Antoni Luke-Akagi

Background

Antoni has been a certified massage therapist since 1996, which is coming up on three decades of hands-on clinical work. He came into bodywork from the movement side rather than the spa side, and holds national certification as a personal trainer alongside his massage credential. That combination shapes how he works: a shoulder that will not release is rarely just a shoulder, and the intake usually asks what you lift, how you sit and how you sleep before it asks where it hurts.

Credentials

• Certified massage therapist — since 1996. Practising continuously in New York.
• Nationally certified personal trainer. Programme design, strength and conditioning, corrective movement.

Modalities practised

• Deep tissue and myofascial work
• Sports massage — pre-event, post-event and maintenance
• Trigger point therapy
• Assisted stretching and range-of-motion work
• Hot stone massage
• Swedish and relaxation massage

How he works

Sessions are unhurried and conversational at the start, then quiet. Antoni will tell you what he is finding and why he is spending time somewhere that is not where you said it hurt. Where it is useful he will send you away with one or two things to do between sessions — usually a loading exercise rather than a stretch, on the view that tissue that has been released needs a reason to stay that way.

Every session uses the studio's proprietary CBD and Emu oil formula unless you ask otherwise, and the table is heated with hot towels to finish. Session lengths, pricing and the full list of what he treats are on the massage and bodywork page.

Antoni also manages the studio's practitioner rentals — licensed practitioners can rent this room by the hour.