The first time my practitioner scraped a smooth wooden tool along my skin and left those deep red marks behind, I won’t lie, I wasn’t sure what to think. It looked intense and scary, if I’m being honest. It felt strange too, and nobody around me had even heard of it before. But after that session, I felt really good that night. My shoulders felt lighter. My chest felt clearer. My body felt calmer.

And I remember thinking, okay… I can do this again.

That was my introduction to gua sha, an ancient healing practice from Traditional Chinese Medicine that has been used for thousands of years to move stagnant energy, expel toxins, and restore balance in the body. Long before it became a trending skincare tool on social media, gua sha was serious medicine, and the more I’ve learned about it, and felt its effects on my own body, the more I believe it still is.

Older Than You Think

Gua sha, pronounced gwah-shah, translates roughly to “scraping sand” in Chinese. The “sha” refers to the redness that appears on the skin during treatment, which in TCM is considered a sign that stagnant blood and toxins are being drawn to the surface to be released.

Gua sha has been around for over two thousand years and has deep roots in Chinese, Vietnamese, and other East Asian healing traditions. Long before it showed up in skincare routines and wellness studios, it was something people did at home. A grandmother would be using a smooth spoon on a child’s back at the first sign of sickness. Some would use it on stiff shoulders and neck pain after a long day of physical work. It was everyday medicine for a lot of families.

Even though the tools have changed over the years, from ceramic soup spoons and coins to buffalo horn, jade, rose quartz, and more, the idea behind gua sha has stayed pretty much the same: get circulation moving, release what’s stuck, and help restore the smooth flow of Qi. In TCM, Qi is basically the body’s life energy, the force that keeps everything moving and functioning the way it should.

I think about this history every time I pick up my tool. There’s something grounding about knowing this practice has been passed from hand to hand for generations before it ever made its way to me.

What It’s Actually Moving

To understand why gua sha works the way it does, it helps to understand a TCM idea called pathogenic factors, basically outside influences the body takes in and then tries to push back out. And honestly, most of us have felt these things before, even if we wouldn’t use the same words for them.

In TCM, things like wind, cold, heat, and dampness are used to describe patterns in the body. For example, that stiff neck you get after being out in cold wind too long, the feeling of coming down with something after being run down, or that heavy, sluggish feeling that seems to sit in your body. They’re not just abstract concepts, they’re describing physical sensations and patterns people have noticed for generations.

Wind

This is a sneaky one. Wind invasion often brings sudden symptoms, a stiff neck after sitting near an air vent, a headache that seems to move around, or that “I think I’m coming down with something” feeling.

Gua sha along the neck and upper back is traditionally used to help expel wind before it settles deeper into the body. This is probably the pattern I deal with the most myself. I can usually feel it starting as this tightness through my neck and shoulders, especially at the base of my skull. Sometimes it happens after too much wind, air conditioning, stress, or even just pushing myself too hard for too long.

When I feel that starting, I’ll usually grab my gua sha tool right away and work along the back of my neck and shoulders. In TCM, they’d call it trying to “get the wind out” before it settles in deeper and turns into something worse. Over time, I’ve gotten pretty good at noticing the early signs, that tight, achy feeling in my neck, the chills, the sense that I might be coming down with something.

I know this probably sounds a little strange if you didn’t grow up around TCM or haven’t experienced gua sha before. But once you’ve tried it yourself, you start to understand what people mean when they talk about “getting the wind out.” It’s one of those things that’s oddly hard to explain until you feel the difference in your own body.

Heat

In TCM, heat in the body is thought to need a way out. That can show up as things like inflammation, fevers, hot flashes, skin flare-ups, or that overheated, restless feeling where your body just feels irritated. During gua sha, the redness that comes up on the skin is traditionally seen as that heat being brought to the surface and released.

A lot of people notice that when they use gua sha early, right when they feel something starting, it can help that heavy, overheated feeling settle down surprisingly quickly.

Dampness

Dampness in TCM is often described as that heavy, foggy, sluggish feeling in the body. The kind where your limbs feel weighed down, your head feels cloudy, digestion feels off, and no amount of sleep seems to fully refresh you. A lot of people notice it more during humid weather, after too much cold or raw food, or during periods where they feel physically and mentally stuck for a while.

Gua sha is traditionally used to help get things moving again, especially when paired with warmth. Many people find it helps create a lighter, more open feeling in the body afterward.

Cold

In TCM, cold is thought to make the body tighten and stagnate. It’s often associated with things like stiff muscles, poor circulation, menstrual cramping, lower back tension, or areas of the body that feel chronically cold and tight.

Gua sha, especially when used with a warming oil or balm, is traditionally used to help bring warmth and circulation back to those areas. A lot of people describe feeling looser, warmer, and more relaxed afterward, like things are finally moving again instead of feeling stuck.

