Hospitals are using it to treat patients with chronic conditions like fibromyalgia and degenerative arthritis. Physical therapists use it with patients trying to regain muscle strength after hip or knee surgeries. Big corporations are offering it as an employee benefit. Psychiatrists report that it helps combat depression. And more and more experts are viewing it as preventative medicine because of the way it combats stress, which is linked to the number-one killer in America: heart disease.

According to the Academy of Natural Therapy, 14 percent of adult Americans got a massage in 2008, and 42 percent have received one professionally at some point in their lives. And while the bulk of the clientele used to be women, that is no longer really the case.

"I would say it’s 50-50 men and women," said Eugene Sazonov, the owner of Magic Hands Massage Therapy on East 82nd Street, which opened in 1997. He offers a number of different types of massages, but stresses that each one is tailored to the individual client’s needs.

"Emotional stuff is one thing," he said. "It’s based on a therapist’s ability to connect and create a treatment for that person. With medical massage, there are numerous techniques. It all depends on the injury."

There are currently more than 200 types of massage, from the basic to the extremely specialized. Massage therapists utilize everything from hot stones to pools of water in their mission to get you to chill out.

SWEDISH MASSAGE

Swedish massage is the most requested service in spas, according to a 2009 consumer study. It is one of the more relaxing types of massage, as the masseuse focuses mostly on superficial layers of muscle with long, smooth strokes and gentle kneading. They generally use lotions or oils and play music. Communicating with them to let them know your problem areas can help you get the most out of the experience.

More and more experts are viewing massage as preventative medicine because of the way it combats stress, which is linked to the numberone killer in America: heart disease.

SHIATSU MASSAGE

Shiatsu has a lot in common with acupuncture because of the way it uses pressure points to improve the flow of energy. The massage therapists use their fingertips, elbows and knees in a rhythmic pattern to apply pressure to the 12 "meridians" of the body to unblock the chi. Unbalanced chi, in traditional Chinese medicine, is the root cause of most diseases in the body.

THAI MASSAGE

Thai massage is similar to shiatsu in the way it aligns the energies of the body using pressure on key points. But it is a more active, interactive experience because of the way the massage therapist moves you into a series of postures and stretches meant to improve your flexibility and release stress. It has been compared to doing yoga while lying down, and you’re more likely to walk out of the room feeling energized than sleepy.

AROMATHERAPY MASSAGE

Aromatherapy involves basic massage therapy—gentle kneading—with highly concentrated plant oils thrown into the mix. The potent scents are meant to trigger a response in the body’s limbic system, which is connected to the nostrils. The limbic
system uses the nervous system and hormones to control emotional
responses. Inhaling essential oils (which are also absorbed through the
skin) can affect essential functions like blood pressure, heart rate,
memory and the immune system. For this reason, aromatherapy is a good
choice for people going through a particularly stressful or emotional
time.

HOT STONE MASSAGE

In one of the
most deeply relaxing forms of massage, flat, heated stones are placed on
the body in strategic places on the back, the palms of the hands and
between the toes. The heat loosens tight muscles and allows the massage
therapist to apply deeper pressure. It also improves circulation and
soothes the nervous system.

DEEP TISSUE MASSAGE

This one’s not for the faint of heart.

Deep tissue massage
focuses on realigning the deepest layers of muscle in chronically tight
areas such as the neck, the shoulders and the lower back. In these
areas, rigid bands of tissue can form that actually block circulation
and restrict movement. To release this, the massage therapist uses
strong pressure across the grain of the muscles. Some discomfort and
pain may occur during the massage and most people are sore for a day or
two afterward.

Massage
therapists are required to be licensed in the state of New York, but
that hasn’t stopped many unlicensed therapists from doing business. They
may be cheaper—the average price for a professional massage in the U.S.
is $65—but Sazonov says that with many of them, you’re not likely to
get your money’s worth.

"It
may feel nice, like a girlfriend giving her boyfriend a back rub," he
says. "But when they use two moves all over your body, it’s not really
doing anything for you."

Make
sure to let the massage therapist know what your comfort levels are,
whether it’s keeping some clothes on under the sheet or telling them how
much pressure is too much.

And
if you’re anxious, go with a friend or partner. Many spas offer
"couples massages," so people can bond with their other halves while
relaxing.

But at least one of those people thinks there’s a new YoHo in town. Frances Taylor-Brown, who runs Zenyasa Yoga on West 72nd Street with her yogi husband, says the Upper West Side is giving Union Square a run forits money when it comes to the quantity and quality of yoga offerings.

"It used to be like when you wanted to do good yoga, you went Downtown," Taylor-Brown says. "You kind of had to. Now I see people walking down the street in the Upper West Side with their yoga mats all the time. It’s become an appendage."

