It wasn’t ‘love at first sight’ when I met Chi Nei Tsang. It was better….It was a healing!
After being held at gun point, a friend suggested I receive bodywork to help process the trauma. This was a stretch for me; I knew little, then, about ‘bodywork’ and what it entailed. I found a seasoned practitioner who worked on my body and paid special attention to my belly. It was an extra-ordinary and deeply healing experienced for me. Without hesitation, I embraced the world of ‘bodywork’ as a healing modality. My journey with Chi Nei Tsang had begun.
Chi Nei Tsang – What is it?
Chi Nei Tsang (CNT) is a Taoist method of healing that gives emphasis to the belly, breath and touch. The belly is seen as the store house for undigested emotions; the breath and touch are the means of resolving them. CNT is an opportunity to be in the sanctuary of yourself and to experience your breath as a healing presence.
Chi Nei Tsang – literally, Internal Organs Energy Transformation – is the art of internal healing through applied Chi Kung. Chi Nei Tsang (pronounced CHEE-NEE-Sahng) was developed thousands of years ago in China and is still being practiced today. It gives focus to the abdomen, the center of our body and the place from which our power, vitality and movements originates. The abdomen is also where we bury our unresolved emotions.
The navel is given particular importance in Chi Nei Tsang. Our navel is where we were connected, and disconnected from our mothers. It is our original wound and consequently an area where toxins and congestion accumulate.
Our navel is a map of the entire human body and the Chi Nei Tsang practitioner is trained to “read” this map. Its unique shape and size tells a story the body is trying to communicate. The navel is the root of the fascia and the 72,000 nadis and therefore the access point to the entire body.
Your Chi Nei Tsang Treatment – what to expect
In a Chi Nei Tsang treatment, you are invited to lay on your back on a warmed, cushioned table, with pillows propping up your knees. You are clothed, with only the area between your ribs and lower abdomen exposed, or lightly clothed. A safe, deep and gentle touch is applied directly to your abdomen. Emphasis is given to the breath and your experience. You may be invited to ‘bring your breath’ to a particular area of your belly. You are welcome to communicate or remain quiet and internal during a treatment.
How it Works
When life presents us with an emotionally intense situation, one we feel we cannot handle or digest, we bury it in our ‘underbelly’. This undigested emotion is now a solid ‘substance’ in our system and creates a blockage to the flow of chi. To avoid ill health and disease, this energetic charge needs to be physically processed.
Through touch, a Chi Nei Tsang practitioner can access these undigested charges. Through the breath and awareness of the client, they are released. A Chi Nei Tsang treatment allows for detoxification to happen on all levels – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
Healing through Feeling – We can only process what we allow ourselves to
feel. During a CNT treatment, unpleasant feelings may arise. Healing
happens when we are willing to feel the feelings and stay with them until they dissipate. Transformation occurs as the bound energy is felt and released.
Who Benefits? Anyone committed to self-healing will benefit from Chi Nei Tsang. It is a holistic therapy that cares less about symptoms and more about why people have symptoms. As we heal, our symptoms resolve. That said, most ailments can be treated through Chi Nei Tsang. Conditions such as indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety, depression, constipation, fertility issues, chronic fatigue, trauma – emotional and physical, grief and more.
Applied Chi Kung refers to the transmitting of life force energy from the practitioner to the student. “Chi” can be translated as energy + information, and “kung” as work or mastery. So, we have the application and mastery of energy work.
Parting Note – Chi Nei Tsang helps reprogram the whole person on a cellular level. It is truly effective in our healing and evolution.
Michael D. Gershon, M.D. in his book “The Second Brain” speaks about the gut having a mind of its own.
We know that our gut is the only organ that contains an intrinsic nervous system that operates without input from the brain or spinal cord. The gut has its own intelligence and may have a greater capacity for “feeling” then the heart. There are more nerve cells in our gut than in the remaining peripheral nervous system.
Also, over 95% of the body’s serotonin is made in the bowel – the hormone that regulates mood, memory and sleep. On that fact alone, the mind wanders to pharmacy isles, packed with remedies for mood, and insomnia, not to mention the staggering increase in cognitive impairment / dementia that our society reflects.
Surveys have shown that over 40% of patients who visit internists do so for gastro intestinal problems. Plain to see is the correlation between digestion and dis-ease.
Attending to our belly is a way of doing “emotional hygiene”. It serves to, not only prevent disease but also to promote well being.
