Chinese Qigong Tui-Na Center

This place is at least temporarily closed for renovations. No signs indicating that it has moved or will reopen.

Definitely a no frills place but I care more about the massage than ambience so that was fine with me. My masseuse was Lily (or maybe Lee Lee?) and she was fantastic. I did not tell her where I was tense but she was able to figure it out quickly and concentrated on those areas. I could tell she knew what she was doing, not a one size fits all massage. I like deep tissue massage and that’s what I got. She did ask me several times if the pressure was ok. In one hour she was able to massage my neck, shoulders, entire back, legs and arms! If I had more time, I would have done 30 more minutes.

If you’re looking for a no-​frill, straightforward, deep tissue massage; you can get one in Kips bay. It’s Chinatown style and Chinatown price ($ 50 for 60 min!)
My husband has been going there for years, and I go there occasionally to get the kink on my upper back/​shoulders worked out. Those ladies posses very strong hands and fingers and are good on working on your back and butt areas. I also love the head massage at the end.
Rooms (total 4 or 5) are small and very basic. (At least separated with partial walls and NOT by curtains like some places in Chinatown.) This is not a spa and they may barely communicate. But if you like what I like — deep tissue massage to work on knots, you will walk out feeling much lighter.

I come here routinely since it is really great. They really know what you need and provide professional service. The owner is really nice and the place is quiet and private. I usually ask Tina for help but the other ladies also do great jobs.

X

I went here because it’s in my neighborhood and because the reviews were overall decent, but I would never return and I would absolutely not recommend it to anyone for the following reasons: (1) I ended up needing chiropractic treatment afterwards and (2) the owner/​manager was horrible.
Reason 1:
Having gotten massages fairly regularly over the last few years, I’m no expert by any means, but I would say that I have a general sense of when it’s being done properly. While I as getting a back massage at Chinese Qigong Tui-​Na Center, I felt that the masseuse was missing certain muscles or at least not focusing on those that really needed to be worked on. When I left, I was still feeling tension in certain muscles but not others.
A few days later, as I was sitting at my desk at work, I felt a sudden sharp pain in between my shoulder blades and up my neck and I could no longer turn my head without feeling sharp pain. (It was very scary.) I went to a chiropractor who told me that the vertebrae in my neck had been pulled out of alignment by tension in my muscles. While I can never be 100% sure that the problem was caused by the uneven massage, I do strongly suspect it was a key factor because it had never happened before nor has it happened again after.
Reason 2:
When I went for the massage, there were two ladies there — one was the masseuse (who spoke no English), the other was her boss (who handled the money). Based on their interactions, the masseuse was clearly very fearful of her boss. I don’t know what was going on behind the scenes, but this made for a fairly uncomfortable customer experience.
Just to be clear, I am a fluent mandarin speaker who was raised in a Chinese environment so there were no language barriers nor cultural misunderstandings here.
As I was paying for the massage, the boss’s attitude was very rude and not service-​oriented at all. Then, she demanded very offensively that I pay a tip to the masseuse (which of course I was already prepared to do, without it being rudely demanded of me). I was visibly taken aback by the boss’s attitude. Meanwhile, the masseuse stood to the side looking apologetic on behalf of her boss, yet afraid of undermining her at the same time.
Normally, I would have said something to the boss for being so rude, but I didn’t want to potentially cause trouble for this poor masseuse so I just paid the tip and left.
Conclusion:
I would never patronize this business again. After trying to save a few bucks on a cheap massage here, I ended up paying for many sessions of chiropractic treatment. Furthermore, I would never want to support a business that treats both employees and customers so poorly.

Tina was great, the true deep tissue I asked for. Clean, quiet, sweet place. About 5 stations open above shoulder height.

