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PREFACE

Why do people get sick? Why aren’t there long-term cures for diseases? Why are there more and more chronic diseases despite continuous medical treatment?

Along with rapid development of medicine nowadays, the rate of incidence and the rate of mortality of various diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, liver diseases, diabetes, and kidney diseases have been rising increasingly. They are related to the changes of the internal and external environments of our bodies. Toxin within our bodies is an important reason for impairing our health and leading to diseases.

What is toxin? It is the substance harmful to human health but cannot be expelled smoothly. It is attached to the tissues and cells of various channels within our bodies. Just like tea stains attached to mugs, it is not easy to be washed off or metabolized, blocking the normal circulation of the vital energy and blood as well as main and collateral channels and resulting in diseases.

Where does toxin come from? Some comes from the body itself. Every day, millions of cells within the human body die and lots of wastes, such as radicals, cholesterol, and lithic acid are generated after the foods are metabolized within the body. They are important sources of the toxin. Some other toxin comes from external environment, such as air pollution, pesticide residues, and chemical medicine, as well as unreasonable diet structure, smoking or excessive alcoholic drinks.

Under normal circumstances, the toxin within the body can be expelled by way of human metabolism. However, too many toxins will lead to accumulation, affecting the circulation of vital energy and blood, interfering with the balance of metabolism, harming the functions of inner organs and speeding up the aging of the human body.

Gua sha is undoubtedly the safest and the most effective way to expel toxin. This is a traditional and natural therapy of Chinese medicine with obvious effects as well as simplicity and convenience. Only a scraping board coupled with lubricants is applied to repeatedly scrape and rub the related acupoints or affected parts, until red spots appear on the skin. These red spots represent the toxin within the body, blocking the circulation of energy and blood and the metabolism of the body. If such toxin cannot be expelled timely, there will be consequently various kinds of diseases, leading to accelerated aging. Therefore, through stimulating the skin, gua sha can trigger off the functions of the self-defense system within the human body, expel the accumulated toxin and clean the internal environment of the human body, enhancing the ability of self-adjustment and the ability of resistance against diseases. Persisting in gua sha is equal to expelling toxin regularly within the human body. This is not only conducive to dealing with chronic diseases, getting rid of physical pain, raising the function of immunity and the ability of resistance against diseases, but also helping people resist aging and beautify themselves.

The health care and detoxifying therapy of gua sha introduced in this book is marked by simplicity, convenience, safety, and flexibility. It is suitable both as an auxiliary physical therapy for patients in the period of recovery and for the daily care of healthy individuals. It is with hope that gua sha therapy can be of great help to your health.