Sunday, November 16, 2008

Cupping

The other day we allowed our friend Siew Hong to take us to the spa for the traditional Chinese health remedy of cupping. Sounds fun doesn't it?

Cupping is supposed to be a great way to help remove toxins from your body and apparently fix a whole list of other ailments. Basically, it's just a bunch of cups stuck to your back with a slight vacuum so that it pulls your skin up into the cup, this leaves some nice marks on your back that they tell you will take about a week to fade away.

Me having the first round of cups removed.Tina with the first round of cups on her back.
Tina getting her second round of cups added to her back.
Me getting my second round of cups.

So they tell you that the darker red the spots are the more toxins that are in your body. Tina was the healthiest of the three of us. The girl told us that was probably because Tina is always doing the TaiChi and that helps to keep the body clean.

It's nice, a little painful at points but nothing worse then a deep massage. It's relatively quick taking only about 30 minutes and inexpensive at 30元 (4.50 USD), and you do actually feel better once it's finished.
Yep, that's how unhealthy I am.

And for added fun you get a video of the cupping process.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You guys are crazy. . .
And I thought the foot massage was over the top as far as pain!
IF we are ever over there again and had to choose. . . we would take the painful foot massage :0(

Mark said...

There really isn't that much pain with the cupping, it just feels a little tight when it first pulls the skin up into the cup.

The second round on my side hurt a little, but I'd gladly do the cupping again before going for another foot massage.

Anonymous said...

I will want to see your back when you are home in December before I believe you that the foot massage is more painful. I think you are "marked" for life!