What is Cupping and How Can it Help Me? 

Cupping has been used in many healing traditions across the world, and by families over many generations. What was once a bamboo cup is now plastic, glass but can still be bamboo. Gwenyth Paltrow made a splash by showing off her cup marks at an event years ago. Do you remember that?

Cupping can be used for general muscle tension and to relax, but that isn't all it can do. Cupping, done correctly, can help chronic pain and dramatically reduce the number of treatments needed to be pain free.

What Is Cupping?

Cups are placed on the area of pain or tension. The air in the cup is then removed either with a flame or suction. If a flame is used, it's then placed on the targeted body area. If a vacuum pump is used, it's place on the body and then the suction pump is used to remove the air and create a vacuum.

What happens next? The toxins and cellular waste trapped in the muscle tissue is brought to the surface of the skin, where the body can more easily remove it from the body. When there is tension, pain or trauma, it is difficult to promote healing as the cellular waste products can't exit the affected area. With cupping, that cellular waste is not only removed from the area, but new blood flow is brought to the area to assist healing.

The end result? If there is blockage and cellular waste, there is a coloring of the skin. If there is no tension, there will be no discoloration. The more tension and cellular waste, the more color is seen. Sometimes, cupping marks are dark purple. I'm always glad when this happens, as I know my patient will be feeling better soon!

Sometimes you have to see it for yourself. You can move a cup (when olive oil is put on the skin first) from one side of the spine to the other. On one side, there is hard suction, and when moved to the other side, there is almost no suction. There is no tension on the side with no suction. If two cups are left on each side for 10 min, you would see a coloring from light red to dark purple color form on the side with tension and no coloration on the other side.

How Can it Help Me?

Cupping can help speed your recovery from an acute or chronic condition resistant to other treatment modalities. What may take 5+ treatments to heal can be done in 1-2. This is the case with jaw pain, migraines, neck pain, back pain, hip pain and many other areas of pain and dis-ease.

If you can handle a little color, you can experience freedom from pain. How does that sound? If you'd like to add cupping to your healing regimen, give me a call; I'd be happy to help.

Yours in Health,

Kara

Kara Sorensen, MS, LAc
Acupuncture by Kara
15066 Los Gatos-Almaden Rd
Suite 200
Los Gatos, CA
e: kara(at)karasorensen.com
p: 408.805.5272 (KARA)
p: 800.514.1406

Trauma and Anxiety Relieved with Self-Applied Acupressure over the Phone

Here is a testimonial from a patient that worked with me over the phone. We did a session for her anxiety, and afterwards, she reported that the anxiety was just gone. Here's how the session was for her:

"I went to Kara for some anxiety issues.  After some very in-depth analysis, she guided me through a process of self-applied acupressure and focus.  Her gentle and non-judgemental guidance really helped me to visualize letting go of some of my anxiety and the trauma that caused it. 

I feel as if I've begun to address the traumatic event through my session with Kara, and am beginning to have a different perspective about it.  The thoughts, feelings and emotions related to it have totally faded.  I feel so much more relaxed and am better able to be in the present, as opposed to constantly reliving these events that contributed to my anxiety.

Kara is gifted and skillful at what she does.  And the fact that this was accomplished all over the phone / computer, is wonderful!!  I love that I could do this from my home and it was a very lovely and comfortable experience.  I can't wait until my next session!!

Thanks Kara, you rock!"

Is Your Anxiety Relatd to Old Trauma?

Oftentimes symptoms of anxiety, pain or allergies can actually be related to old traumatic events that the body has not been able to process and let go. In general, when patients come to me with a long standing problem and other treatments haven't worked, I ask them about their history of trauma. Sometimes there is trauma still locked in the nervous system that is totally forgotten on a mental level, but it's still creating symptoms. Sometimes the patient knows exactly what the trauma is but still can't discharge it. The great thing about Acupressure is that you don't have to know if there's a trauma associated with it, you just focus on the current symptoms and the body remembers and lets go of that past event related to your current symptoms. I've seen it so many times now, that I just trust it now.

So, if you've tried a number of modalities for your chronic symptoms of anxiety, pain, allergies or other health issues, you may just benefit from Acupressure. Questions? Contact me, I'm happy to discuss your concerns.

Yours in Health,

Kara Sorensen, MS, LAc
Acupuncture by Kara
15066 Los Gatos-Almaden Rd
Suite 200
Los Gatos, CA
e: kara(at)karasorensen.com
p: 408.805.5272 (KARA)
p: 800.514.1406