Dr. Sheryl Roe will be demonstrating fire cupping and gua sha, at 1 p.m., May 11, and 6 p.m., May 16, at Skindeep Clinic, in Destin.

A fire cup is simply a cup held upside down and the air inside of it heated. Once the air is hot, the cup is applied to the soft tissue of the body. As the air cools rapidly in the cup, it shrinks in size, pulling the soft tissue up into the cup with a vacuum.

Cupping pulls pathogenic stagnated blood, which Traditional Chinese Medicine believes lies in the muscle tissue causing pain and disease, to the surface of the skin, where it is dislodged from the muscle and reabsorbed back into the body, relieving pain.

Gua Sha involves palpation and cutaneous stimulation, where the skin is pressured, in strokes, by a round-edged instrument, which results in the appearance of small red petechiae called sha that fade in two to three days. Raising sha removes blood stagnation considered pathogenic, promoting normal circulation and metabolic processes.

Roe provides treatment for all types of pain, including back pain, joint and muscle pain, headaches, migraines, sleep, eating and smoking disorders, as well as anxiety, depression, hypertension, and autoimmune disorders such as lupus and fibromyalgia.

Location: 4012 Commons Drive W., Ste. 120. For more information, call 850-225-3460, email [email protected] or visit drsroe.com.