Closing Ceremony
a RITUAL for your sacred thresholds
There is a wisdom older than any of our modern systems that understood something our world has largely forgotten: that when a woman crosses a threshold — through birth, through loss, through a life that is fundamentally changing — her body and soul need to be ceremonially held, witnessed, and closed.
Not discharged. Not left to recover on her own. Not told to get back to normal.
Closed.
The Closing Ceremony is one of the most ancient forms of postpartum and transitional care known across cultures — from the indigenous communities of Mexico and Ecuador to the traditions of Slavic and European folk medicine.
Known in Spanish as Cerrar la cadera, the closing of the hips, it has been passed from woman to woman, midwife to midwife, for longer than history has recorded.
This Is For…
the Mother who has just given birth and whose body is still open, tender and asking to be closed.
Birth asks everything of a woman's body. The joints soften, the pelvis opens, the nervous system goes to its edges and back. And then, in most modern contexts, the world moves on. The six-week check arrives and departs. Everyone exhales. And the mother is left in the in-between, feeling open in ways she cannot quite name, carrying her birth story in her body, not yet fully back inside herself.
This ceremony was made for exactly that moment.
While ideally received between the 9th and 40th day after birth, this ceremony can be offered at any point in the postpartum, even months or years later. It is never too late to receive what the body has been quietly asking for.
What women commonly experience after the ceremony:
A calmer, more settled nervous system
Physical relief in the hips, lower back and pelvis
A sense of emotional closure around the birth experience
Feeling more present and more at home in their own body
A stronger sense of their own boundaries and energy returning
The ceremony lasts 4 to 6 hours and takes place at your home. You are welcome to take breaks, breastfeed, rest and eat whenever you need to. Nothing is rushed.
A warm lunch that I will prepare for you will be shared together during the day.
This Is Also For…
the woman who feels that something significant has happened, or is ending, or is beginning, and who wants to mark the crossing with intention.
Not every threshold is a birth. Sometimes it is a loss — of a pregnancy, a relationship, a version of yourself that no longer exists. Sometimes it is the end of a chapter that asked too much of you for too long. Sometimes you cannot even name exactly what is shifting, but something in you recognises that this moment deserves more than simply moving on.
The Closing Ceremony holds all of this.
It works on the physical body — the joints, the muscles, the tissues and fluids — while simultaneously creating space for whatever is present emotionally and energetically to be witnessed, honored and released. Each element of the ceremony builds upon the last, creating what the tradition calls a snowball effect: the warmth opens what needs opening, the herbs nourish what needs nourishing, the rebozo closes what has been left open too long, and the bath cleanses what is ready to be let go.
What women commonly experience after the ceremony:
Deep physical relaxation, particularly in the hips, pelvis and lower back
A sense of emotional closure around the birth or transition they have been through
Improved sleep and a calmer nervous system in the days that follow
Feeling more contained and more at home in their own body
A renewed sense of energy and vitality
The ceremony lasts 4 to 6 hours and can take place at your home or at my studio in Girona, Spain. A warm lunch that I will prepare for you will be shared together during the day.
HI, I’M CRIS
I'm a postpartum care practitioner, matrescence educator and Mother, devoted to walking alongside women through the most sacred thresholds of their lives.
I know what it feels like to stand at the threshold of motherhood with no map, no village, and no one to tell you that what you are feeling is not a crisis — it is a crossing.
I gave birth in June 2020, in a foreign country, in the middle of a pandemic, and I know intimately what it feels like to move through matrescence without being held. The Closing Ceremony is my answer to that — a practice rooted in ancestral wisdom, devoted to holding a woman in the tenderness of what she has just been through, with warmth and intention.
I trained in this work because I believe, with everything I know about the postpartum body and the female experience of crossing thresholds, that every woman deserves the opportunity to be held through her experience, to have the space to process and integrate what she has been through, and to simply receive devoted care, perhaps for the first time since she gave birth.
What’s Included In The Closing Ceremony
The ceremony unfolds across 4 to 6 hours and is shaped by what you need. It draws from the following elements, woven together in a sequence that builds and deepens as the day progresses:
✦ CACAO — ceremonial opening with warm cacao or a spiced herbal drink, creating a space of intention before we begin
✦ MANDALA OF HERBS — the creation of a herbal mandala that will accompany the ceremony and later return to the earth
✦ ABDOMINAL WORK — slow, intentional massage of the womb space and belly, inviting the organs back into ease and alignment
✦ BODY OILING — warm oil applied with devoted hands to the body, nourishing the tissues and beginning the deep work of the nervous system
✦ REBOZO — a traditional Mexican woven cloth used to rock, compress and close each joint of the body in sequence, from feet to crown
✦ 7 LOCKS — the final sealing of the body, wrapping the mother from head to toe so that she can feel, perhaps for the first time in a long time, completely contained and held
✦ HERBAL BATH — a cleansing ritual bath with herbs and flowers, washing away what is ready to be released
✦ NOURISHING LUNCH — shared together during the ceremony, a simple and warming meal
✦ INTEGRATION — gentle guidance for the days that follow, so the work of the ceremony can settle and land fully
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No. While the Closing Ceremony is deeply rooted in postpartum care and is one of the most powerful things a mother can receive after birth, it is also offered to any woman who is moving through a significant transition in her life, whether that is a loss, an ending, or a chapter that is asking her to become someone new.
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Ideally between the 9th and 40th day after birth, when the body is still in its most receptive and open state. That said, it is never too late. Many mothers receive this ceremony months or even years after giving birth, and the body responds just as deeply.
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Very little is asked of you. I come to your home bringing everything the ceremony requires. The main thing I would suggest is preparing a simple warm meal for after, arranging for someone to look after older children if possible, and allowing yourself the rest of the day to be still once I leave. A preparation list will be shared with you upon booking.
FAQs
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Most women describe feeling deeply settled, physically lighter and more present in their body in the days that follow. Some experience an emotional release during or after the ceremony, which is a natural part of the process. I will share integration guidance before I leave so you know what to expect and how to care for yourself in the days that follow.
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Yes, absolutely. The Closing Ceremony is just as relevant and beneficial after a caesarean as after a physiological birth. The body and soul go through the same profound opening regardless of how birth happened, and the need to be ceremonially closed is the same.
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Availability is limited as each ceremony requires a full day of my presence and preparation. I recommend reaching out as early as possible, particularly if you are in your early postpartum days and would like to receive the ceremony within the first 40 days.
Your Investment
PAY IN FULL
One-time payment of
€333
PAY IN TWO
2 X MONTHLY paymentS of
€167
Currently available in Barcelona and the province of Girona, Spain. Please include your location when applying.
Application
Inviting you to sit down, pour yourself something warm, and drop into your body as you prepare to reach out about this ceremony.
If something in what you have read has landed somewhere real inside you, please fill out the application below. Upon receiving it, I will be in touch to schedule a short connection call, so we can feel into whether this ceremony is the right thing for you, right now.
