Chi Nei Tsang
The practice of Chi Nei Tsang can stand by itself or be easily integrated with other practices by any health practitioner. Chi Nei Tsang may also be learned and practiced by individuals wishing to live a more harmonious life that includes internal Chi Kung practices and meditation.
The meaning of Chi Nei Tsang
Chi refers to energy and information; Nei Tsang refers to the internal organs. From this comes Chi Nei Tsang, the art of applying Chi Kung (energy work) to the transformation of old energy and information stored in the viscera. This stored energy and information may include undigested emotional charges and traumas of the past that are waiting to be processed. Our digestive system processes emotion and food in exactly the same way. Things that are hard to swallow, to break down, and to assimilate are stored and digested slowly, over a period of time; some are so hard to break down and digest that they go into permanent storage, where they remain immobile and undisturbed.
These storage sites are well protected; nothing is allowed to leave, and nothing enters. Physiologically, blocking off the faciae prevents the smooth flow of lymph fluids, blood, oxygen, and energy. In the view of traditional Chinese medicine, such stagnant and congested energy is what enables disease to take hold. The emotional charges and traumas of the past held in these storage sites keep all our physical systems (respiratory, hormonal, circulatory, muscular, skeletal, and so on) highly activated and hypervigilant - toxifying our entire being, constantly flooding us with stress hormones, and making our entire system acidic. We remain in a constant state of emergency, with all our body's systems mobilized to deal with imminent danger - even though the danger they fear has long passed.
Trauma and transformation
"Trauma can be hell on earth; transformed, it is a divine gift," says trauma expert Peter Levine. Traditional Chinese medicine seeks to alleviate and eventually resolve trauma by working on all the systems of the body through the energy of the internal organs. Believing that all energy and emotions begin and end in the internal organs, traditional Chinese medicine works on their energy to guide individuals to discharge highly charged emotions and traumas - without introducing further trauma.
Centuries ago, Taoist Sages practiced Chi Nei Tsang to clear and discharge old energy and information stored in their internal organs and to bring in new, clear healing light. Through this practice, they cleared themselves of stagnancy, toxicity, and emotional poisons to reach the highest level of meditation practice; there, they found information in the Wu Chi that they brought back for practical application on the human plane.
Freedom from old patterns
Similarly, through the practice of Chi Kung, practitioners of Chi Nei Tsang are able to clear their own stagnant and congested energy, and thereby connect to the source. As a therapy for the internal organ systems, Chi Nei Tsang is a safe way for the individual to gently and progressively digest emotional charges and traumas and gradually outgrow them to the point where they are no longer active.
Since we come from our parents and our parents from their parents, we can suppose that the emotional charges and traumas our ancestors did not resolve remain in our cellular memory through our heritage. Locked within the matrix of our ancestry patterns, these legacies run us like puppets without our conscious consent, making us react in ways that often confound us.
A command from within
Chi Nei Tsang enables all of the individual's systems to follow a command for healing - a command which comes from within us and happens in the here and now. In the words of Peter Levine: "As we are unbound from the past, a future abundant with new possibilities unfolds. Our ability to be in the present expands, revealing the timeless essence of the now."
Chi Nei Tsang works on the energy body, which is pliable, flexible, emotional, and non-rational. We feel one way or another because that is exactly how we feel - it's not something we can make rational sense of. Our energy body needs validation for what it feels; it reacts because it feels unheard. The moment we touch it, listen to it, and validate it, the energy body can gradually and progressively discharge old information and energy still remaining in our cellular memory. This enables the individual to be more in charge - to act on a situation rather than always replaying the same reaction.
An important premise of Chi Nei Tsang is that each individual is responsible for his or her own health. Chi Nei Tsang helps make that possible by teaching you to listen to your whole being with compassion, patience, love, generosity, and kindness.
What Chi Nei Tsang can do
Dr. Micheal Gershon's The Second Brain points to the importance of "the guts" and the role they play in maintaining our well-being. Chi Nei Tsang treatments involve using a gentle, soft, and deep touch to the abdomen to coax and train the internal organs to work more efficiently and to deal with unprocessed emotional charges.
- Relieves the body of physical, emotional, and energetic stagnation at various levels.
- Improves elimination and stimulation of the lymphatic and circulatory systems.
- Strengthens the immune system, enhancing resistance to disease.
- Helps other types of treatment to achieve optimal results - for example, clients using it before and after surgery recover better and faster.
Chi Nei Tsang restructures and strengthens the body:
- Chi Nei Tsang works on the visceral structures and positioning of internal organs, stimulating them to work better.
- Chi Nei Tsang helps correct postural problems resulting from visceral imbalances.
- Chi Nei Tsang relieves deep seated tensions and restores vitality.
- Chi Nei Tsang reduces or relieves chronic pains, such as back, neck and shoulder pains and problems related to misalignments of the pelvis, legs, and feet.