I'm getting what I asked for.
That feels pretty good, actually.
What am I doing with my life?
In this video, I'm going to be experimenting with an alternative healing practice called fire cupping.
And as I've been researching this fascinating topic, I've learned some pretty interesting things.
Cupping therapy is an ancient form of alternative medicine that has been practiced for thousands of years.
It's widely believed that fire cupping has been passed down from ancient Chinese and Egyptian medicine, and there has been evidence of its practices in many cultures around the world throughout history.
Cupping has been done using cattle horns, bamboo sections, and in more modern times, glass cups.
The suction increases blood flow and it's used to treat a wide variety of problems, from back pain and arthritis to stress, indigestion and even the common cold.
In recent times, this ancient way of healing has gained popularity among athletes and celebrities who use cupping to recover quickly from intense training and other stresses on the body.
I'm so excited to try fire cupping, but before we begin I want to make sure my muscles are relaxed and stretched out.
So I'm going to unwind by practicing another one of my favorite ancient traditions. yoga.
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I'm feeling like my muscles are pretty stretched out now and I'm so ready to go try fire cupping.
We are about to arrive at the clinic for pain and anxiety here in Beverly Hills and I'm really excited, but also getting a little bit nervous.
Since I don't never done this before, i don't really know what to expect, but we're gonna be here quite soon, so it's happening all right.
We're here now definitely getting a little bit anxious, so it's good that they have a treatment for that.
Hi, how are you?
What's bothering you?
So I've traveled a lot, spent a lot of time cooped up on planes, and I work on a laptop all day, so my shoulders are kind of constantly in pain.
So it's majority back pain.
But another thing that I think is unique to this office is that it's also used to treat anxiety.
And I definitely have a lot of anxiety.
It seems to be a trend this year.
A lot of times anxiety presents with the tension of muscles.
So anytime we can relax the muscles and increase blood flow, it's going to help with your blood pressure, your circulation.
And if you can get your body more in balance, oftentimes that'll help calm the mind as well.
So you can kind of think of cupping as an inverse massage.
Instead of pressing down, we're pulling out.
In addition to the relaxation aspect and the orthopedic musculature aspect, we're also detoxifying.
It literally is sucking things out.
And I think a lot of people also, when they hear the fire cupping in particular, think that it's dangerous.
Yes.
How does it work with like the fire versus the suction?
So the fire is not actually near or on your skin.
The fire is used inside the cup to burn off the oxygen.
When the oxygen has been burnt off and we put the cup not with the fire in it, on the skin that creates the suction.
Well, I'm glad to know that there's not going to be fire on my body per se, but I'm excited to get this treatment done for the first time.
So let's get started.
Let's do it.
So we're gonna start with a little oil.
It's just to lubricate the skin so the cups don't pinch.
And so it feels a little bit more comfortable.
Ooh.
And that's your first cup.
Fire cup.
Yeah, it's not too bad.
Oh my God.
You can see it's pretty strong suction though.
It's like so, so much tension, but it also feels pretty good.
Oh, it feels pretty good actually.
It's crazy that they continue to feel like so tense.
How long do you usually leave them on?
So what we'll do is we will leave these on for about 10 minutes.
And then we'll move them around a bit and do what's called running cupping.
So we'll move them along the length of the muscle and get the muscle to.
It'll help to break up some of the scar tissue and loosen up the fascia.
It looks a lot more intense and painful than it actually is.
Fun part about cupping is the sound effects, obviously.
It kind of tickles.
It hurts a little.
It's definitely intense but I like it.
So you see how it's darker here again, up by her shoulders and neck.
That felt so good.
It's like a super intense, like massage yeah, Without me.
You are all set, my dear.
That felt really amazing.
Wow.
I definitely feel less anxious than I was when I got here.
I don't know what I think about this yet.
I'm going to have to check in in a day or two to let you know if I've felt the long-lasting impressions from this treatment.
But for now, it's time to take a nap.
It has now been 48 hours or so since I had my first ever cupping experience.
And overall, I'm very impressed with the way that I've been feeling.
My spine has been feeling almost a bit more in alignment, similar to how I feel after I get a chiropractic adjustment.
The marks on my back are no longer raised, and they've actually been fading so much more quickly than I was anticipating.
They're basically gone already.
They will be gone in another day.
I always go into new experience with a healthy balance of skepticism and open-mindedness.
And overall, I do recommend fire cupping.
I think the way that my cupping practitioner described the practice as a pulling of your muscles to increase blood flow, rather than a pressing down, as typical massages do to your muscles, is where the magic is with this technique.
I do recommend it.
It isn't a life-changing thing.
Whenever you get a treatment done once, it's not gonna change your life.
But I think that incorporating cupping into your weekly routine, as the practitioner suggested, could be helpful for your overall wellbeing, especially if you suffer from back pain pain.
So I hope you guys enjoyed this video.
Definitely let me know what other alternative medicines and practices I should experiment with in the comments.
And if you enjoyed this video, don't forget to subscribe to my channel and I will catch you next week.
