Cocooning: A THERAPEUTIC Rite of Passage
You stand at the threshold from one phase to the next
May your unique passage be honored with this grounding ritual.
Cocooning is a multi-part experience including gentle rocking, an immersive sound journey and therapeutic body compression. Cocooning creates a soothing space for you to journey inward and integrate whatever big life experiences you are navigating.
From the roots of traditional postpartum Healing
Cocooning stems from Maze’s many years of facilitating Closing the Bones ceremonies to clients as a postpartum doula. Closing the Bones, which Maze studied by training with Rachelle Garcia (Innatetraditions.com) is traditionally offered to people after giving birth. This Mexican postpartum tradition, also known as la Cerrada, offers physical and energetic closure and comfort after the intense experience of birthing. Similar postpartum binding ceremonies exist in Morocco, Russia, other Latin American countries and more.
Cocooning, while incredibly helpful after pregnancy is not only designed for people after giving birth;
Cocooning is available to clients of all genders & all life experiences.
This ritual can be supportive to honor any major life transition as a therapeutic rite-of-passage. Perhaps you are grieving the death of a loved one, in need of support post-abortion, miscarriage, or stillbirth, a gender transition, menopause, a relationship ending/change, career change, health issues, or other big life event. Maybe you want to integrate a psychedelic experience. There are endless ways that cocooning can be supportive.
Cocooning is a METHOD TO SETTLE THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
In addition to life transitions it can be helpful for those experiencing anxiety, those with ADHD, SPD (sensory processing disorders), or general overwhelm. Perhaps you simply want to feel held and are in need of some extra intention and grounding presence in your life.
This Ritual uses grounding deep pressure therapy
Cocooning creates a grounding and settling effect in the body, creating an inward experience where you feel contained. Like the age-old practice of swaddling, which mimics the feeling of being in the womb, this experience creates a feeling of being inside a chrysalis, a cosmic cocoon.
Cocooning offers a form of Deep Pressure Therapy by applying pressure equally across the body. This brings balance to the autonomic nervous system and allows the heart rate to slow down. This encourages feel good hormones like dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin to be realeased into the bloodstream, while lowering levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. This induces feelings of deep relaxation and calm.
For more info, read my blog post Weight and Compression to Settle the Nervous System.
Cocooning Uses Therapeutic Sound
Maze uses a variety of live sound healing instruments such as gong, frame drum, tongue drum, singing bowls, chimes, etc… interspersed amidst a lush ambient soundscape that Maze has intentionally designed, composed, and produced for the cocooning process. As the soundscape plays through dual speakers it creates an immersive and unique therapeutic sound experience . The resonance of the sounds penetrate deeply, and the sonic frequencies allow brain waves to slow down to a deeply relaxed state.
Cocooning is offered as a customizable rituaL
Standard cocooning rituals are approximately 2.5 hours long. Customizable options are also available to suit your needs.
Curious to learn more? Schedule a discovery session and we can come up with a version of Cocooning that best suits your desires!
MAY YOU BE HELD IN RITUAL DURING YOUR MYRIAD LIFE EXPERIENCES:
through grief, birth, loss, and more
Acknowledgement of Lineage & Traditions
Cocooning stems a variety of methods learned through my experiences offering Closing the Bones ceremonies for my postpartum clients. I studied Closing the Bones ritual through my training with Rachelle Garcia of Innatetraditions.com. Rachelle learned this practice through closely spending time with her mother-in-law Clara Alfaro Peña who was a rural midwife in Pachuca, Mexico. Clara Alfaro Peña comes from the lineages of both the traditional medicine people of Guanajuato and Hidalgo, Mexico.
The technology of binding is a basic principle of postpartum healing throughout the world.
While Closing the Bones, or la Cerrada after birth is most commonly known to be a Mexican postpartum tradition, similar pelvic sealing ceremonies exist in Morocco, Russia, other Latin American countries and more. For further information on the cross-cultural significance of this ritual, read my blog post Closing the Bones: A Cross-Cultural Rite of Passage.
While this rite-of-passage exists across the globe, I acknowledge the lineage from which this practice has been brought to me while also recognizing that different regions have many variations and names for this tradition. I have received permission from my teachers to offer a variation of Closing the Bones that includes people of all genders and all life experiences. This how Cocooning was birthed.
Honoring our Ancestors in the Process
I honor my ancestors who originate from Portugal, Spain, Ukraine, Mexico, and France. I am always open to feedback about how I can make this offering more inclusive. If there are aspects of your lineage that you would like to incorporate into this therapeutic rite-of-passage, I welcome that too.