Soo-Mi Hwang, L.Ac. Dipl. Acu.

How cupping helps to reduce your pain and detox your body

2016-08-10T14:06:00.002-04:00

We’ve seen so many pictures of many Olympians including Michael Phelps with purple circular red marks of cupping and is making sensation in worldwide. Even though people are discovering what cupping is through these Olympians, cupping has been practiced in Asia, mainly in Korea, China and Japan for thousands years.

Benefits of Cupping:

1. Cupping helps to reduce pain in the body.

It is used for back pain, neck and shoulder pain, knee pain, joint pain, headaches including migraine, and stomachache.

2. Cupping helps treat respiratory issues and colds.

It is considered valuable for the lungs. It can clear congestion from common cold or control asthma. (http://www.pacificcollege.edu/news/blog/2014/09/20/many-benefits-chinese-cupping)

3. Cupping helps promote skin health.

When cupping is applied on the dimpled areas on the body, it can smooth the dimples by creating heat on the area applied on.

The following is the some of the list of the symptoms that can be treated by cupping supported by The British Cupping Society.

 Respiratory infections

 Blood disorders, such as anemia and hemophilia

 Joint pain caused by arthritis and fibromyalgia

 Migraine and tension headaches

 Muscle aches and stiffness

 Fertility and gynecological disorders

 Skin problems such as herpes, eczema and acne

 High blood pressure (hypertension)

 Mental disorders, anxiety and depression

 Food allergies and asthma

 Varicose veins and cellulite

Please contact me if you are interested via email drofom@gmail.com or call 212-629-7025

How acupuncture works to rejuvenate your skin

2012-10-19T16:34:00.001-04:00

Did you have your summer share of fun? Did the sunlight leave your skin looking dark, sexy and healthy? You may have healthy looking skin now, but looks can be deceiving. Beyond leaving your skin tanned, sunlight can leave your skin leathery, dry, wrinkled and marked with visible and invisible damage you might wish would never show. Autumn’s arrival may feel like a relief from the humidity, heat, and discomfort of the balmy summer, but the cool dry air can rob your skin of the moisture that is so vital to it’s healthy appearance. So before the dry winter weather exacerbates the signs of sun damage permanent, I personally use and recommend the following measures to replenish and repair the skin.

1. Hydrate Your Skin!

• Inside: Drink plenty of water. Drinking water not only hydrates your body, but also helps rehydrate your skin.

I used to hate drinking water. The taste of water didn't appeal to me. It tasted bland. Blah! Also, I simply didn't feel thirsty enough to drink water. I thought my body didn't require that much water.The appearance of skin, suppleness and luster, depends on its moisture. As I get older, I see a difference when I drink enough water and when I don't. If you are like me and don't have a taste for water, adding lemon or green tea is anexcellent way to overcome the difficulty of swallowing the tasteless fluid. Both are full of antioxidants and vitamin C.

Green tea has so many good effects on skin. I use it both internally as a tea and externally as an ingredient in my revitalizing herbal mask (more on that later). Green tea containsantioxidants that impede the damaging effects of free-radical toxins. It also contains anti-inflammatory chemicals which can counter-act signs of sun damage.

• Outside: Moisturizing the skin is also very important. There are many different options for externally hydrating your skin.

I like applying ample amounts of serum, which is also called essence. There are different types of cosmetic serums that help with such things as pore control, whitening, collagen supplementing, etc. During the extreme summer heat, pores tend to open and stay open. Aging makes it harder to tighten up the stretched pores again. I use a pore refining serum, which really helps tominimize pores loosened by summer heat without drying out your skin

2. Proper rest is essential for a good complexion. Try to sleep eight hours a day.

The quality and time of sleep are also very important. If possible, you should sleep between 11pm and 5am. The reason? In OrientalMedicine, the hours from 11pm to 3am are believed to be the time that the liver and gallbladder cleanse all the body’s blood. And from 3am to 5am is the lung time. The lungs are closely related to the skin. Healthy lungs flowers into the skin making it look lustrous and taught.Deep restful and unbroken sleep is also important. Proper rest doesn't only mean 8 hours of restful sleep. It also means minimizing use of computer when you are not working. Seating front of the computer really makes your eyes strain. Eyes are closely related to the liver.Tired and over worked eyes will over work your liver. Sitting idle in front of the computer for more than 30minutes will block the circulation of qi and blood.

3. Acupuncture Facial
The above two methods are a must for the skin's anti-aging. However, if the damages have been done on the skin, it needs to be repaired moreproactively. The best way to repair is acupuncture facial. It will unblock the blockages and bring more circulation of qi and blood to the face. This promotes the production of collagen,which tightens and fills in wrinkles. The increased blood circulation will bring more nutrients to the skin cells preventing premature aging caused by sun damage. My acupuncture facial contains herbal poultice mask with green tea. It contains herbs that nourish, regenerateand tighten the skin. Green tea whitens dark and dry spots and mildly exfoliates dead skin cells that choke budding skin layer beneath.

Growing Up I never had to go to hospital

2011-03-30T16:31:00.000-04:00

Growing up, I never had to go to the hospital, take antibiotics or use cold medicine. My father always treated me with acupuncture and herbs whenever I had health issues. For that reason, I never needed Western medicine. As a little girl when I got sick, acupuncture was the first thing I got from my father.

My father helped so many people for as long as I can remember. He had acupuncture and Chinese medicine clinics in Seoul, Buenos Aires, and New York. From the time I was fifteen, I was apprenticing to him. I have watched him treat countless people, from six month old babies to people with facial paralysis and stroke. But his specialty was helping people with back pain.

Through watching him treat all these people, I have gained knowledge and experience that I could not have learned from any classroom. Now my specialty is also facial acupuncture and pain management, just like my father. Of course, I also have my master's degree in acupuncture and Oriental medicine, and I am qualified to treat a wide variety of health issues.

It 's my life long passion to use acupuncture and Chinese medicine to help you improve the quality of your life.