05/13/2026
Good morning. ✨
A deep bow of gratitude to Martha Arotingo, , for sharing ancestral postpartum and midwifery practices from her Kichwa lineage with women here in the Hudson Valley.
Martha is a traditional Kichwa midwife, herbalist, and community leader from Cotacachi in the Imbabura Province of northern Ecuador, devoted to preserving ancestral birth wisdom within the Andes and establishing the first traditional midwifery school within her community. To learn alongside her is to witness living traditions that continue to be protected and carried through generations of Indigenous women, families, and birthkeepers.
Postpartum care remains such a tender and often overlooked threshold within our modern culture, where mothers are frequently expected to return quickly to tending, serving, and productivity. Yet these sacred postpartum days have long been honored as a time for deep restoration for a mother to be nourished, held, protected, and supported as she returns home to herself and her body.
Through uterine balancing, ceremonial postpartum care, and the use of rebozos to support the womb back to center, to close the sacred birth portal, and to lovingly wrap and support her body, these practices honor the rite of passage from pregnancy into motherhood.
Thank you to .named.hannah for supporting Martha in bringing these teachings throughout the valley, and to for opening her beautiful home for us to gather together in community.
I leave feeling deeply nourished, grateful, and in reverence for the depth of these traditions and the women who continue to carry them forward. ✨