More Than Skin Deep

Gua sha is definitely having a moment right now, mostly because of the facial version all over social media. And to be fair, it can help with puffiness and tension when used consistently. But reducing gua sha to just a beauty tool misses a big part of what it was traditionally used for in the first place.

Traditionally, gua sha was used as a full-body healing practice, not just something for sculpting the jawline. Looking at it only through a skincare lens is a bit like owning a beautiful chef’s knife and only using it to open boxes. There’s a lot more depth to it than most people realize.

The sha that comes up tells me something every time. A deep red often indicates the presence of heat or inflammation in that area. A purple-red means stagnation, blood stasis, or chronic tension that has been sitting there for a while. Pale sha usually indicates cold or deficiency (such as Qi or blood deficiency). And brown/black usually indicates severe, chronic, or very old stagnation. Over time, I’ve started looking at it the same way I’d look at any other signal my body gives me.

Circulation & Blood Flow

The scraping motion helps stimulate circulation in the tissues underneath the skin. Research has shown that gua sha can increase surface blood flow, sometimes for days after a single session.

Muscle Tension & Pain Relief

Particularly effective for chronic neck and shoulder tension, back pain, and sports-related muscle tightness. Many people find relief that massage alone doesn’t quite reach.

Immune Support

In TCM, gua sha at the earliest signs of illness, particularly at the upper back and neck, can help the body fight off what’s coming in before it takes hold. I use it this way often, especially in autumn and winter.

Lymphatic Drainage

Gentle facial gua sha stimulates the lymphatic system, helping to reduce puffiness, clear congestion, and support the body’s natural detoxification process.

Nervous System Regulation

The slow, intentional strokes can have a really calming effect on the nervous system. A lot of people find that even doing gua sha on themselves helps shift their body out of that stressed, tense state and into something that feels much more settled.

If You Want to Try It

You don’t need to see a practitioner to begin, though working with one, at least initially, is worth it if you want to use gua sha therapeutically. For home practice, here’s a simple foundation:

Choose Your Tool

Jade or rose quartz for face and neck. Buffalo horn or bian stone for body work. The material matters less than the shape. You want smooth edges and a good grip. Avoid anything with sharp or uneven edges. I prefer the jade for my face, but when it comes to neck and back or anywhere else, I prefer the Buffalo horn.

Always Use Oil or Serum

Never scrape dry skin. A good oil, like ginger for cold and damp conditions, rosehip for face, or plain sesame for body, protects the skin and carries warmth into the tissue. The oil choice can actually be therapeutic in itself.

Use Consistent, Directional Strokes

On the face, always move upward and outward from the centre. On the body, generally toward the lymph nodes like neck, armpits, groin. For expelling pathogens from the back, stroke downward and outward. Direction matters.

Don’t Be Alarmed by the Sha

The redness that appears is not bruising, it’s that sha rising. It typically fades within two to four days and is considered a positive sign of release. The deeper the colour, the more stagnation was present.

Rest & Warmth After

After body gua sha especially, keep the area warm and covered. Avoid cold water, raw foods, or wind on the treated area for a few hours. You’ve just opened the surface, so protect it while it integrates.

I’ll be honest, gua sha isn’t always glamorous. The marks can look alarming to people who’ve never seen them. Explaining to someone why your back looks like that requires a certain level of commitment to the practice, but I’ve never once regretted a session.

It’s one of those practices that makes you pay attention to your body a bit more. To trust that sometimes your body is trying to work something out, not just fight against you. And honestly, part of it is simply slowing down enough to notice the difference afterward, when your shoulders feel lighter, your breathing feels easier, or your whole body just feels a little less tense.

We live in a world that’s really good at keeping people busy, stressed, and pushing through things, but not very good at helping people slow down and let things out. That’s part of why practices like this still resonate with so many people. Sometimes your body just wants a chance to release some of the tension it’s been holding onto.

Simply Salt & Soul

The Salt (The Science): Research on gua sha has shown that it can help increase microcirculation near the surface of the skin, sometimes for days after a treatment. Improved circulation may help support tissue recovery, reduce muscle tension, and create that warm, looser feeling many people notice afterward. Studies have also looked at gua sha for neck and shoulder pain, where some participants reported reductions in stiffness and discomfort.
The slow, repetitive strokes may also help calm the nervous system by shifting the body out of a more stressed, guarded state. That matters more than people think. Chronic tension, shallow breathing, poor circulation, and stress overload all affect how the body feels day to day.

The Soul (The Wellness): I think part of why gua sha has lasted for thousands of years is because it asks something from us that modern life rarely does: to slow down and pay attention. Not to rush through a routine. Not to fix ourselves as fast as possible. Just to notice.

To notice where we’re holding tension. To notice how stress sits in the shoulders, jaw, chest, or stomach. To notice how different the body feels when it’s finally allowed to soften a little.

Have you tried gua sha or are you curious to? Share your experience or questions in the comments. I’d love to hear!