Natural Therapies – Arvigo Mayan Abdominal Massage

Core values

Anna Campbell, BA, ITEC Dip, Lic. Ac cAc, MAFPA is an acupuncturist trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Anna works with clients in Dublin 4 using acupuncture and massage, including Arvigo Mayan Abdominal Massage, treating everything from the common cold to more intricate and sensitive conditions, such as fertility and gynaecological syndromes.

Lucy * aged 30 contacted me as she had heard that I work a lot with any condition related to women’s health and fertility. Despite being healthy, Lucy had not had a period in a year. Her cycle had just stopped after a stressful period in her life and she obviously was concerned because she would like to have a baby at some stage in the future.

I explained to her how I work with both acupuncture and Arvigo Mayan Abdominal Massage therapy and how both these treatments can help the body physically and emotionally to recover from a stressful period.

I taught her how to do the massage on her own belly, called self-care – this first session lasted two hours and included the massage and also acupuncture to help balance her hormones. Self-care is a four-minute massage that I teach every client; it helps them to continue the therapeutic effect of the treatment in between sessions. Lucy really enjoyed her treatment and she felt wonderfully relaxed while also being aware that some deep therapeutic work was going on internally.

I sent Lucy off with lots of information on how to support her health, the self-care massage instructions and we arranged a follow-up session in two weeks.

I also suggested she do some castor oil packs at home. Castor oil packs involve the client applying castor oil to their belly, making a warm ‘pack’ out of muslin cloths and a hot water bottle and lying back and relaxing.

A week after Lucy’s first appointment I got a text from her saying that she had been doing the massage daily and a few castor oil packs and that her period had arrived! Lucy was delighted that her natural cycle had returned. We continued to work on her period which became regular within two months, Lucy wanted to continue coming monthly to help with digestion and general health.

Lucy then told me that she and her husband were going to start trying for a baby. My work becomes very targeted and timed specifically to certain times of the menstrual cycle when a client is actively trying to conceive, for example it is great to time a treatment for ovulation. Again Lucy was armed with lots of information to get her body in tip top shape for conceiving. I also explained to Lucy how to recognise when she was ovulating, so that she was aware what the changes she was noticing meant as her cycle progressed.

When a couple is trying to conceive and it is not happening immediately it can be very stressful, so my work is always focused on keeping stress hormones out of the blood stream and keeping the client or couple healthy and confident in their bodies mentally, emotionally and physically. Lucy’s husband did not need any treatment in this case, but I also treat men.

Lucy is now 22 weeks pregnant, looking fabulous and feeling great. When clients become pregnant I stop doing the abdominal massage until after 20 weeks, and focus on helping them with any nausea or digestive upset, due to the huge hormonal shift that takes place, with acupuncture. I look forward to supporting Lucy physically and emotionally throughout her pregnancy and cannot wait to meet her wonderful little baby.

* Not her real name

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