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Facial Gua sha: A new approach
Facial Gua sha is not complicated to do, it is, however, more intricate than it seems. So while it is true that you can just scrape a tool over your face, you can do so much more if you know what the tool is doing and what is happening underneath the skin. You'll find more on this in my books but you will be able to find lots of information but the basics are in the information below.
Facial Gua sha
Facial Gua sha
How to improve your Facial Gua sha!
What you must know about Facial Gua sha Part 1
What you must know about Facial Gua sha Part 2
1. How does Facial Gua sha work?
Your face is made up of a crisscross of muscles, ligaments, nerves and connective tissue which over time and with certain key behaviours will display themselves on the surface of your skin in the form of wrinkles, lines, baggy areas and discolourations.
With Facial Gua sha, these features can be improved because the action of friction over the connective tissue under your skin, can help the flow of blood by vasodilating your blood vessels. This improvement of blood flow brings with it better nutrition and more flexibility of the underlying tissue and muscles.
There is a lot more to Facial Gua sha than this, however. The face can be treated via the body and if you have the knowledge of how the muscular system is not made up of individual muscles but is grouped across the body as an interconnected signalling system, then you have the tools to make more profound changes to your face. This is my approach to Facial Gua sha and involves treating other parts of your body in order to treat the face.
The fascia and muscle system in your face is actually organised within an interconnected group of muscles that stretch all over your body. For example, if you wanted to treat crows feet at the side of your eyes, you need to know that the Small Intestine tendinomuscular channel passes up the side of your cheek and over your temple. And it starts at the muscles of your little finger.
So in order to treat this area of your face, this muscle grouping of the abductor digiti minimi, flexor carpi ulnaris, triceps, infraspinatus, teres minor, supraspinatus and levator scapula muscles should be treated with Gua sha in conjunction with local treatment on your face.
There are other groups of muscles which can also have an effect on this area and also specific parts of those muscles which are more likely to be sore and need Gua sha scraping.
To restrict Facial Gua sha treatment to only the areas of the face is to misunderstand this vital connection of how the body feeds nutrients and blood to the muscles and tissues of the facial area.
2. What tools and equipment do you need for Facial Gua sha?
In order to do Facial Gua sha, you will need a tool but it can really be anything. You can even use your fingers as a tool (see my Facial Gua sha book!)
As it's your face, the tool has to be smaller and of a material which will be kind to your skin as you scrape along it. The edge of the tool must be smooth and rounded and you can sometimes find tools with notches and curves which can guide you along your jaw area.
You certainly do not need anything expensive nor technical. Even with the face, a Chinese soup spoon works just fine if that's what you want to use. Many people feel the need to buy special tools with fancy names and fancy prices but that's okay. They work fine too.