Well-being: the rebozo, an object and a treatment for mothers

Originally from Navarre, near Pamplona, the young woman heard about rebozo massage during a training course in Spain. "This ancestral Mexican treatment practiced by traditional midwives with shawls ("rebozos" in Spanish, editor's note) invites you to move on to another stage of life," she summarizes. It can be received from forty days after pregnancy. It is with her friend Silvia De Deus, also a physiotherapist-perineologist, that she provides it after training at the École du bien naître in Paris. Increasingly known in France, it is even appearing on birth lists.

Lasting two and a half to three hours, the rebozo follows a precise protocol. The session begins with a discussion between the two masseuses and the young mother: "We ask her to reflect on an intention or a significant event during the pregnancy." A herbal tea prepared the day before is then served to raise the body temperature. The patient is covered with blankets to keep her body warm. Then comes a sesame oil massage applied to the stomach and back to achieve a state of deep relaxation and release.

"Feeling touch is important for a new mother." The ceremony continues with a steam bath in a sweat lodge (brought by the practitioners), and another herbal tea is served. Meanwhile, Uxue and Silvia prepare the tissues to tighten the different parts of the body: head, chest, ribs, pelvis, knees, thighs, ankles. "It's nice to feel supported. The person guides us, and we adapt to their feelings and their initial intention. We, too, put our own intention into it."