What is Cupping?
If you are following along on Instagram, then you know we are at the tail end of a 5-day fitness challenge that Maggie Gorges and I put together. In today’s challenge email, I spoke a little about recovery and all the gadgets, tricks, and tips that I have learned from Carey over the years. One of the items I shared was the cupping set that we love! I realize not everyone knows a lot about cupping, so today I am reshaping my cupping blog post from a few years ago. If you have not tried cupping, you really should give it a go. You can find sets on Amazon that are very inexpensive.
What is Cupping?
Cupping is a form of therapy that people use to treat pain and inflammation while increasing blood flow, and relaxation. Some even believe that it removes toxins from the body and works well to relieve symptoms of the flu, colds, a cough, poor circulation, anxiety, red itchy skin conditions, allergies, or fevers.
In our house, we use silicone cups (bought from Amazon) for many reasons. Carey uses them regularly to keep his body feeling good, to help with sore muscles, injuries, circulation, and inflammation. I use it when I have sore muscles, but I also use the cups for beauty treatments! You can try out cupping to help with weight loss and cellulite reduction. For more about that you check out this link.
You can also do face cupping, which is what I do! Face cupping helps with anti-aging and leaves your skin looking healthy and fresh. I found a great article from Vouge online that talks more about it, "The process of gently, manually sucking up sections of the face improves skin circulation, encourages lymph drainage, tones tissue that is flaccid, and relaxes tightness. It increases the diffusion and receptivity of skin cell nutrients, stimulates collagen and elastin, and restores new skin tissue.” A lot of spas offer this service and it is recommended that you get it done professionally, “A skilled practitioner understands facial anatomy and the pathways of the lymph system. Deep relaxation is also hard to achieve when you’re doing it to yourself.”
With that said, I watched a few YouTube videos and I do it myself. I feel like I see results. It is important to go lighter on your face, because you want to avoid bruising, but I have never had a problem. I will do it when I think about it or have time, maybe once a week for a few weeks at a time. When I do it, I notice that my skin is tighter, has more color, and is plumper (fine lines are harder to see). I will even use it on my lips to plump them up a little. If you are going to try it at home, make sure to take some time and watch a few videos on YouTube, so you have a general idea of what to do and how to do it safely.
This is the cupping kit we have. I keep the smallest one in the bathroom to use on my face. They do sell smaller cups specifically for your face but I find using the one I have gets the job done, I just make sure not to apply too much suction. The results I get are really great and I know you’ll love it just as much as I do!
Much Love,
