Pregnancy, recovery, and the years either side.

Pregnancy is not always the soft, luminous experience it is made out to be. It is also back pain at 3am, ribs that feel too small for everything inside them, hips that ache with every step, and a body that has quietly stopped feeling like your own. Most of the women I see during pregnancy are not looking to be pampered. They want someone who understands the anatomy, knows what they’re doing, and can actually help.

The work is structural: soft tissue release, targeted pelvic and nerve work, circulatory support, and postural adaptation as the body changes through each trimester. There is also something to be said for an hour of being genuinely held and attended to, without being asked to hold anything yourself.

Sessions are side-lying on a professional treatment table, with pillows and cushioning arranged around you so you can rest comfortably.

After birth, your body is recovering while adapting to feeding, lifting and carrying. There is often little time to rest, and tension can build through the neck, shoulders, back and hips.

Sessions work with what’s accumulated: the postural pattern, not just the sore spot. For many women the reconnection matters as much as the relief.

Each session is adapted to what you need that day, with abdominal or scar work included when appropriate.

When you’re ready to go deeper, Chi Nei Tsang brings the focus to the abdomen and the tissues that carried so much through pregnancy and birth.

Chi Nei Tsang is a traditional Taoist practice that regards the abdomen as a centre of the body, where digestion, breath, emotion and energy meet. Sessions combine abdominal massage, acupressure, diaphragmatic release, lymphatic techniques, fascial work and warm compresses.

In Taoist theory, different organ systems are associated with particular emotions: anger with the liver, worry with the spleen and stomach, grief with the lungs and fear with the kidneys. Prolonged emotional stress is traditionally understood as something that can contribute to stagnation and tension in these areas. I use these associations as one lens for the work, rather than as a medical explanation.

Afterwards, most people notice a fuller breath, less abdominal tension or a greater sense of ease in their body. When possible, leave yourself some quiet time after the session.

Some women come during perimenopause or when their cycle changes, seeking relief from tension and a sense of reconnection with their body. These sessions are not a substitute for medical care.

Advanced Chi Nei Tsang takes the work further into the pelvis and reproductive system, working with the tissues around the reproductive organs and, within the Taoist tradition, the energetic channels associated with sexual and reproductive health.

It is offered after at least two Chi Nei Tsang sessions because the work is approached in layers. The earlier sessions help release abdominal tension and stagnation, allowing the body and energy time to settle before moving into the more focused pelvic and reproductive work.

Using deep myofascial techniques and acupressure, I work through the lower abdomen, pelvis, sacrum, glutes and inner thighs, with attention to the tissues surrounding the reproductive system and the meridian pathways used in the Taoist tradition.

I check in with you throughout. The work is slow and can sometimes feel uncomfortable in areas where there is significant tension, but pressure is always adapted to you.

Women may come to this work during perimenopause or menopause, later in postnatal recovery, or when the pelvis feels persistently tense or disconnected. It is supportive bodywork, not treatment of a medical or hormonal condition.

Reiki is also woven through the session as part of my approach to the work.