Is gua sha an alternative to Botox?

How legit is gua sha?

According to Wikipedia, gua sha has become as popular as Vovlo, the Korean form of tae-bo.

As such, I feel confident making the claim that If you aren't gua-sha-ing, you should be. It's my opinion that every gym in America should host weekly gua sha party night, where people show off their skills and compete for prizes. We would end up with the fastest, strongest, and most creative gua sha participants on the planet, all with the same goofy faces (I can assure you, there are none) of pure ecstasy when we accomplish a new skill.

As it turns out, I might be a touch extreme about gua sha (is that the proper pronunciation?), but I can assure you, it's not my last name. It sounds better anyway.

For starters, let's take a step back and understand why a person is even inclined to try gua sha in the first place. It comes from Tai Chi, Kung Fu, and traditional Chinese medicine. Gua sha as a health treatment is rooted in Chinese medicine and is an important part of that whole holistic approach. There are a multitude of different techniques and positions. However, what strikes me the most is how simple yet powerful gua sha really is.

There are various schools and styles of gua sha, yet at the core of this exercise are the five essential elements. These elements can be applied to any gua sha style, though each school uses them in different ways. The following descriptions come from a well-rounded gua sha book I used while teaching:

) Moving with the intention to eliminate or avoid the cause of the problem. When practicing a traditional Japanese version of gua sha, as most have no knowledge of what the exercises are trying to teach, they will only begin to move and practice for short periods of time. This means they have no real intent or goal. The goal of some styles (Western forms like Vovlo) is usually to feel the movement, or to get familiarized with that style. Some styles have an intermediate practitioner, someone who is more knowledgeable of the concepts behind the exercise.

Does gua sha have to be real jade to work?

Or do you have to find it in a mine?

It has to do with the properties of stones, which is why they were often found as part of a burial, or buried in a ritualistic fashion.

But my point was that you get all sorts of interesting qualities from jade and you are only limited by your imagination. The fact that it may come from a mine is another reason to use it.

I am sure that is why she chose the jade for the gua sha exercise, because it had certain characteristics. I had been told that you could have real jade for the gua sha, but my first thought was "what would it do? Why would anyone do a gua sha with a fake stone?" That's why I'm so interested in this idea of using real stone. If we did a gua sha with a stone from my grandma's grave, what would be the effects?

How about if we look at why you would choose to do a gua sha with a real stone. Because in my opinion it gives a different and more powerful experience.

We are talking about the same thing. We all know jade has different properties. People talk about "it does x" or "it gives y". But these are just observations, and I can understand why someone would choose to do a gua sha with a jade, because it gives a different effect. But maybe you are talking about something different.

That is very interesting, because jade is really hard to come by. But the reason she chose a stone like that was because it gave off a certain energy that you could not put your finger on.

But even a rough stone would give a different effect. I have no idea where you could buy stones like that anymore. Even a cheap piece of wood will give a different effect than a jade.

You are trying to prove the same thing I have been trying to prove. The effect is in the experience. But, we need to look at the difference between the "experience" and the "effect".

I love this conversation. It's like a little game of hot potato. I'll take this back to the beginning. How old is your Grandma?

Is gua sha an alternative to Botox?

I just want to know if it's possible to do gua sha on the skin to get rid of wrinkles?

I'm sure it's possible, but I would love to know the answer. Thanks in advance. I have a website about healthy food if you need more information. Here is my link

Thanks for all your help. I've read a ton of different opinions about what it does and how it works and after reading them all I am still lost.

I would love to try the treatment but since it's summer and we are moving in a month I have to think about it. I know there is no guarantee that it's going to work because I've heard so many different things about it. Does anyone know if it's even possible to get some?

Here's the scoop. I live in San Diego and am actually an RN. I have worked with the Botox and was amazed at the results. They say it takes several months to take effect but when I had my face treated it took a few hours. It was worth every dime because I loved the results. I was a model with very heavy makeup on. You don't want to look like you just woke up. After the first treatment it made my skin so smooth and my face tight. I was like a new person. I am so happy that my mother did it for me.

After trying gua sha three times on my own face and seeing no difference from using the same facial muscles, I stopped doing it. As soon as I went back to using my botox injections, my forehead lines disappeared within a week. Botox takes 3 weeks to have the effects. In my personal experience gua sha doesn't even compare to the results of botox. I am an RN and have been using Botox for about 2 years. I am currently looking into gua sha for treatment. I have tried it twice before. The first time it worked but for a few days afterwards I had a lot of redness. My husband was pretty concerned. The second time I tried it was in March. It took about 45 minutes and I got a lot of relaxation from the treatment.

Is gua sha recommended by dermatologists?

I've been researching about gua sha, and have found a lot of reviews saying that gua sha is not recommended by dermatologists (though I've never had any problems with my skin). What are your thoughts? A dermatologist I've been seeing in NYC told me not to do it and when I asked why he said "If you're really interested in the skin, then use your hands to massage it." I don't really want to risk causing more problems than I can help, but after doing a few months of gua sha I can definitely see the benefits, like less fine lines and smoother skin. I'm starting to go insane with boredom though (especially since the dermatologist said no), so would be more than grateful for any advice! Re: gua sha recommended by dermatologists? For a while I believed dermatologists were right, and then I learned a guy's dad suffered complications after an inguinal hernia repair, a procedure similar to what happens to someone having their stomach stapled. He ended up developing cellulitis, and they had to put it on a catheter to drain it, then his wife needed to have the catheter placed back where it came out, and that was about it.

In the past I did a few weeks of gua sha per day at home, then stopped and switched to bodywork therapy which I do 2x/week now, and that has helped the cellulitis get better. When you say you did a few months at a time, did you do it every single day or just a few times a week? I assume it wasn't a once-per-month thing.

Just so you know, there are several dermatologist out there that do it, and there are good and bad among them. And even if there are a lot of dermatologist doing it, who's to say some of the others aren't doing something wrong? One has to take care and do things right.

The dermatologist I was seeing was a plastic surgeon, and my dad ended up with the inguinal hernia the same way, so she suggested it, and I followed her suggestions very closely. The hernia was caused from a large inguinal hernia, which led to a bowel in my scrotum that eventually broke loose.