Chi Nei Tsang for fibroids and fertility

One of the ways that fibroids can be targeted is with abdominal massage.  One popular type is the Mayan Abdominal massage, or Arvigo technique.  It can be read about in the fascinating book Rainforest Home Remedies, and also you can find a practitioner near you on this page.

I definitely recommend Mayan Abdominal Massage to anyone who has fibroids.  The women who practice it are often also doulas or midwives; I have seen a couple of them and they are rich in knowledge.  Also one thing I like about the technique is that the practitioners train you to do it yourself. 

Another abdominal massage technique I have tried is Chinese, called Chi Nei Tsang.  It combines physical massage techniques (including working with the fascia) with energy work.  Personally I prefer it to the Mayan Abdominal massage because it feels more personalized and precise, and also because I like energy work.

In the San Francisco area where I live, there are quite a few practitioners as there is a training institute here, and also lots of connections to Chinese culture in general.  In other locations it may be more difficult to find them.  There is a list of practitioners here but it's not complete because this is not the only place where someone may have studied this technique.  So I suggest that you do what I did, and go to google maps for your area and then type in Chi Nei Tsang and see if anyone pops up.

If there isn't a practitioner near you, or if you see a practitioner and want to augment it with your own work, there are some books on the subject.  Personally I really liked Unwinding the Belly, it was easy to understand.  A long time ago I bought Chi Nei Tsang and asked my husband to read it so he could work on me, but it just confused him and he gave up (I haven't looked at it myself, not sure where it is at the moment...)  There's another one called Healing from Within with Chi Nei Tsang that I haven't read yet.  Also the book Fertility Wisdom shares some Chi Nei Tsang techniques that are specifically for fertility.

But for me, I find it works best if I go see a practitioner.  I've been working with someone near me since the beginning of December.  In addition to the Chi Nei Tsang he does Daoist acupressure and Reiki, so he has several tools at his disposal.  I feel that it's been very helpful, I definitely feel less congestion in my abdomen. Also he is a very gentle and soothing presence, and is optimistic about being able to address my fibroids.  Interestingly, he says that their energy does not feel dense.  I had read somewhere that fibroids have extremely dense energy, which is what makes them so hard to get rid of.  So their not being dense energetically feels to me like a positive thing!