She may be on to something. A Google Map search turns up 22 yoga studios in a four-avenue span between Eighth and 23rd streets. The Upper West Side claims 20. And this doesn’t include those gyms and rehab facilities that count yoga among their many other offerings; these are places that only offer yoga.

Debra Flashenberg, the director of Prenatal Yoga Center on West 72nd Street, said the Upper West Side’s yoga scene has actually been thriving for a long time; it’s just been a well-kept secret.

"When I opened my studio almost nine years ago, on our block alone there were five yoga studios," Flashenberg says. "I feel like it’s been there, but quieter in a sense. In Union Square, you have the big well-known ones like Om."

She said the recent arrival of highprofile new studios like Pure Yoga and Yoga Works might have helped create some buzz about the Uptown area—but in reality, according to Flashenberg, it has been a destination for high-quality, specialized and even revolutionary types of yoga for some time.

Over the years, yoga has been interpreted in different ways and in a number of styles. Some of the most popular are hatha yoga, which is slowpaced with an emphasis on mindfulness; vinyasa, which emphasizes the alignment of breath with movement; and Bikram, which is taught in a heated room with high humidity. Practitioners of all of these styles can find a home on the Upper West Side.

Flashenberg’s studio is the only one in the city to cater specifically to pre- and post-natal women. And at Zenyasa Yoga, you can practice a slow-flow style that was pioneered by Taylor-Brown’s husband, founder Jason Ray Brown.

Brown was a teacher at Om Yoga years ago when he began seeking more knowledge about anatomy to inform his yoga practice. What he learned made him question some commonly held beliefs about yoga.

"A lot of people assume yoga is balanced, but he started seeing teachers come to him with yoga injuries," Taylor- Brown explains. "People are told in yoga class, if you just keep working long enough, you’ll get it. But anatomically, that’s not true. You could just work and work until you tear a meniscus."

So Brown incorporated his knowledge into a new style that combined slow stretching and strengthening with an emphasis on mindfulness practices like meditation. He called it Zenyasa and opened his studio at 155 W. 72nd St. last year.

Walking across West 72nd Street, it’s not immediately clear that it’s a yoga hotbed. Zoning laws in the neighborhood put tight restrictions on signs, so most studios are tucked away in otherwise nondescript buildings. On a cloudy day last week, for example, there would have been almost no visual evidence of the flourishing scene if it wasn’t for a pair a young women carrying yoga mats.

Ashley Szucs, 27, who lives several blocks away, was on her way home from a hot yoga class and laughed at the image she gave off.

"It’s kind of a cliché, right?" she said. "The train is always full of people with mats. It’s like we’re on our way to a convention."

Most studios rely on word-of-mouth and Internet search rankings to spread the word, and despite the economic downturn, people are still willing to pay for yoga.

"It’s really becoming that people are getting more interested in taking care of their bodies," Taylor-Brown says. "It’s exciting. The more people take care of mind, body and spirit, the more we can be helpful to our families and our communities."

In Flashenberg’s view, while many students attending yoga classes around Union Square tend to be young people new to the practice, the demographics are different Uptown. "Up here, you have older people who have been practicing for a while," she explains. "It’s been a strong but quiet yoga community for many years."

"It seems to me in the last six years the demographics have widened considerably," says Mika Street, the owner of Uptown Pilates on West 72nd Street. "It used to be all dancers, then it became sort of house moms. But now it’s at least 30 percent men."

Street, who has worked with bridesto-be and models like America’s Next Top Model winner Yoanna House, offers classes in classical Pilates, the original system that was developed by a boxer and circus performer named Joseph Pilates. The regime focuses on building strength and flexibility while also conditioning the mind.

Traditional Pilates is practiced on mats on the floor but also incorporates props like chairs, weights and rings. "I think it was developed by someone who really knew what he was doing," Street says with a laugh. "We don’t operate on the new stuff, but there certainly are a lot of new things out there."

Street was referring to the flourishing industry of Pilates derivatives. Even though she doesn’t think it needs improving, there are plenty of people out there trying.

There’s the wildly popular "Yogilates," which blends Pilates with yoga—a natural pairing, considering that both practices emphasize strength, flexibility, intentional breathing and mindfulness. There’s "Cardiolates," which was developed here in Manhattan at Pilates on Fifth, which adds a cardiovascular element to the program. There’s Pilates geared specifically toward people recovering from spinal cord injuries and even something called "Extreme Pilates."

Ann Toran, the founder of Pilates Reforming New York, doesn’t subscribe to the belief that Pilates should remain a closed system. One of Joseph Pilates’ former students once told her that he would have wanted it to keep evolving.

