Monday, March 10, 2008

Fire On The Belly

Here I am on fire. It's called 'fire therapy' and it feels good. We went to a nearby acupuncture clinic to check out some of the strange and shocking treatments they offer. First, they rubbed an herbal salve on my bare belly, then they covered it in these damp red towels and soaked them with alcohol. Then they lit my stomach on fire with one of those long barbecue lighters. They repeated the process three times, snuffing out the flame when the towel started to singe. By the third time, the heat from the flame had penetrated all the liquids, and it was very warm - enough to redden the exposed skin. It felt really great, but mostly because I was getting over the trauma of my previous treatment, which is called electro acupuncture. But that's another post...