december-2011

EVENTS /// PROFILES /// GADGETS /// PLACES /// HEALTH /// STYLE
When an extreme cure is
required, call upon these knifewielding
practitioners
More than 2,000 years ago in China,
during the Spring and Autumn Period
and Warring States Period (770 to
221 BC), people who suffered from
‘strange diseases’ — those that
couldn’t be easily cured by traditional
Chinese medicine — would seek help
from Taoist or Buddhist nuns and
monks. The religious practitioners
would treat the sick with dao liao or
knife therapy, according to presentday
knife therapists.
Holding blunt cleavers, one in each
hand, they would gently but fi rmly
massage their patients on their neck,
shoulders, back, stomach, extremities
and even head, with methodic and
steady chopping motions. The belief
was that this more penetrating type
of massage would relieve people of
the toxins making them ill and the
bad energy would be transferred out
of the body through the steel knives.
treatment is still not commonly treatment can feel so relaxed that
SHIH M
seen but, she says, it is growing in they fall asleep.
popularity because of increased
DANIEL
stress in modern society. Now people
seek dao liao to improve blood Knife massages are given at the World Dao Liao
PHOTOGRAPHY:
circulation and digestion, reduce Association’s clinic (tel: +886 (2) 25501133) at No. 97
SUI
stress, ease muscle soreness, and Taipei Underground Mall, near the Y16 exit. The mall is
CINDY
treat insomnia.
connected to the Taipei MRT Station. A 20-minute trial
The practice spread to Japan, but later “Dao liao masters are trained massage costs TW$220 (S$9.15).
WORDS:
022
DISAPPEARING
ASIA
CUTTING EDGE
THERAPY
TOP/RIGHT: It
is believed that
bad energy is
transferred out of
the body through
the steel knives;
dao liao masters
are trained for at
least half a year
died out during the Han dynasties
(206 BC to 220 AD).
But in recent years, it has been
revived in Taiwan. According to Wu
Wei-chuan of the World Dao Liao
Association in Taipei, there are some
800 knife therapists in Taiwan. The
for half a year to three and a half
years. They know which part of the
body to hit and how much strength
they should use. And they must be
vegetarians to bring good karma to
their clients,” says Wu. Despite how
alarming it can look, people getting