"She said Joe, if he were alive today, his work would not have stopped," Toran says. "It would have continued to grow. We feel that there’s so much more."

The key to Toran’s Pilates sessions is a piece of equipment called the Reformer, which looks a bit like a bed with a foot bar attached. As it slides back and forth, springs create resistance, giving you a workout she calls "addictive." Her students range in age from about 18 to late seventies. The older ones, she said, tell her it helps their bone density enormously.

There is a great deal of literature that touts the health benefits of Pilates. Some practitioners say it helps ease symptoms of conditions like scoliosis and cystic fibrosis.

"I’m always getting forwards from people about the benefits for Parkinson’s or M.S. or opera singers," Street says.

Opera singers may seem like a stretch, but anecdotal cases abound of singers increasing their lung capacity. And professional athletes like golfer Tiger Woods, pitcher Curt Schilling and football player Ruben Brown all say it helped them improve their games.

As warm weather arrives in New York, start looking for outdoor Pilates classes. Shape Up NYC, a Parks Department program, offers free sessions all over the city. You could tone up while overlooking Chelsea on the High Line. And chances are, you won’t be surrounded by just moms.

A woman has just leaped from her perch on a 20-foot-high platform and is swinging her legs up onto a trapeze. She dangles for a moment upside down, then kicks her legs out, somersaults in midair and drops like a stone into the springy net below. Calling Trapeze School New York an institution of continuing education might strike some as a little odd, but instructor and front office associate Laura Valpey thinks it’s a fair assessment. The way she sees it, a class doesn’t need to be career-oriented to be an enriching experience, one that is worthwhile entirely on its own merits.

"For most people there isn’t some big end goal in mind, but there is consistently the challenge," Valpey said. "It’s the little victories. It’s totally gratifying."

Gratifying… and addictive?

"Completely," she said, her freckled face breaking into a grin. "It’s ridiculous. I’ve been threatening to take some other class, but why, when I could be flying instead?"

Flying. Who among us hasn’t dreamed of possessing this superpower? Many adrenaline junkies skydive and bungee jump, but those involve falling more than flying. Swooping through the air on "the flying trapeze," in the words of Bruce Springsteen, may be about as close as we can get to the sensation.

"Next flier up!" an instructor shouted from the platform above.

A dozen people, most in their twenties and thirties, were taking turns swinging on the single trapeze currently rigged above the net. Some had obviously done this before and flew with the greatest of ease. Others, not so much.

One first-timer whiffed the somersault and flopped into the net, causing a ripple of good-natured laughter. "We’ll try that again," instructor Hal Anderson said encouragingly as the student wobbled over to the edge of the net like a newborn giraffe.

Anderson, Valpey and the other instructors have lean builds and the strong forearms typically associated with rock climbers. On the far end of the facility is a trampoline, where one of their colleagues bounced with the grace of a dancer before scurrying up a Spanish web rope. He looped it around himself and contorted his body in midair, touching his foot to his forehead like a performer in Cirque du Soleil.

Occasionally, one of the instructors will demonstrate a technique.

"See how his legs aren’t swinging around," Anderson said, pointing. "He’s hanging straight."

The students watched with raised eyebrows.

"It never looks difficult, and it’s not that high," said Tal Goretsy, 35, of Chelsea. "But seeing the net below, all the patterns with the carpet—and you’re leaning forward knowing they’re about to let go…" He rubbed his face, leaving a trail of white chalk on his cheek. "I’m a little nervous, actually. I’m up next."

His classmate Jo Decal, 32, shared the sentiment.

"It’s good because it’s out of my comfort zone," she said. "I’m an active person but this is totally different from anything else in terms of energy and strength. It’s fun, but I’m really scared. I almost puked."

Nearly all of the students, however, hopped down from the net with huge smiles on their faces after completing the day’s trick. A poster hanging by the door illustrates the hundreds of possible aerial maneuvers, from the simple to the death-defying.

There’s "Backend Gazelle," "Shooting Star" and, memorably, "Upright Reverse Suicide."

A television sits nearby where the instructors play  videos of each attempt, helping the students break down the movements they are trying to master.

"It’s an amazing teaching tool," said Valpey. "It can all be such a blur up there. It’s over before you even realize what you did. Seeing it really helps."

Many people come in to try it once or twice, but the school offers extended courses and discount rates for those who want to build their skills over time. For many, it has become a big part of their social lives. One group holds regular costume nights with ever-changing themes.

Trapeze School New York is open year-round, but in the upcoming summer months it will be operating at two additional locations: one on Governors Island and one on Pier 40, near Houston Street.

All skill levels are welcome, Valpey said, emphasizing that people with disabilities can enjoy the trapeze, too.

