Inside a Visceral Manipulation Session: What Really Happens and How It Feels; [Part 2]

If you’ve heard about visceral manipulation but aren’t quite sure what actually happens in a session, you’re not alone. Many people are curious about this gentle yet powerful technique—and often a little surprised when they experience how subtle it feels and how profound the results can be.

As a Licensed Massage Therapist and Corrective Exercise Specialist here in Montclair, NJ, I use visceral manipulation to help clients—from former college athletes to people recovering from surgery, postpartum mothers, and those struggling with chronic pain —release deep restrictions, reduce pain, and reconnect to their bodies in a whole new way.

So what is a session like? Let’s take a look.

A Session Starts with Listening—Not Pushing

Visceral Manipulation is all about working with your body, not against it. Every session begins with what practitioners call “listening.”

This doesn’t mean listening with the ears—it means using trained, sensitive hands to “listen” to the body’s subtle rhythms, tensions, and pulls. I’ll gently place my hands on your abdomen (and sometimes on other areas like your chest, ribs or lower back) to sense where the body is holding tension or restriction.

The goal is to find the root cause of imbalance—not just where the symptoms show up. It’s common for someone to come in with low back pain, for example, and discover that the restriction actually lives around the intestines or liver.

Feeling for Restriction, Heat, and Mobility

To identify where your body is asking for attention, I’ll use techniques such as:

• General Listening: Gently feeling for areas of tension or imbalance in the overall system.

• Manual Thermal Evaluation: Feeling for temperature changes in tissues—restricted or inflamed areas often feel warmer.

• Local Listening: Narrowing in on the specific organ, ligament, or structure that’s restricted.

From there, I follow the tissue’s natural direction of pull. The techniques are incredibly light and specific—most clients are surprised by how gentle it feels. You may feel warmth, soft movement, or subtle internal shifts as your body begins to release.

Techniques That Restore Flow and Movement

Once we identify the source of restriction, I’ll use one or more gentle manual therapy techniques to help your body restore normal mobility and function. These may include:

• Indirect or Direct Techniques – working with or away from the tension, depending on what your body needs.

• Recoil – a light springing technique that encourages circulation and nervous system reset.

• Long Levers – using your body’s natural movement (like a slow arm or leg motion) to support the release.

• Soft Organ Mobilization – gently encouraging natural movement of the organs themselves to restore alignment and blood flow.

Each session is unique, depending on your body’s needs and how your system responds that day.

What You Might Feel During and After

During a session, most people feel relaxed and grounded. You might notice sensations like warmth, a gentle internal release, or a feeling of space opening up inside your abdomen.

Afterward, clients often describe feeling:

• Lighter and more balanced

• Less restricted when moving or breathing

• Calmer and more connected to their core

• Sometimes tired or emotionally released (which is totally normal)

Because visceral manipulation encourages the body’s own healing response, changes can continue unfolding over the next few days. Some people feel immediate relief; others notice gradual improvement as their system recalibrates.

Supporting Your Postpartum Healing in Montclair, NJ

For postpartum mothers in Montclair and the surrounding Essex County area, visceral manipulation can be a transformative tool for healing after pregnancy or Cesarean birth. It can ease discomfort, restore internal balance, and support your return to movement and exercise with confidence.

This gentle abdominal therapy complements pelvic floor therapy, corrective exercise, and traditional massage beautifully—making it a key part of a holistic postpartum recovery plan.

If you’re curious to experience how visceral manipulation in Montclair, NJ can help you reconnect with your body and find relief from chronic pain or tension, I’d love to support you.

👉 Schedule a session or reach out with questions—I’m happy to help you discover if this approach is right for you.

And stay tuned for the next post in this series: “How Visceral Manipulation Supports Postpartum Recovery.”