Amazing Chinese Cupping

My first cupping experience came with a shiatsu massage from a terrific Japanese practitioner in Toowong, Brisbane. Her name is Meiki Araki. She has the shiatsu yoga studio on Jephson street. She doesn't speak a lot of English, and I was pretty excited the first time I rang to book and there was a Japanese voice on the phone. My thoughts, "The real thing". As a massage therapist, I get the usual shoulder, elbow and hand irritations that come with doing too much in the busy times of the year. My right shoulder was feeling pretty awful.

She came to the hotel I was staying with my young daughter. The treatment she gave me was memorable, in that it was quite different to any massage I'd had before. Meiki completed my experience with Cupping therapy. At first I didn't know what I'd let myself in for, but I love trying all kinds of massage and this was a new experience. It hurt a bit, not painful, but a pinchy feeling. She used glass cups with a suction device to create a vacuum in each vessel. It took about 7 minutes to put the cups on and they stayed on for about 10minutes. By the end of the 10 minutes, they had lost their pinch, replaced by a very warm feeling.

The most amazing the distinct detensioning of the back and shoulders when the cups are released. It feels unreal. But even more to my amazement was that the shoulder pain was gone,

completely gone. At that point I made a committment to myself

to learn this amazing technique.

I get the same sort of feedback from my clients when I use it on their injuries. It is a great enhancement to any massage treatment. It works really well with shoulder and neck pain, and also with lower back pain. Probably the most thankful of my clients was a triathlete who injured his knee only days before leaving Norfolk Island to compete. Cupping to his Ilio-tibial band (the side of the thigh) released his knee instantly. Injury gone.

Cupping therapy has its origins in oriental medicine and has been practised for thousands of years. The cups were traditionally bamboo (readily available), then glass. The vacuum was created using flame to remove oxygen from the cup and then quickly applied to the body. The cups are applied along the meridians of the body, like acupuncture, or concentrated around areas of tension and pain. The red marks (not bruises) are more noticeable in areas of muscle tension and poor circulation and can remain visible for a couple of weeks. Cupping increases circulation, removes toxins and restores Qi (energy pathways) of the body. If you would like any further information about Chinese Cupping, contact me.

Massage Norfolk Island

I started this blog initially with the idea of promoting my massage business and its activities as a kind of cyberspace word of mouth, but in doing so I felt that the whole of Norfolk contributes so much to people's ability to chill out, relax, think clearly, gain new directions....which I couldn't contain within my business, so I called my Blog Norfolk Island Calm instead.

Today I would like to introduce my business, Therapeutic and Relaxation Massage. It is my business and I have 2, sometimes 3 part-time staff and we offer treatment options from 30mins to half day retreats. Between the 3 of us you can chose from relaxation massage, including Swedish massage which is the nice nurturing massage that you receive when you go to a beauticians. I love this type of massage. I find that my "all sorts massage" technique still holds some of the great Swedish massage techniques such as the figure 8 to the lower back, that everyone receives when they come for a treatment.

My tertiary training is in sports science with a particular interest in sports medicine and functional anatomy, so my initial foray into massage was through sports training with an emphasis on treating sports injuries and injury rehabilitation, so Therapeutic/Remedial Massage is where most of my client base comes from. After more than a thousand bodies have been on my massage table, I have now developed proven techniques for treating sciatica, pinched nerves, frozen shoulder, stiff neck, tennis elbow, lower back pain and migraine.

5 years ago on Norfolk we were lucky enough to have a Shiatsu teacher living on the island who ran an introductory Shiatsu course. The benefits of Shiatsu are really profound. When I started the first week of the 10 week course, I had difficulty bending my right knee following collateral ligament damage in 1998. By the end of the first session, I could sit back on my heels (albeit not very comfortably!) and by the end of the 10 weeks I could sit comfortably on my heels for a reasonable amount of time. In giving Shiatsu, it is necessary to sit back on your heels and I can still do this.

The Shiatsu course happen to coincide with a particularly stressful time for my family. My nephew was born 11 weeks premi. I was stressed for my twin sister, dizzy almost to the point of fainting. I found the Shiatsu course very grounding. It got me out of my head and much less stressed. Something about the movements to the hands and feet. I highly recommend Shiatsu for anyone who suffers depression or anxiety.

2 of my part-timers have completed massage courses with the Brandon Raynor School of Therapeutic Massage. The Raynor technique is a deep tissue technique with some very effective movements. For more information on this technique, try googling Brandon Raynor Massage and his dedicated site will give you lots of information. When I'm in the particularly busy time of the year I have a weekly Raynor massage from George and it gets rid of all the built up tension and soreness from doing too much.

My other part-timer, Lorraine, does Chinese Acupressure, but she also does beautiful relaxation massage as well. Chinese Acupressure works on improving the overall wellness and Chi of the body, by opening up the energy flow around the body and promoting the healing response of the body. Like Shiatsu it works with the meridians of the body that are the basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Lorraine is also an amazing Tai Chi instructor and watching her metamorphisis (hope that's correct spelling) into a sagelike being at the front of the Tai Chi class is something to behold and I find her awe-inspiring at this point. It's like she's been born to it. Maybe a past life thing.

Last year, I made a point of doing some more training and came home from a few weeks of intensive workshops with new skills under my belt. Chinese cupping being one. I have yet to find anything like cupping that can immediately remove RSI type impingements. Cups to the back of the shoulder that release sore points in the chest. Nothing else that I have experienced can make soft squishy ITB's like cupping can. And its so interesting to perform cupping and see what happens!

But I guess, the most exciting thing that I added to my bow last year was the training that I did with USPA trainer, Ann George, at her clinic Perfect Scents Therapies, in Port Macquarie. I learnt the unbelievably decadent Javanese Lulur Ritual. 2.5hours of total pampering! I also learn to do wraps, exfoliations and facials using the natural plant product range of skin and body care from Melbourne based company USPA. The USPA signature treatments, all of them, are like embarking on a sensory journey. The products smell so fresh and beautiful. Each unique in its fragrance, texture and function. Google USPA or Perfect Scents Therapies for more on these products. I'm going to finish here, but will expand on some of these other therapies another time. If you are coming to Norfolk and would like to book any of these treatments, send me an e-mail or contact me on the blogspot. Cheers!