"There’s a woman who has had some serious health issues who comes in all the time," she said. "It’s a little harder for her, sure, but she keeps coming back."

And why not? When simply walking is hard, flying must seem like a dream. 

I feel like you’re masturbating all over me," David said, while in the middle of group therapy. The rest of us, a motley crew of six people of varying ages and ethnicities, including me—a twentysomething, white, middle-class, wannabe writer—sat in stunned silence.

I had fallen for David, the group’s resident asshole. He was the latest in a series of surrogate dreamboats—guys who were absolutely inappropriate and/or unavailable for one reason or another. In David’s case, there were several. He was married, older, from a fucked-up family and, as stated already, an asshole.

I liked him because he didn’t care to be liked. He was attractive, dynamic and aggressively intelligent. He didn’t couch his words to spare feelings. The rest of us were a bunch of pathetic codependents, overshadowed by his relentless honesty. He reveled in confrontation.

There I was, 24, alternately meek and daring, too tall, long brown hair forming a curtain in front of my face and looking for Prince Charming—but mortified to admit to it. Instead I was settling for distant relationships with nice guys who didn’t challenge me, along with a mediocre publishing job that was a poor imitation of what I really wanted.

The therapy group did psychodrama, which was a lot like acting. I should note that I’m being careful, by the way, only to reveal and embarrass myself, to protect the identities of the other people in the group. As a good group therapy member should.

My therapist, Frank, was bumbling and self-deprecating—a real Columbo type. But, like Columbo, he was not to be underestimated, and neither were my cohorts. At times it felt like there were five therapists in the room. It was good for me: I had nowhere to look away, nowhere to run. We reenacted scenes from our lives, a recent fight with a loved one, a strange dynamic with a boss or, sometimes, a pivotal childhood memory. It was strangely addictive, and I warmed to the process.

In the rundown of my week at the beginning of sessions, I talked dully about my actual boyfriend. But in psychodrama, I cast David in the role, though he was nothing like him. He played it in a straightforward manner that I liked. He responded to me, and I was sensitive to the slightest change in mood.

I sometimes lost track of what was happening as I spun a fantasy of what might happen if I seduced him. But every week I got a good dose of reality when we met again as indifferent people, barely acquaintances, even though we knew each other better than most. I thought maybe I’d see him somewhere at some point, and we’d have coffee, and start to develop a real relationship.

But David always cast me as his daughter.

Gradually, I began to notice how much I acted for others’ benefit. I was never satisfied with relationships I had, and I substituted the fantasies of fictional love for the real thing. David made me laugh, but sometimes I laughed to amuse him. I noticed it pathetically. I wanted to stop thinking about how to achieve a particular effect on my audience. I wanted guts.

Maybe I didn’t want David, maybe I wanted to be David.

We were all there to deal with our "real lives," but after a while, relationships develop and inevitably there are things going on within the group, internal dynamics, that need airing out. So, every few months, Frank initiated a meta-session so we could talk directly to each other. I loved this: It felt more vital to me, like a test where we were asked to put our hardbought insights into practice. In my life, this place had become where I was most real, most myself. I could face awkward moments. The moments in life from which I badly wanted to escape, gazes I couldn’t hold—became signposts of "deep" territory. Avoidance made me feel I was just skating on the surface of life, never involved, never getting hurt. So I decided I was going to be frank and not ignore the issue with David. I waited as it got going, typically, with some small complaints: "Cathy, I felt you were really dismissive of me last week…" Then: "Frank, when you don’t start on time, I get angry…" I sat there braced to hear my own name. Someone told me I was doing a good job by continuing to come to sessions—I was always one foot out the door—and I waved it off while feeling quietly pleased.

There was a pause—I always waited for a pause—and I began by forcing out his name, following the injunction to address the other directly: "David, last week I noticed I was trying to be charming or cute for you…" I trailed off.

"Emily," he said after a long pause, "I’m not sure what you want from me…" and then he followed by saying something about having respect for my viewpoint and that I was making good progress.

I had stopped listening. My face was hot. I stared at something on the carpet in front of my feet, a water stain, with slight discoloration at the edges.

And then I felt better. I finally saw that he was resolute in taking a big brother role in my life, and not a romantic one. I began to appreciate playing his daughter in some small domestic scene from his life. And I realized he was useful in playing demanding and intimidating people in mine, and for me to begin to work out what I really liked in a guy and what I needed. I didn’t back down as much—I could look in his eyes when we talked, and not look away or feel embarrassed. I let go of the outsized fantasy I had built in my mind. It would always disappoint. In releasing him from my expectations, I actually opened up opportunity for intimacy with the real person sitting in front of me.

I was making progress.