This document provides an overview of abdominal massage including its origins, physiological benefits, and emotional meanings. Key points covered include: - Abdominal massage originated as an ancient healing practice used for fertility, digestion, and pain. - It involves massaging the sacrum, uterus, colon, ileocecal valve, and small intestine to support peristalsis and reduce armoring. - The ileocecal valve separates the small and large intestines and can become stuck open or closed, impacting toxicity, elimination, and emotional rigidity. - Massaging the abdomen supports circulation, nerve growth, and a relaxed parasympathetic state while addressing physical and emotional holding patterns.

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Abdominal Massage
Exploring the Colon and Iliocecal valve

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What we cover today
 Who I am
 Where abdominal massage comes from
 What it is
 Why I think it’s great
 Physiology of digestion especially colon and iliocecal valve
 Theories about the emotional meaning of the colon and iliocacel valve
 Armouring in the abdomen
 What happens when we massage the abdomen
 What I actually do in a session
 Demonstration

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My Background
 ITEC in holistic massage 1993
 Gerda Boyesen institute Gerda and Ebba Boyesen 1997
 Chiron 2000
 Pregnancy 2008
 Abdominal Sacral 2013
 Combined with PAPA Birth Network and websites

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Abdominal Sacral Massage
 Abdominal massage is an ancient healing art practiced the world over
 Can still be found in Russia, Turkey and Mexico
 Fertility
 Digestive disorders
 Painful periods
 Aligning the uterus
 Hormonal issues like PCOS
 Menopausal symptoms
 Rosita Arvigo learnt it in Belize and took it to the States
 Rosita taught my teachers Helen Rohlicek and Clare Blake

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What happens in a massage?
 Massage to sacrum lower back, uterus, colon, ICV and small
intestine.
 It is deep, though can be done with a light touch in an
intentional way.

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Why I am drawn to the work
 Personal
 Work increasingly woman centered
 Wanting to work with my own complicated feelings about my belly

 Professional
 Peristalsis - I was wondering why, if peristalsis is so vital to our work, is the
belly so absent in the literature.
 Bridging the gap between the Biodynamic and pregnancy work
 Interest in the uterus and digestion

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Is it OK to touch bellies?
 My first experience of massaging a belly – challenging to say the least!
 Who was taught to massage bellies?
 Who actually does?
 What stops you?
 What qualities do you associate with bellies?
 Feeling center – vulnerable – care required – courage and safety in coming to the front of
he body.
 Feminine
 Yin
 Vulnerable
 Great deal of care required, clear boundaries, permission and clarity when coming to the
front of the body.
 Cultural self-disgust at our bellies, loose a pound of body fat/cover of Daily Mail etc.

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Physiology of Digestion
 Peritoneum – lines the abdominal cavity, provides mucus to support movement
 Mouth
 Esophagus – id canal
 Stomach – sphincter each end, churns up the food into chime. Hydrochloric acid.
 Small Intestine – assimilation and digestion of nutrients
 Duodenum – 10 inches
 Jejunum – about 2 feet
 Ilium is twice as long as the jejunum – as tall as a giraffe
 Brings us to the ICV

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Physiology of Ileocecal Valve
 On the right side, midway between the naval and the hip bone
– when you find it, it feels like a nose.
 Known as the great mimicker by chiropractors because of the
range of symptoms it can cause…
 Function is to prevent backflow from the Li to the SI – it should
be mostly closed, only opening briefly to let the content exit.
 Separating nourishment from waste.

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Valve can be stuck open
 Backwash in to Small intestine
 Allows fecal matter to be used in the making of blood
 Allows fecal matter to be absorbed as nourishment
 Gas
 HIGHLY TOXIC!!
 Classic flu and common cold-type symptoms
 Back ache
 Runny poo/frequency
 Achy muscles
 Fever
 Unclear thinking
 Blurred vision
 Inability to process information

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Valve Stuck Shut
 Hinders process of eliminating waste
 Pain
 HIGHLY TOXIC also
 Elimination problems
 Constipation
 Inflammation of the appendix
 Inability to let go
 Rigid outlook
 Over attachment to people/conditions/situations
 These problems are worsened by bad diet, eating habits and
stress/trauma

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Solution?
 Chew thoroughly – esp. nuts and wholefoods don’t shovel food
down.
 Manage stress.
 Massage to general area and large intestine to encourage
circulation and energy
 Trigger point

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Colon Physiology
 1.5m long, 5cm diameter, flat when empty round tube when full.
 Waste is moved through by peristalsis- combination of round and long
muscles.
 Caecum – bag- holding tank of waste – appendix is attached here
 Ascending colon – up r hand side to the
 Hepatic flexure – which becomes the
 Transverse colon passes below the rib cage then turns l at the
 Splenic flexure
 Down to
 Descending colon – which then loops up to the rectum, 2 sphincters one
for holding on one for letting go.
 Anus = exit

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The Function of the Colon
 Store waste material
 To absorb water and electrolytes (salts and chemicals for cell
health) through the walls of the colon, so the waste becomes
dryer as it goes along. Slow passage = hard poo, fast passage
= runny poo.
 Breaks down the waste with bacteria
 Produces serotonin – the intestinal mucosa produce 95% of
serotonin, used to regulate intestinal movement, so digestive
health is deeply entwined with emotional well being and
peristalsis.

