Scraping (Gua Sha)

Scraping or Gua Sha (which literally means to scrape away fever) is a technique used to encourage strong blood supply and is an excellent and safe form of deep tissue massage. It involves repeatedly massaging a lubricated area with a blunt object (hence the chinese soup spoon) . Westerners will also call it spooning or coining, depending where they’ve encountered it and it is notorious for it’s scarlet superficial skin markings known as Sha. Scraping facilitates strong circulation and movement and by way of direction, one is able to scrape away toxicity (Sha) and obstructions in the muscles and meridians. This can also facilitate immunity, lymphatic movement, peripheral circulation and tension relief.