A few months ago, on the evening of the winter
solstice, I sat in front of a blazing fire with six
women who have been taught healing secrets
of the ancient Maya. They all practice Maya abdominal
massage, a deeply powerful work focused on improving
the health of the tissues and organs of the abdomen
and pelvis—a natural complement to Pilates, or so I
thought. It seems none of these women had explored
the relationship between the two. In fact, a few seemed
concerned that, fundamentally, they might be at odds.
Fortunately, what I discovered was just the opposite.
Maya massage, or “the work,” as many practitioners
call it, is an ancient, external, non-invasive technique
of massaging the abdomen, pelvis and lower back along
with some simple stretching. The technique has been
passed down from generation to generation through
the midwives, healers and shamans of Central America,
who believed that most female reproductive troubles
were due to a wandering womb.
“A woman’s uterus is the spiritual center of her
being; if it’s out of balance, then her entire life will
be imbalanced,” says Rosita Arvigo, a Chicago-born
naprapathic doctor who spent 12 years in Belize
apprenticing with Don Elijio Panti, one of the last
Maya shamans in Central America, and later began
teaching the techniques and certifying practitioners
around the world.
Arvigo estimates nearly 90 percent of women will
have a misplaced or tipped uterus at some point in their
lives, a result of everyday events such as falls, running
and wearing high heels. “If your uterus is misplaced,
a whole host of symptoms can arise,” says Corrine
Porterfield-Brown, LMT, a Maya massage practitioner
in Portland, OR. Such symptoms include low back pain,
PMS, painful periods, infertility, constipation, painful
intercourse and more.
Maya massage can also be used to treat digestive
issues and facilitate the normal flow of breath, blood
and energy throughout the body. What’s more, men can
benefit from the work as well. Maya massage can ease
the male pelvic congestion that often causes painful
urination, prostate swelling, infertility, impotence,
constipation and hemorrhoids.
“The work is all about restoring the body to proper
hemodynamics, which means the adequate flow of
blood and proper lymphatic drainage,” says Porterfield-
Brown. “Once that is established, we know that the
internal healing powers of the body will take over.”
I was in desperate need of some internal healing when
I first booked a session with Porterfield-Brown. If
symptoms are the body’s way of saying something is
wrong, then the erratic periods, heavy bleeding, severe
cramping and cystic acne I had developed at the age
of 38 were more like a scream for help. I feared I was
suffering from fibroids as my sister had, or worse.
What if, just when I was finally ready to have a baby, I
couldn’t conceive. I had to get answers.
First stop was the office of my OB/GYN, whose
prodding, probing, and testing ruled out fibroids,
endometriosis, and early menopause. And although I
pushed her for some kind of explanation, she simply
instructed me to wait six months and see if things
improved. But I decided to try a more hands on approach.
I had known about the practice of Maya abdominal
massage for years. I had heard about it, knew a handful
of women who credited it with their “miracle”
pregnancies, I even had two good friends who practiced
the technique, and yet I had never tried it.
At the start of my first session, Porterfield-Brown led
me into a tranquil room with a massage table, soothing
music and a thick cloud of sweet smelling copal—a tree
resin that, when burned, is believed to rid a person of
harmful thoughts, cleanse a space of fear or envy and
act as an offering to the Mayan gods and goddesses.
After filling out a lengthy questionnaire on everything
from the color of my menstrual blood to my food
allergies, we talked in depth about any symptoms I was
having, my health history and how I was feeling both
emotionally and spiritually.
With that, she had me lie down on the table. The
massage is performed in a traditional and specific way
passed down from Panti to Arvigo and then from Arvigo
to her 500 or so certified students. It begins by applying
a light coat of oil on the belly. Porterfield-Brown used
oil made from herbs collected in Belize under the
full moon, although she says that any massage oil or
even olive oil will do. Next, with her hands together,
palms facing down and thumbs hooked together, she
placed her fingertips on the upper edge of my pelvic
bone, right in the center. She slowly and firmly pressed
downward, then ran them toward my belly button as
though scooping a hole in the sand. She did this two
more times, then she moved to the left edge of the
pelvic bone, scooped toward the center three times,
and moved on to the right side. “Ah ha, your uterus is
way over to the right,” she said. “Want to feel it?”
She guided my hands through the scooping
movements in the center and on the left side
of my pelvis. Then, when we tried to perform the same
movement on the right, there was resistance—I simply
could not scoop nearly as deeply. It was amazing; I
could clearly feel my uterus had shifted to the right.
Porterfield-Brown worked a bit more on realigning my
uterus, then sent me home with instructions to perform
the massage on myself two or three times a week
between menstrual cycles. In addition, she started me
on a three-month regimen of an herbal tonic used to
shed the uterine walls of old, hardened blood.
