Chi Nei Tsang/ Tao Touch = Oriental Visceral Bodywork

Chi Nei Tsang (pronounced chee-nayt-song), sometimes called Tao Touch, is a traditional Oriental visceral bodywork that was introduced to North America only 40 years ago. CNT works to balance and invigorate the internal organs. It improves physical digestion, boosts life force, and diminishes bodily pain.

Tao Touch is the gentler North American evolution of CNT. Tao Touch builds on traditional CNT, but also aims to calm the nervous system & heal the emotional body.

The three pillars of CNT/ Tao Touch are breathwork, applied qigong, and gentle touch. All three are addressed in each absorbing workshop.

Unwind the Belly CNT Workshops feature clear demonstrations of effective techniques, traditional and modern. The demos are followed immediately by hands-on lab work. Punctuating the labs are qigong practice, oriental five element theory, as well as visceral anatomy.

Each student receives a large print, illustrated workbook. After four days of intense learning, this workbook (complete with photos & descriptions of the CNT techniques taught) is an invaluable clinical reference tool.

In instructor Peter TS Melnychuk’s September 2019 CNT Fundamentals Workshop, student evaluations rated Presentation – 9.4/10, Quality of Content – 9.8/10

(the classes below count toward certification with the Chi Nei Tsang Institute in Berkeley, CA)

Universal Healing Tao Basics

In the Universal Healing Tao Basics we learn several simple, invigorating qigong practices. These energy building practices were first introduced to North America 30 years ago by Master Mantak Chia. Included are: 

• the Inner Smile, a simple Taoist technique to wake up your immune system
• the Microcosmic Orbit, a way to refine and distribute the life force (qi) throughout your body
• the Six Healing Sounds, where we balance internal organs energies & their associated emotions  
• Earth Qigong (for grounding and energy building).
• Bone Breathing (great for osteoporosis, vitality)

We may also learn, time permitting

• Iron Shirt, including Embracing the Tree (to ground & build stamina)
• Bone Dreaming (sleeping qigong)
• Jesus Sitting Qigong (the frequency of bliss)

As a new student recently observed after doing qigong for only 2 days, “I noticed myself walking around with a big smile on face for no particular reason.”  

There is no prerequisite for the Universal Healing Tao Basics. All are welcome. This class is a new prerequisite for CNT certification through the Chi Nei Tsang Institute in Berkeley, CA.

Universal Healing Tao Basics, dates 16 July 2025 (one evening), Edmonton, AB

Scroll down to see prices and book your spot >  

Chi Nei Tsang Fundamentals

Each day we begin with the foundation of Chi Nei Tsang – qigong practice to connect with the energies of Heaven and Earth. The qigong builds extra qi (life force) and builds extra energy and sharper intuition for our sessions.

Our initial focus is the Metal Organs, the organs of elimination – the skin, the lungs, and the large intestine. We learn how to repattern and expand our client’s breathing. We sense areas of chi stagnation & then begin to distinguish between physical & emotional charges.

Our sense of touch is refined. An awareness & healthy respect for our clients’ barriers grows. Our capacity to lead clients into a deep healing state awakens. Once the client accesses this parasympathetic state, the session becomes smoother and more powerful.

We learn the amazing protocol of Opening the Wind Gates – a traditional sequence to release stagnant life force. Days 3 and 4 focus on ancient touch techniques to work with the energies of the Earth organs (stomach, duodenum, pancreas, spleen), as well as the Wood organs (liver, gall bladder). We are taught specific detoxification protocols.

The CNT Fundamentals Workshop features a guided 45 minute flow session where each student applies the taught techniques in sequence. Each student has the opportunity to fill the role of both the practitioner and the client. Confidence rises exponentially after this powerful conclusion to the workshop.

The cutting edge Taoist techniques shared are superb for clients suffering from IBS, or constipation. Many of your clients will report the elimination or reduction of headaches, anxiety, heartburn, and acid reflux. For others their lower back & shoulder issues will surprisingly diminish as you apply what you have learned.

CNT/ Tao Touch Fundamentals, 27-30 Mar 2025, (4 days), Corazon de Jaguar Healing Center, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, with Peter TS Melnychuk

CNT/ Tao Touch Fundamentals, Dates 17-20 July 2025, (4 days), Providence Renewal Centre, Edmonton, AB, Canada with Peter TS Melnychuk

Scroll down to see prices and register >

There is no prerequisite for taking the CNT/ Tao Touch Fundamentals, all are welcome; but for Certification Track, the prerequisite is Healing Tao Basics.

Advanced Chi Nei Tsang (Tao Touch)

Advanced Chi Nei Tsang/ Tao Touch is a four day workshop.

Days 1 & 2 are focused on Classical Chi Nei Tsang – the most effective old school techniques & protocols still practiced in Asia today.

