A Cup or Two for Good Health

Cupping Massage

Cupping is a technique used in remedial massage that has been around for centuries and I am only now cottoning on to this!  Recently, a colleague from work mentioned she was having cupping done and I was instantly intrigued.  Up until I met my now massage therapist Donna, I was the face of constant back pain – relief just seemed like an unachievable dream.

So what is cupping you may ask?  Cupping begins with either a rubber cup or glass cup heated by flame and suctioned onto the skin’s surface.  The aim of this method is to relax the muscle in order to achieve maximum results in a short period of time.  The results can be likened to a deep tissue massage, the only difference being the results are achieved in half the time and half the pain.

Cupping works by suctioning the muscle, releasing toxins and other built-up bad things.  This in turn relaxes the muscle and its fibres and well, relaxing is kind of an understatement.  It’s like your entire world is orbiting in this happy place without a care in the world.  The effects – the deepest and purest sleep of your life and really, as if that isn’t reason enough to want to try it.

The process of cupping can be traced back for centuries.  It’s hertiage lays within both Western and Eastern traditions, but is widely known for being a traditional Chinese medicine.  When you were young, you may remember your grandmother or mother cupping your back with their hand to relieve the pressure in your chest – a process of shifting the cold or flu.  The suctioning technique has also produced what we now know today as the breast pump.

Of course, cupping wouldn’t be complete without good old fashioned celebrity endorsement.  Sure, cupping has found itself among the list of celebrity fads, but extreme yoga, the baby food diet and smoking Salvia have a separate place from cupping within society – in a box of tried once, didn’t work, let’s move on.

If anyone reading this is intrigued by the powers of cupping please try it!  I’m the sort of person who is big on recommendations, particularly with alternative therapies, so I wouldn’t be preaching if I didn’t believe in it’s worth.  Donna really had her work cut out for her when we first met and I’m not just saying that because my pain is worse than that of anyone else.  I experience pain on daily basis, namely because of, what shall we call it, ah yes, a lovely flower known as arthritis.  So, I can vouch for the results one can experience suffering from this condition.  For me, this includes a reduction in painkillers and the ability to actually exercise.  Two big ticks in my book.

I really think there is something so deeply satisfying about cupping, separate from how deep it really works! Somehow my body knows when it’s due for my next session - it gets excited like a kid in a candy store.

Cupping, you might just find it to be your new best friend.

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For more information on cupping or to get in contact with my massage therapist Donna, please click here.

A Communication student at the University of Newcastle, Kathleen has a true passion for Public Relations and Marketing, a passion that has cultivated over the years and turned into an obsession. Kathleen thinks of herself as a dream chaser, stopping at nothing to achieve her goals. She loves to travel and spent a year living and working in Brighton, England. Her most random job includes working on a cotton farm!

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