Tui Na Massage at K & Y Beauty

Knowing that I love getting massages, Rhalph gave me a voucher for 90 minutes of Tui Na Massage + Eye Treatment + Mask at K & Y Beauty. Voucher is priced at S$ 18 but worth S$ 98. Quite a good deal, right? 🙂
I have been experiencing lower back and shoulder pains probably from improper sitting posture in front of a computer and from carrying a shoulder bag. Thus, I was quite thrilled at the thought of getting a massage! Massages in Singapore are quite expensive. In the Philippines, I pay only PhP 250 (around S$ 7) for 1 hour of massage. In Singapore, the cheapest price for 1 hour of massage is S$ 30. So expensive lah!
So one day, I went to K & Y Beauty to redeem my voucher. I was planning to take a lot of pictures but the shop owner said that I cannot take any. 🙁 So I’ll do my best to explain in words what happened during my visit.
K & Y Beauty is located at Block 108 Hougang Avenue 1. It claims to be conveniently located near Kovan MRT but it is quite a long walk from the MRT station! It’s probably over a kilometer away. I had an appointment at 11:30am but I was 15 minutes early. I think I was their first customer of the day because the aircon wasn’t even turned on yet.
It’s quite a small shop with pink as their main color scheme. Their services are very much affordable compared to those shops in the metro. They have 2 salon chairs which are used for manicure, pedicure, and other nail spa services. They probably have around 3 rooms for facial and body spa services.
After showing my voucher, they asked me to wait while they prepare the room. After 5 minutes, I was ushered into a room with a massage bed and and other spa amenities and equipment. The bed was comfortable and they use a disposable bed sheet for hygiene purposes.
I was asked to undress then lie on the bed face down with my body covered with a towel. My massage therapist was a petite lady who speaks very little English. The session started with the Tui Na massage.
According to Wikipedia, Tui na or tuina (literal meaning: push and grasp) is a form of Chinese manipulative therapy often used in conjunction with acupuncture, moxibustion, fire cupping, Chinese herbalism, t’ai chi, and qigong. Tui na is a hands-on body treatment that uses Chinese taoist and martial arts principles in an effort to bring the eight principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) into balance. The practitioner may brush, knead, roll/press, and rub the areas between each of the joints, known as the eight gates, to attempt to open the body’s defensive (wei) chi and get the energy moving in the meridians and the muscles. The practitioner can then use range of motion, traction, and massage, with the stimulation of acupressure points.
Tui Na treats chronic pain, especially one that is caused by musculo-skeletal conditions and injuries. Neck, shoulder and back pain and immobility, sciatica and ‘tennis elbow’ all respond very well. More on Tui Na Massage here.
I found a video on YouTube that demonstrates how the massage is done.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQzVLFCUAoM]
The therapist’s arms and hands move rapidly and vigorously over my body. First, she worked on my back. Then she moved on to my arms and legs. After my back side is finished, she asked me to turn over and massaged my arms, legs, then shoulders. Sometimes, she applies a bit of oil on my body before kneading my muscles. The pressure is hard and it was painful, yet pleasureable, on the parts (back and shoulders) where I was feeling pain prior to the treatment. I was feeling so relaxed that I fell asleep for a while.
After the massage, she removed my eye makeup and proceeded with the eye treatment and applied a mask. The mask was left on my eyes for 15 minutes.
The whole process took only 60 minutes, which is 30 minutes short of what they claimed in the voucher. But I cannot complain because the massage worked and I got the money’s worth. 🙂 I felt so much better and until now, 2 days after my treatment, my lower back and shoulder pains are gone! Yehey!
As for the eye treatment and mask, I don’t really know what that was for. They didn’t tell me what is the intended result. But since I didn’t notice any changes, I cannot comment on it.
I recommend this type of massage to anyone who is experiencing body pains particularly on the shoulders and lower back. People who have this type of pain are usually those who have desk jobs or quite simply, those who are sitting in front of computers the whole day.
So… have you ever tried this massage? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section below.
K & Y Beauty
Website: http://www.kybeautysalon.com/
Address: Blk 108 Hougang Ave 1 #01-1301, Singapore 530108
Tel: 8651 7618
Business hours: Daily: 11am – 8pm
xoxo,
♥ Monique ♥