Preparation:
Choose a comfortable, and quiet area, in your home where you can sit with ease. Consider putting a towel down when you are working with your oils.
Cleanse your skin thoroughly.
Massage your body oil into the skin.
During your practice, take a moment to acknowledge the subtle shifts in the body.
Does your neck feel subtly open?
Remember to hydrate.
Repeat 1-3 times a week, be consistent for results.
Cupping technique: choose a medium cup, either with the double tier or the cone shape. Squeeze the base to activate the suction.
Timing: unless you are gliding your cups, keep cups in place for 1-3 minutes at a time. Be mindful of how the cups feel. Check in on how your cup marks are manifesting on your skin. Beware not to over cup. This can usually be indicated by intense pain, muscle spasms, and heavily protruding skin.
Explore: these points are suggestions. The more you perform this practice and learn your body, you may find slightly alternate areas to work on, and slightly adjust this practice to make it your own.
One side at a time:
Nodes: Use your fingers for light gentle stimulation as you massage oil throughout your neck and shoulder area. Start by gentle stimulation of the lymph nodes around your jaw and ears, and around the center of your collar bones and around the armpit area.
Part 1: glide up and down the scalene muscles. These connect from your ear/ jaw area down the side of your neck, where your collarbones meet your shoulder. Depending on the contour of your body, you may choose to use a smaller cone cup or even the face cup, and you can choose to do some pump, cupping along the way. Be mindful to keep your head on top of your shoulders as most of us have the tendency to carry the head in the forward position. Being conscious of your posture while cupping, will help re-pattern your muscles.
Part 2: base of the neck. This is the muscle that attaches your neck to your torso. Place the cup right at the root of your neck, at the corner where it meets your shoulders. Explore the right angles, until you find the suction takes hold.
Part 3: upper shoulders. take the medium size cup, and either the cone or the double tier and activate the suction, slightly above your shoulder blade, and slightly in words towards your spine. Different people have different trigger points in this area so explore what works best for you.
Part 4: rotator cuff/ serratus anterior. Place your arm out to the side in a T-position and activate the suction cup right at the back of your armpit feeling a gentle tug of the skin and then release your arm down And/or : Move your cups onto your side body below your armpit, at your nipple line. Place the cups close your back side than your front side, more on inside ridge of the shoulder blade.
Part 5: pectoral muscles. Activate the suction along the front of your chest following the diagonal line from your shoulder to your nipple. You may choose to glide the cup or apply some pump or free cupping, depending on how your trigger points feel on your chest.
Nodes: Finish this practice by once again stimulating your lymph nodes around your jaw, collarbones and armpits to encourage lymphatic drainage.
In short:
Massage your Lymph Nodes
1.Scalenes: Glide down the sides of your neck
2.Base of the Neck : Trigger Point
3.Upper Shoulders : Trigger Point
4.Rotator Cuff /Serratus Anterior : Trigger Point
5.Pectoral Muscle : Glide to open your chest.
Message your Lymph Nodes