The full moon often conjures up images of werewolves howling into the night sky. Add a few beasts and ghouls from a Michael Jackson video and you have pretty much stamped out any of the beauty and softness that a creamy full moon tirelessly delivers. But when we stop to look up at the night sky, we are often left awe struck, humbled by the enormity and closeness of a full moon bathing us in its silvery light. When much of the human body is made up of water it is no wonder we are affected just as the oceans and tides are, day and night. Full moon energy can feel like a tidal wave stirring up emotions and leaving us feeling exhausted or it may flow through us causing only a ripple in an otherwise calm week. For women, the full moon shares even more of it’s magical energy. As women, we are connected to the moon by our blood, our hormones and our souls. The menstrual cycle has a strong influence on not only the perception we have of ourselves but how we view the world around us. In a male-oriented society it can be challenging to give structure and meaning to feelings and experiences that arise as our moods, desires and energies change with the different phases of our cycle. For example, when a woman bleeds with the full moon, this connection can enhance inner expression, intuition and the development of the inner, spiritual self. If a woman is ovulating with the full moon, this phase provides a wonderful synchronicity for conceiving a child, as the full moon accentuates the time of ovulation. It is common for the menstrual cycle to interact with the lunar cycle in these two ways; menstruation (period) and ovulation coinciding either around the time of a full moon or a dark moon. The moon: ♥ regulates your menstrual cycle. ♥ can trigger ovulation and fertile times. ♥ affects your emotions. ♥ affects the way people behave and view the world. Many moons ago, women were deeply aware of their connection to the lunar cycle through their menstrual cycle. Many women today have lost all connection to their cyclical nature, being led to feel that following the rhythm of their cycle is somehow a primitive or inferior affair. This belief is often compounded with the irritability, bloating and clumsiness that can be part and parcel for many through the month. However, there is much grace, flow and harmony to be achieved through living in a cyclic manner. Once we become connected to our cycle we can utilise our time and energy in a much more effective and productive way. Miranda Gray, author of The Optimized Woman, recommends the following to help connect with your cycle: Awareness: Note your emotions each day so that you are aware of your changing feelings and needs. Acceptance: Accept that you are cyclic and that your energies will change within your cycle. This will help you stop fighting your body and start loving your cycle! Action: Take action to live in harmony with your cycle. Meet your needs – if you need to rest, ignore the coffee and rest instead! You can also introduce self nurturing practices to help keep you grounded through certain times in the month: ♥ Eat grounding foods – Roots veggies: beets, carrots, turnips, radishes, ginger, and garlic. All of these veggies have roots that reach down into the ground. The roots of a plant are its anchor; the foundation of life. Adding these foods into your diet can help you feel more rooted and grounded to the earth. ♥ Have salt baths or swim in the sea. ♥ Wear grounding crystals eg Haematite, Smokey Quartz, Jasper. ♥ Connect with nature and mother earth – daily. ♥ Focus on your womb through meditation or warm hands placed over the lower belly. ♥ Sleeping in view of the full moon helps realignment and connection. If this is not possible, when going to bed, leave a soft light on when the moon is full. ♥ Do whatever ‘feels good’ to you – there is no right or wrong! enjoy getting together with friends sharing activities that engage your creativity – your womb, the centre of your creativity, will love you for it! ‘The first step in claiming the gifts of our menstrual cycle is to become re-acquainted with Mother Moon.’ Nadia MacLeod As women become more aware of these connections they experience a far greater acceptance of their bodies, their menstrual cycle and their feminine nature. Taking time to honour yourself in some way during the different phases of the lunar cycle is a beautiful way to re-connect. Symbolically the moon has a lot to teach us. Each moon phase (lunation) is a chance to set new goals, and to realign yourself with an energy that anchors and honours your feminine mind, body and spirit. Taking the time to connect in and acknowledge each phase could be likened to standing in McDonald’s and saying ‘Supersize Me!’ minus the burger and fries but perhaps instead a side order of ‘Supercharge Me!’ To get you started, the following fun rituals can be done around the changing phases of the moon. Waxing Moon (when the moon is getting full) – focus on what you would like to gain eg. friendship, money, job, enlightenment, a partner. Waning Moon (when the moon is getting small) – focus on what you would like to lose eg. bad habits, negative energy, toxic relationships. New Moon/Dark Moon (when the moon cannot be seen) – useful for starting new adventures. Full Moon – of special significance for both farmers and their planting schedules as well as many folklore customs that honour the power of the lunar cycle. This April full moon is known as the Pink Moon – named after the herb moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. It also referred to as the Seed Moon ripe for planting your seeds of desire in Mother Earth. So this coming Full Moon, stop for a moment, head outside and look up at the night sky and let your eyes drink in that rich creamy softness. Or you can electrify and intensify your cyclical experience this full moon by joining both Therese and I for a gathering of beautiful souls on Thursday 25th April (details below). APRIL’S PINK FULL MOON GATHERING Full moon energy is ripe to help release anything that is no longer serving you whether they are thoughts, habits or old unhelpful behaviours. In this process of letting go we create space and energy to focus on and invite into our lives all that supports, nourishes and nurtures us. Join Maya Abdominal Therapy practitioner Danielle Rickwood in a celebration that reconnects and restores our magical link to the lunar cycle. This very informal gathering is dedicated to bringing women together to honour their cyclical nature and creativity through meditation, gentle yoga practice, a womb blessing as well as a time to connect and reconnect with friends, new and old. ♥ Thursday 25th April (Anzac Day) ♥ 7-8pm ♥ Northern Beaches ♥ By donation For more information please visit https://www.facebook.com/lunarosaaustralia. To register for this ‘invitation only’ event please contact danielle@mamoz.com.au. Spaces are limited so book asap! Nurture, Nourish and Love Your Belly x