I’ve had a bad back since a snowboarding mishap a decade or so ago, so when my back gets tied up in knots to where exercise and stretching don’t work, this is my go-​to place. Now, I’m not going to lie to you and tell you this is like going to the spa at The Peninsula, lounging around in a robe sipping mimosas like a wanna-​be Hugh Hefner. No my friends, this is place is down and dirty; it’s borderline medieval and the massage equivalent of the Spanish Inquisition. These ladies do know how to torture you. They seem to have been trained by Torquemada himself! Prepare for fingers, knuckles, elbows and knees to dig right into every one of your muscles’ nooks and crannies. Now that the format has changed to a full hour of back work only, which I prefer (as opposed to the old half front /​half back), the ladies have all the more time to punish you. So take a mouth guard, a rubber ball, or heck, just borrow that stick you use to play catch with your dog with so you have something to bite on; else you may find yourself grinding your teeth and locking your jaws as you have brief repeated blackouts. But for $ 52 bucks plus another $ 10-​$ 12 on tip you can’t beat it. Once you’re done go home, take a shower, have a beer and pass out. Trust me, you’ve earned it!

I went here after reading such great reviews, but here was my experience. The place was empty when I arrived, so I can’t dismiss any of this as «they were busy».
I asked for a 30 minute body massage and 30 minutes of foot reflexology. The woman several times pushed me to take an hour massage and 30 minutes of feet. She even told me «NO» about the ³⁰⁄₃₀ request. I kept saying no, that I only wanted an hour total. She tried pushing me into the room, «Just go, we do feet then hour massage.» I firmly said, no, lets make sure first, and told her what I wanted again and confirmed the price was $ 50. She finally said, «Ok I know 30 min back, 30 min feet Ok ok.»
For the first ten minutes of my being on the table, she loudly spoke to another woman, making it impossible to relax. Then, She gave me a less than average foot massage, mostly rubbing my calves. I had to ASK her to please do the bottom of my feet. (This is pretty standard with reflexology, so why I had to ask her I don’t know). Then she started yelling to another woman in the room in Chinese, and then rolled my feet with a small roller, demanding to know it I liked that. The total time spent on my actual feet was less than five minutes each.
After the foot massage she worked on my back. She asked me if I wanted neck too, and I told her I really wanted back and shoulders more, and since it was only 30 minutes, skip the neck. Well, she worked on my neck anyway for 15, and then my upper back. She had put lotion all the way down my back, but never went any lower than my shoulders. I asked for my lower back, and she said, «yes.» but never went there.
Then she suddenly said «Ok done. You want more time for lower back?» It was like she intentionally didn’t touch the lower back to sell me on another 30 minutes. I said, no, but I wanted her to work on my lower back. She said, «Yes, 30 minutes more time.» I told her no and got dressed.
When I paid the $ 50, and started to count out the tip, the woman told me, «It is $ 10. tip.» I said, «I’m sorry a tip is up to me, isn’t it?» She got really snippy and said, «You must give 20%» Well at this point I was done with this woman, and to keep from really telling her off, I just said, «The whole point of a tip is that the customer decides if they give one and how much.» I gave her $ 8 on $ 50, which is more than 15%. She again insisted on $ 10. She pointed to my purse and said, «You have more.» To avoid telling her off, I left.
I left angry, unsatisfied and definitely not relaxed, because of this pushy, insensitive woman. Never again.

The lady was nice, massage is cheap, but be aware that for an hour full massage they just mean your back!
It was ok, not my favorite massage.
Further There is no real privacy, you can hear everything and if you stand you can see people next to you.
They don’t speak English properly and it’s hard to communicate on the phone and when you are there.
Further I personally don’t like when you pay and they say thank you, expecting that the rest is the full tip. I would prefer receive the change and decide how much to leave base on the massage. I left 15% but I guess the woman wasn’t that happy because they start talking in Chinese very fast and their faces spoke for them. Not very polite.
You pay what you get I guess. :)

Love love love!!! I have been visiting tiu na’s frequently and for years and it’s perfection when you don’t even have to say a word and the masseuse nails it! When he/​she is a knot/​tension psychic… Anna rocked my knots and gave me a lovely hot stone surprise at the end… happy ending indeed!!!

