I was so fortunate to find Maggie Flood and Sacral Spaces when I did. I had been in search of holistic guidance and healing modalities that I found in Sacral Spaces. When I began Pelvic Embodiment sessions with Maggie, I was 8 months post-op from my diagnostic laparoscopy that diagnosed and excised stage 3-4 Endometriosis. Surgery had made a dramatic shift in my quality of life and pain management, but I was still searching for holistic mind-body pain management to address the monthly flare ups that still lingered.
Between surgery and starting Pelvic Embodiment sessions, I had been going to Pelvic PT which didn't give me the results and connection in my body I was looking for. My PT sessions always triggered pain or flare ups and I rarely felt like I was being acknowledged as a human by my PT. My PT experience felt very sterile and disconnected. My mentality during those first 8 months post-op was popping NSAIDS when needed, depending on my Mirena IUD to avoid menstruation, avoiding sex as much as possible, and wondering how long it would be until I would need surgery again.
Enter Maggie. After our first session, I remember driving home and feeling hopeful for the first time in my Endo journey. From the beginning, she helped instill confidence and empowerment that "Yes, I could heal myself!" One of the many things I appreciate about Maggie is that she asks her clients to take accountability for their healing outside of the sessions, to take ownership connecting to their womb space beyond what she facilitates. I have learned healthy coping habits and pain management tools that I feel confidant doing from the comfort of my home, work, or anywhere out in the world when a pain flare hits.
The most profound change I've made since working with Maggie is coming off of birth control, my Mirena IUD. I had been cornered into taking birth control by a doctor after I declined going the Lupron route for diagnosis almost two years ago. birth control did help turn off my symptoms- along with turning off my personality, libido, menstrual cycles and somehow made pain with sex even worse. Going on birth control two years ago felt like a death sentence. My body had never reacted well to it in past years and I was worried about the long-term effects. I felt trapped.
OBGYN Doctors had convinced me that if I wanted to maintain a typical lifestyle, that I would have to be on birth control until menopause to keep the Endometriosis from coming back. No conclusive research exists that proves birth control prevents Endo from coming back, but somehow Doctors are still bullying patients into taking BC by using this misinformation as a weapon. Unfortunately, I was one of those people.
Maggie's approach to helping me transition off birth control was gentle, non-judgmental and met with compassion. She pointed me toward resources to research on my own so I could make my own pro-informed choice about birth control. This was so unlike my experience with OBGYN doctors who pressured me into taking a medication I was never comfortable with from the beginning.
With Maggie's encouragement and wisdom, she coached me in our Pelvic Embodiment sessions how to safely come off of birth control and come back into my body for the first time in years. It's been three months since breaking up with Birth Control and I can't believe I feel as good as I feel. In all of my menstruating years I've never felt as body aware and pain free as I do today.
Maggie provided me tools I was looking for all along that I couldn't find from Western Medicine's Band-Aid solutions.
If you are suffering through any type of pelvic pain/disorder and feel like you are missing something from the healing strategies you're already practicing, Maggie is such an amazing practitioner to compliment your healing and pain management. Her background and education in Chinese Medicine provides a refreshing way of looking at healing that is less invasive and more accessible for clients to pursue on their own. I have recommended friends to Maggie and it brings a big smile to my face when I get to hear how much Pelvic Embodiment has helped them return to themselves.
I will end this review with one of Maggie's most commonly used phrases, "Healing isn't linear" As you delve into this work, don't expect that this will be a quick fix or a cure but as a mindful practice to help you come back to your body when uncomfortable symptoms are reminding you to tune back in. For the first time in years, I trust myself and my body again. read more