Holographic Gua sha: A Comprehensive Guide for Managing Depression - Part 2

Gua sha can be so effective for treating anxiety, stress, insomnia and depression and this is the second part of my tips.

In this video we look at the hand, chest and back Gua sha microsystems and certain channels and how we can use one part of it to help alleviate some of the symptoms of depression.

Episode Transcript

Understanding Xiangconggua Technique

Okay, let's move on now to Xiangconggua - so this is the treatment of, basically, on the other side of your head, you're brushing your teeth - like that - so imagine this is a toothbrush and you're doing this. That's what you're going to do at the back of your head just where the neck meets the head - just at the occiput.

So, the treatment is up and down. Normally you don't go up and down with a Gua sha tool. It's always in one direction - but in this area here, you do! Up and down, and you can dig the tool in because you're not actually on the bone - you're underneath the bone. And you can also come slightly onto the bone as well, and if you're doing it on yourself - that's absolutely fine - because you know the feeling, and, incidentally, the area - if you could look at your eyes and if you can imagine your eyes at the back of your head - that will be the eye area - so you can go right up to the eye area doing this technique.

It's a bit similar to the one on the scalp in that you're doing it quite fast, but there is some movement of the tool so it will be a movement like that but, you're basically, you're brushing your teeth but at the back. So that is the top part of the Holographic Gua sha for depression.

Exploring Danzhonggua: A Focus on the Sternum and Ribs

Let's have a look further down. Okay then, we move on to the chest area and the treatment of danzhonggua. Now, this one I've covered in another video, so you've got this one in detail, and this is all about coming down the sternum and out along the spaces of the ribs. It's so, so important because this area here really releases not just the intercostal muscles but also on the back, it releases all of the muscles that are holding your shoulders in a tight pattern. So, I thoroughly recommend doing the sequence on your sternum and in between your ribs.

Now, let's have a quick look at channels. Let's focus on what a lot of people need help with. Everyone's totally different, so you've gotta just touch the body and find out which of the channels - well, first of all, you gotta know where the channels are - but if you know where the channels are, you feel on the body, and is there any kind of tension or pain or problems? And then that will really help you know where the channel is because there might be an obstruction in a channel that's just nowhere near the one you think it is. Or there might be one causing a blockage in another one. So, it's all rather complicated.

The Heart Ruler Channel: A Key to Alleviating Depressive Feelings

However, there's a pretty useful one when we're dealing with depressive feelings, and that is the heart ruler. Now, this is also known as the pericardium. The heart ruler basically is the arterial system around your heart, which then follows the artery all the way down and comes to the end of your middle finger. It's on the inside of your arm, roughly in the middle of the inside of your arm. When you're coming along the biceps muscle, just come slightly to the inside of the biceps muscle. Basically, you're scraping down the arm, so if I do it for you here, this one is just one movement, going towards your fingers.

When you're in the forearm, you basically want to go in the middle, and you can make it more specific because you want to be in between the two tendons in the wrist, which you should be able to follow if you're right in the middle of the forearm. Then, when you reach the hand, go to the middle of the hand and then to the tip of the little finger. So, that's the heart ruler channel.

The Importance of Hand Treatment in Holographic Gua sha

So, when you're on the hand and you've done the heart ruler channel treatment, there is actually an area of your hand in Holographic Gua sha which is connected with your heart and your chest, and this whole area here might be the problem. That's the area at the top of your palm, and this is an area that you want to use the Gua sha tool to kind of dig in and scrape in this whole area to free any tightness you have in your palm.

Also, you can actually do a sequence coming from the wrist going up to each individual finger. Treating your fingers is one of the most overlooked things in Gua sha. Normally, people want to treat the big things. They want to treat the back, they want to treat the thighs with Gua sha, and it makes sense. But it's actually the small things that are sometimes even more important. If you think about a channel system which is not that dissimilar to the blood vessel system, perhaps there is a blockage in the finger area that's causing a problem somewhere else in the body.

It's only when you actually treat these areas, so if you treat the finger, if there is a problem of blockage of the circulation, it's only then that perhaps you can finally move the body on from the pattern of it being obstructed. You may treat in all kinds of places on the body, but the issue never quite goes away because it's being obstructed in a certain place. Unless you can actually find that place, then it's often quite difficult to remove the obstruction.

Treating the fingers just eliminates the issue of circulation problems coming from the very start or the finish of the channels that come in or out of the hand.

Unlocking Tension: Back Treatment with Gua sha

Another really useful area to free up the body is on your back but in specific areas. It would be really useful if someone could treat your back with Gua sha in the area in between the shoulder blades, the gap between where your scapula finishes and where your spine begins. That muscular tissue area is really, really important to make it clear of tension.

Also, come below that area and kind of where your waist is, and if your waist comes round to your back, that area as well because they are very, very useful areas. Not just to treat your back, but they're going to have knock-on effects inside your body, especially at your liver and your chest area.

So, there are lots of things you can do with Gua sha - there are far more. This is just a quick introduction to what you can do to help yourself or someone else with the obstructions that cause depressive feelings, which become a chronic problem in your life.

Watch the video:

PART 2:

PART 1:

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