Chinese Knife Massage（刀按摩 dāo ànmó）

Looking for a terrifying experience with great medicinal benefits? An ancient technique practiced over 2,000 years ago, preserved by Buddhist monks and esteemed by Japanese Samurai warriors, may just be what you are looking for. Seeking a nice relaxing massage, you enter a parlor. You sit down and prepare for some physical healing, you look for your masseur and realize that, yes, he is sharpening his meat cleavers. A towel is placed on your back, some tiger balm rubbed into your neck to induce further relaxation and then the large, state of the art, butcher knives start coming down. No, it is not torture. This guy knows what he is doing. He is slicing and dicing your tensions, bettering (interior) blood flow. It’s all about self-cure through the release of qi.

Fire Treatment (火疗 huǒ liáo)

You may be able to guess what setting yourself on fire might be good for. If your guess was the common cold, then you would be correct. Yes, people willingly enter traditional hospitals, have a towel laid on their back, are doused in alcohol and set alight. But the benefits of fire therapy are thought to be many. It is currently being used to combat growing levels of obesity in China. In a traditional Chinese hospital in Changchun, Jilin Province they are literally burning off the fat.

If you prefer to maintain a healthy body free from chemicals (other than those you breath in every day in China) ,then Chinese medicine, with its focus on an au naturel approach may be your perfect remedy, if you can handle it.