Gua Sha

[GreytoWhite]

I never hear this discussed much but I can remember when I was growing up that the Vietnamese kids would sit on their back patio and their parents would run a coin over them. I just found a gua sha stone in the office supply drawer. Someone must have thought it was a paper weight.

[taijistudent]

My family often uses Gua Sha. It is excellent for eliminating toxins which can cause disease as well as a treatment for colds and flus, particularly if used immediately when the cold is detected. Here is a short posting on the subject.

 

How To Use Gua Sha to Alleviate Pain and Colds

[cheya]

Gua sha has been a wonderful technique in my bodywork practice, and it an amazing way to treat your own chronic muscle aches and pains, easy to apply. You can use a coin, a jar lid, a chinese soup spoon, and you just "scrape" down and out over the area. You MUST use oil (preferably chinese herbal oil, but any will do), or you will damage the skin. If the area doesn't need the technique, the skin just gets a little red, but if there is congestion/stagnation, you will raise up red, blue, purple, or even black bumps that look like bruises, but which is called "sha" or toxins by practitioners. The darker the sha, the older the condition. You wait til those marks fade, and then do it again. With repeated treatments, the sha gets lighter and lighter until you find you no longer raise sha at all, and by that time, the muscle aches are long gone.

 

 

The theory is that you are raising deep-lying toxins up to the surface where the superficial circulation can carry them away. If the area really needs it bad, the skin will blanch when you rub across it, as the superficial blood is moved away, and then turn bright red, as the blood from deep comes to the surface. I call it "herding blood".

 

 

An Asian porcelain soup spoon works really well. The best tool I've found to do gua sha on yourself is a saddle-shaped Cuisinart ice cream scoop. Classy! It's got a handle on it that lets you reach further into those awkward places under your shoulder or on your back. Actually, any of the saddle shaped scoops will do, just make sure the edges are not too sharp or rough, which will damage the skin. You want to move blood without damaging the skin, so you need a very smooth and blunt tool with no sharp edges. And oil! Be sure to use plenty of oil!

 

 

Warning! Be careful using this technique: the area treated will often look like you fell off your bike onto gravel! Don't do it on children or you may be hauled in for child abuse. (it's happened!) Don't do it on exposed skin if you're going out, unless you just hang out with bodyworkers and acupuncturists. :-)

 

 

You'll find youTube videos really showing you how to do it and what it looks like. It may look awful, but it works!

[manitou]

I never hear this discussed much but I can remember when I was growing up that the Vietnamese kids would sit on their back patio and their parents would run a coin over them. I just found a gua sha stone in the office supply drawer. Someone must have thought it was a paper weight.

 

How did you know it was a gua sha stone? Is it thin and round? i've never heard of this before - fascinating! Thanks for posting the video, Taishistudent

[taijistudent]

I use a jade gua sha blade that looks something like this:

 

 

I prefer the broad tool so it covers more area on the back. The technique is simple but it helps to have someone demonstrate. You have to feel for the sha (sand) and break it up. Most of the gua sha techniques I have seen are adequate but again pretty light in order to accommodate Western sensibilities. A person is clear when it remains a light pink that quickly disappears. The dark red, purple, blue, or black spots (black being the most) indicate some toxins remain in the body.

[GreytoWhite]

How did you know it was a gua sha stone? Is it thin and round? i've never heard of this before - fascinating! Thanks for posting the video, Taishistudent

 

 

My main interest in Daoist arts has been for healing, not so much for personal cultivation. I got rather interested in gua sha about two years ago. I still haven't had a chance to study Chinese medicine yet, need to pay my student loans some more. Also I used to have a chiropractor who was certified in Graston Technique which is a Western appropriation of gua sha.

 

It's not thin and round but rather conforms to the hand. One side and edge is completely flat and there is a bent part of the stone with a "blade" on the end. It's similar to the link below but it kind of has a "handle" where it's a bit thicker.

 

http://www.guashashop.com/gua-sha-th019.html

 

Ran it over my forearms and calves yesterday, could feel the grains everywhere and I wasn't really going very hard but it was quite effective in releasing some tension.

 

Here in Northern California it's hard not to make Asian friends. We have all kinds of stuff that people have given our family over the years. My mother is rather ignorant of these things and just says 'Thank you' and then puts stuff on a shelf or in a drawer.

[manitou]

I really like this, it makes imminent sense to me. thanks for the link. I'm thinking you should go through the rest of your mom's drawers.

[cheya]

The big tools are great for large areas, and you can get smaller gua sha tools for little areas. Gua sha on the hands makes an amazing difference in the pliability of palm and fingers, and is a real boon for woodworkers, musicians, and artists: anyone who uses their hands intensively will love this! It's also great for arthritis. Apply some oil (especially one with dragon's blood herb in it! But that stuff stains clothes), and then use a Chinese soup spoon or any other smooth edged tool on the palm, especially around the base of the thumb, and on the little-finger-side edge of the palm, which can get really tight and thick.

 

Then here's the best part. You need a notched tool. I guess you could make one, but I use a fish-shaped one like you see on the gua sha page MithShrike linked to above. The notch on the tail is perfect for gua-sha-ing your fingers! Oil your fingers up, and then run the notch up and down the palm side of each finger, right over muscles, right across the joints. Then do the surfaces between your fingers, working right down into the "crotch". You will feel little gritties (sand), especially near the base of the finger. Do it until each finger is warm and pink. If you do this 2-3 times over a couple weeks, the sand will be gone and your fingers and hands will loosen up dramatically. Then you only have to do it when you notice your hands have tightened up again.

 

I bet it'd really help for doing the Kuji-in mudras!

Edited March 6, 2013 by cheya

[GreytoWhite]

I've found so far that this has been really great for my hands. Have a nice pink blooming on my palms and noticed a lot more vascularity on the backs of my hands.

[GreytoWhite]

I'm not much of one for mudras but I do notice the difference in feeling and myofascial chains when using different hand and finger configurations during silk reeling.

[manitou]

I'm not much of one for mudras but I do notice the difference in feeling and myofascial chains when using different hand and finger configurations during silk reeling.

 

Take it easy on the silk reeling. Are you exhaling when the spindle starts to show?

[GreytoWhite]

I'd rather not discuss my personal training in this topic.

[gendao]

I think cupping is regarded as more powerful for detoxing stagnation, but gua sha is simpler and easier to DIY at home.

Although even an elaborate cupping set can be bought for just around $30..

Kangci Set 24 Magnet Therapy-Cupping Chinese Medicine Gift - $31.69

Suction Cupping Clinical Applications

[taijistudent]

We also use cupping but for completely different purposes. If the toxins are more superficial and can be felt as "sand" then gua sha seems to work better since it can crush and release the toxins in the superficial layer.

 

We use cupping when the stagnation is deeper. Sort of like the way someone would use a plunger to suck out and release deeper seeded toxins. Of course, for very deep, acupuncture is best, however, modern training does not include using the very long needs as was used classically and thus the effects are significantly muted.

 

However, the very, very best all around is ....... Tuina!! (deep, deep, deep).