Feeling the need to relieve the tight muscles and stiffness throughout my neck and shoulders, I decided to get a massage.
It has been 4 years since I had a professional massage and I was a little wary of having a stranger touching me. Anyway, searching the Internet I found a place called Urbana in Charlotte, NC. The marketing info and photos describe a cool, hip place with a tea bar. I wanted to get massage after work and this was one of the few places that had an masseuse available after 6PM.
When I walked in, I felt like I was in a New York nightclub, the atmosphere was very hip with a tea bar on one end of the room. I was greeted by a very friendly Asian lady who offered me a choice of flavorful teas. She also heated a neck pad and put it around my neck to help ease my stiff muscles. I sank into one of their over sized sofas and glanced through a book on aromatherapy.
About a half and hour later, the masseuse came out and guided me to the “midnight room”. The room was softly lit with a small water fountain and soothing music playing in the background. Urbana has a menu of massage services and I chose the deep tissue massage. This massage is supposed to be very therapeutic because it works out the knots (lactic acid buildup?) in your muscles. Apparently, I had plenty of knots. After the session, I stumbled out relaxed and tension free and sipped on some herbal tea until I was ready to leave.
It was great experience that I would definitely do again. My neck and shoulder are some much more relaxed and I can turn my head to the left and right with less muscle resistance. However, the massages are a little pricey but to me it was worth the experience.
