Prana Urban Healing Lounge

Prana is an amazing healing space! And I think any city could use a little more «urban healing»! I’ve been getting bodywork here, from Salvatore Manzi for over a year now.
It has truly been a therapeutic and enriching relationship! He is the most talented bodyworker I have ever been to. He is highly intuitive and has an incredible sense of the body. He is gentle when it’s called for, but isn’t afraid to be more forceful when stubborn tension needs to be worked out. He has managed to help me get rid of so many aches, pains, and just general tension. Thanks Salvatore!
If you suffer from any kind of musculoskeletal pain, especially the kind caused and aggravated by all the stress, sitting, and driving of our modern sedentary lives, then definitely go visit Salvatore. Within a few visits he will have you out of pain, and begging to address all those areas of tension in the rest of your body that you know you eventually need to deal with!

Simone Junge who is a acupuncturist here does an amazing work. I was referred to Simone for a dear friend 10 years ago when I was struggling with a Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and the doctors said that I needed a surgery to get better. At that time I saw Simone few times and the pain went away and never get back. Since there she has been my main health provider for all my needs. She has tremendous knowledge about Chinese medicine and her treatment is totally different from others practitioners I saw before. She looks out for alternative methods combining herbs, life quality with a big PLUS for her AMAZING intuitive skills. She takes time to discuss issues with you to really understand what is going on between your body, mind and spirit to help you draws out what has been laying dormant in your system and give you important tools to keep you moving forward on a meaningful path. My Allergies, Sinus, Tinnitus, Headaches and Stress gave up to her treatments. In other words her treatment is more that an acupuncture session, is a special kind of therapy that teaches you to put yourself back on track.
She is a skilled practitioner, a master full of compassion that makes her a good listener giving you the best support. I highly recommend Simone Junge for all my friends.

Polarity therapy is not about penguins or the North & South Poles, exactly. But it is about balance and integration; it is about the interdependence of body, mind, and spirit. And it is about health; how, once we understand these universal principles of energy and connectedness, we can improve our physical and mental well being, become more productive, energized and, well – healthier. It is a form of energy/​body work, which is steeped in tradition. Daniel Lengerich is the only Polarity Therapist in the entirety of San Francisco, which I found somewhat surprising considering how progressive and amazing this city is. But, it is so!
Being well versed in energy/​holistic treatments, I was excited to discover Daniel’s new office at Prana Urban Healing Lounge in the Castro, located at 18^th and Collingwood. It’s an easy bus ride, but there are two metered parking lots nearby, for those who wish to drive.
The office is on the third floor of an elevator building. It is quaint, peaceful and clean. It is not ‘overly’ new age or metaphysically feeling; but rather, subdued, cozy and comfortable. Daniel himself is abundantly educated in the field of bodywork; having earned numerous certificates for advanced and specialized areas of study. He is warm and pleasant; able and willing to answer any questions and provide great information. That being said, he is also a massage therapist; so I opted for a combination massage/​polarity therapy session; although you could do just one or the other. He uses lotions, as opposed to oils, which is a really nice attribute, as I sometimes find that oils leave me feeling as slick as a baby seal.
My session lasted about 90 minutes, but the benefits are still with me two weeks later! It is DEEPLY relaxing and tranquil. I left with a sense of calm, well being and balance that was magnificent. Prana Urban Healing Lounge itself offers a variety of practitioners and holistic therapies including acupuncture, an herbalist, nutrition, biomagnetics, energy work and now polarity therapy! At the end of my session, all systems are a go, and my poles are well balanced.

Prana is lovely. It’s calm, beautiful and serene, unlike some of those places with over-​the-​top-​serenity-​theme-​deluxe plus in which you almost feel bombarded with dripping water, yoga chants, incense, cats, AND wind chimes, zen sand, etc.
I see Salvatore Manzi at Prana and he’s now one of two people on the planet whom I allow to touch my spine. I call him St. Salvatore (not to his face, though he’d definitely look handsome on one of those little iconic saint cards). I was born with a fused vertebra at my thoracic curve and have a slight curve to the right in my spine. Though the latter isn’t serious enough to count officially as scoliosis, you get the idea. I’ve managed whatever pain I have primarily through yoga, but Salvatore helps so, so much more.
All a long way of saying: I feel like a noodle when I leave (to the extent that I have trouble counting cash properly to pay Salvatore), and with my spine I don’t get to feel that way very often. That’s saying something.

Salvatore, who does structural body work here, is a magician. He clearly knows his anatomy (I actually first met him while he was teaching an anatomy mini-​course at my yoga teacher training) and what he’s doing. I’m not one for a simply feel good, relaxing massage… I like for massage therapists to get in there and work some stuff out. This is precisely what he does, and every time I leave, I feel like a million bucks. From my perspective, any amount of money is worth that feeling (though the prices are reasonable). Try the psoas massage – it will blow your mind. Prana Urban Healing Lounge is quality– an array exception practitioners all at one location.

I went last week to the open house of Prana Urban Healing Lounge in the Castro. It was a good time, we entered a hall of groovy disco lights and were greeted with a glass of wine. Yes, wine is good for your body.
I took a couple friends with me. We went to see my friend Matt, who practices «Muscle Activation Therapy» (MAT) there. I had no idea what MAT was and the brief introduction I got was pretty amazing. He was able to return my range of motion to my leg almost instantly. He analyzed and then put some intense pressure in my muscle. Intense.
Then he got out the «vibrator». It looks like a hammer used to put iron bolts into «i» beams. It’s a professional machine that vibrates incredibly fast and penetrates the muscle deeply. It relaxes my back muscle completely. I loved it! Good vibrations.
The place is filled with all sorts of friendly folks with strange job titles… Brain State Balance, Ayurvedic Practioner, Deep Tissue Structural Body Worker… the list goes on.
If your in pain, even in your brain… try this place out!
Oh yeah, it’s a bit hard to spot its upstairs, you can see the sign on collingwood, but you enter on the corner of 18^th/​collingwood and go upstairs.