Under the Surface

Okay, so let’s talk about cupping.   If you grew up in a Latino household, you already know somebody has blamed “ aire” for at least one bodily inconvenience.  You catch a cold breeze, turn the wrong way, or suddenly feel that little catch in your back, and BOOM. Somebody’s telling you that “te entró aire.” And listen… culturally, we might describe it differently than how medicine explains muscle spasms, but YOU KNOW THE FEELING I’M TALKING ABOUT. That deep-ass knot between your shoulder blades that makes you wanna ask somebody to just stab you in the back already. LIKE PLEASE, GET IT OUT!! And that’s one of the reasons I LOVE cupping. My mom is a massage therapist too, and when I first started my career, she taught me about fire cupping and how it’s used. These days, I use suction cups in my own practice, and honestly? It’s become one of my favorite modalities to incorporate into a session. There’s just something about having another way to approach those stubborn ar...

So, I’ve been trying to get back into my self-care routine, and today was facial day. And when I say I was dragging ass, I mean I was DRAGGING ASS. I knew I wanted to do my skincare routine, and I knew I’d feel better once I did it, but getting my ass in the shower was a whole other conversation. Eventually, I got myself together, showered, and started working through my facial routine. Once I got into it, I was good. I used my products, took my time, and finished everything off with a lymphatic facial massage using my rose tourmaline oil. Now, I don’t know if it was the rose, the tourmaline, the oil, or the massage itself, but something caught my attention. I had been taking before-and-after pictures because, naturally, I wanted to make some content for Instagram. And I could see a difference in the pictures. But the pictures weren’t even the most interesting part. It was how I felt. See, I have this thing where I don’t really feel like smiling in pictures. You know Mandy from Th...