Oh c'mon, you remember a few years ago when she was spotted in a backless gown with something that looked like crop circles all over her back. Well, that's me. I have crop circles, too. Me and Gwyneth.We cup. We're cuppers. A cupping we will come. Enough.
An ancient Chinese practice, traditional cupping uses fire to heat and create suction in the cups- although my massage therapist uses rubber cups and can adjust the pressure- for fire insurance reasons (and to be honest-that would have totally freaked me out).
When applied to the body, the skin gets sucked into the cup. (I was going to post a pic of that--but it's not pretty- and I'm so glad I can't see my back when my therapist does it- ewww.)
A fresh blood supply rushes up and improves circulation to the area. It's used for breaking up fluid and phlegm stagnation in the lungs--like coughs, bronchitis and pneumonia--as well as for soft tissue congestion, such as with low-back, neck and shoulder pain. That's me!
Cupping therapy has been further developed as a means to open the "meridians" of the body--the conduits through which energy flows through every organ, tissue and body part. There are five meridians on the back that, when opened, allow invigorating energy to travel the whole length of the body (sounds good...and I feel good..so I guess that's good).
How does it feel? It's not painful or unpleasant--but it feels like a deep tissue massage with suction. I freaked out more when I went home and saw the circles--wondering how long they would last and what did I get myself into now?! By the way- Thursday was the massage and by Sunday night- they are almost all gone- thank goodness...
Gwyneth and I are going to go swimming tomorrow and I would have been a bit embarrassed about showing off my back...but she would have loved it.
2 comments:
I want to try this too - sounds very therapeutic, xv.
Hi yes it's one of those therapies whose bark is much worse than it's bite (sorry couldn't think of another metaphor!). The marks look terrible but typically fade within a week or so.
Anyways now that you have had cupping, you can go one-up against Ms Paltrow and try blood-cupping(!)
Again same sort of thing, except you then make some incisions on the marks, and then re-apply the cups to 'suck out' those nasty toxins/ poisons in the body.
For more info, check out our blog on the subject: www.ahealth.co.uk.
Thanks
Shuaib
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