La Matriz Birth Classes & Workshops

Postpartum Sealing Workshop

Postpartum  Healing Arts from Mexico

Jan. 11th-13th , 2019 Oakland, California

Three Day Workshop

This workshop is designed for the birth worker, the mother, and the sisters and all those folx’s who want to provide a gentler more nourishing postpartum journey to themselves, families, and parents  they serve.

We live in a BIRTH focused maternity culture today. So many of us plan and prepare for the moment of our birth. Where to birth, who will be your support, what you’ll wear, what you’ll eat, how you want it to be, so on and so on. Your birth experience is the shortest (yes, powerful) part of your maternity journey. Your postpartum journey will be the longest. How are you preparing for that? Do you even know where to start?

Postpartum sealing rituals have been practiced by many cultures all around the world as long as  midwifery has been around.

This practice is more commonly known as Mother Roasting and Bone Closing. The particular practice I teach is native to Mexico, with indigenous roots mixed with post-colonial herbalism. This workshop is the result of oral tradition passed down by elders, traditional teachers, grandmothers interlaced with modern midwifery and body work. 

Day One:

Herbal preparations:

Discussion regarding harvesting rituals, introduction to plant medicine, peri- steam bath, belly binding oil, postpartum warming teas and herbal bath remedies. 

Day Two:

Body Work / Sobadas:

Body reading, bone holding, down regulation techniques and trauma informed touch skills.
Postpartum Rebozo Body Work:

Traditional massage techniques, manteada and rebozo bone closing ceremony. Learn the importance of realigning the body’s energetic centers, releasing stagnant energy and birth trauma, a healing practice for postpartum depression.

Day Three:

Warming full body herbal bath:

Learn how to provide a healing postpartum bath and re-introduce heat into the body with fresh herbs.

Belly Binding:

Principles and benefits of belly binding with faja and bandages. Basic principles of postpartum womb massage  and bone holds. Hands on practice with sobadas and binding application will be done during class. 

We will discuss how to incorporate these skills and practices to your own self care as well as to the clients your serve.

More questions? Email Tema at: tema@lamatrizbirth.com

Body Reading for Sobadas

Jan. 5th  2019     12:45 – 6:45pm

San Jose, California

Location TBD

One Day Workshop

This is an introductory workshop to go over touch skills for birth and body workers . The body reading portion will address trauma informed touch. How to read the body by monitoring breath, sensations, vibrations, affect and behavior. Reading the body is a powerful tool to unlocking the untold story that each body has to share. Paired with therapeutic touch we can work with the body and the nervous system to help unlock trauma and heal it self. Special attention will be paid to the pelvis. You will learn how to hold and listen to the bones, grounding practices and basic abdominal massage. This course is ideal for birth and body workers.

We will discuss how to incorporate these skills and practices to your own self care as well as to the clients your serve.

More questions? Email Tema at: tema@lamatrizbirth.com

Postpartum Belly Binding Workshop

Postpartum  Healing Arts from Mexico

December 1, 2018     9am – 6pm

San Diego California

Corporate Confrence Center

3954 Murphy Canyon Road; Ste D200

San Diego CA 92123

One Day Workshop

This workshop is designed for the birth worker, the mother, and the sisters and all those folx’s who want to provide a gentler more nourishing postpartum journey to themselves, families, and parents  they serve.

Postpartum Belly Binding has had a reemergence in the western world. Unfortunately, many times it has been taken our of context and has resulted in much mis- information. This eight hour class takes a look at the historical and cultural significance and values from which this practice originate from. Basic anatomy and physiology and common postpartum ailments will be addressed. You will learn principles and benefits of belly binding with faja and bandages. Basic principles of postpartum womb massage  and bone holds. Hands on practice with sobadas and binding application will be done during class. 

We will discuss how to incorporate these skills and practices to your own self care as well as to the clients your serve.

More questions? Email Tema at: tema@lamatrizbirth.com

Work Trade Scholarship Opportunity

Submissions will close on November 1st, 2018

I value being able to give back to the community from which these practices originate from. This helps sustain equity in our communities so that these practices and services are being rendered to their natural inheritors . It helps restore balance of the practices lost within our community . It is an effort to balance that , that has become a luxury and a means of privilege to both the client and the practitioners . For these reasons this scholarship is available to Spanish speaking birth workers of color (BWOC).

Childbirth Education

Accelerated One Day Class

Join Midwife, Tema Mercado for a day of birth knowledge sharing.

This is an opportunity to gather with other growing families learn and discuss about your baby’s BIRTH day. Allow Tema to share her experience as a mother, doula and now midwife to help you prepare for this momentous experience.

Learn more about:
Introduction to birth  /  Baby as active participant  /  Birth a physiological process
Prenatal nourishment and risk reductions for a normal birth process
Prenatal posture and exercises for optimal fetal positioning
Belly Massage and Belly Mapping /  Signs & Symptoms of Labor
Creating your Birth Environment /  Stages of Labor / Coping Measures
Your Placenta /  Breastfeeding the first week of life
Postpartum: the 4th trimester

Class Cost  – $175 per couple
Discount for my Midwifery and Monitrice Clients – $125
Birth Roots Maternity Center Clients $150

Upon registering, you will receive an email with additional details and more information. Register and pay in full upon online registration to receive a free herbal gift.

Please note: there is a required $50 non-refundable deposit due at registration. Balance must be paid by cash or check at check-in.

Tema is offering a couple of partial scholarships, please e-mail her directly at tema@lamatrizbirth.com to explain your situation.

Lunch and snacks are potluck style. Tema will provide drinks, prenatal tea, and lots of chocolate. 

To register or to get notified of the next time this class is held, please click here.

More questions? Email Tema at: tema@lamatrizbirth.com