Cupping
Cupping therapy dates back to thousand years ago when ancient Chinese used hollow bamboo cups and a fire to create a suction force on the skin to eliminate bad qi (energy) or stagnant blood. This traditional healing technique then spread to Middle East and Eastern Europe in the last centuries, where they use glass cups instead of bamboo ones.
In modern practice, practitioners use glass cups of variable sizes with a flame to create a vacuum suction on various positions of our body and trigger off certain therapeutic effects. The main theory behind is opening up the capillaries which contain stagnant blood, and pull them up to the surface, it helps clearing stagnation in the affected area, allowing energy and blood to move more freely, and reduces pain and problems. Practitioners also use vacuum plastic cups which avoid the burning flame, as well as we can control the intensity of the suction force.
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Sometimes we apply aromatherapy oils on the skin and perform sliding cupping, which has a more holistic effect to stimulate qi and blood flow.
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Cupping therapy often leaves some bruise ring marks which indicates a level of blood stagnation within the body. The more stagnation a person has, the darker the bruising is. These bruises eventually do disappear over a period of time, ranging from a few hours to a few days. Unlike normal bruises, there is no pain involved, just the curative effect.
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We suggest clients after cupping therapy not to take a shower within the next 5-6 hours, because the treatment opens the air pores of the skin, and we do not want extra water or dampness to go inside our bodies.