Maori Healers

Whilst going through my treatment, I couldn’t help asking myself, why had this happened to me?  It’s probably a whole host of factors, or just simple bad luck.  However I wondered whether I had buried emotional shocks in the body, which had somehow contributed.  As an English person, I was only too aware that I had been brought up to repress my emotions – anger, sadness, frustration – you name it – I was always uncomfortable vocalising my feelings, from a young age.

When I saw through a website called www.littlefrenchretreat.com that a group of well-known Maori Healers were visiting a small village in South West France as part of a global tour, I wanted to find out more.   The basic idea of Maori healing is to remove the physical, emotional and spiritual blocks in the body.  If you hold onto these energies it can create disease.  The Maori Healers are guided instinctively and use a method of deep body massage work to release these blocks.  You can find out more on this link: www.maoritelevision.com/news/regional/native-affairs–maori-healer

I booked my session with Sandrine Ruchoux who was co-ordinating the sessions in France, and then turned up to the beautiful village of Astaffort.  I had already seen on video clips that rather than it being a one on one session, you would be treated with others in an open space.  I was a little apprehensive, afraid that I would be screaming and crying in front of a bunch of strangers.  When I entered the room, there was music playing, and the atmosphere was uplifting, despite the groans!  When it was my turn, Sandrine asked me to lie down on a massage table, while she shook my legs vigorously, presumably to get my body energised.  She then sat on my back, to straighten my spine and pelvis.

Atarangi, the lady who I’d seen on the video clip, came over to me and gently asked me what she could do for me.  I told her I’d had breast cancer, and was afraid that I had emotional blocks in my body which may have contributed.  She began work immediately, kneading my buttocks, and moving down to my thighs.  The massage work was intense, and hurt  but nothing like the agonising pain when she reached my calf muscles.  I swore and screamed out, as she dug her fingers into my muscles.  I said ‘I didn’t expect to feel pain in my legs’.  Atarangi explained that old emotional pain is stored in the calf muscles.  I then lay on my back, whilst she started working on my front,  always focussing on the areas which needed the most attention.  When she put her hands onto my belly, silent tears streamed down the sides of my face.  Her hands then made a very quick and intense movement into my belly, almost like jump starting a car.  At the end of the session, she cupped my head lightly and whispered a prayer, and the treatment was over.  Throughout my healing she had also been guiding the others, as to what they should do with their clients, so it felt like a very supportive environment.

At first I felt a little shell shocked, as I sat on the sofa watching the others, drinking a glass of water with a blanket wrapped around me.  I definitely felt lighter, but it was really the days following in which I really felt a difference.  My body felt readjusted, and I felt more ‘in the flow’ in my every day life – little coincidences, kind gestures, and just a feeling of being where I should be.

You can follow Maori Healers on their Facebook site.  I’ve recommended them to a good friend of mine in the UK when they visit Brighton, so I am hoping it will have a positive effect on her too.