Neural Pathways
In as little as 5 minutes doing the Maya Abdominal Massage self-care technique, we can work to release the trauma frozen in our tissues. And just as important, this daily self-care cultivates self-love. Our tissues hear this and feel like they are being nurtured, taken care of. Our body feels this and knows it can relax and feel safe. In fact, Lucy told me that tissues respond much like a child responds — feeing safe to rest, digest and emote — whatever is needed to restore balance.

Chronic Fatigue, Eating Disorders & Digestive Distress
Lucy has worked with people experiencing chronic fatigue due to long-term eating disorders and digestive distress. She’s found that a series of sessions allowed her clients to emote. She told me that it’s not uncommon for their abdomens to be too sensitive to be touched in the beginning. Her understanding of the abdomen and trauma allows her to help her clients feel safe, encouraging their abdomens to allow themselves to heal.

A More Nurturing Relationship With Self
As Lucy said, it takes time to encourage a healing and nurturing relationship with self – that’s why this self-care massage can be so helpful. Over time, she’s seen these same clients change their lives – starting to exercise, eat healing foods, get a career – and start to feel really great. She’s seen them take small steps that lead to great leaps over time. When asked how long it’s taken for the big shifts, she says it varies. She’s seen it take several months to a year, with change happening steadily. Working on the abdomen often asks them to be brave and face that area – while at the same time, being more nurturing to self.

Constipation, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Hysterectomy, Food Allergies
You can imagine that I wanted to know more about one of the areas I’m hoping to get help with – constipation. Lucy has not only seen great results with eating disorders – she has also seen results with constipation, IBS, hysterectomy and food allergies. IBS is so related to stress, she told me. Massage encourages peristalsis – the muscular movement of food through our intestines — going clockwise through the body. Maya Abdominal Massage helps the small intestine to relax and absorb food more fully, which then allows the colon to do its job. Sometimes there are dietary recommendations that she makes to further help the body heal.

Frequent Nighttime Urination
For many years, I had experienced frequent urination at night. For me, it would happen just before bed – keeping me from getting settled comfortably. I would also find that I’d get up 2 – 4 times in the night, keeping me from getting a restful sleep. After getting colonics, this improved tremendously, although it still occurs at times so I asked Lucy about it. She said that she’s seen huge improvement with frequent urination at night – and she explained some of the potential causes. Maya Abdominal Massage has a focus on bringing the uterus into its appropriate place – because oftentimes, it slips out of place.

Malpositioned & Prolapsed Uterus – More Common Than You’d Think
When the uterus is in its normal position (above the bladder), there is space between the uterus and bladder. Around 85% of women, however, have a malpositioned or prolapsed uterus. If the uterus falls — from trauma, improper childbirth, accidents or surgeries — it starts to sit more on top of the bladder. When the uterus is lifted and put back into position, frequent urination has completely cleared up and balanced out again. This technique is not just for curative measures – it is also excellent for preventing future prolapse. As we get older, many things can happen — tissues could lose circulation, gravity pulls on things, childbirth, trauma – this can lead to prolapse. Maya Abdominal Massage self-care can help minimize this.

Even Bedwetting? And Backache?
One of Lucy’s fellow Maya Abdominal Massage practitioners had a daughter with chronic bedwetting – and she tried everything to help. Eventually, she decided to try Maya Abdominal Masasge and after one or two sessions, her daughter stopped bedwetting completely. The technique is very powerful. It’s also been used for chronic low back or hip pain – working on the abdomen made this pain – which often comes from the abdomen anyway — go away. It’s interesting because I’ve heard the same benefits come from colonics – again, something about congestion in the abdominal area creating back and shoulder pain. From colonics, I’ve already improved my posture and found a feeling of lightness in my shoulders that I’d tried to fix through chiropractic with only limited success. I’m really looking forward to seeing how self-care on a regular basis helps me!

Successful For Men, Too
Lucy told me that these techniques are also helpful for men. In fact, she has experienced great results with men – namely with her husband. As men get older – age 40 and up, they start having prostate enlargement or digestive problems. This massage is so helpful. Her husband, who had prostate swelling, immediately felt results. Hmmm, I wonder if my husband will let me practice my newly-learned self-care massage on him? That might be good content for a future post!

Many Factors Impact Time Frame in Healing
Just like eating disorders, IBS and other issues, Lucy told me that the time frame needed to resolve constipation varies by the individual. Some of the factors that come into play are the level of trauma and damage done, the environment they are living in, stress in job or relationships – the more challenging our personal circumstances, the longer it could take to heal. In general, she sees results from one session to about 8 months or a year.

Systemic Health Issues And Frozen Trauma
Lucy typically asks her clients to at least commit themselves to a 6 – 9 month protocol — where they decide to invest time, energy and care to their healing. Any chronic health situation has taken years to develop, so expecting to heal overnight is unrealistic, although it can happen. What does tend to happen is healing step-by-step – with an overall sense of feeling better. Maya Abdominal Massage helps stop the deterioration of health as well — so that people can get better. Without some focus on healing or self-care, the results are oftentimes disastrous – e.g., getting sicker — ending up with acute illnesses and taking pharmaceutical drug therapy with negative side effects or getting surgery (both could work — or cause more damage). If an issue is more systemic or has to do with frozen trauma, surgery and pharmaceutical drugs aren’t getting to the right level required to heal. Because very often, the root cause is emotional, spiritual or nutritional.

Other Forms of Abdominal Massage
When I asked Lucy how Maya Abdominal Massage compares with other forms of abdominal massage, like Qi gong and Chi Nei Tsang, she told me that based on her exposure to these techniques, they have to do more with flow of chi — directions of energy flow through abdomen. She also said that these forms of massage are used mostly for diagnosis of organ imbalances, using a lighter touch than Maya Abdominal Massage.

She said that Maya Abdominal Massage is also aware of how this energy flows – but it goes much deeper into the abdomen. In Maya Abdominal Massage, you physically palpate the uterus, abdomen and organs from the pubic bone up to the abdominal cavity.

The massage works to do the following:

  • Release the diaphragm
  • Break up scar tissue or adhesions occurring in abdominal cavity
  • Flush lymph through the abdominal cavity
  • Release back muscles and reposition pelvic bones – opening up nerve flow in sacral area. This repositions the uterus to help blood, lymph and chi flow more fully through the pelvic organs and abdominal cavity.
  • For more, see the Maya Abdominal Massage website

Rainforest Remedies
Dr. Arvigo also learned how to cultivate herbs and create healing remedies from Mayan midwives (Hortence Robinson and Beatrice Waight) and her shaman mentor, Don Elijio Panti. These herbs are organic and harvested in the untouched, mineral-rich Amazon forests. I’m looking forward to learning more about Rainforest Remedies when I attend the class, since I am always researching products that have healing benefits. Donna Gates, author of The Body Ecology Diet, has often referred to the Amazon as a kind of “Garden of Eden” with all of the mineral-rich, healing plants growing there.

Looking Ahead
I am grateful to have the opportunity to go to the Maya Abdominal Massage Self-Care class in August. I’ve found that each time I work with my body in another way, something releases. It is at these times that I am truly amazed at the mind-body connection. Just opening my eyes to this connection has given me a deeper understanding and appreciation for life. When once, I used to be so lost, so confused about the meaning of life and my place in it, I am now starting to surrender to the miracles that hide in the unseen, the unknown. If I can get just one step closer to learning the language of my body – and letting it know how much I care, I believe I can help undue the damage I caused from years of relentless battle with it. I guess I owe that to my body, I guess I owe it a lot.

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.

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