Cupping is an ancient Chinese Medicine method used to stimulate an acupoint or meridian. A partial vacuum is created in cups placed on the skin either by using heat or suction.
Traditional Chinese medicine brings to mind Chinese acupuncture and the use of natural herbs as healing remedies. Cupping is a lesser-known treatment that is also part of Oriental medicine, one that can provide an especially pleasant experience. One of the earliest documentations of cupping can be found in the work titled A Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies, which was written by a Taoist herbalist by the name of Ge Hong and which dates all the way back to 300 AD.
Cupping is kind of like to opposite of massage – rather than applying pressure to muscles, it uses gentle pressure to pull them upward. For most patients, this is a particularly relaxing and relieving sensation.
Once suctioned, the cups are generally left in place for about ten minutes while the patient relaxes. This is similar to the practice of Tui Na, a traditional Chinese medicine massage technique that targets acupuncture points as well as painful body parts, and is well known to provide relief through pressure.
Generally, cupping is combined with acupuncture in one treatment, but it can also be used alone.
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).
Please call us on 03 9486 5966 if you’d like to have some Cupping therapy.
And here’s some more information:
Dharmananda, Subhuti. http://www.itmonline.org/arts/cupping
History of Chinese Cupping
http://www.chinesecupping.net/history_of_chinese_cupping.html
3. Joswick, Diane, Cupping: How Gwyneth Paltrow Got Her Spots, Acufinder.com.
