WHAT IS VISCERAL MANIPULATION?

In the past three decades, visceral manipulation has gained popularity in the West, mostly because to French osteopath Jean-Pierre Barral. Yet, Taoist chi nei tsang, which translates to “transformation of old energy trapped in the viscera,” is where visceral massage and manipulation first appeared in eastern medicine. This connection between the physical digestive process through the organs and the presence of emotional energy is also seen in the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) approach, where the central principle is the classification of five major organ systems that are each associated with particular emotions. Chi nei tsang theorizes that this stored energy may include unresolved emotional charges and traumas seated in the past, which are waiting to be processed. Anger is related to the liver and gallbladder, joy with the heart and small intestine, overthinking or procrastination with the spleen and stomach, grief with the lungs and large intestine, and fear with the kidneys and bladder.