看天

One of the days, Mom wanted to see the sinseh for her giddiness and also for the traditional chinese massage.  I had a little stiff neck too, so I went along. I requested for the massage, electrolysis and ba guan too.

Ba Guan (also called suction cup) treatment is this thing using cups by sucking certain acupoints to gain the aim of dredging channels, activating blood flow, dissipating cold, dispelling wind and dampness and resolving toxin. The glass cup is the modern version while the wooden cup is what they used in the older days.

The sinseh dabbed the petroleum jelly upon certain acupoints on the back, used a clamp to sandwich the cotton which has been soaked in alcohol, then quickly let the cotton get fire. Holding the suction cup, its mouth downwards, he then used the clamp to put the burning cotton into the cup and circled around in a quick way. He then drew out the cotton and put the cup upon the skin area. The skin area which the cup mouth covered hunched up gradually and became purplish red after a while.

Both mom and I did the Ba Guan. I waited for the cups to be on for 10-15 minutes and when the sinseh took them off, he told me the circles were very red. He asked me to go swimming more often to improve my neck condition (by using breast stroke) so I would not hurt my neck so easily (the result of staring at the computer screen for a long period of time). He advised me to lift my head and look up more often - 看天 - as a form of exercise. I better do it, otherwise next time, I may have to be like the Padaung (Long Neck) Women in Chiangmai, wearing this. :/


 Anyway, after the massage, the relieved feeling was undescribable - shiok.