Body + Facial Gua Sha: creating space + fluidity
Gua Sha
Gua: to scrape or rub
Sha: increased redness, flow, circulation, petechia
When the flow in your body is balanced and healthy, your body and mind function well and when it's not, you may notice signs of stiffness, pain, lack of vibrancy or fluidity of movement, fatigue, puffiness or lethargy.
During a body Gua Sha service in my studio, I offer my traditional integrated massage work that is blended with Gua Sha tool work along the channels of the body. Gua Sha along these Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) channels (also known as meridians in some texts), offers the potential to create movement and flow within the tissue. I am intentional with exploring along the channels with the tool to create fluidity in the channel and tissue and communicate any instances of Sha that may happen during your service.
SEE IMAGES BELOW
Each Gua Sha service is unique to each client and their specific goals which may include
overall wellness and rejuvenation
decrease or shift tension, stress, anxiety
education with a virtual or 1:1 service to help you create an at home mindfulness and wellness practice with an at home Gua Sha practice
connect with more presence with yourself with an at home practice
exploring the shifts in your vibrancy that may be visible in the face and body after a service with either body or facial gua sha or a combined session of both, but more importantly a FELT experience
exploring a 'new to you' form of body work for wellness
exploring the emotional and physical connection in the face and body with the five elements
More about the SHA that may happen or be visible on your body during or after your appointment:
SHA: the marks that are left after Gua Sha treatment. When the tissue is blocked the movement of blood or circulation is inhibited in that region. When I apply strokes with the Gua Sha tool along the channel and there is a restriction in the tissue bed, redness or SHA may appear as leaked blood escapes into the once blocked tissue bed. With sha, you won't find any breakage of blood vessels that you would with a bruise. It's all about what's happening underneath the skin in the tissue.
Imagine a stream that is blocked with leaves, sticks and debris. When the debris is cleared, the water flows freely.
SHA may occur in areas where you feel aches, pains, tension or are connected to the emotional component. Sha is very common to see along the muscles of the back and in this video below, you will see sha on the fronts of my legs - the Stomach channel. Which made sense for my physical and emotional situation during the work - worry, puffy eyes, digestive problems.. But this may not occur for you during your service.
SHA appeared for me on the fronts of my legs, because it was relevant to to me and my conditions. We may see very mild redness with facial gua sha but the sha will not be as apparent as we see on the body not only because we are more gentle with the facial skin but because the face is a different ecosystem than the body and I use different techniques for each ecosystem of the face and body and Sha doesn't always come to the surface because there is not an obstruction in that region!
If SHA occurs on your body during a service, this will be communicated to you in your post session consultation along with details in a post session email. You can expect to see the sha from your treatment for up to 3 days post service.
Want to learn more or experience my Gua Sha services or connect for a virtual or 1:1 service in my studio?
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