Maya abdominal massage

The intention of Maya Abdominal Massage is to align your uterus in your pelvic bowl. This supports your overall reproductive, urinary, digestive and emotional health and balance. In our sessions, we begin with a thorough health intake and then in our bodywork, I offer intuitive listening to your body.

The Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy®, founded by Dr. Rosita Arvigo, are founded on the ancient Mayan technique of abdominal massage which is a gentle, hands-on, non-invasive manipulation that repositions internal organs that have shifted, restricting the flow of blood, lymph, nerve and chi. These techniques focus on the abdomen, lower back, sacrum and tailbone.

The Arvigo Institute currently owns the Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy®, and Rosita has begun a new organization, the Abdominal Therapy Collective. Visit for more information about Rosita's work.

Maya Abdominal Massage

The Origins of Maya Abdominal Massage

Based on over thirty years of training and experience in massage, naprapathy, herbology, and spiritual healing, Dr. Rosita Arvigo developed these techniques, which now bear her name. This modality incorporates a holistic approach to health care, which including massage, anatomy and physiology, herbology, nutrition, and emotional and spiritual healing.

Dr. Arvigo learned these techniques from her mentor, Don Elijio Panti, the great Maya Shaman of Belize, Central America, with whom she apprenticed for ten years. Don Elijio believed that a woman's center is her uterus. "If a woman's uterus is out of balance, so is she," he would say. Rosita also studied with Hortense Robinson, a 73 year old herbal midwife of Belize who has been delivering babies since she was 13.

Maya Abdominal Massage

"If a woman's uterus is out of balance, so is she."
- Don Elijo, Mayan Shaman

Women's Health

Maya Abdominal Massage (MAM) benefits women struggling with a variety of health struggles relating to menstruation, digestion, urination and fertility. Women also see improvement in musculoskeletal issues such as knee and back pain with these techniques. Many women have experienced sexual, physical and/or emotional abuse. MAM can be supportive, in conjunction with therapy or counseling, in healing from abuse or sexual trauma.

Perinatal Health

MAM benefits women trying to conceive via natural means or Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART).

MAM during pregnancy helps to alleviate a number of common discomforts of pregnancy, such as heartburn, reflux, round ligament pain, pubic symphysis pain and lower back pain and supports the baby’s optimal position for a gentle easeful birth for mother and baby.

MAM aids postpartum healing for vaginal deliveries and cesarean births by the alignment of the uterus and healing of scar tissue.

Men's Health

MAM benefits men by relieving congestion in pelvis that often gives rise to prostate enlargement, erectile dysfunction, frequent urination and digestive discomfort. Maya Abdominal Massage also supports men’s healing from back and knee pain, emotional, physical and sexual trauma.

Frequent Urination and Chronic Urinary Tract Infections

By Chaya Aronson

Many women come to see me for menstrual issues, and concurrently have bladder issues. Either they have frequent urination, recurrent bladder infections, or a condition called Interstitial Cystitis. Often times these symptoms occur because the uterus is tilted and applying excess pressure to the bladder, creating a situation where the bladder cannot hold as much…

Painful Menses and Painful Ovulation

By Chaya Aronson

Many women have pain during menses or pain during ovulation. Menstruation is a cyclical process that is governed by the anterior pituitary gland. If we think of this gland as a messenger, and the ovaries and uterus as the location to which the message be sent, we like to envision the path for the messenger…

Tilted Uterus

By Chaya Aronson

Many women are told, casually, by their gynecologists that they have a “tilted uterus”, and that this is “normal”. It is, in fact, so common, that many anatomy and physiology textbook illustrations picture the uterus in a forward tilt. The forward tilt, anteverted, is the most common uterine malposition, though there are others, including retroverted,…

Maya Abdominal Massage FAQ