It is all about attitude!

Now. This is the time. To take care of yourself, to send love to your body-mind-soul system, now is the time to get to know yourself in the deepest way possible. This is the way I know to allow yourself the life you have always wanted. Contacting your innermost self is now my daily routine and I personally think that this is the most beautiful way to fulfill your life. It takes courage, it takes some work and some passion, but once you are there you can only find a deep source of Love and Peace as everything else will dissolve, day by day, stroke after stroke, breath after breath. 

Love Your~Self... It is all about attitude...It is about the attitude. A self love and forgiveness attitude can help greatly many  situations. I see many women, luckily, in this period and all I can see is beauty, courage, strength... yet during theintake it is very clear that their perception is completely something else. Lack of self love, self esteem and a big huge sense of guilt for the so many various experiences they have been through. It is amazing then, witnessing them blossoming after few sessions of Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy and after some weeks of Self Care.

I ask them to give it a chance and courageously they take this wonderful opportunity of entering in their innermost space with a deep feeling of love and they decide to be in charge of their own deepest feelings and experiences. Their attitude towards their body changes and they can feel all the love that is there, in store for them. It takes a little time, it takes a little courage and a little effort, but the results are so amazing to see that, every time, live me in a deep bliss. That is my motivation to carry on bringing women into their selves. I had been a doula and it is a privilege I am eternally grateful for, as you can witness a very special moment of deep love, sharing, understanding and surrendering... this is what I feel when a woman is in love with herself, it is like she is remembering who she is and she become unstoppable, she becomes a wonderful  version of herself and, no matter what age, status, color or religion, it is a miracle. I am super sure that this happens to men too, I am sure that when we really start touching with love and care our innermost parts then miracles can really happens and I am really grateful to be able to assist to some of them. Thank you for letting me experience this beauty as every woman is so so beautiful, when she is in love, with her self.

Gloria

Love Your~Body... Menses and Life...Cycles and Opportunities... Many women approach a therapy like Arvigo® after several years of struggle and pain. Many of them think that pain and struggle is part of the deal, therefore they accept to take a day of a month, if not more, to let the pain go. Sometimes this struggle starts even before the menses, with big mood swings, anger, fragility followed by a deep sense of guilt towards the person that was supporting most. 

There are ways though to take care of these difficult moments and there are ways to understand what is going on. A part from a very holistic approach offered by the Arvigo Techniques, (therapy, Self Care and Supportive Modalities) I very much appreciate the work of Alexandra Pope, she wrote many books worth it to read, as she has a very practical and effective approach to the women/moon cycle. I am going to share some parts of an interview I found inspirational.

"In the first half of the cycle after menstruation and leading up to ovulation, women have this expansive energy that carries them out into the world. This is a high energy time of being super productive, sociable, and feeling really good. In the second half of the cycle, after ovulation, that process reverses again as a woman gradually withdraws and turns inwards once more. Women can feel overloaded here as her natural focus is to become quiet and more tuned into her inner feelings and this increases the closer she gets to menstruation which is why its important not have too much stimulation going on in this part of the cycle.

What do you say to the women who dread their periods because of problems such as PMS, period pain and so on.  What can they do to help themselves ?

Restoring knowledge about the power of the cycle is the first remedy. In many ways women are suffering because of the hideous cultural message that the menstrual cycle is irrelevant and the lack of honouring of what is going on for women in their cycle. Their suffering is the fallout of the loss of the powerful creative and spiritual knowledge that is locked in the menstrual cycle process. Starting to restore this knowledge even in the most basic and simple way can start to change things often in quite a radical way for a woman. Then she is able to manage stress and energies better, and feels more dignity and self-respect; and there is no more powerful medicine. She starts to have more authority to assert her needs to do whatever she needs to do on a very practical level to heal her health such as diet, rest and so on. This is vital for a woman to be in good health...

The first thing I explain to women is that we are seasonal beings as are men. We can all relate to the change of the outer seasons: autumn shifting into the dark of winter etc. The seasons changing bring up all sorts of feelings, we experience ourselves differently in different seasons and it is no different with the menstrual cycle where we could say we have seasons built into our body.

Our pre-ovulatory time is our inner Spring which takes us out into the world again after the quiet time of menstruation. The power of the inner Spring is a lovely natural motivation, a fresh beginning, full of natural focus and optimism, a sort of willingness to go out and try things again. It’s a beautiful feeling like our spirit is young again, any cynicism or bitterness that we may have had coming into the winter of our menstruation has melted away and we feel ‘oh maybe life is okay after all.’

Then we come into our Summer, our ovulatory time when we have this easy, harmonious energy where we can be all things to all people, like Superwoman. Everyone loves you as your energies at this time are about bringing harmony and doing everything for everybody. It’s a very high energy time and you really get stuff done; it’s very productive: you’re out there, you’re going for it and you’re magnetic.

