What is a Rebozo closing ceremony and why should do one
The Rebozo Closing Ritual, originating from Mexico, is traditionally given 40 days after giving birth. It helps the new mother to close the period of pregnancy and birth, as she slowly starts to move back into the world.
The rebozo itself, is a Mexican handwoven like shawl that is present throughout the woman's life, it is used in pregnancy birth and postpartum, like to carry your baby.
During pregnancy and post-partum our physical bodies and energetic fields expand more than they ever will, to grow and birth another human being, therefore the need to ''close'' a woman and allow her to come back into her body.
On a physiological perspective, the woman experience among other things:
Increase production of the hormone relaxin, about 10 times more during pregnancy, so as to allow the tendons and ligaments to soften and make them more elastic to allow your body to accommodate a growing baby and its passage through the birth canal.
During pregnancy the blood volume expands by an average of 50%
By the third trimester most woman will have some sort of diastasis recti, which is the separation of the abdominal walls
The pelvis opens during labor and, according to physical therapists, this can stay this way for many years.
On a energetic / psychological / spiritual perspective pregnancy may present the following challenges
memories of past trauma rising to the surface for the first time
reckoning with our own early childhood experiences and how we were parented
fears of who we might be as a Mother
fears of what might become of our romantic partnerships
maturation in our relationships to our partners, our finances, our outer work in this world
shifting of family dynamics
stepping into new roles and responsibilities in our families, communities, world
knowing ourselves and our capacities in ways that we never had prior
While during pregnancy our bodys and our minds are required to expand, during post-partum there is a need to close our physical bodies and re-define ourselves as this new entity that is being a mother.
The closing of the bones, allows the time and space to address the physical and the spiritual/psychological aspects of this journey.
Although, originally set to happen in the postpartum period, in reality, this ceremony can be used in any time of your life that you feel the need to carve some space to honor, reflect or come to terms with, and it is not uncommon that this ritual is also used when woman have a hysterectomy, come to the end of their breastfeeding journey, or at the end of a marriage, miscarriage or battling an illness.
This is a ceremony that essentially honors yourself, the journey that you have been on and to make space to process and allow all the feelings that you have been carrying, to manifest, so you can then proceed to heal and grow. All this, is done by the watchful eye of two Doulas, that have been trained to hold space, nurture the woman and stand with her in the sisterhood that unites us all.
The ceremony itself has many interpretations and variations, and the way that I guide these, follow the below structure:
We open the ceremony by coming together in a circle, we share some ceremonial cacao and you can share your intentions and if appropriate, your story
This is then followed by a guided meditation to allow you to fully arrive at this space.
a full body massage performed by the 2 doulas, with warm oil
a herbal bath, to cleanse and generate more heat
the ceremony itself is performed using around 5 to 7 rebozos that are used to ''close'' your body by wrapping them around your body with different intensities, you will be fully clothed, to keep the warmth that we have building up until then
we finalise the ceremony by coming together in a circle, for sharing whatever came up for you over some tea, to help you to process, celebrate and honor the time together.
