MARCIA LOPEZ
Marcia is a practitioner of Mayan Abdominal Therapy, an Altamesayoc Earth steward of the Quechua shamanic lineage, a Somatic Sex Educator, an Herbalist and a full-spectrum Doula. Marcia’s work aims to give power to the healing of people and planet. In this talk, we dive into the Matrix, or matriz, which translates to womb/uterus in Spanish and how connecting with our uterus is a part of the planetary healing that’s needed.
*Note: the terms "women" and "people with a uterus" are used interchangeably to acknowledge that not everyone who has a uterus identifies as a woman, and that even people without a uterus can still practice this medicine. We also hope that the burden of this work does not have to be placed on the backs of women, and that everyone can be a part of this larger movement for reproductive justice - regardless of gender.
FOLLOW MARCIA’S WORK HERE: WOMEN’S TRUE HEALING
*Content Warning: We talk heavily about sexual trauma and reproductive health. We do not shy away from words like “vagina” and “penis”, and in fact, hope to normalize these conversations as a means of prevention and intervention for anyone who might be suffering from pelvic, abdominal, and gynecological pain. You’re in for quite the conversation.
Highlights:
“The healing path was considered witchcraft, and the healing path was also a feminist movement. Reviving the healing path was also a political response to what I was dealing with at the time.”
“The understanding of the human body is intermixed with the understanding of quantum reality, energetic reality, spiritual reality.”
The book about Don Elijio Panti that changed Marcia’s life - Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer
“I unraveled. I was a raw vegan. I was a practicing yogi. I got diagnosed with cervical polyp. (The doctors) were like, ‘You need surgery.’ I went out and ate burgers and I think I had four beers. I freaked out, and was like, ‘Cut it out.’ So they cut it out. And my recovery actually helped me start learning how to apply these things… I thought I was going to die, and that’s when I finally downloaded this information that it was a frequency. All this trauma that I was holding on to. In order to be well, I had to own my frequency. I had to own my resonance. I had to own the energy that was in my body. I had to reclaim it, I had to take it back. I had to make it mine. And so then I finally went head first. They told me it could progress into cancer. And I knew that what I was dealing with was a result of my childhood sexual abuse; was a result of how I was not in alignment with the truth of who I really was as a human and as a female human. And so that’s when I was applying the tantric practices and meditations, the vaginal steams, the herbal suppositories, herbal douching, alkaline diet, all of that. And my follow-up three months later was that everything was all clear, and my doctor was like, ‘It looks like you never did the first surgery… You look great. Whatever you’re doing, keep it up.’ And that’s when I was finally like, ‘I’m in. This is the medicine that women need.’ “
“It was a dark journey for me, and I had told myself I want to be the hand that is at the light, the end of the tunnel helping women get out of the tunnel. Because it was such a solidarity journey for me even though I had all this information. That underworld healing journey, you do alone sometimes. And I definitely want to be support for other women that had to go through that.”
“Womb massage is done by midwives all over the world, since the beginning of human history. And womb massage is for people who have wombs, but the idea of abdominal massage and massaging of the pelvic area, any gender can do it because it’s been official for all pelvic organs: uteruses, organs, prostates, etc.”
“Working with our hands, that is the oldest medicine. Massage is the oldest healing lineage. Touching people is the most innate way of healing that we have as human beings. When we are working with the abdominal area, when we are working with the pelvic organs, reproductive organs, what we are doing is we are establishing a connection. But with reproductive organs, the idea of healing this is that we are trying to heal from shame, from embarrassment, and from the lack of sovereignty that we have with our reproductive system and also from the lack of sacredness. Because that is where life is created, not just you and me, but also the painting behind you, also music, also poetry. What creates that besides the life force energy?”
ON VAGAL TONING: “When we are massaging the organs, we are also releasing tension from the organ. We are also able to heal the connection we had in gestation and utero, but more importantly what happens on a physical level is that we are able to allow the body to release a fight or flight response and we are able to allow the body to release a freeze response. Mostly because of the way vagus nerve innervates all of our entire viscera. Through conscious touch, if we are able to allow the client or friend or family member that we are helping to release the tension of their visceral organ, it can help release the vagus nerve. It can increase vagal tone and allow for deeper relaxation. Once you increase vagal tone, you get out of the freeze response. The freeze response is essentially what happens after the fight or flight response. The freeze response happens when there’s too much trauma that all you can do is freeze and just dissociate until you won’t feel the pain. I do believe that the freeze response is on a spectrum, and maybe if we’ve had a very extreme traumatic event we can get the freeze response out of our lungs, but it’s possible that the freeze response is still in our liver. It’s possible that the freeze response may still be on a certain scale in our intestines. That’s my theory. And so I believe that massaging gently and consciously can allow all of the organs to release that freeze response. So that’s one way.”
ON THE PSOAS MUSCLE: “Also, we have our psoas muscle that’s deep within the abdomen. The psoas muscle is the first muscle that response to the fight or flight. It brings our knee up to our chest, our chest down to our knees. If the psoas muscle is in a chronic contracted state, even micro contractions, it will allow the central nervous system to stay in a chronic micro fight or flight response. Massaging, warming up the pelvic area, the external pelvic bowl, can help relax and dissipate some of the tension in the psoas muscle, which actually allows to increase space in the abdominal cavity…”
“Even if you don’t go and see a practitioner, put your hands on your belly. Rub your belly clockwise. That can help allowing the central nervous system to heal from trauma.”
Decolonizing the mind is about dropping into these lower energies not just to heal from our reproductive and sexual trauma, but to also heal the ones who came before us.
“The uterus in latin is ‘la matriz’, which translates to ‘the matrix’, so the uterus is the encapsulator of our consciousness.”
“Being a healer really is about being a team player. It’s really about doing the work to reach out and have an alliance and a network of people that will help your clients and yourself. It’s not glamorous work. Being a healer is kind of like being a musician, being an artist. It’s a torturous experience at times when you’re trying to find the music, the art, when you’re searching for your muses, when you feel like all inspiration as left you. You don’t do it for the glamour. You don’t do it for the status. You do it because it’s a calling; it’s part of the path I have with God.”
“How we care for our first home, how we care about how we get to our first home, how we care about our sexuality, how we care about the uterus - that sets the template for our human existence. And as we start to heal it, that’s how the revolution gets power and keeps rolling and keeps moving because it is part of the planetary healing that we’re doing.”
“Everybody is a healer within, everybody is an artist within, everybody has music and dance inside of them. We all have healing inside of ourselves. Obviously, some of us are better artists and musicians than others, some have better healing than others, but it’s all within.”
Follow MARCIA:
Insta - @womenstruehealing
Facebook - Women’s True Healing
BIOgraphy
Marcia Lopez is the owner of Women’s True Healing, the South Bay’s premiere holistic healing center for female reproductive wellness, located in Redondo Beach, CA. She uses the old ways in new ways and has been achieving extraordinary results in female reproductive health dysfunction, infertility, and sexual trauma recovery. She is a practitioner of Mayan Abdominal Therapy, an Altamesayoc Earth steward of the Quechua shamanic lineage, a Somatic Sex Educator, an Herbalist, teacher of Yoga, Reiki healer, full spectrum doula, and INNATE Postpartum Care- Certified Provider. Marcia’s work aims to give power to the healing of people and planet.
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