WELLNESS AUTHOR
Isabel Meijering
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CUPPING THERAPY n This month, local acupuncturist Isabel Meijering answers all of your cupping questions from pain to color and frequency.
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f you’ve been curious about this wellness modality, you’ve come to the right place. Cupping is a great modality for both chronic pain and anxiety. No matter what kind of cup you choose to use (and there are many), each one will pull up on hundreds of nerve endings, creating a sedating effect on your nervous system. When you think about muscles and nerves alike, they really only do two things: muscles can tighten or loosen, while nerves can be more stimulated or less stimulated. So, when muscles are having a difficult time loosening on their own through stretching or other techniques, a better approach might include adding tension by applying a cup with negative pressure over the affected muscle group. In this way, you loosen by tightening. At this point, the muscles are aware of the great deal of tension and stagnation they have been holding. It’s as if your muscles have an “ah-ha” moment. This practice of loosening by tightening is deeply rooted in yin and yang theory; you cannot have one without the other and they exist together.
JULY 2021
What is cupping?
All kinds of waste can get stuck in our muscles and fascia layers, including toxins from air pollution, food and chemicals as well as hormones, processed sugar and other parts of food our bodies were never meant to process and digest. The cups increase blood flow by stimulating the capillary vessels and creating a suction that allows for the toxins listed above to be brought to the surface and processed through the lymphatic system. Cupping improves circulation and movement of the lymphatic system and dramatically improves metabolic processes, which keeps improving with each subsequent treatment and is wonderful for muscle recovery. Our nervous system, specifically, is impacted
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