By Amelia Glynn

I once subscribed to the “no-pain-no-gain” school of thought. If it didn’t make sweat pour from my brow and my heart leap from my chest, it wasn’t worth doing. Going to a 90-minute, chaturanga-filled Ashtanga yoga class was only permissible if I had also run (at least) five miles earlier that day. Fast equaled good. Slow was bad.

Bodywork was the same. If I wasn’t sucking in my breath and clenching my jaw, it wasn’t deep enough.

Not until searing stomach pains and nighttime panic attacks became weekly events did I start to shift my thinking. Like many people, I’d tried lots of methods to “fix” myself — over-the-counter and prescription remedies, aggressive massage and chiropractic treatments, more running and more (even sweatier) yoga. All the “fast stuff” was helping me blow off steam, but it somehow wasn’t making me feel healthier. I was ready for something different, but what?

By accident, I discovered yin yoga when I misread my studio’s class schedule. “I’ll just have to run when I get home,” I told myself. Afterwards, I was so relaxed that I opted for studying the backs of my eyelids instead. A few weeks later, a friend referred me to a somatic therapist and I started seeing a Chi Nei Tsang practitioner (also a referral) for my stomach stuff. Maybe slow was the way to go.

Somatic Psychotherapy, Chi Nei Tsang, The Rosen Method, The Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais, Craniosacral Therapy and Yoga Therapy are all, at their foundation, “non-doing” practices. This means that they help guide the body back to its most natural and neutral state. This isn’t to say that to heal you need to toss “fast and sweaty” aside for a snail-paced existence. Instead, it’s about recognizing that huge shifts (physical, emotional, and energetic) can happen through very subtle movement and touch.

Many people come to these modalities as a last resort — often because they’ve never heard of them before. Each requires patience, a solid commitment to change, and the willingness to turn up the volume on our own self-awareness. And while the information here only scratches the surface, I hope it will inspire you to explore further.

Chi Nei Tsang

Also known as Chinese Abdominal Massage, Chi Nei Tsang (pronounced chee-nay-song) is a form of deep abdominal massage with Taoist Chinese origins. It literally means “working the energy of the internal organs” or “internal organs chi transformation,” and it’s based on the assumption that emotions first arise (and often get “stuck”) in our bellies and internal organs. (For example, anger is associated with the liver and worry is linked with the spleen.)

I started seeing Bay Area Chi Nei Tsang practitioner Jada Delaney (jadabug.com) after battling a long history of debilitating digestive and menstrual pain. I was completely divorced from my belly and was uncomfortable having it touched by anyone — myself included. After an hour of Delaney’s gentle and intuitive touch I felt my stomach go from rock hard to soft and pliable. I was surprised to realize how infrequently I breathed into my belly on a daily basis. Even more astonishing was my ability to find comfort and relief from something so simple when I had previously been resigned to suffering. “No one has the power to heal you in the way you can heal yourself,” says Delaney.

How It Works: Chi Nei Tsang practitioners massage the abdominal area using intention and deep, gentle touches to purge unwanted emotional charges from the body and remind us of our optimal state.

What to Expect: Clients wear loose fitting clothing and lie on a massage table. Sessions typically last about an hour. Homework can include changes in physical activity or nutrition and self-massage.

Recommended Dosage: Some clients experience huge breakthroughs in one session, but three to four is generally enough to feel an immense difference.

Average Cost: $75–$120

How to Find a Practitioner: Visit chineitsang.com or pick up a copy of Unwinding the Belly, by Allison Post (unwindingthebelly.com).

Somatic Therapy

Somatic Therapy helps us listen to our own body’s wisdom. If you have been in therapy for years, talking circles around the same relationship and work-related issues, but still don’t see and feel the results that you are looking for, Somatic therapy could be for you.

“When we are connected to our body, we can make decisions from the cues it gives us rather than from external pressures,” explains San Francisco–based somatic practitioner Charna Cassell (passionatelife.org). “We can start to pay attention to the tightness we feel in our belly when we spend time with that new person we’re dating, or the expansiveness in our chest that signals something feels right.”

How It Works: Somatic Therapy supports shifts in our somatic shape through talking, embodiment and experiential practices, deep breathing, and gentle bodywork. “By opening connective tissue and breath we can begin to reoccupy parts of our bodies that we’ve abandoned and feel a wider range of emotion and sensation,” says Cassell.

“We use the body as the primary tool to gain insight into who we are and to learn how to stay connected to the deepest parts of ourselves,” adds Somatic Psychotherapist and long time yoga teacher and practitioner Devorah Sacks.

She emphasizes that although touch can be an important part of this practice, it’s not necessary if it doesn’t feel comfortable to the client.

What to Expect: Each 50-minute session is likely to be markedly different from the next. Your therapist may walk you through an embodiment practice that can be as simple as noticing when your jaw feels tight. Or they might suggest an experiential exercise (also called standing practices) to help illuminate your response to situations that pull you off center. Unlike traditional talk therapy, Somatic therapists will sometimes self-disclose, but only when it helps to facilitate the client’s own process of awareness and discovery.

Recommended Dosage: Because the practice builds momentum over time, it is common to see a Somatic therapist once a week for a year or more.

Average Cost: $70–$120. Many Somatic therapists offer a sliding scale.

How to Find a Therapist: The California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), John F. Kennedy University (JFKU), and Naropa University all have alumni directories. You may want to visit traumahealing.com/registry.html. Sacks recommends calling a prospective therapist and asking to schedule a brief phone interview before making an appointment.