Moxa and cupping: chinese supplements

Moxa is a Japanese word indicating ‘the burning of ground herbs’: locally warming the skin with dried and crushed leaves of St John’s wort(Mugwort; Artemisia vulgaris). The skin is warmed indirectly. The moxa is placed on a heap of sea salt on the skin, on a slice of ginger root or garlic on the skin or on the acupuncture needle. Furthermore, the moxa can be processed into a sort of (non-smokable) cigar that is kindled and moved to and fro above the skin in order to warm it.

Cupping is an English term for creating a vacuum at the skin surface over an area that can vary from the size of a large coin to that of a coffee cup. Traditional Chinese Medicine applies this method to create in-depth warmth in order to dispel stagnations. From a Western perspective, this results in improvement of the local blood circulation, causing the blood to penetrate deeply into the body tissues. Cupping is generally experienced as resulting in a feeling of relaxation and pain relief. After the treatment the skin will be a reddish colour.

For more information, please refer to the sites of the Nederlandse Vereniging voor Acupunctuur (Dutch Acupuncture Society) and the Nederlandse Patiëntenvereniging voor Acupunctuur (Dutch Patients Association for Acupuncture).