The team at KORA Organics have embarked on a two week detox including Maya Abdominal Therapy, Colonic Irrigation, as well as following a Cleanse, Reshape and Shine Programme. To discover more about the team’s detox experience click here or view the gallery below:
How cucumber sandwiches, spicy curries and fruit and veg can help you stay cool this summer…
Welcome to 2013! The year of the Snake! Throughout many cultures the snake symbolises - patience, cycles, rebirth, fertility, eternity, balance, intuition, awareness, healing, intellect, protection, rejuvenation, transformation, and hidden knowledge. Phew! That’s a lot of symbols! Let’s focus on one for now – transformation. The shedding of a snakes’ skin represents the casting off of the old self and emerging as a sleeker, newer version making the snake a powerful symbol of rebirth and renewal. Having over indulged during the Christmas period, perhaps this resonates with us even more! With the focus for many to now shift those few extra pounds, don’t lose sight of any other New Year resolutions that may include some of what appears in the list of symbols above in some way or another! Within the Mayan culture, the snake represents a complete alteration of the mind, body and spirit. This ‘complete alteration’ may appear more daunting than signing up for a gym membership (again!) or a half marathon but the message is clear. In order to experience long lasting wellness and peace, not only do the physical layers need to be shed but so do all the mental and emotional layers that we can accumulate in the form of attachments to things, people, experiences. The belly being the number one destination where most of this extra emotional and mental baggage gets stored. For those who have fertility on their list for 2013 this could be an auspicious year for you! The Mayan goddess Ixchel is pictured with her lengthy hair held together by coiling snakes that wrapped around the top part of her head. She was worshipped as the protector of weavers and women in childbirth as well as wielding power over fertility, water and medicine. So whatever you hope to manifest for yourself in 2013 be sure to include mind, body and spirit in any ‘alterations’ you make! A MAM treatment springs to mind!
The Mayan Calendar continues….. So, officially the Mayan Calendar ends in 2012 on December 21st. Is the world going to end? No. But just in case it does, should I throw caution to the wind, resign from the job that sucks the life out of me, in fact sucks full stop, leave a relationship that is totally unfulfilling and start living life to the full? Yes. But take charge of your life right now, in this moment, regardless of whether you feel the earth will implode just before Christmas. The momentum gathers…. At this time, as we move toward the end of 2012, more and more people are experiencing major life changes at lightning speed. People are being given opportunities for personal growth in just about every aspect of their lives. Those that are taking them, are joining a global movement that is seeing people release old, unhelpful patterns which has kept them trapped in a life they were not born to live. The Maya identified the new cycle in the Mayan calendar as a monumental transition and opportunity to realign priorities based on the principles of love, gratitude, care and respect for both humanity and the environment. According to the Mayan elders we are moving from living in the intellect to 5,000 years of living in the heart. [line-dotted] If you are struggling to live in the present moment, perhaps with one foot in the past and with the other planted firmly in the future, start by taking a look at what you are grateful for right NOW in your life. If you need some inspiration visit our Grateful Engravings page and engrave your own words of gratefulness on the wall. This wall will pick up where the Mayan Calendar ends, within it inscribed the incredible powerful words that each and every one of us has contributed. You can scribble on it more than once, in fact the more often the better to keep you on the path of wellness and happiness! Visit our Facebook page for how your engraving on the Facebook wall could win you a complimentary MAM treatment in 2013!
Maya Abdominal Therapy (MAT) helps to establish or re-establish connections and communication between the Mind, the Body and the Spirit, treating the entire person and stimulating the body’s innate capability to heal the root cause of illness. For many, surgery and medication is necessary if symptoms are acute and advanced. Research and education helps lead to informed choices about what is the most sensible option when considering our health and wellbeing in the long term. To recognise the value that both modern medicine and ancient healing practices can have in helping lead a life free of pain and to live it more joyfully, is a precious step forward. Consequently, Danielle would like to acknowledge the work of Dr Alex Ades and his team at Advanced Gynaecology for helping bridge the gap and break down the barriers that can often exist between these two different approaches which can be counter-productive to quality care. It is both the intention of Maya Abdominal Therapy Australia and Advanced Gynaecology Melbourne to bring together our knowledge and expertise offering clients long term relief and healing from abdominal pain. Dr Ades is based at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne and at his private practice in Hawthorn, Victoria. For more information on minimally invasive surgery and how Dr Ades practice can work in conjunction with natural healing therapies, please visit Advanced Gynaecology Melbourne To enquire further about how MAT treatments can support abdominal surgery, please click here.
An article on Rosita Arvigo’s work: Touching The Core The Heart and Intelligence of Mayan Abdominal Massage By Diane McDonald In 1983, Chicago native Rosita Arvigo, a doctor of naprapathy (D.N.) began an intensive 12-year apprenticeship with one of the last living Maya shamans in Central America. Don Elijio Panti was already 90 years old when Arvigo began to study with him in his tiny, remote village of San Antonio in Western Belize, not far from the Guatemalan border. She learned about native healing plants, the Maya prayers, herbal bathing for physical and spiritual healing and the ancient technique of Maya abdominal massage, known simply as “la sobada” – the massage.
Danielle is delighted to now be working out of a clinic in Byron Bay! Click here for more information!
The Arvigo Technique Mayan Abdominal Massage recently featured in an article by Hive Health Media saying it is one of six types of massage that must be tried. Take a look at the article below: Arvigo Technique Mayan Abdominal Massage In the early 1980s, Dr. Rosita Arvigo moved to Belize to study the country’s medicinal plants. There she started working with a traditional healer named Don Elijio Panti. Arvigo noticed that Panti was able to treat many conditions using a type of abdominal massage. Curious about this method of treatment, she studied the techniques he used and started passing the knowledge on to others.