Cupping.

不通這痛,痛則不通

“If there is free flow, there is no pain; if there is lack of free flow, there is pain” - Huang Di Nei Jing

Fire cupping is a technique that uses flame to create a vacuum of suction to draw qi and oxygenated blood flow up to the surface. The cups release the tension of fascia around the muscles to facilitate tissue healing by improving circulation and removing toxins from the muscle layer.  Using the meridians on the back, cupping relaxes the sinew so as to align and reinforce the very structure of the body, an invitation to free flow and no pain.

Conditions treated :

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, stagnation – or the blockage of qi – is the root cause of pain and disease. Both cupping and gua sha increase circulation to activate the body’s self-regulating healing response to restore its flow of qi by opening the channels that carry the energy by way of it meridian systems. These therapies are used to treat:

  • Back and neck pain, sore muscles

  • Anxiety and fatigue

  • Skin disorders, cellulite

  • High blood pressure

  • Fibromyalgia

  • Migraines

  • Arthritis, rheumatism

  • Gastrointestinal disorders

Schedule

Guā Shā .

刮痧

‘scrape away the evils’

This is an opening method, kāi fǎ, that uses intentional friction along the channels and collaterals at the surface level, where the wei qi (the immune system of the body) resides, circulating in the layer between the skin and flesh. Warming in this way produces a temporary inflammation to promote the release of chronic, deeper heat trapped inside by stagnation. It’s the old adage from the TCM classics, ‘use heat to draw out heat, use movement to resolve stagnation’. And with this practice, the body is free to remember how to circulate its qi again.

Sha - reddish purple dark marks that appear as the skin is scraped - indicative of stagnate blood, trapped heat, toxins and pathogenic qi.

Spiritually, this shows the body expelling the baggage it has been holding onto that no longer serves it. Physically the red sha from scraping vents the inflammation held in a tight muscle, allowing it to release the knots that are blocking blood flow and causing pain.

Gua sha is a gentle myofascial technique that focuses on listening and guiding, warming and moving without forcing so the body can readily and effortlessly return to its homeostatic state. This is wú wéi 無為, effortless action.