Hi! My name is Marya.
My name is Marya and I grew up in rural southwestern New Mexico in an intentional community founded on principles of healing, land stewardship, nonviolent communication, farming in harmony with nature, and consensus decision-making.
My childhood was truly wonderful.
My parents created their own Montessori school for us kids and they all took turns teaching.
We bathed outdoors in natural hot-springs under the starry sky, and splashed in ponds and waterfalls.
We lived in handmade homes that were artpieces made of clay and wood.
We ate healthy organic food and regularly had group meals together in the community kitchen.
We had big dance parties often.
I was surrounded by many aunties and uncles and roamed freely across the landscape from one house to another with my friends.
My friendships were deep and life was meaningful, connected, free, and full of beauty.
My upbringing gave me a strong connection to Nature, and a framework for healthy living in community.
Years later as a mother, moving around constantly with my young son following my husband’s work, I found that I was a shadow of my former self.
I suffered from chronic migraines which had plagued me since the emergency c-section at my first son’s birth. I had no nearby family to help me to raise my son or help me with my chronic pain condition. I had very few friends or sense of community because we moved so much.
I coudn’t find any doctors who could figure out how to help me.
I was sick, depressed, malnourished, isolated, hadn’t slept well in years, and was totally freaked out by all the other symptoms that accompanied my migraines: peripheral neuropathy, nightmares, ringing in the ears, myriad food intolerances, compromised digestion, pain sensations in the major organs of my body, gallbladder attacks, insomnia, etc. etc. etc. etc.
Although I knew I was privileged, and I adored my husband and son, I found that I was totally overwhelmed by motherhood, traumatized by my medicalized birth, angry and resentful at allopathic medicine, bewildered that mothers were expected to raise kids in such isolating conditions, scared that I would never get out of migraine, and daunted by the overwhelming task of having to learn how to heal myself.
Little did I know that this dark period would be the fertile soil for a hugely transformative experience that would include years of study into nutrition and physiology, a lot of experimentation, the development of the gift of my analytical mind, a deep respect for the healing plants and minerals that Mother Nature offers us, and an even more profound astonishment at the ability of my body to heal.
Chronic migraine mixed with motherhood was a rite of passage that taught me -Marya, what my real purpose in life is, and for this I am forever grateful.
This journey taught me that:
- Healing is always possible. Indeed the body is always healing.
- The body does not know how to selectively heal. When given the right support, many health issues can simultaneously dissolve on their own.
- You don’t need to be an expert to heal yourself of even the most difficult problem.
- Rather, hitting upon the right solution is about intense curiosity, absolute faith in a solution, avoiding the tendency to suppress pain, connecting to your authentic self, asking the right questions, experimenting, and getting emotionally on board with the process of healing.
- Oh yeah, and MINERALS are really important in all this. These spark-plugs fire all our enzyme processes that make neurotransmitters, tissues, and hormones.
Marya’s purpose at Minerals for Migraines is to share with you everything I’ve learned about:
How amazing your body is
The incredible plants and minerals available to heal
How the allopathic model of medicine gets in the way of that
Why chronic illness can be a gift of transformation
How to use this opportunity to get out of pain
while using it to learn
how to live the life you truly desire.
I’ve come full circle
My head is clear, my body is healthy.
I live in community again, on a homestead in the Pacific Northwest, surrounded by
meadows, orchards, springs, and exquisite wild forests.
And when not helping others to heal migraine, I get to spend my time with these fine fellows below.
Those two sweet and wild boys are my sons Orion and Quinn.
Marya Gendron Education
I studied bodywork at East West College of the Healing Arts in Portland, Oregon, then went on to specialize in biodynamic craniosacral therapy through a 2.5 year training with the International School of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, mentoring with Michael Shea, PhD.
I studied Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis with Rick Malter, PhD (of the Malter Institute), and Kendra Perry of HTMA Experts.
In 2023 I studied Neuro Linguistic Programming with the NLP Institute of California.
I really enjoyed Sarah Bly’s “Fertility Awareness: Personal and Clinical Applications” class, as well as her “Permaculture of the Female Body” class.
I also took the “Innate Breath” coursework with the Barratt Breath Institute.
My ultimate credentials, however, are that I underwent a ten-year, intensive real-life experience at the University of Chronic Debilitating Migraine, and graduated with a clear head.
No amount of formal education I’ve invested in has compared to, or been as valuable as, the amount of time I’ve spent in independent study of nutrition, health, and mineral dynamics.
None of it has been a greater teacher than listening to my own body, my own life, my own innate power to heal.
Curiosity has been my ultimate guide back to the one true healer: Nature.
Prior to my work in nutritional balancing, I lived and studied abroad in Vienna, Austria and Munich, Germany before receiving my BA in Creative Writing and Photography from the College of Santa Fe. I also taught English in Istanbul, Turkey, and worked as a publicist in the nonprofit sector in support of clean rivers and healthy communities in my home state of New Mexico.