Tui Na Miss?
Today I am exhausted!
After a whole week of running on the treadmill, lifting weights, and doing some Urban Yoga, my muscles are aching like they never did. Every night I’ve being going out, and above all, I am starting to get either a cold or a migraine. Whatever it is, I need some love.
“What you need Joelle, is some Tui Na,” says my neighbor that had just come in without notice, heading directly to my wardrobe where she is looking for a scarf to match her shirt. “Tui- what?” “Qi Gong and Tui Na, a Chinese bodywork massage therapy.” “But it is Sunday, and it’s late. Where do you think I am going to find something like that?”
Without answering she hands me a card that was in her wallet and leaves my apartment in a hurry. SheÕs got a blind date and has no intention to arrive late!
I get in a cab. It is 9 PM and I am on my way to 72 and Broadway. Apparently the place is not too easy to find. I should be looking up to the second floor to see a red neon sign with the words “Qui Kong/Tui Na” written in Chinese and maybe, if I am lucky, in English too — she did not remember.
Yes, there it is! As I come up the stairs a Chinese man asks, “Hi, can I help you?” “Yes” I say. “I have..” “Please come in.” This man does not want to know what kind of help I need; he speaks briefly to another smiley Chinese little woman that obviously does not speak a word of English. After I am asked to take out all my clothes, the designated lady puts some bamboo flute music on, closes the soft white cotton fabric curtains allowing only the view of some silent fish in a large aquarium in the room, matching the curtains fish design. Then suddenly, as I start to close my eyes, she says: “Stvon or weee?” “Excuse me?” After they spoke Chinese once more I finally understood that it was about me wanting “strong” or “weak” pressure on my meridians and a 30-, 60- or 95-minute session. There we go! I have surrendered to destiny. Do whatever you think I need.
I cannot really say how painful that was, but in my mind, if this Oriental Bodywork Therapy had been used in China for 2,000 years, I could be more patient and perhaps ask more of a “weee” pressure and wait for some kind of Chinese Nirvana to take place. My flow of “Qi” within my meridians through the Tui Na technique was every minute more harmoniously painful. This woman did not forget one single spot of my whole body. As I was screaming when she reached around the neck area she would laugh with no pity just saying: “Svtess, Svtess.” Apparently the ending points of my sciatic nerve betrayed me, showing through my tension (after a long translation) that I did not have enough sex, and too much strenuous exercise was taking place around my low abdominal.
For sure these people cut a deal with my mother, because the observations are practically identical to hers. Ok, the sound of the alarm clock has finally come to my rescue. 95 minutes have passed, and I feel much more exhausted than before. My neighbor at this time is probably drinking a nice cup of wine while I am completely drunk within all the cells of my body and without one single drop of alcohol or taste of pot. I still bravely manage to stand up and pay. By the time I take my wallet out I ask these people their names in case I decide to like what they did, and the man says that he is Peter and she is Janet. Too tired to discuss with them about their true identities I pay 65 dollars with gratuity. I feel an urgent need to sleep.
Hong Lee and Shu Hann warmly smiles at me like if they were saying, “We know we’ll see you next week, the one after, and every single one of the next few years.
Qi Kong Tui Na
105 72 corner Brodway (917) 4419436 New York - USA
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