00:00Cupping is definitely a very different type of manual therapy.
00:05This is all about bringing up and out the energy of the body,
00:08bringing heat and blood circulation,
00:11and allowing the body to naturally detoxify
00:13by releasing all that deep stuff we keep in the crevices of our body.
00:20I'm KP, and today I'm getting the cupping procedure done.
00:23So I've wanted to get cupping done for some time now.
00:26I struggle with migraines and tensions in my shoulders and my neck.
00:28I get migraines so often to the point where I don't realize I'm having one
00:32until I don't have it anymore.
00:33So I've actually been to my nutritionist about my migraines
00:36because I thought it was about the food I was eating,
00:38so I've tried different diets.
00:39I also tried taking out caffeine from my diet,
00:42which is really hard to do because I start my days at 5.30.
00:45I've tried a lot of different things,
00:47and nothing really seems to alleviate the pain or the pressures.
00:50I'm hoping that this treatment will change my outlook on life for a positive way.
00:54I'm Mona Dan, founder of V Healing and Practicing Acupuncturist,
00:58located in Los Angeles.
01:00I always had a deep passion for Chinese medicine
01:02and almost like philosophy in medicine,
01:04how we affect the world, how the world affects us.
01:07So when I first started my program,
01:09everyone was kind of like, what are you doing?
01:11Why are you wasting your time on this type of thing?
01:13Like, no one's going to accept it.
01:15In California, we are considered primary care physicians.
01:17It's a four and a half year program.
01:19We really have real hands-on training with patients dealing with real issues.
01:25What cupping does, and what it is, is a suction therapy.
01:29Like, you can get a deep tissue massage, but the body's going internal.
01:32With cupping therapy, the body is kind of releasing what's held deep within the crevices of the muscles,
01:39the skin layer, the ligaments and the tissues, and forcing it to come up and out.
01:44I'm like, petrified of the little hickeys or bruises that they leave on the back of your neck and shoulders.
01:50And I'm honestly just fearful that with the sun, they won't fade away and I'll have them forever.
01:54Welcome to your first cupping session.
01:57Of course. So today, I'm going to have you undress.
02:00You're going to keep your underwear on, but just make sure you remove everything from the top portion of your
02:04body.
02:04You're going to go under and face down. Do you have any questions?
02:07I just have a question about, like, aftercare. Is there anything I have to do after the procedure?
02:12So all we recommend is to just keep your back warm because you're going to have a lot of blood
02:15circulation.
02:16But no, other than that, you're all set to go.
02:19Okay, awesome.
02:20Yeah, great.
02:22No, I don't think I'm nervous. I'm kind of excited to try something new.
02:25I'm only worried that it'll add pain to me and not alleviate the pain.
02:31I'm afraid of the use of fire on my body.
02:35Because we're using actual fire with the cupping therapy, the fire brings a deep level of heat
02:41that helps open up the capillaries even faster.
02:44So the patient will feel a sudden surge of release as soon as the heat and the suction hit her
02:51body.
02:53Oh, that's a wild feeling.
02:58Right now, we're going to start by focusing more on her shoulders and her neck,
03:02the area that she was most sensitive.
03:05First, I'm going to take the cotton ball, soak it in some alcohol, light them on fire,
03:11and gently glide that fire into the cup above the body.
03:16The body is going to be nicely coated in oil.
03:20Once you put the cup down, you see the skin tighten and kind of go deeply into the cup.
03:26What's happening here is the pores start opening and you get a nice deep detox and deep blood circulation.
03:33If you look closely, you see a level of fogginess within the cup and that's what is getting released,
03:39one, by the alcohol and the heat, but also when the pores open, you have a release of energy and
03:46that gets trapped in the cup.
03:49And once we remove the cups, you'll see within the pores, it looks like a little layer of sweat and
03:55that's the body's natural detoxification.
03:58To give KP a really nice nervous system reset, I'm going to start by putting the cups on the mid
04:05part of her back,
04:06not focusing directly first on the areas of pain.
04:08That way, when the cups go directly on the area of tension, she's going to already be relaxed
04:14and the musculature will nicely go into the cups and allow for that deep penetration.
04:20And then once the cups have nicely sucked in the skin, at that point, we'll slowly do some moving cupping,
04:27really feeling what's under the skin and kind of move in the areas that we feel more tension,
04:32keeping the cups there again.
04:36After we're done, we're going to do some quick, fast flash cupping.
04:43Flash cupping is a nice way to get a deep penetration quick and kind of give the body a little
04:49bit of a shock.
04:50If you notice, in this spot and on this spot, the cup marks are a little bit darker
04:55and this is probably because there's more stagnation under the skin layer in the musculature
05:00and what happens here is that there might just be some extra overuse of these muscles
05:06and they just need a little more love and attention.
05:10And now Kayfi is going to see how her cup marks look.
05:13Oh wow, that's wild.
05:16So the marks will last for however long your body kind of starts processing everything.
05:21It really depends on your blood flow. If you run cold, they might last a little longer.
05:25If your blood flow is really good, they might heal within three or four days.
05:28But just keep an eye out. All of it is information.
05:31I'm going to put a little bit of aftercare. It's a sesame oil cream.
05:35So I don't really bruise or get red often. So I've never seen actual bruises on me.
05:41So seeing the marks was like, oh wow.
05:44When you do the ones on the top, it felt like I had like a crazy itch that I couldn't
05:49like figure out where it was.
05:50Oh really?
05:50And then you like got the spine. I was like, don't look.
05:53It was perfect.
05:54It could be a history match.
05:55Yeah.
05:56It's definitely warmer than you would think it is.
05:58I thought it was going to be more of like dipping into a hot bath,
06:01but it's definitely a warm fire sensation on your back.
06:05It's not a bad pain, but if I had a lower pain tolerance, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it.
06:10I love seeing patients the first time after cupping sessions or acupuncture
06:14because it's like such a shock to the nervous system.
06:16I feel really good. Mostly in my shoulder area, I felt was super tight and I won't say it's like
06:22completely loose,
06:23but it's definitely more of a relaxed feeling.
06:25If I could rate my relaxation on a scale of one to ten, ten being the most relaxed,
06:29I'd probably say I'm like a 7.5.
06:31So KP was phenomenal. I just want to hear back from her to see how she responds to the bruising
06:37marks.
06:37So Mona told me that aftercare is really important and I want to make sure I'm doing the best I
06:41can to take care of my body after this.
06:43So I'm just going to make sure that I'm keeping my back covered with not something that's too thick,
06:47but something that'll keep my back warm and isn't exposed to the sun.
06:50I don't want to put heat on my back any more than it was already on today.
06:53So I'm just going to make sure I'm hydrating, wearing something warm on my back and just staying out of
06:58the sun.
06:59If you're feeling good after your sessions with Chinese medicine, I wouldn't allow your body to kind of get to
07:05that area of pain again.
07:06I would highly suggest coming in at least a week later to keep the momentum going.
07:11My favorite quote that I always say to everyone is people go work out at the gym all the time,
07:17but there is no nervous system workout.
07:19But Chinese medicine gives you that nervous system workout and it should be done at least once a week.
07:23Mona was really great. She was super sweet and she communicated really well, which I appreciate.
07:28I will 100% go back. I think it'll be more of a like a monthly treat when I've had
07:33a really rough week or something.
07:34But I'm open to coming back. It feels really good.
07:37And I feel really clear like I can just take on the day right now. Carpe diem vibes.
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