Closing the Bones Workshop

 

A healing and nurturing ritual for new mothers and to support women through life transitions

 

Closing the bones is a postnatal massage and ritual designed to heal a new mother and to nurture women through life transitions.

There is a website dedicated to this ritual.

What is the Closing the Bones massage?

🧣 Closing the bones is a traditional postpartum massage ritual. It is most known for its Mexican and South American heritage, but versions of it exist on all continents.

🌍 Depending on the culture, a closing the bones ritual involves different elements. There is a massage done using scarves, and/or with the hands, then a ritual tightening of scarves around the body. In some cultures, such as the Mexican, North African, and Russian version, the ritual may also include a steam bath.
👨‍⚕️ The closing the bones I offer is a blend of South American traditions, with modifications created together with Cambridge osteopath Teddy Brookes.
🛏 The ritual starts with rocking the whole body with rebozos, followed by massaging of the abdomen, hips, ribs, chest, and shoulders, more rocking of the pelvis, and finally wrapping the body tightly with 7 rebozos.

What does closing the bones do?

🧣 Closing the bones is a specific kind of bodywork designed to help speed up and enhance the healing process and changes that the new mother’s body undergoes after her baby has been born.
🪐 It helps healing by providing healing movement in the joints, muscles, tissues and fluids. It provides much needed space to simply rest and be and be held, as well as for emotions to be honoured, witnessed and released.
🏁 Finally, it provides closure, and brings the energy back to the mother.
🤱 Having massaged hundreds of women for over ten years, some as early as 24h post birth, I know the following: This ritual provides a space for physical nurturing, but also maybe more importantly, holds a space for whatever needs to be expressed, witnessed and released. It is different for every person, depending on what has happened to them. For some it is a joyful honouring, for others it is a space to acknowledge and let go of difficult emotions.
✨ It is also a wonderful way to honour and support women through life’s transitions, to celebrate endings and beginnings, as well as help heal trauma, loss or shock.
🎥 The video above gives you a taster of what the ritual looks like.

This ritual is designed to help speed up the healing process.

  • On a physical level, the gentle rocking and wrapping helps movement of joints, muscles, tissues and fluids.
  • On an emotional level it provides much needed space to simply rest and be and be held
  • On a spiritual level it provides closure, a space to bring things to a close and move on

 

Traditionally, women are given this massage several times within the first month after birth. The massage stimulates blood flow which in turns cleans, renews, moves fluids, stimulating the release of hormones, the immune system, toning muscles and tissue. 

The massage itself includes rocking the body and pelvis with a rebozo shawl, a series of massage of the abdomen, hips and chest, and finally wrapping the entire body with rebozos

Read more about what happens during a massage here 

About the Workshop

This training is for you if you want to learn this ritual, either to experience it for yourself or to offer it to others. It is a highly practical training where you will practise the massage extensively and leave able to offer it immediately.

What makes this workshop unique?

Trainings are limited to a small group of 12 students.  You will receive a handout which contains very detailed instructions of the techniques (validated by an osteopath) and video instructions of the massage. You will also gain access to a private Facebook group which has over 500 practitioners.

This workshop runs from 9h30 to 5h30. It cost £349 for a two days workshop.

Upcoming workshops

1st and 2nd of March 2025 near Cambridge

Rebozo massage and closing ritual online course. 

Sign up below for updates about the workshops.

My Experience with Closing the Bones

Beyond the physical aspect of closing the bones, there is a spiritual aspect to the massage, which provide a safe space/ritual for the mother or woman to feel nurtured and release emotions associated with the experience of giving birth or other challenging moments in life.

Having experienced the massage myself many times and offered it to hundreds of women, as well as training over 1000 practitioners, I have experienced and witness how powerful this ritual can be in processing and releasing emotions. 

Working alone or as a pair  or a group to hold, massage and nurture a women is deeply emotional experience for both practitioners and the women. It is a time out for her; a time to have a silent communion with herself and reflect on her journey and to feel the loving hands of her sisters.

 

I once massaged a woman who was 2 years into her mothering. At the end, I wrapped the rebozo around her hips and sat, holding the scarf in place.

Her tears began to flow. I sat and held her space for some time and, when it felt right,  released the rebozo and covered her in a blanket and sat silently, with a hand on her, as she cried. I could sense it was a well-overdue release for her.

Some days later, she told me that a great shift had happened inside her. She has released feelings about her birth and the pent up tensions of the last 2 years and now everything felt different. This experience reiterated for me how powerful and necessary it is to spend time nurturing the mother in a very physical way, honouring her amazing journey.

Read more testimonials from both clients and people who have attended this workshop here

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