Good massage, great value– they also accept credit card which is nice. The other comments about the low cubicle style tables is spot on but still not low enough to make me uncomfortable. My masseuse really got those knots out. The place was empty during lunch – makes for a spontaneous walk in. I may make this a weekly lunch routine!

I won’t return to this place due to the customer alone, I don’t care if their massages are good (though I’ll never know). I arranged a relaxation day on my Monday off and called to reserve 2 spots… upon arrival I was told they didn’t have any availability and that I should come back another day. Also, the place might be cheap but from my brief visit up there, I can tell you that it is super sketchy and dark… the beds are separated by curtains and you can hear other people getting massages. Not my cup of tea.

Amazing body work, I have only been once so far (though I plan to go again very soon) and I would say it was peaceful but that was also because I was the only client at the time. I’m not positive if I would feel as comfortable if I heard other people talking to the masseuse during my visit but at the same time you cannot beat the prices and the quality of the work. It just might take a little getting used to.
P.S: Visit punch card– 10^th is free!

Body Work
–20 min @ $ 18
–30 min @ $ 26
–45 min @ $ 38
–60 min @ $ 50
Get 10 massages and get one free.
My body has been falling apart since I had injured myself snowboarding and lifting. Kenny C. mentioned this place and we decided to check it out.
It’s a fairly small place with four beds located on the second level. The ambiance was good: zen music and bamboo plants scattered around. Since we wanted to test the waters, we both went for the 30 minute massage @ $ 26. Not bad. Going for 60 minute wasn’t much of a better deal, it was $ 50.
My masseuse was great at finding my knots and really worked at them with her hands and elbows. She asked several times if the pressure was fine and mostly worked my upper body. In the end my body felt like a noodle and I felt much better. I’ll be back.

Excellent massage. Clean space. Very nice place.

I almost don’t wait to review this place to keep it a secret!
This is a no-​frills massage place. It looks sketchy from the outside, and normally I wouldn’t try a place like this, except my friend who lives on this block has been a patron for years and raves about it. When I moved to the neighborhood last spring, I tried it, and I’m hooked!
It’s clean, peaceful, and the women all know what they’re doing. They’ll do exactly what you want (hard, soft, problem spots?) with hot stones and hot towel at the end, and best part? You can walk in any time so no need to worry about scheduling it into your busy life… just go when you have some time — they have 20, 30, 45, 60, and 90 min options. Hour-​long massages are $ 50! You simply can’t beat it. I go about once a month and feel totally awesome afterwards.

Cheap, clean, relaxing, great experience all around! Highly recommended! Go before 3 and get an hour for $ 45 :)

This may be my new favorite Asian massage place. A far nicer environment than most. Lini (sp?) was very strong and very skilled — incorporating elements of Thai, hot rocks and shiatsu which seemed very effective. I would definitely come back — and probably for 90 min instead of 60.

(my background: I used to live in the Philippines where I would get massages 3x/​week for 90 minutes each. I love hard pressure massages on tight muscles and stay awake throughout massages to observe how its done.)
I’ve tried massages in Qugong Tui-​Na and various chinatown locations and prefer this one by far.
* Massage strokes, hot stones & pressure are excellent! Pressure is applied the way you want it. My boyfriend likes light & he falls peacefully asleep each time. I like hard, and I am very happy with how they hit the right spots & dig right in.
* They are terrific with special requests. I request my shoulders because I do yoga everyday — they spent 30mins just on that area.
* They are very careful with how they move you and position blanket/​pillow.
* Ambience is relaxing & clean. You have your own cubicle, soft music & sounds of water, scent of cucumber too.
* Price is awesome — $ 50 for an hour. One of the cheapest anywhere in the city.
(You’ll need to bring cash.)