Cupping
Cupping is the use of a glass cup over specific acupuncture points or certain areas of the body to stimulate qi and blood flow in that area. The fire cup is used by Jean for this purpose. What Jean will do is to ignite a cotton ball on fire, immediately put the cotton ball inside a glass cup and swiftly pull it out. Jean will put the glass cup onto the acupuncture point. The heat from the fired cotton ball will have created a vacuum effect for the glass cup that sucks the skin/acupuncture point up inside the glass. This suction will help reach and stimulate the deep tissues. Sometimes Jean will also use a moving cup technique to move the cup around that acupuncture point to promote better stimulation. Many patients report a relaxed sensation similar to deep tissue massage after the moving cup session.
Also remember that fire will NOT contact your body during any time in cupping. So it is very fun to watch Jean light up the fire and do the magic!
Gua Sha
Gua Sha is another healing modality in Chinese Medicine. Gua in Chinese means “scraping”, Sha in Chinese means “tiny red dots, red papules”. Gua Sha is the use of the gua sha tool to scrape the skin of specific acupuncture points to stimulate better qi and blood flow and also promote the release of a pathogenic factor. When Gua Sha is done properly, the sha (tiny red dots) will appear on your skin. This is a good indication of the release of the pathogenic factor which causes the blockage in a specific body area.
Cupping and Gua Sha will generally leave some cupping marks or “sha” (tiny red dots) on the skin. It will generally get lighter or disappear in 1-3 days. We strongly recommend not exposing those areas to wind and cold after a session to avoid wind/cold invasion.