Massage Cupping
What Is Cupping?
Cupping is an ancient Chinese therapy that's based on the belief that certain health problems can be caused by stagnant blood and a poor energy flow through your body. To fix or prevent those health issues, cupping practitioners apply cups - typically glass or silicone - to your skin to create a pressure that sucks your skin inward. The practitioner places the cups on a person's body where they'll either leave the cups in place or slide them around using lotion or oil. Either way, the pressure that the cups create draws blood to the affected area, increasing your blood flow overall. That increased blood flow can relieve muscle tension, improve circulation and reduce inflammation.
The Philosophy Behind Pain & Cupping
"Where there's stagnation, there will be pain. Remove the stagnation, and you remove the pain."
The old Chinese medical maxim holds that pain results from the congestion, stagnation and blockage of Qi, or vital energy, vital fluid, lymph, phlegm and blood. If pain is the essence of disease, then suffering is a result of obstructed or irregular flow in the body. Chinese cupping is therefore a method of breaking up the blockage to restore the body's natural flow of energy.
Generally, cupping is combined with acupuncture in one treatment, but it can also be used alone. The suction and negative pressure provided by cupping can loosen muscles, encourage blood flow, and sedate the nervous system (which makes it an excellent treatment for high blood pressure). Cupping is used to relieve back and neck pains, stiff muscles, anxiety, fatigue, migraines, rheumatism, and even cellulite. For weight loss and cellulite treatments, oil is first applied to the skin, and then the cups are moved up and down the surrounding area. Cupping is one of the best deep-tissue therapies available. It is thought to affect tissues up to four inches deep from the external skin. Toxins can be released, blockages can be cleared, and veins and arteries can be refreshed within these four inches of affected materials. Even hands, wrists, legs, and ankles can be 'cupped,' thus applying the healing to specific organs that correlate with these points.
Other Benefits of Chinese Cupping
This treatment is also valuable for the lungs, and can clear congestion from a common cold or help to control a person's asthma. In fact, respiratory conditions are one of the most common maladies that cupping is used to relieve.
Cupping’s detoxifying effect on skin and circulatory system is also significant, with a visible improvement in skin color after three to five treatments. Cupping removes toxins and improves blood flow through the veins and arteries. Especially useful for athletes is cupping’s potential to relieve muscle spasms.
Cupping also affects the digestive system. A few benefits include an improved metabolism, relief from constipation, a healthy appetite, and stronger digestion.
Ear Coning / Ear Candling
History
Ear candling, a traditional therapy used by the Ancient Greeks, was popularized by the Hopi Indian Tribe of the American South-West. The modern incarnation of the treatment is primarily based on the form used by the Hopi (meaning "Peaceful People") Indians who possess great medicinal knowledge and spirituality. The Hopi Nation are renowned for their extensive healing skills.
The original use of ear candles was for aura and spiritual cleansing for purifying. They were used to cleanse and harmonize the different energy fields of the body. Equally they were also used in initiation rituals and healing ceremonies. The importance and use of ear candles is illustrated in numerous ancient wall paintings including those found within the caves of the Grand Canyon.
Quite different from conventional wax candles, a Hopi Ear Candle is actually a cotton tube, impregnated with beeswax, honey and therapeutic oils, that is painlessly inserted into the ear to draw out impurities and relieve pressure in the head and sinuses.
How it works
Fully dressed the client lies down on their side, with their head supported on a pillow so the auditory canal is vertical. The process involves placing a specially designed hollow candle just inside the ear canal, as far as is comfortable into the ear canal. The candle is then lit and the resulting gentle suction and vacuum draws the wax and impurities from the ear and produces a light suction action. This vacuum is caused by the warmed air from the flame and colder air moving through its hollow center. The movement and compression between the ear canal and the candle chamber generate air flow acting like a chimney. A fire crackling sound may be heard and possibly some gentle popping. The rising air gently massages the ear drum and helps to regulate ear pressure. A small amount of ear wax is also removed during the treatment.
Who it benefits
Ear Candles can benefit conditions affecting the head and ears such as sinus congestion, ear noises and excessive earwax. The rising air through the column of the candle and gentle natural movement of the flame serve to gently massage the ear drum. This has an immediate subjective effect of regulating ear pressure. Users often describe a soothing, light sensation in the ear/head area and a general calming, relaxing effect.
It is often used by people with:
Tinnitus
Sinusitis
Glue ear
Hayfever and rhinitis
Excessive ear wax
Colds
Tension headaches
Stress
Ear candles should not be used if there is any inflammation or infection in the ear and are not suitable for people who have had recent ear surgery or those with ear grommets or tubes, perforated ear drums or allergies to any of the products in the candle.
