Cupping

Confession. When I’m sick, I’m totally one of those woe is me, I’m just dying – but don’t worry about me I’m fine types of people. Maybe it’s because I’m a tad dramatic. Or maybe because I’m not the biggest fan of visiting the doctor. But most likely because I’m a tad dramatic. Like a few weeks ago, for example, I got a massive headache. One of those headaches where you can pinpoint the exact location of pain. For me, it was behind my left eye and at the base of my skull. Like my brain was cramping and my eyeball was retracting into my head. So naturally, instead of taking ibuprofen or something, I called my mom in hysterics because a brain tumor had emerged inside my skull over the course of .65 seconds and I wanted to tell her I loved her because I was certain this was the end. She suggested Excedrin migraine, I opted for cupping. You guys, sometimes I don’t even know. Cupping is an ancient Chinese form of alternative medicine, and apparently I’m in to that type of thing? (Remember when I tried acupuncture?)

Yeah, so cupping, as I’ve come to understand it through Wikipedia, is where glass balls – err cups – are placed down your back, on either side of your spine. A little vacuum sucks the air out, creating a suction cup on your back – thus drawing blood flow to the area. This makes sense to me, as the spine is your central nervous system and increased circulation would promote healing and health throughout your internal organs and the rest of your body. Seems simple enough. Now, as for this suction action pulling toxins out of your body through your skin part, I’m not quite sold. But these cups did leave gnarly hickies down my back. Hickies that I proudly sported to yoga the next morning in an attempt to look more zen and worldly, obviously. The picture to the right was taken a few hours after my appointment when they were more like welts. Then they developed into weird spotted bruises, and finally faded away entirely over the course of a few days. And I haven’t had a headache since. With cups applied at the base of my neck and shoulders, the suction drew blood to the area and my muscles instantly started to relax, almost like a little ripple across my back. No joke, like my muscles siiiighed. I could literally feel my shoulders drop out of my ears and my neck grew at least 17 inches. Okay, so maybe not literally. But maybe it’s not a brain tumor after all?