The Weaving Within

Maya Abdominal Massage Retreat

May 9th-16th, 2027
Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

Learn Maya Abdominal Massage within an intact lineage
A Healing journey that Realigns your centre Transforms your life & Deepens your Ability to hold others

When you learn directly from an intact lineage
You're not learning a technique
You're reshaping the Healer within you

Step into the version of yourself who can offer real, life-changing support to others

In our modern world we’ve lost the ways of truly learning — through being held, through experiencing. Most women crave to return to sitting with elders and learning from a direct lineage. They’re yearning for this but don’t know how to find it.

This retreat provides that opportunity.

What you learn here is not a technique.
It’s a living lineage that you become a part of.

These practices:
• Restore the centre of the body physically and energetically
• Support menstrual and digestive health
• Prepares the body for conception
• Promotes postpartum healing for longterm wellbeing
• Brings clarity and alignment into your life

The way the Maya midwives hold you becomes the blueprint for the depth, integrity, and clarity you’ll offer in your own community.

You cannot hold another through deep healing until you have been held that way yourself.

You don’t just leave Guatemala with a healing modality.
You leave with a shift in your worldview and the capacity to support profound transformation in others.

If you’re longing for embodied, ancestral wisdom you can carry into your life and work.

If you have searched for teachers direct from an intact lineage and to learn through authentic experience and ceremony...

Don't ignore the call and secure your place before this rare gathering fills.

Join the waitlist

Whats Included:

• 45 hours of foundational Maya abdominal massage training
• Two Maya abdominal massages received from an experienced guide
• Traditional temazcal ceremony
• Medicinal plant teachings
• Herbal balm making
• Group yoni steam
• Mayan cosmology reading
• Daily ceremony and energetic protection practices
• 3 daily Nourishing and intentionally chosen organic local meals (second round option, lunch only)
• 7 nights luscious lakeside accommodation at Casa Floresta, wake up to views of volcanos
• Guidance from experienced teachers Sarah, Mariu, and the Maya midwives
• Contribution to The Midwife Project

Your Questions Answered

  • Not at this stage. This retreat runs sporadically on the availability of the local midwives, and spaces are very limited.

  • We travel to areas that are considered safe. Self awareness is always required.

    Yes. We stay in a private retreat space with trusted hosts and secure rooms with staff on-hand for assistance.

  • The food is local and intentional to compliment the work we are doing. Fresh, nourishing, and prepared on-site. Our meals are locally sourced, mostly vegetarian and GF, dietary needs can be supported.

    We will be staying in the luxurious venue Casa Floresta. A beautiful lake side venue with volcano views.

  • Fly into La Aurora International Airport (GUA).
    From there, take a private shuttle or shared transfer to Lake Atitlan. We provide clear directions and trusted contacts. We have started a WhatsApp group for you to co-ordinate travel with other attendees.

    Most travellers do not need a visa for Guatemala, but you may need a transit visa if flying through the USA. Please check your passport requirements.

  • Flights

    Visas or transit visas

    Airport transfers

    Accommodation before/after retreat

    Travel/medical insurance

    Personal purchases or additional treatments

    Yes. We strongly recommend travel and medical insurance for international travel.

  • No. This retreat honours ancestral ways of learning, where knowledge is passed through experience, embodiment, and direct guidance — not through external certification systems. We choose not to align this work with formal accreditation, as doing so would compromise the integrity of how this medicine is traditionally shared.

    Because women join us from many different countries, it would also be appropriate to fit this lineage-based learning into any single nation’s professional requirements.

    What you receive instead is something deeper:
    Embodied skill, direct transmission, and a practice grounded in lived wisdom rather than external approval.

  • No, you don’t need any prior experience.
    This retreat is designed for women at all stages — from complete beginners to experienced birth workers and practitioners. You’ll be guided step by step, through your own body first, so you can learn and integrate this work in a safe and embodied way.

    And it isn’t only for birth workers.
    Many women join simply for their own healing, clarity, and personal transformation. Others come to weave this practice into their work as midwives, doulas, massage therapists, or holistic practitioners.

    By the end of the retreat, you’ll have the foundational knowledge and embodied understanding to begin sharing this work within your community — in a way that is respectful, grounded, and aligned with what you’ve received

Meet your Guides

Your time in Guatemala is held with depth and integrity by women who have walked this path for decades. At the heart of your journey are Sarah and Mariu, experienced home birth midwives and bodyworkers who have supported hundreds of women through birth, healing, and transformation. They hold the container with steady hands, cultural respect, and a deep commitment to the lineage this work comes from.

You will also be guided by Nana Ixquik, Nana Reina, and Doña Dominga — revered Maya midwives with decades of experience and spiritual leaders who carry an unbroken lineage of traditional healing. Their teachings come from lived experience, ceremony, prayer, plant wisdom, and knowledge passed down through generations.

Learning directly from them is a rare privilege. This retreat honours the community who holds this medicine, creating a relationship rooted in reciprocity and respect, and helping ensure this ancestral wisdom continues to be supported and valued.

Hear why women travel from all over the world for this retreat…

Join the waitlist

Join the waitlist

Places for the 2027 Weaving Within retreat in Guatemala will open soon. Leave your details and you’ll be the first to hear when bookings open, along with dates, pricing and everything you need to prepare.

  • 3 years on from the Mayan Abdominal massage retreat, I still pinpoint this journey to be a fundamentally pivotal moment in my life.

    "Memories from it often fill my heart and mind, and the integration process has been constantly unfolding in touching and surprising ways. My reverence for this sacred modality and its incredibly potent healing powers is extremely deep, it has been a true treasure to have learnt from these women who hold this ancient wisdom. I offer Mayan abdominal massage to my community in Australia, and have seen over again how supportive and powerful this practice is. I am dreaming of returning to this retreat to experience it again! "
    -Nicki Moran

  • This experience was so much more than a retreat or training. It was an opportunity to connect with the healing arts in a way that transcends space and time...

    "It was a truly unique opportunity to listen and be taught through women who with deep intention and connection to the elements, spirit, and their ancestry have opened their hearts to give us a glimpse into their culture and generational practices. Supported by the intensity of Lake Atitlan, this was an experience of introspection, deeper awareness, spiritual connection, releases, and working with tools to better support us and the clients we work with. If you are a holistic-oriented practitioner this is an incomparable experience to deepen your personal life and practice. Where spiritual practices can often be superficial and diluted, this experience was deep and supported by authentic Mayan wisdom."
    -Lila Bates