Wisdom of the Grandmother Midwives

A rare recording of Nana Dominga, a Mayan comadrona with 53 years of practice, telling the story of how she was called to midwifery through her dreams.

Nana Dominga is a traditional Mayan midwife from Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, and was my first traditional midwifery teacher. In this recorded talk she shares her life story, from being born with a veil to more than five decades of catching babies. It was recorded live on Zoom in February 2026.

She never had a physical teacher. Everything she knows came to her in her dreams.

In this talk, Nana Dominga shares:

• Being born with a veil, and the midwife who said at her birth that she would become one
• Her nawal, 8 Tijax, the nawal of the healers, and the ceremonies that marked her path
• Weaving from the age of six and working to support her family instead of going to school
• The three white-haired teachers who came to her in her dreams and taught her to see through her hands
• The ceremony where she introduced herself to her nawal and "graduated" as a midwife
• Delivering her first baby at 13, alone, with a rope, a machete and her dream teachings
• Why that birth stayed a family secret
• Her mother's fear, her marriage at 15, and the illness she understood as her nawal calling her back to her work
• Attending births across Catholic and Evangelical families
• What 53 years of midwifery have given her

In the Q&A she speaks about:

• The church and how people see midwives
• Obsidian, the 13 energies and the 20 nawales
• How to find your own nawal, and why she doesn't trust the internet for it
• Supporting a woman through fear or panic in a first birth: safety, movement, massage and upright positions
• Reading the "seeds" on the umbilical cord
• How she grounds herself before a birth
• Her favourite plants: dama del monte, pericón, cordoncillo, rue, epazote and mugwort

About the recording:

• About 2 hours 28 minutes
• Nana Dominga speaks in Kaqchikel, interpreted live into Spanish and English
• Shared in full, unedited, with Nana Dominga's blessing
• The recording link is sent after booking

Income from this recording is shared with Nana Dominga.