Your Visit

Before you come

There is very little to do. Wear whatever you like. We provide gowns for treatment.

Eat something first. Treatment on an empty stomach can leave you lightheaded, and there is no reason to arrive hungry.

Tell us everything you take, prescription and otherwise, and bring the list with you. Bring any recent bloodwork, imaging or reports as well. We will ask for all of it, and all of it is useful.

Your first visit

Allow ninety minutes for your first acupuncture appointment, and thirty to forty-five of those go on the intake.

Your practitioner will want the complaint that brought you in — when it started, what makes it better or worse, what you have already tried, and any other relevant information. Your medical history and any surgery. What you take. How you sleep, and whether you wake in the night. Your digestion, your appetite, your energy through the day, whether you run hot or cold. What has been happening in your life.

Your practitioner will then tell you what they have found, what they think is going on, what treatment can do for you, and roughly how long it should take.

The treatment

Acupuncture needles have almost nothing in common with the ones used to draw blood or give an injection. Ours are Japanese and very fine, most of them less than the width of a human hair, and they are solid rather than hollow — nothing is drawn out and nothing is put in.

Most people feel a small tap as one goes in, or nothing at all. Once a needle is in position you may feel warmth, or a heavy spreading sensation around it. That sensation is the treatment taking effect. It is not pain, and it passes. If anything feels sharp, say so and it will be adjusted or taken out.

The needles then stay in for twenty to thirty minutes while you rest. It is restful enough that a good many people fall asleep. You will be warm, you will be checked on, and there is nothing for you to do.

Depending on what you have come for, your practitioner may also use moxibustion, cupping, gua sha, or finish with a period of massage. Anything they intend to do is explained before it starts.

Afterward, and your plan

Most people leave calm and a little floaty, and some feel lighter straight away. Drink some water and take the rest of the day gently if you can — though there is no reason you cannot go back to work, or out to dinner.

Before you go, your practitioner will set out a plan: how often to come, and for how long. Weekly visits for six to eight weeks is a common starting point, though it depends on what brought you in. Acute problems are often treated more frequently at first, and long-standing ones take longer. If herbs would help, we will explain the formula and how to take it.

The plan is revisited as you go. If you are not responding as we would expect, we will tell you, and we will talk about what to do instead. We would far rather say so early than have you keep coming indefinitely.

If you are coming for massage

A massage appointment is more straightforward.

Your therapist will spend a few minutes at the start on what hurts, what you do all day, any injuries or surgery, and what you want from the hour. The rest of the time is hands on.

Say if you would rather concentrate on one area than have the whole body worked. Say if there is anywhere you would prefer not to be touched. Both are ordinary requests.

Pressure is yours to set, and you can change your mind halfway through. Your therapist would much rather know at the time than afterwards.

Follow-ups are arranged as you need them. For anything persistent a series does more than a single session, and we will suggest an interval.

Our other treatments

Facial rejuvenation, CranioSacral Therapy, lymphatic drainage, herbal consultations and dietary work each run differently, and the first appointment is built around the treatment and the practitioner giving it.

Facial rejuvenation includes a full constitutional treatment as well as the facial work, and is usually taken as a course. CranioSacral Therapy is the gentlest thing we do; you stay fully clothed throughout, so wear something loose. Herbal consultations and dietary counseling run an hour, with half-hour follow-ups. Each treatment page sets out what its own first visit involves.

If you are not sure what to book, call us on 646 336 1280 and we will work it out with you.

A few practical things

We are on the fifth floor at 37 East 28th Street, step-free from the street, and open every day except Sunday.

New patient forms can be filled in online through the booking portal, which enables your practitioner to have read them before you arrive. If you are unable to complete the forms in advance, you are welcome to complete them in our office, though we’d recommend coming 15 minutes early to do so.

We are out of network, and we are glad to check your coverage before you come.

If you need to change or cancel, let us know at least 48 hours ahead. Cancellations inside 48 hours are charged in full: the time is held for you, and at that notice we cannot offer it to anyone else.

Tell us when you book, and tell your practitioner again at the start of your appointment, if you are pregnant or think you may be, take blood thinners, have a pacemaker or another implanted device, or have anything else you think we should know. Little of it changes whether we can treat you. All of it changes how.