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Colon Cancer
 41,000 people with colon caner every year in the UK, more people than
suffer from breast cancer.
 Mostly men 60+
 Approx 50% survival rate
 An increase of 29% since 1970’s
 What has changed?
 Symptoms
 Blood in poo
 Bleeding from rectum
 Diarrhoea/constipation for more than 3 weeks
 Abdominal pain
 Unexplained weight loss

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Dysfunction of Colon
 Apart from constipation/diarrhea you may notice
 Waste material eliminated through the skin i.e.
 Acne
 Blocked pores
 Catarr
 Impaired sense of smell
 Emotionally
 Cut off because they can’t let go.
 Bitterness
 Stuckness
 ‘A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing’

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Emotion and Meaning
 Id canal - , the passage of raw,
primary personality that is
regulated by the
ego/musculature.
 Peristalsis
Gerda Boyesen

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Peg Nunneley
 Chemostatic fluid from
unresolved cycles
 Nurse
 Psychologist
 Teacher at Gerda Boyesen
Institute ( Mary Malloy)
 died 2004,

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Peg Nunneley
 The Biodynamic Philosophy and Treatment of Psychosomatic Conditions
 Describes working with Ann for one session, who was experiencing
exhaustion, chronic diarrhea and pain in her abdomen. She had been
cleared of bowel disease and serious pathologies.
 Ann lay on her left side and Peg held her solar plexus and the top of her
back for 15 mins, after which the peristalsis began and she took a few
release breaths, appearing deeply relaxed. She then rested for 30 mins.
After two more days of exhaustion Ann started to recover.
 Peg explains the symptoms as a result of visceral armouring caused by
repeated uncompleted cycles. It is Gerda’s theory of chemostatic fluid
retained in the gut walls that is causing the symptoms.

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Reich
 Muscular armouring
 Muscular armouring, protective
mechanism to manage our
feelings. Muscles and tissues
become tense and rigid. I am
told, though I haven’t been able
to find a source, that Reich
thought that xyphoid process to
naval was the most armoured
part of a body.
 Diaphragm

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Kathryn Stauffer
 Digestion as assimilation
 Letting go (or not)
 Peristalsis – digesting
experience
 Digestion converting ‘not me’
into ‘me’
 Distinguish between what we
need now, and what will hurt us.
 Peristalsis – thinking
through/digesting thoughts and
experiences in a relaxed way
generates noise.

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JR Worsley
 Called the colon ‘the drainer of the dregs’
 ‘The Dustbin Man’
 There’s a sense of how overlooked this organ is, and yet if it
stops taking away the waste, the rubbish begins to pile up!
 Points either side of nose ‘welcome fragrance’
 Small intestine dysfunction –
 Cannot separate the pure from the impure
 or if you ask a question, they can’t decide on an answer.

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How do we Manage our Energy in our
bellies?
 Different ways that energy is suppressed in abdomen
 Suggestions please!
 Diaphragm. Breath holding
 Visceral armour
 Abs and musculature
 Fascia
 … and all these serve to manage our primary personality, our
ID

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What effect does massage have on the
abdomen?
 Supporting the peristalsis
 Enlivening the fascia and connective tissue
 Creating more blood flow and better functioning.
 Activating the para-sympathetic nervous system
 Encouraging damaged nerve growth
 Loosening rigidity in the abdominal muscles
 Working on the colon to improve energy and liveliness.
 Encourages softness,
 Centeredness
 Learn to love our bellies – gratitude
 Relationship to mothering
 Feeling about being a woman

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What I do in a session
 Regulation
 Release and distribution
 The massage is quite deep and in our terms, melts away the
armouring or secondary personality. Working on the belly
creates quite a strong charge that I mostly work only with
intention of creating more space or more release. So I might
work on the sacrum and on the belly, just very gently, and then
work to distribute the energy.
 I remember Babette Rothschild illustrating her work with trauma
with a coke bottle, shaking it up and then releasing the lid a bit
at a time. This is often how I work with abdominal clients, a little
abdominal work, balanced out by holding or energy distribution
or grounding.

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Physical – emotional healing
 Clients come with physical symptoms like bloating or painful
periods and in the process of the massage the emotional
issues come up very strongly, the feelings are more accessible
somehow. The symptoms improve. So I feel like I’ve landed in
exactly the right place, because hopefully, I have the skills to
both unwind the holding and to contain the emotions as my
clients work through them.

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Links and contact details
 Kate www.KateCodringtonMassage.co.uk
 Leora www.auraholistictherapies.com
 Abdominal training Helen Rohlicek www.abdominal-
sacralmassage.com
 Fertility training Clare Blake www.fertilitymassage.co.uk