“Cleaning the uterine wall, and returning the uterus
to the right position provides it with a good blood
supply, so it no longer has to work as hard—cramping
and squeezing to clean itself out,” says Arvigo.
Over the next few months I had one more session
with Porterfield-Brown, I managed to do the self-
care massage twice a week and was pretty good about
taking my herbs. By the middle of the second month,
my cycles had gone back to normal in length and
volume,mmy cramps had drastically diminished, and
my skin had cleared up dramatically. Frankly I was
stunned. It was true, my body had returned to balance
as soon as my uterus was centered. What’s more, a
mere four months after starting the treatment I was
pregnant. I call that results!
Having seen for myself that Maya massage can improve
one’s health, I set out to learn if it could improve one’s
Pilates practice too. “There is a lot more to Maya
massage than just realigning the uterus, and it can be
very helpful for men as well,” says Izumi Takiguchi,
an L.A.-based Pilates instructor and Maya massage
therapist. For instance, the Maya work can be used to
release muscles and nerves in the mid and lower back.
“In Pilates, we always talk about bending at the bra line,
and using Maya massage to open up the back allows this
to happen much more easily,” says Takiguchi.
“Oh yes, they work together well,” says practitioner
Becky Wyland, BS, CH, CN, CMT, of Longmont, CO,
who is certified in both Pilates and Maya massage. “I end
up using both techniques on 95 percent of my clients. If
they come to see me for Maya work, I usually wind up
pulling out some kind of Pilates exercises that I know will
help. On the other hand, if I am doing Pilates with them,
it is not uncommon that I will find imbalances going on,
and we will wind up using Maya abdominal massage to
help realign the deep tissues first.”
For example, a dancer came to see Wyland for
Pilates work, complaining about a chronic knee issue.
After observing her movements, it became clear that
her psoas was super tight and restricted on same side
as the sore knee. Wyland then asked her about her
cycle, and learned that it had been painful, heavy and
irregular for months. “To me, all those dots connect. It
was a problem at the root of the body—not the knee.”
And sure enough, when Wyland performed some Maya
massage on the dancer, she realized that her uterus
was stuck way over to the same side as the psoas and
knee issues. Realigning the uterus with Maya massage
helped open both and relieve the pain.
Maya massage can also help release the diaphragm
and improve breath work—an essential part of Pilates.
“One of the things I often see in people who are new
to Pilates is that they have a difficult time bringing the
breath down and in,” says Wyland. “If they can’t get
the breath down into the abdomen and they don’t have
good expansion of the ribcage, I’ll use the Maya work
and things open right up,” she says.
Like Pilates, Maya massage also aims at keeping
the lymph moving. “Stagnated lymphatic fluid is often
the cause of pain and imbalance in the abdominal and
pelvic organs,” says Catherine Gregory, LMT, a Maya
massage practitioner in Fort Collins, CO. While Pilates
uses movements to get the lymph going, Maya massage
practitioners use gentle rocking, tapotement massage,
and a light sweeping of the hands over the nodes in the
upper legs and the groin. Perhaps the greatest impact
of Maya massage on one’s Pilates practice is through
increased body awareness. For example, regularly
performing the self-care massage (see “Maya Uterine
Massage Self-Care”) is a great way to deepen one’s
connection to the breath and
body, which in turn makes
performing Pilates exercises a
good deal easier.
But benefits can be seen
in the other direction too.
“Clients who are already
experienced in Pilates are
much more intuitive when
they then try Maya work.
They know how to direct
their breath, lengthen certain
muscles, and overall have a
much greater awareness of
their bodies,” says Wyland.
So rather than being at odds with one another,
Pilates and Maya abdominal massage are actually
quite complementary. “The ultimate focus of both
is to get everything in the body working together in
harmony,” say Wyland. “I often find the quickest way
to do that with a client is to correct deep imbalances
with the Maya work first, then the Pilates comes
more easily.”
But what about Pilates instructors who aren’t
trained in the Maya work? How will they know
when Maya massage might benefit a client? “A
good Pilates instructor will notice deep imbalances
in pelvic alignment,” says Wyland. For example, if a
client is doing Bridge and the pelvis moves as one
solid piece instead of being able to do a great roll,
or if during standing Hip Stretch or going into Leg
Slides there is an obvious pull to one side, a teacher
may want to suggest a client find a Maya abdominal
massage practitioner. Luckily, thanks to Rosita
Arvigo and her Institute, there are now certified
practitioners all over the world, which are listed at
arvigotherapy.com.
“I would encourage all Pilates instructors to go
get a Maya massage treatment, then hop on the
Reformer afterward,” says Wyland. “Or, better yet, go
do Pelvic Circles afterward and feel the difference—
it’s quite incredible.”
Linda Knittel, MA, is a nutritional anthropologist and
freelance writer living in Portland, OR.
