OFT – Original Feeling Touch is Andrew Kennth Fretwell’s evolution of Chi Nei Tsang.
Healing, from a Taoist perspective, is not about fixing something that is broken. It is not about battling the body or treating symptoms in isolation. Rather, true healing is about aligning with the natural flow of life—a process that is constantly evolving, expanding, and moving toward greater harmony.
Beyond the Medical Perspective
Western medicine, as well as many so-called natural medicine modalities, often operate from a paradigm of problem-solving: if something is wrong, it must be diagnosed and fixed. The Taoist view of healing, however, is rooted in a completely different way of understanding life. It is not just another theory—it is a shift in perception.
At its core, Taoist healing rests on two fundamental principles:
- Life is meant to be enjoyed. Our purpose is not merely survival but deep engagement with the experience of being alive.
- Everything in the universe, including human consciousness, is in a state of expansion and evolution. Healing is not about returning to a previous state but moving forward into a new way of being.
Rather than seeing disease as an enemy to be eradicated, Taoist wisdom teaches us to recognize it as a messenger. The body, deeply intelligent and encoded with cosmic knowledge, never acts without reason. Every symptom, even a serious illness, holds meaning.
The Four Stages of Healing
Taoist wisdom recognizes that healing is a process, not an event. It unfolds through four distinct stages, each essential in its own way:
- Awareness
This is where symptoms arise—whether they are physical, emotional, or energetic. Pain, discomfort, or persistent life patterns signal that something needs to change. Many people attempt to suppress symptoms, but in Taoist healing, symptoms are messages, not enemies. Awareness is the first step because without it, nothing can shift.
- Confusion
Most people resist this stage, yet it is one of the most important. Once we acknowledge that something is wrong, we enter a state of not knowing. The mind craves certainty, but healing demands we sit with the unknown. This stage is uncomfortable, yet essential. In Taoist alchemy, confusion is seen as a necessary dissolving process—breaking down old patterns so something new can emerge.
- Breakthrough
Once we fully enter the confusion without resistance, something shifts. A breakthrough occurs. This might be an insight, a deep realization, or an emotional release. It can come suddenly or gradually, but it always brings a new way of seeing. This is the moment when healing truly begins—not because we have been “fixed,” but because we have transformed.
- Integration
After the breakthrough, there is still work to do. The change must be integrated into daily life. Many people have breakthroughs but struggle to sustain them. The body, mind, and energy system need time to adjust. Practices like Taoist Bone Breathing and Inner Alchemy help to anchor and stabilize the transformation, ensuring that healing becomes a lasting shift rather than a temporary realization.
Understanding the Survival Instinct and Healing
The key to healing lies in discharging and completing the hidden energy (Qi/Chi) bound up in our nervous system and trusting the body’s natural ability to heal. This applies even to extreme events—traumas from early childhood or even deeper soul memories. The body does not experience time in a linear fashion; an event from the past, if unresolved, feels as present to the body today as it did when it first happened.
Human reactions to threat are instinctive and biological, and only later do they become psychological and cognitive. This is why many people can spend years in therapy, cognitively understanding what happened to them, yet still feel trapped by the same emotional patterns. Real healing only happens when the energetic charge stored in the nervous system and cells is fully intergrated and completed.
The Three Survival Responses: Flight, Fight, Freeze
In all cases of trauma, the body instinctively reacts with three possible responses:
- Flight – The impulse to escape or flee from danger.
- Fight – The instinct to confront or resist the perceived threat.
- Freeze (Immobility) – The body locks up, going into paralysis when neither fight nor flight is possible.
A simple example of this can be observed in daily life: Imagine walking down a street with a friend, enjoying the day, when suddenly a loud bang erupts right next to you. Your body reacts before your mind does—perhaps you freeze, your muscles tense, and you instinctively prepare to escape. Then, realizing it was just a car’s exhaust backfiring, your body naturally discharges the excess energy—maybe through laughter, a sigh of relief, or shaking it off. This reaction is extremely healthy; it ensures survival by allowing the nervous system to complete the process of assessing and responding to danger.
However, if the survival response is not completed, the energy remains locked in the system, leading to chronic tension, anxiety, or other physical symptoms. Many illnesses stem from unfinished survival responses, where the body still holds the charge of past traumas that were never fully processed.
Working With, Not Against, the Body
All Taoist healing embody this philosophy. The Taoist practices focus on relaxing the nervous system deeply, shifting it from a state of hyper-vigilance (sympathetic response) into a true healing state (parasympathetic response). Healing can only occur when the body feels safe enough to release stored energy and integrate new patterns.
Rather than treating the body as a malfunctioning machine, these practices recognize it as a living, evolving intelligence. The goal is not to “fix” but to create the conditions for natural harmony to restore itself.
When we stop fighting against our bodies and start working with them, healing ceases to be a battle and becomes a journey—one that leads us to a deeper, more aligned way of living.
OFT GOES TO THE ROOT OF ALL SYMPTOMS.
Andrew can be contacted here in Bali
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