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Thread: Knife Massage

  1. #1
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    Knife Massage

    This needed its own thread from the get go...after all, knives!

    There's a vid behind the link.

    Watch People Get Massages—With Real Knives
    Have no fear, these masseuses are skilled in the dicey art of knife massages.

    THE ART OF KNIFE MASSAGE The practice of dao liao, or knife massage, is rooted in an ancient tradition that dates back more than 2,000 years. Although the practice fell out of favor in China for unknown reasons, the tradition still thrives in Taiwan today.
    By Leslie Nguyen-Okwu

    Amid the healing herb shops of Taipei’s timeworn Dinhua Street, Man Na Lo and Chen Jung Lee beat blades of steel down customers’ spines. The soothing scents of ginseng and goji berries are periodically interrupted by the sounds of loud belching—the women’s attempt to expel the sick chi that is believed to transfer from the client to the therapists during this process.

    Welcome to Taiwan, where massage therapists pummel butcher knives down your back. Don’t fret, the knives are dulled. But if you’re looking for dainty tea tree oils and gentle pampering, this probably isn’t the spa treatment for you. Knife massages, or dao liao, are nothing like your routine rubdown. Instead of firm hands, dao liao therapists wield butcher knives as conductive tools to direct the flow of positive and negative energy in and out of the skin.

    “We’re not a religion. We’re not a science. Our practice is about energy, to help people find their positive chi, to touch their soul,” says Hsiao Mei Fong, who owns the Ancient Art of Knife Therapy Education Center in Taipei. While going under the dao liao knife may look downright violent, these massages can be deeply energizing by stimulating circulation and restoring balance back to the body, Hsiao says.
    Her hour-long massages start at 1,200 Taiwanese dollars, ($40), and are recommended for treating chronic conditions like arthritis and insomnia. Everyone from a one-year-old to a 100-year-old has stopped by her shop for a knife massage.

    Knife massages aren’t a new fad or a masochistic fantasy. The practice of dao liao is rooted in an ancient tradition that dates back more than 2,000 years. According to research out of Taiwan’s Nanhua University, Buddhist monks offered knife massages to the severely ill after more traditional medicinal methods failed to cure them during the Han and Tang Dynasties.

    Although the practice fell out of favor in China for unknown reasons, the uncanny tradition still thrives in Taiwan today. Nowadays, you can find highly trained therapists nestled amongst the narrow alleyways of Dadaocheng, the historic heart of Taipei, tenderizing clients just as monks did in imperial China.

    Thanks to the explosive popularity of acupuncture and the rise of Chinese Nobel Prize Winner Tu Youyou, the rest of the world is also slowly starting to adopt the millennia-long wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine, according to University of Buffalo Professor Yan Liu, a scholar of historical Chinese medicine. While some modern medical models tend to be reductionist and target specific microscopic cells and germs that afflict the body, Chinese medicine takes a holistic approach.

    Practitioners believe that “the life force that not only circulates in the body but also permeates throughout the cosmos,” Liu explains. “Chinese medicine is a big treasure house. We need to take advantage of that.”
    PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 3, 2017

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    Dao liao

    How traditional Chinese knife therapy dao liao massaged my sore muscles and gave me an energy boost
    Available for the first time in Hong Kong at The Mandarin Spa, dao liao, or knife therapy, is a traditional Chinese massage treatment that looks as scary as it sounds – and it’s done by a Frenchman. Kylie Knott has a stab at it

    PUBLISHED : Friday, 20 July, 2018, 9:01am
    UPDATED : Friday, 20 July, 2018, 9:18am
    Kylie Knott
    kylie.knott@scmp.com



    Frenchman Xavier Garnier had spent 20 years immersing himself in China’s ancient culture when he discovered dao liao, or knife therapy, a 2,500-year-old philosophy that taps into the energies of ying and yang.

    In 2011 he took the therapy to France, then to Portugal. Now he has collaborated with the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong’s Central district to offer spa guests the knife treatment – apparently the first time it has been available in the city.

    “It’s quite a strong therapy,” says Garnier in a lush, wood-panelled room of the luxury hotel. “Usually people would be a little scared of the knives, but actually it’s quite soft if you compare it to traditional Chinese massage that can be very painful. When we do the dao liao it’s not painful at all. It has a very holistic affect and will stimulate the circulation of the energy. It will balance all the energies of the body so the affect is even more holistic than traditional massage.

    “If you look at them,” he says holding up the cleavers, “they are like butcher’s knives but actually see here – it is not sharp so you can’t hurt people.”

    Garnier says the knives control the flow of chi, the life force that is the basis of much Chinese philosophy and medicine. While everyone is different, the main benefits are an energy boost from the stimulation of the circulation and lymphatic system, better sleep quality, and deep relaxation of the mind and body.

    Dao liao practitioners believe in the spirit of the knives and bring out their good energy. Photo: Kylie Knott



    The knives might look like the sort of cleavers you’d find at a triad convention but in fact the blades have been dulled – and are even sacred.

    “Even today, there are some masters in Taiwan who will bring some good energy inside the knife and they will also believe in the spirit of the knives,” Garnier says, “It’s also connected to Buddhism and Taoism, so yes there is a spirit, whether you believe it or not, a spirit of the knives. That’s why we have to be very respectful of those tools so before starting the therapy I will do some prayers.”

    I listen to the knives. I don’t think about anything. It’s like a meditation, my mind is empty XAVIER GARNIER
    I took up the offer to go under the knives. After a quick warm up involving some coral and sticks I move onto the massage bed, face down, as Garnier applies ointment containing ginseng and other plants to my hands and feet. A soft blanket is then placed over my entire body, head included, before the knives come out.

    Garnier rhythmically pummels the blades over my head, back, legs and feet. There’s no method in what might seem like madness – Garnier, who enters an almost trancelike state during the treatment, literally goes with the (energy) flow, following the knives across my body, unlocking meridians – energy paths – along the way.

    “I listen to the knives. I don’t think about anything. It’s like a meditation, my mind is empty. The knives, they go to the areas of the body that need bad energy removed.”


    Sticks and coral form part of the knife massage warm-up. Photo:Lea Li

    About 10 minutes into the treatment my mouth is sandpaper dry, my body expelling hot energy, says Garnier, referring to the hot and cold (yin and yang) energies that traditional Chinese medicine philosophy uses to explain how opposite forces are interconnected. While I expected to feel pain, I experience the opposite – the constant thumping actually proves welcome relief for my desk-broken body.


    Garnier at The Mandarin Spa. Photo: Kylie Knott

    I start drifting off to the relaxing music, and to Garnier’s faint words – something about the liver and emotions and blocking them out. Then, feeling like a piece of meat being softly tenderised, my sides are focused upon, finishing with the front of my body, face included – all while under the safe layer of that blanket.

    When the hour-long treatment is over I feel buzzy, and ride the energy wave for the rest of the afternoon.

    The 60-minute dao liao treatment costs HK$1,300 on weekdays and HK$1,380 on weekends. The 90-inute treatment costs HK$1,650 on weekdays and HK$1,780 on weekends. For reservations call The Mandarin Spa on 2825 4888 or email mohkg-spa@mohg.com
    If I said "I listen to the knives" they'd put me away.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  3. #3

  4. #4
    Shoot them in the head. Pronto !!!

  5. #5


    XOXO

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