You generally feel your most gorgeous at this time of the cycle and its partly because your emotional life and your own needs are nicely quiet and packed away so we can attend to other peoples needs. A woman can really show herself and strut herself at this time in her cycle. It feels fabulous but funnily enough when I say to women on workshops imagine being like this all the time they all crack up and say ‘Oh my god it would be awful, it would be a nightmare I’d be completely exhausted.’

After our glorious Summer there is the agonizing moment where we cross from our inner Summer to our inner Autumn and often women wobble at this point which is quite normal as your spirit is negotiating from being super ‘ out there’ to now having to come back in into a deeper intimacy with yourself and your emotional life.

A lot of premenstrual suffering is because a woman is not aware of and therefore not cooperating with the natural impulse to pull in but this natural impulse to pull in is not a limitation or a weakness; you are transitioning into a deeper connection to your self and that means you start to wake up to things you might have been repressing or ignoring

The Autumn phase of our cycle has many powers to it and one is what I call  ‘the great reality check moment’; if you find this premenstrual time very difficult it is because your psyche is telling you something; either you are out of sync with something in your life or you are doing too much for others which is often the case. This is your readjustment moment and the energies are very powerful at this time as the Autumn energies are about being the truth speaker.

All women become more permeable, sensitive and intuitive at this time of the cycle. Do not waste this energy, it can really cut to the chase. You shoot from the hip at this time and if you are aligned with this energy people will sit up and listen though they may not like it. Don’t expect to be loved in this part of the cycle as here you are potentially a provocateur and if you don’t use this energy consciously at this time it will come out unconsciously as PMS.

In this Autumn of your cycle you need to be disciplined with your self- care practices (n.d.r. Arvigo Therapy is really much focused on the Self Care routine); its crucial to rest and eat well, don’t let your blood sugar get low at this point and be careful with alcohol as you can’t tolerate it in the same way as you approach menstruation.

So in Autumn you start to turn into yourself and become more tuned into your inner feelings which is why you  can feel overload here and this increases the closer you get to menstruation which is why its important not have too much stimulation going on.

Menstruation itself is our inner Winter; just as in wintertime you want to cosy up to the fire and you don’t really feel like putting on your high heels and going partying; at menstruation we have that same impulse to retreat, to be more quiet and still. It is the classic retreat time; it’s like our inner temple where we give over to the sacred within ourselves. If a woman pays attention she will notice she has an inner impulse to down tools anything between 2 hours and 2 days before bleeding.

And when a woman feels it she should name it for herself as it’s the moment when you should say ok I’m off to the red tent or the menstrual temple however you want to put it. It’s a pyschological necessity in us and the big question of course is how do we handle this in our busy lives? Even just being aware that menstruation is the moment for retreat makes a huge difference. Retreat is all about rest, repair and renewal and if we do this at menstruation we can enter an expanded consciousness that allows us to feel the spiritual worlds and so it is really like us stepping into our inner church.

Menstruation is the sleep moment, the moment to rest. If women are going to get any message from this interview I would love them to validate this experience for themselves and to listen to their body instead of being tyrannised by this ridiculous idea that you have to be Superwoman, totally productive, out there and gorgeous  24/7; this is part of the pathology of patriarchy and it is messing both women and men up."

Love Your~LearningsMirjam and her Self Care experience ;)In March of this year I attended the first Arvigo Abdominal Self Care workshop held in the
Netherlands. I've been longing to do this workshop for a few years now, but going to England was simply not possible for me.
As a (pregnancy) massage therapist my interest and focus on the womb and abdominal area was always there. I followed several workshops on belly massage and found everything very useful. Only this workshop was something else... This workshop I was focussing on ME, my owm experience as a woman, the relationship with MY womb, MY sensitivity, My fears, MY joys... I realized how much I care and take care of other women and how little attention and time I spend on myself, my needs, my rest and my nourishment. It made me sad and happy at the same time. Sad because I had neglected myself big time, happy because I finally found a way to nurture myself. It's been 2 months since the workshop and every evening before going to sleep, I take the time to do my Self Care. It helped me already so much in regulating my cycle and abdominal wellbeing. It helped me in appreciating myself and my body, and my womb in particular! I can honestly say I am happy to be me and I even start to love myself!
Louise and Gloria welcomed us in a warm bath. They are loving, caring, funny and very wise women. I am grateful for these 3 amazing days that put me on the right track of nourishing myself. A big thank you. Much love, Mirjam

This Self Care Workshop covers: A brief history of the lineage and Dr Rosita Arvigo; basic anatomy and physiology of the abdominal and reproductive organs; the causes and symptoms of shifted organs; simple information on diet; spiritual and emotional health; demonstration and practice of the self care technique. All participants receive a 30 minute ’one to one’ evaluation and guidance in the Self Care massage. Your one-to one session may fall outside class times so please be prepared to stay after class.

This two and a half day workshop prepares the student to perform Arvigo Therapy® on his/her self only and is a perquisite to enrolment on Arvigo Therapy Professional Training for licensed healthcare practitioners.

To register and book your place please visit: http://www.atmatnederland.com/self-care---first-level.html