Meet new graduate Marta Willis!
We asked Marta to tell us about herself and answer some questions about APPA:
I was born in Hungary, where I qualified as a midwife in 2006, and then I moved to New Zealand a year later.
Since arriving I have been on a journey, constantly developing my knowledge and skills around pregnancy, birthing, and postpartum times. Beginning as a massage therapist and bodyworker in 2000, I have explored many different modalities, and I am passionate about integrating the best of these into my therapy work especially when I am working with Mamas.
My pregnancy specific work includes Pregnancy Shiatsu, Baby Massage Instruction, Hypnobirthing, Midwifery Acupuncture, Sacred Mother Roasting and Post-partum Doula services.
I experienced two empowering births of my daughters. It was then that the idea for my pregnancy therapy business LunaBloom ignited. My first little girl was born at home and my second in a birth centre. Both were natural, intervention-free births where I was able to integrate everything I had learned and shown other women during my years since I qualified as a midwife in 2006.
After I experienced postpartum care without any specialized support or care myself, I decided to investigate how I could guide and support mamas during this sensitive time. It’s so important for a mother to feel honoured, cherished and to have the space to heal in her own time and in her own way. Having an extra pair of helping, healing hands and other supportive tools during this time can have a big impact on a mama’s emotional, spiritual and physical wellbeing.
My aim is to give women the confidence to believe in their body, their baby and the process of birthing and motherhood. I am here to guide pregnant women and new mums to find their own strengths and honour their intuition.
I am both grateful and excited to be the very first APPAC offering professional placenta encapsulation services in New Zealand.
I c
over South Island Nelson – Tasman region under my side branch business BloomTreasures, where my aim is to provide a blend of holistic, mother-centered therapy work and placenta services. I am also developing a unique tasteful keepsake line that can’t be found at present. I want mothers to honour and celebrate their sacred journey into motherhood including these bespoke tasteful birthy keepsakes.
Why did you choose APPA as your certifying organization?
When we had our first baby we decided to plant the placenta following the New Zealand Maori tradition, as I thought it is so beautiful and meaningful. I only heard about placentophagy and it’s growing popularity a bit later, unfortunately, so I never contemplated this option at that time. To be honest, I felt my heart wasn’t in sync with this option at first, but after being in multiple professional and mama groups, where consuming the placenta was openly discussed, my curiosity was born. Hearing from mother’s how much it helped them in their postpartum journeys has nourished my interest even more. I knew I needed to investigate placentophagy further and using APPA appeared the best and logical vehicle for achieving this goal.
What did you like the most about APPA?
I investigated multiple placenta encapsulation training providers and felt APPA offered one of the highest levels of educational standards and level qualification. After months of researching, and personal recommendation by other encapsulators who had completed their qualifications I settled on APPA, and to be honest I could not have been happier with my decision.
How has this training changed your practice or added to your knowledge?
The training was very in depth, and thorough. Even as a qualified midwife I gained a vast amount of new knowledge regarding this beautiful and sacred organ. This course was challenging and has provided me with a great sense of accomplishment. I have loved that we have been provided with tasks within each module, that we can use as potential marketing material for our practices, and providing information and education for the public and other professionals. People need to be informed to being able to make informed decisions regarding encapsulation. I feel this training has provided me with the necessary tools to support my clients with a very high professional standard.
Marta is the owner of LunaBloom, where she offers pregnancy and postpartum massage, baby massage instruction, sacred mother roasting, belly binding, postpartum doula services, and birth story sealing.
You can learn more at her website www.bloomtreasures.nz or contact her at lunabloom.therapies@gmail.com
Follow her on instagram at @lunabloomnz and @bloomtreasures or look for her tags: #risethemother #soulcraft #placentacraft #bloomtreasures #lunabloomnz
Visit her on Facebook at @BloomTreasures.nz
