the most UNDERRATED gua sha benefit (and 3 ways to access it!)
read time: 3 minutes
Disclaimer: This is not medical advice. This is intended to educate, inspire and support you in your self healing journey. Speak to your functional medicine doctor or holistic psychologist.
Your self care has led you to gua sha…
Hearing about gua sha benefits for reducing puffiness, inflammation, acne, fine lines and wrinkles, and other skin benefits, you’re ready to try it for yourself.
While these are all true (yay!) I’d like to share another layer of gua sha benefits.
You ready?...
*drumroll please*
That’s healing the nervous system! But that’s no surprise to you here!
Rather than talking about what kinds of gua sha stones there best (hint: almost any natural material will do, stay away from plastic gua shas por favor)...
I wanted to explore gua sha from the perspective of the nervous system.
Stephanie working with gua sha on the jaw
Gua Sha is a lovely somatic therapy practice that supports stress relief and heal your nervous system! How?! Cranial nerves in the face and neck send critical information to the nervous system about safety or danger. Remember the nervous system is ALL about safety and survival, so this is super important!
You’ve probably heard about the vagus nerve, the 10th cranial nerve. All 12 pairs of cranial nerves are essential to your nervous system’s purpose of safety and survival, and therefore help determine if you are stressed or not.
When muscles or fascia in the face and neck are tense, there’s a restriction of blood flow, energy, and information through cranial nerves… this sends signals of stress to the nervous system.
By relieving tension from muscles and fascia in the face through gua sha (or a different form of myofascial release like tapping/EFT), we can support sending more messages of safety in the bodymind (aka nervous system).
where to gua sha for nervous system benefits:
1 — side of the neck
It’s important to establish an open channel for lymphatic drainage from the face so I ALWAYS start with the neck on both sides.
The side of the neck that starts under the ear near the jaw and runs to the collarbone and sternum is called the sternocleidomastoid muscle (SCM) which is one of only 2 muscles in the body that is innervated by a cranial nerve (as opposed to spinal nerve)!
The neck supports us in observing whats around us, looking at different angles, having a wider perspective, being comfortable with our surroundings and where we are at in our lives.
With the gua sha: start under the ear where the head and neck meet, sweep down. Make micro adjustments and notice any particular areas of tension.
2 — eyebrows
The inner eyebrow, where it connects to the top of the nose holds a lot of tension.
You’ve undoubtedly rubbed your eyebrow when you’ve been under a lot of stress and pressure.
With the gua sha: you can apply steady gentle pressure or make small circles at the inner eyebrow, and/or you can sweep the length of your eyebrow/brow ridge.
3 — jaw
The jaw also holds a lot of tension from all the times we “grin our teeth and bare it” or we “bite our tongue” to hold back something we need to say.
With the gua sha: you can start at the chin and sweep to the jaw and you can start at the eyebrow and sweep down the side of the face, jaw, and down the neck.
Other ways of releasing tension from the jaw: open and close jaw/yawn, move lower jaw from side to side or make half circles, massage your jaw with your fingertips.
Our intention is very powerful, so now you can layer on the intention of nervous system healing while reducing fine lines and wrinkles - YES PLEASE!
Do you currently practice gua sha? Have any questions? Comment below!
infinite health & growth,
Stephanie
