Esquire – Review: Stress-busting in Marylebone

Esquire – Review: Stress-busting in Marylebone

Article Posted by: Esquire (Online), esquire.co.uk 01/12/2011

Esquire 1 Feb 2011

Let’s face it; you’re almost certainly over-stressed. You probably don’t get enough sleep, it’s likely that you work longer hours than you should, and there’s every chance that your commute to work takes at least thirty rage-filled minutes. But, hey, that’s modern life. It’s not something you give any thought. I mean – it’s not as if there’s some treatment capable of completely alleviating your stress, is there? Except, in a little corner of Marylebone, there is…

Chi Yu is based in a small, unassuming building near the corner of George Street. It styles itself as a Wellness Centre, which is a phrase vague enough to set off alarm bells in the heads of ‘alternative therapy’ skeptics – myself very much included. The foyer is staffed by an impossibly serene and soft-spoken receptionist, and filled with incense, vaguely Eastern ambient music, and complimentary puffed rice snacks. It feels cozy, but I am unable to shake off the lingering concern that someone is about to read my aura, and then use an obscure mix of homeopathic tinctures to communicate with my dead cat.

My practitioner arrives – Chi Yu’s founder Mami Tsang, an impossibly petite Japanese woman. She leads me into the dimly lit treatment room, where she quizzes me on my life. Am I stressed? Of course I am. She nods, sympathetically. Any other pain? Well, as it happens, I’m recovering from a broken ankle. She immediately glances at the ankle, assesses my posture, and decides what must be done. Clad in a towel, I lay down on the padded table, and my worries instantly evaporate – along with a good portion of my stress. Chi Yu’s speciality is integrated therapy – a bespoke combination of different forms of massage and acupuncture, tailored precisely to the needs of the patient. Read more (article link) or PDF version.

Watch our Integrated Therapy video as featured in the review