Natural remedy for pain & tensionCupping therapy is a powerful technique that unblocks stagnant energy and balances overstimulated pathways in the body which are causing you pain or physiological “dis-ease”.
What is cupping therapy?
Cupping therapy is an very old healing technique that dates back to the ancient Egyptians, Chinese and Indians. It is considered to be one of the oldest and most globally practiced healing arts
Cupping is the term applied to a technique that uses small glass cups as suction devices that are placed on the ski to disperse and break up stagnation and congestion in the channels by drawing congested blood and energy to the surface. It is the inverse of massage therapy as the suction creates a negative pressure on a muscles.
Cupping can be used to alleviate a number of conditions, including sciatica, TMJ (tight jaw), persistent cough, sports injuries, edema (swelling) and water retention, abdominal issues, scar tissue, neck pain, chronic pain, and a feeling of “stuckness” or “stagnation”.
There are two ways that I create suction in the cups:
Different cupping techniques
Fire Cupping
Suction is created by placing an inverted cup over a small flame and then quickly but gently placing this on the affected area of the body. This type of cupping is fantastic for releasing muscular tension but also to help aid symptoms of chronic illness, fatigue and low immune system. This cups are left stationary over specific acupuncture points to help draw out pathogens, stagnation or nourish that point deeply where you are deplete.
Flames are never used near the skin but simply used as a means to create the heat that causes the suction within the small cups.
You will be left with the typical round cupping bruises that you see on celebrities and athletes which are not painful and should disappear in a few days.
Gliding Cupping
This is such a treat for those people that hold a lot of tension in their neck and shoulders or who regularly hunch over a desk at work. By using plastic cups and some essential oil infused massage oil, the cups can be gently moved across the skin.
The suction in the cups causes the skin, fascia and superficial muscle layer to be lightly drawn into the cup releasing any tension or stagnation in the channels of the body.
Side effects
The side effects of cupping are fairly mild. Bruising should be expected, but skin should return to looking normal within 10 days.
“Where there’s stagnation, there will be pain. Remove the stagnation, and you remove the pain.”
The old Chinese medical maxim holds that pain results from the congestion, stagnation, and blockage of Qi, or vital energy, vital fluids, lymph, phlegm, and blood. If pain is the essence of disease, then suffering is a result of obstructed or irregular flow in the body. Chinese cupping is therefore a method of breaking up the blockage to restore the body’s natural flow of energy.
Cupping therapy + Acupuncture
The benefits of a combined treatment
Generally, cupping is combined with acupuncture in one treatment, but it can also be used alone. The suction and negative pressure provided by cupping can loosen muscles, encourage blood flow, and sedate the nervous system (which makes it an excellent treatment for high blood pressure).
Cupping is used to relieve back and neck pains, stiff muscles, anxiety, fatigue, migraines, rheumatism, and even cellulite. For weight loss and cellulite treatments, oil is first applied to the skin, and then the cups are moved up and down the surrounding area.
Like acupuncture, cupping follows the lines of the meridians. There are five meridian lines on the back, and these are where the cups are usually placed. Using these points, cupping can help to align and relax qi, as well as target more specific maladies. By targeting the meridian channels, cupping strives to ‘open’ these channels – the paths through which life energy flows freely throughout the body, through all tissues and organs, thus providing a smoother and more free-flowing qi (life force).
Cupping is one of the best deep-tissue therapies available. It is thought to affect tissues up to four inches deep from the external skin. Toxins can be released, blockages can be cleared, and veins and arteries can be refreshed within these four inches of affected materials. Even hands, wrists, legs, and ankles can be ‘cupped,’ thus applying the healing to specific organs that correlate with these points.
About Kimberley
Kimberley, Acupuncturist and Clinic Director at Life + Lemons, is a registered TCM (Traditional Chinese Medical) Acupuncturist, passionate about helping women reclaim their feminine edge. After graduating with a First Class Honors in York, she has undertaken specialist training in the area of pain management, natural conception, IVF support, menopause + pelvic pain (endometriosis/dysmenorrhea).
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