Days 3 & 4 of Advanced CNT dwell on powerful techniques from the contemporary North American style of Chi Nei Tsang/Tao Touch.

Our days begin by embodying the five elements with

• Five Healing Intelligences nei gong (nei gong is qigong without movement). 
• Then we ground ourselves with Earth Relationship qigong,
• and build our life force from the marrow out with Bone Breathing qigong.

The remainder of the days are filled with clear demos and hands-on labs, punctuated by clinical examples, theory, and anatomy.

Each student receives an invaluable clinical reference, an illustrated workbook with explanations, space for notes, & step-by-step descriptions of the techniques covered.

Student Evaluations for the most recent Advanced Chi Nei Tsang (Tao Touch) workshop (Feb 2019) rated it as follows (out of 10):

• Workshop Content 10/10 “very detailed & concise”
• Instructor’s Delivery of Material 10/10 “I liked it all, the demos are awesome & it is presented so you can remember & go back & look it up”
• Workbook 9.8/10 “neat & orderly”, “each page provided so much”
• Cost 9.5/10

Topics and techniques covered include:

• Opening the navel
• Opening the front line
• Opening the bagua – all in the classical style
• The three lower burner points
• Make space for Earth & Wood – while freeing the diaphragm
• Chasing the wind that causes headaches
• Chasing the wind that attacks the gall bladder meridian and causes TMJ
• Chasing the 1st wind – that attacks the liver, pericardium, & heart
• Chasing the 9th wind – that makes the legs and feet tired
• How to optimize the water organs – the kidneys and bladder
• Optimizing yang fire – the small intestine
• Two methods to release the psoas muscles
• Chinese Medicine 24 hour body clock
• Balance each of the twelve meridians with applied qigong
• A protocol to overcome hiatal hernia, acid reflux, & GERD
• How to mirror & relax the nerves of the spine
• How to relax the vagus nerve, & decouple the fight or flight response in the body

CNT Fundamentals is the prerequisite for Advanced CNT (Healing Tao Basics is recommended, but not mandatory).

Advanced Chi Nei Tsang (Tao Touch), dates 25-28 Sept 2025 (Thurs thru Sun, 4 days), Providence Renewal Centre, Edmonton, AB, Canada with Peter TS Melnychuk

Scroll down to see prices and how to register >

Healing The Emotional Body with Chi Nei Tsang (Tao Touch)

Healing The Emotional Body with CNT (Tao Touch) is a five day workshop.

The retreat setting, which includes evening classes, helps create a safe and cohesive setting for deep emotional processing. We will sometimes work in groups of three in order to effectively bypass the body’s emotional denial system.

As in previous levels, we punctuate the hands-on labs with qigong practice & remarkable information about the process of healing. Don’t miss this workshop – this is the first time it will be offered since 2010! 

In this workshop we learn:

• the Denial system – the Emotional Guardian of our body
• the 5 Healing Intelligences
• the 6 Conditions of Healing
• the 5 Elements and the Cycle of Surrender
• to map the Emotional Colon; & to map the Emotional Body
• the Peace Touch
• how to locate the Emotional Closet Doors
• the Mother/ Father Hip Release
• Most experienced CNT practitioners will tell you this workshop, which focuses on healing the emotional body, is their favorite of all CNT workshops. Most have repeated it several times for their own benefit.

The CNT (Tao Touch) Fundamentals workshop is the prerequisite for Healing the Emotional Body with CNT /Tao Touch

Dates TBD, (a retreat, one evening + 4.5 days) with Peter TS Melnychuk

Scroll down to see prices and how to register>

Visceral Anatomy: an East/West Perspective

Do you approach the viscera with curiosity but trepidation? Would you like to develop a holographic sense of the internal anatomy?

Would you like to build your palpation skills and be able to treat the core effectively in the gentlest way possible? Here is your class.

The two day Visceral Anatomy class is directed not just at CNT practitioners, but at manual therapists, doulas, midwives, energy workers, & yoga teachers.

Th workshop focuses on the topography of the internal organs. We learn easily remembered bodily landmarks to help locate specific structures. Diagrams, slides, and photos are punctuated with hands-on lab time.

We endeavour to develop a felt sensation for each internal organ. We also learn how to gently treat, by first feeling for, and then gently expanding, the specific “orbit” of each internal organ.

 The eastern perspective traces the 12 oriental meridians, rivers of energy transporting visceral energy through the body. We also map the traditional asian dermatomes. These are areas on the skin of the abdomen that can be palpated in order to treat specific organs.

There is no prerequisite for the Visceral Anatomy Class.

Visceral Anatomy, CANCELLED January 2025 (2 days), Corazon de Jaguar Healing Center, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chis, Mexico, with Peter TS Melnychuk

Scroll down to see prices and book your sp