Besides excursions and Chinese spelling bees, our cruise had a few demonstrations on ship about Chinese culture for the foreigners. One of the presentations they had was given by the doctor on board who taught us about traditional Chinese medicine. The doctor told us that the body is divided into meridians, and each of those correlate with different organs. If something is ailing you, pushing a needle into that specific point is meant to help ease your suffering.
"Ok, who volunteers to have a needle jammed into their neck?"
Well, I couldn't turn down an offer like that.
The doctor told me my neck alignment was incorrect, probably due to too much hunching in front of the computer. He then offered all of us a free assessment of our health if we came down to his office later, which me and my four friends did.
"Your 'qi' is terrible," The doctor told me, holding my palm and listening to my pulse. "Your 'yin' is ok, but your 'yang' sucks."
"Er, ok. How do I fix that?"
"Why, getting back boobs, of course!" He said.
It sounded completely reasonable to me.
"Your 'qi' is terrible," The doctor told me, holding my palm and listening to my pulse. "Your 'yin' is ok, but your 'yang' sucks."
"Er, ok. How do I fix that?"
"Why, getting back boobs, of course!" He said.
It sounded completely reasonable to me.
"Back boobing" is actually called "cupping" and it is meant to bring blood to designated areas and well, fix your "qi" or whatever. You leave the cups on for around 20 minutes. Here's what mine looked like after the doctor removed them.
The doctor seemed shocked after removing them and told me that my "qi" wasn't nearly bad as he initially thought. If your qi is misaligned, the cupping should leave nastier marks. Compare the results of my friend's cupping:
Some of hers look fine, but other ones look more purple and bruised.
Another one of my friends got acupuncture with electricity to help her damaged qi while the rest of us did cupping. We each paid about $20-25 US for our treatments, but normally you can get them for closer to $10 if you pay for these treatments back in Suzhou while not on a cruise.
How does my life feel altered now that my qi is aligned? Well, I did rescue a few kittens from a burning building a few days ago, but besides that, my foray into traditional medicine was more for a bit of fun than anything else.
Another one of my friends got acupuncture with electricity to help her damaged qi while the rest of us did cupping. We each paid about $20-25 US for our treatments, but normally you can get them for closer to $10 if you pay for these treatments back in Suzhou while not on a cruise.
How does my life feel altered now that my qi is aligned? Well, I did rescue a few kittens from a burning building a few days ago, but besides that, my foray into traditional medicine was more for a bit of fun than anything else.