Your therapist
Angela — Bodywork Specialist
Swedish and therapeutic bodywork, facial Gua Sha, and one half of the studio's four hands massage. The practitioner to book when you want bodywork and skin care in the same visit.
What clients say about Angela
OH MY GOODNESS! There are no words for the experience I had. I’ve been battling with chronic neck pain from a head-on collision since last February. Since my visit, I feel a tremendous sense of relief. I have much more range of motion in my neck after working with Antoni. He also treated me for my chest pain, it’s a problem I’ve ignored for far too long. I am beyond grateful for Antoni; I can properly inhale and take deep breath’s again. So thankful to Antoni as well as Angela for taking such good care of me. They’re rockstars!!
Hands down (pun intended), this was the best massage I’ve ever had. Antoni and Angela were incredibly thorough and so mindful of what my body needed—it never felt rushed or routine. I walked out feeling like a million bucks! Truly an amazing experience from start to finish. Highly recommend Enhancewell Spa if you’re looking to feel completely reset and taken care of!
I have been working with Antoni for several months and I recommend his massage services without reservation. I do deep tissue work with him and it is intense. Not a spa massage—serious body work—but my body feels so much better! He has a deep understanding of anatomy and is an excellent massage therapist. He's also delightful and will match whatever vibe you're looking for (whether it's calming spa music or singing along to 80's tunes). He tells me that he can also do less intense work, which I'm sure is true for those looking for more of a spa experience. I cannot fail to mention Angela—her gua sha work is fantastic. My face and jawline look so much better after she works on me! On a more serious note, I was having a lot of ear pain from clenching and grinding my jaw and that has virtually disappeared after two sessions of her deep work on my jaw (it's intense, but so worth it). Don't sleep on Enhancewell!! Nice, clean space and the most comfortable massage table I've ever been on!
Wonderful experience - Angela is fantastic! Definitely recommend!
Angela is a terrific service provider. Clearly very wise and experienced.......and kind, as well.
Antoni and his team are incredibly knowledgeable and experienced. If you are an athlete or just someone who remains physically fit, I am certain you would benefit meaningfully from a deep tissue session w Antoni and Angela. Incredibly relaxing and powerfully reinvigorating!
See Angela at work
Book a session with Angela
These buttons open Angela's own calendar for that exact session, so you are choosing from her real availability rather than the studio's combined schedule. Book holds a date and time. Purchase, schedule later pays upfront without choosing a time — the usual choice for a gift.
Four hands massage — Angela and Antoni together
The studio's four hands sessions are worked by Angela and Antoni Luke-Akagi at the same time — two therapists, one client, one table, for the full length of the treatment. It is not a couples massage, which is two clients on two tables with one therapist each, and it is not two appointments back to back.
The reason it works is that your nervous system cannot track two pairs of hands at once. With one therapist, part of your brain quietly follows the work and anticipates where the next stroke lands, and that low-level effort is why some people never fully switch off on a table. With two working simultaneously there is more input arriving than the brain can model, so after a few minutes it stops predicting and simply receives. Clients describe that as a drop.
Angela and Antoni have worked the same room long enough to match pressure and pace without discussing it mid-session, which is the hard part of four hands and the reason it is not offered everywhere. Angela finishes both sessions with her facial Gua Sha. Because it needs both of them free at once, the four hands calendar is thinner than a standard massage calendar — book further ahead than you would otherwise, especially at weekends.
The full explanation, including who it suits and who should book something else, is on the four hands massage page.
90 Min 4-Handed Massage with Gua Sha
90 minutes, 4 hands — the ultimate experience for maximum relaxation and reset.
2 Hr 4-Handed Massage with Gua Sha
2 hours, 4 handed massage with Gua Sha. The ultimate in full body relaxation and reset.
Gua Sha with Angela
Gua Sha is Angela's signature work. A smooth-edged tool is drawn along the neck, shoulders and face to move fluid and release tension that most people do not realize they are holding — the jaw, the temples, the base of the skull, the strip of muscle along the top of the shoulders that a desk quietly shortens over years.
Done well it is not aggressive and it does not leave marks on the face. What it does leave is a noticeable lift and a loosening through the jaw and neck, which is why people book it before an event as often as they book it for tension.
There are three ways to have it: on its own as an express treatment, added to the end of any full massage, or as the 90 min combination session that pairs a full-body massage with the facial work.
90 Min Massage & Gua Sha
The perfect pairing. 90 minutes of sheer bliss. A full body massage finished off with our signature facial gua sha to leave you relaxed, lifted and rejuvenated.
Gua Sha — 45 Min
Our express lift and freshen service to help your face, shoulders and neck.
Add-On Gua Sha
Add on with any full Bodywork / Massage service.
How Angela works
Restoration, not punishment
Pressure is a conversation
The oil
Bodywork and beauty in one visit
Background
Angela practices at 41 Union Square West as a bodywork specialist, beautician and manicurist. Her work spans bodywork and beauty therapy — an unusual combination in a single practitioner, and the reason a number of her clients see her for a massage and a facial treatment in the same visit rather than splitting them across two appointments and two locations.
She works from the studio's single private treatment room on the fifth floor, which means no shared corridor, no open-plan spa floor and no queue at a front desk. The same room is rented by the hour to other licensed practitioners when it is not in clinical use.
Credentials
Bodywork specialist, beautician and manicurist.
Modalities practiced
- Swedish and relaxation massage
- Therapeutic bodywork on the heated table
- Four hands massage (with Antoni Luke-Akagi)
- Hot stone and hot towel work
- Facial Gua Sha — stand-alone, added on, or as a 90-minute combination
- Facial and beauty treatments
- Manicure and nail care
Finding the studio
41 Union Square West, Suite 501, New York, NY 10003. Fifth floor, elevator access, directly on Union Square. The station beneath the square runs the 4, 5 and 6, the N, Q, R and W and the L, which makes this one of the easier addresses in Manhattan to reach from Brooklyn, the east side or anywhere on the 14th Street crosstown. Flatiron, Gramercy, Chelsea, Greenwich Village and the East Village are all a short walk.
Arrive five minutes early if it is your first session with her. Her full menu is also listed on the massage and bodywork page, and licensed practitioners can rent this room by the hour when it is not in clinical use.