Chinese Medecine Class 4.27.09

While looking for classes to take through Arlington County I noticed a free Chinese Medicine class being offered. Stu and I decided to check it out and ended up learning quite a bit. Each week the instructor, who is an acupuncturist and owns her own business (www.heavenlybodiesclinic.com) covered different aspects of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). We learned about Qi, meridians, acupuncture, meridian exercise, food (5 flavor concepts in TCM cooking) and much more.

On the 2nd class she gave each student a GuaSha (pronounced Gwa-sah) treatment which consists of lightly rubbing a tool (which she uses a jar top) over oiled skin in areas where you feel pain. The idea is that it brings all of the pooled blood (which is causing the pain due to the meridian being blocked) to the surface of the skin, which allows the Qi to flow again. I tend to hold all of my stress in my neck/shoulders, so she GuaSha that area on me. I left class looking like Stu had taken a belt sander to my neck and shoulders.... That area was bright red and looked bridued/bleeding. The actual skin did not hurt, just felt a little warm. My skin stayed like this for about 3-4 days, fading each day until it was gone. I didn't feel much different after the treatment, but she did say that this is something that needs to be done consistently in order to reap the benefits.