Postpartum Mothers: Closing the Bones

Closing the bones, starting at the head

A woman giving birth naturally,  opens herself on many levels. Physically her pelvic bones, pelvic floor muscles, her cervix, and her legs must open wide to push baby out of her body.  Flooded by the birth hormones of oxytocin, prolactin, and endorphins, a mother's heart often cracks open emotionally to a depth she never knew possible before.
And with the force of Life itself pushing through her body, she opens into an altered state of awareness that for many feels like a spiritual awakening; in so many ways she is becoming a creator Goddess, bringing forth life into the world.

Closing the Bones is a practice used in Mayan traditional culture, and likely in many traditional cultures worldwide.  The essence is to wrap the mother tightly to help bring her hips together as well as energetically acknowledge the openings she made, and help them symbolically and physically to close again. A new mother is at high risk to succomb to a variety of physical, emotional, psychic intrusions if not watched closely in the first days and weeks after opening so completely. Closing the bones helps to protect her, making her less vulnerable to outside energies of the fast paced world of daily existence.

There are a variety of ways to help a new mother "close the bones".
One fun way, is to have her lay on a flat sheet, and then, have one person stand on either side of her. Lift the sides of the sheet and pull them taut around her body, especially at the hips. Hold for a minute or longer, the sheet tightly banding around her body. Rock her slightly and slowly by pulling up on one side of the sheet and then the other.

 This can also be done with a scarf, wrapping around isolated areas of the body moving downward. Start at the head, then shoulders, hips, thighs, and at the feet.