Wednesday, October 15, 2008

CUPPING - a whole new experience - kinda crazy, kinda cool

So ... friends ... I had a new experience at my acupuncture appointment yesterday: CUPPING.

Heard of it? You may have read, earlier this year, that Gwyneth Paltrow caused a stir at a New York film premiere when she appeared in a low cut top revealing a back covered in large circular bruises. At first glance they looked like large love bites, but in fact they were caused by a form of alternative therapy. Gwyneth had cupping, a kind of acupuncture.


There are two ways to do this - one involves placing heated cups over the skin to encourage blood flow and ease stress, aches and pains. The other, which is the kind I had done, involves a valve that turns until the air is suctioned out of the glass cup, leaving a vacuum seal against your skin.


SO ... what is cupping? Cupping has been practised for thousands of years for the treatment of disease and pain. Here's a link to a good article, complete with a video clip, that paints a good picture: http://www.mindbodysoul.tv/episodes/episode-five/cupping/


But if you want to see what I looked like a couple hours after my cupping yesterday, here you go:

Ingrid, my acupuncturist, told me that I better remember to tell Mark what I had done the minute he gets home - she's had patients go home & forget to mention it, and their spouses thought they had hickeys !!! (those would be some giant hickeys, though, wouldn't they?!)

For anyone who thinks I am a big baby -- here's proof that I can TAKE IT with the best of you! LOL ...

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