Today we’d like to introduce you to Helen Cohen.
Helen, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
The path to where I am today has certainly not been a direct one. In fact, if you told me 10 years ago that I would be the owner of a women’s health massage therapy and wellness practice, I think I probably would have laughed!
My story really begins when I entered into college at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Many people view college as a time when you really start to find yourself, and I can definitely say that that rings true for me. Going into school, I had already declared myself as a French major, and had plans to either teach or interpret someday. However, when I got out to Western Massachusetts, I was confronted with a whole new paradigm that I had never seen before: holistic health. A few of my friends decided to take a course one semester called “Herbal Approaches to Women’s Health,” and after hearing about how incredible the class was, I decided to take it myself the following semester. I can indefinitely say that it was in this class that I found my calling.
I realized just how little I had been taught in my 20 years about how my body functions as a woman, and how to take good care of myself of a physical, emotional, and even spiritual level. It was in this class that I learned about the incredible intricacies of the female body- the beauty in each and every process that is constantly cycling and flowing within us throughout our lifetimes.
I was amazed and knew that a fire had been kindled within me – I knew I wanted to pass on this knowledge and begin helping other women feel as healthy as they could be, I just wasn’t sure how I, a simple French major, could do this. But thankfully, the answer came one day when we began learning about how massage and manual therapies can support female health. In that class, our teacher mentioned the words “The Arvigo® Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy,” and explained that it is a form of bodywork that has made an incredible impact in supporting female pelvic and reproductive health. This immediately caught my attention, so I started researching, speaking to practitioners, and hearing the stories of women who had benefited immensely from receiving this treatment. This stuck in the back of my mind until I finally graduated from college, after which I resolved to go to massage therapy school, so that I could pursue becoming a practitioner of Arvigo® Maya Abdominal Therapy. 6 Months later, I was enrolled at Bancroft School of Massage Therapy in Worcester.
After graduating from massage school, I immediately began honing in on my interest in women’s health and pelvic health. I became certified in prenatal, perinatal and postpartum massage, I took classes about the core and pelvic health, herbal medicine for women, and finally, after weeks of training and a trip to Belize, was able to become a certified Arvigo® practitioner.
I worked in a variety of settings until February of 2017, when I felt ready to begin my own practice, Wild Moon Massage & Wellness. I feel blessed every day to be doing the work that I love, and helping women to feel the best that they can in their bodies.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I don’t think anyone can say that life’s journey is ever an entirely smooth one!
In working up to beginning my own practice, there were a lot of struggles. I knew what my passion was, but I remember the gnawing feeling of wondering whether what I had to offer would be accepted, understood, or was even needed. There have been moments where I’ve questioned my abilities. There have been days where I’ve been so discouraged that I wanted to give up completely. But for every time that I have doubted myself, felt discouraged or irrelevant, or simply wanted to call it quits, there have been days where I’ve been overjoyed by a client’s success story, times when clients have thanked me for being there to support them, and moments where I’ve felt nothing but pure bliss that I am able to live by doing what I love.
I think that what has gotten me through the thick and the thin of following my passions is trust- pure, simple and powerful. Trust that you are on the right path, trust in yourself and your abilities, trust that you have something to offer. So, that would be my advice to women who are just starting their journey. There will be the ups and downs, you will go from elated to discouraged, but a deep-seated trust in the process, in your passion, and in yourself, is what will get you through.
We’d love to hear more about Wild Moon Massage & Wellness.
Wild Moon Massage & Wellness is the culmination of all my passions!
While I certainly do see clients for therapeutic massage, the core of my work is supporting women through all parts of the life cycle. I specialize in perinatal health and supporting female reproductive and pelvic health.
Many of the women in my practice come to see me for support in healing from issues such as painful menstruation, incontinence, generalized pelvic pain, fertility struggles, prolapse, dyspareunia, and more. I think a lot of women who are suffering from these sorts of issues feel like their voices are not being heard. The story I am told time and time again is that they have simply been told “that’s just the way your body is,” or “it’s all in your head” or “just do your Kegels!” Feeling invalidated by these sorts of statements only adds to the problem. The fact of the matter is that these issues are common, yet they are somehow still seen as taboo and are left unaddressed. I try to take a multifaceted approach with women. I work with them on the physical aspects such as assessing their pelvic tissues, checking for imbalances, feeling what may need to be relaxed or strengthened. But I also prioritize letting women feel heard, educating them on how their bodies work, and giving them tools that they can use at home to support their well-being.
Another big component of my practice is perinatal massage. I absolutely adore supporting women through the childbearing year and think that it is such an honor to be working closely with the women who are forming out future generations. My prenatal massages focus not only on relaxing the mother to be, but also creating the balance her body needs to have a pain-free pregnancy, and possibly even an easier labor and birth. During postpartum (the fourth trimester), women need time to be nurtured and adjust to all the new responsibility that motherhood brings. They have just been through the extreme physical feats of laboring and birthing, and they are immediately thrust into caring for a newborn. This can quickly lead to exhaustion, stress, and physical pain. In postpartum massage, I try to give women the space they need to integrate all their new experiences, support the healing of their bodies. and to just be.
In addition to my work in my office, my best friend and I have been co-teaching workshops together for about the past year entitled “Return to the Center: Womb Wisdom.” We have been asked to present on all sorts of different topics from menarche to fertility to menopause, which I think really speaks to the fact that women are ready to take ownership of their health and their bodies and begin dialogues about how we can support ourselves and each other in this process.
I am so incredibly grateful that I get to live my passion every day!
Do you recommend any apps, books or podcasts that have been helpful to you?
Looking back, there are so many incredible books that have taught me so much not just about women’s health, but also about finding my power, my voice and trust in myself.
One of the first books I ever read on this topic was “Women’s Bodies Women’s Wisdom,” by Christiane Northrup. This book is such an incredible overview of women’s health from a more western medicine standpoint, but also from a holistic and spiritual standpoint as well. In order to treat people as a whole, you cannot separate these components.
Another book that I absolutely adore is “Wild Feminine: Finding Power, Spirit and Joy in the Female Body” by Tami Lynn Kent. Tami is a well-respected women’s health physical therapist who from her work with thousands of women has created a framework for not only healing the physical body but also accessing that incredible, deep feminine strength and intuition that each and every single woman possesses. From this book, I not only learned about my own body but also how to fully embody and embrace my power.
Another book that I absolutely adore is called “Sastun: My Apprentice with a Maya Healer,” written by one of my teachers, Rosita Arvigo. This book is about her journey in learning from one of the last traditional Maya healers in Belize. In this book, you not only learn about traditional Maya healing methods (which serve as the basis of the Arvigo® Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy), but it is also a tale of perseverance, dedication, and that all important trust in the process.
Contact Info:
- Address: 6 Maple St, Northborough, MA 01532
- Website: www.wildmoonmassage.com
- Phone: 508-263-0830
- Email: helen@wildmoonmassage.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildmoonmassage/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wildmoonmassage/
Image Credit:
Knit Together Photography
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