Nestled into the downstairs of a quintessential New York City brownstone in the Lenox Hill area of Manhattan sits The Juhi Center. From the outside, passers-by might see just another storefront, but to clients, behind the tiny door lives a world of wellness and an escape to the hustle and bustle of city living.
Opened by Juhi Singh, licensed acupuncturist, Oriental medicine specialist, and Chinese herbalist, in 2017, The Juhi Center has been described as a practice and oasis for the mind, body, and spirit. Powered by a small yet mighty staff of five practitioners, the center offers an array of treatments ranging from acupuncture and facials, to body treatments like reiki, amalgam, and laser therapy, to Ayurvedic consultation, diagnoses, and nutrition options, and more. Inside the center, clients can enjoy a Himalayan salt room, infrared sauna therapy, and a steam shower with aromatherapy.
American Spa: In a nut shell, what is The Juhi Center?
Juhi Singh: In a city called Devprayag in northern India, there is a point where two sacred rivers combine to form the great Ganges River. To stand at the convergence of these rivers is to bear witness to a sensational collision of color. The two distinctly painted rivers—one earthy with sediment and the other glacial green in color—come into contact, spin into union, and eventually depart as one majestic river known as the Ganges. The Juhi Center is my sacred point of convergence, my life’s passion and work. The Center is where the best practices for health, beauty, medicine, and therapy that my partners and I have discovered throughout our vast careers and experiences, come together to create a world-renowned, holistic treatment clinic. The Juhi Center is a place of healing practice and a remarkable confluence of medical knowledge.
AS: When did you open The Juhi Center? What made you want to open it?
JS: I opened the Juhi Center in 2017 because I wished that there had been a Juhi Center available to me when I was first battling my own illness. Trying to find workable solutions and new approaches to address my health in ways that wouldn’t have irreparable repercussions was a traumatic experience for me as a teenager. A 16-year-old dealing with Crohn’s Disease, I felt hopeless at the idea that I would need to undergo procedures which would leave me scarred and change my life forever—and not in a good way. Going to India, achieving healing through other forms of medicine, and encountering a whole new world of professionals providing alternative treatments to patients successfully, gave me hope. This hope inspired me to forge my own path to wellness. As I began committing myself to finding other options for healthcare, I found that more and more benefits to these alternative methods appeared along the way. I not only discovered health, I discovered beauty, I discovered happiness, I discovered vitality, and I wanted to create a place where others could find these benefits for themselves.
AS: What treatments and services do you offer? Which have you found to be most popular?
JS: Recently, I have noticed a significant spike in the number of people coming in for anxiety, depression, stress, and stomach issues. These symptoms, as I’ve learned in my work, are all part of the same gut to brain loop. It is an essential component of Ayurvedic medicine and my practice to recognize these kinds of patterns. As nothing occurs without cause, identifying the root of the problem is the first step in cancelling the loop and putting an end to more than one issue. It’s a similar case with another service that has recently been in very high demand—facial rejuvenation services. While this may seem like more of a cosmetic treatment, signs of aging or illness occurring in the facial region are also the result of loops whose beginnings are traced elsewhere in the body. Understanding the cause is the most important step in finding the solution.
And whether its acupuncture for pain, facial rejuvenation for aging, or any number of concerns that a patient may walk in with, my process is the same. First comes consultation. After meeting with the patient, I work with my team—all the best professionals from a variety of the medical arts—and together we develop a unique protocol of both short and long-term services carefully tailored to the patient in order to create a long-lasting change. The services we offer to our patients to bring wellness and beauty from the inside out including Ayurvedic nutrition counseling, Reiki, vitamin therapy, medical weight loss and detoxification, stress reduction and meditation, homeopathic treatments, and internal medicine. And while we have such a wide array of services, we always offer them as one team with a unique structure carefully composed for each patient. This particular approach and consideration is why our patients develop such a deep relationship with our wellness professionals and an even deeper connection with their health.
AS: What is Ayurveda?
JS: Ayurveda is the name for the traditional Indian medical practice which can be traced back almost 8,000 years and is still used today. Ayurveda in Sanskrit means ‘knowledge of life and longevity’. More than simply a medical system, it is a comprehensive holistic approach to healing that takes physical and mental health, diet, exercise, and daily routine into balance when considering the overall health of an individual. Probably the most fundamental understanding in Ayurvedic practice is similar to physics: our bodies operate using the equation that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Therefore, anything manifested in the body as health or illness has an identifiable cause. Ayurvedic treatment reveals that if you want a specific reaction, there are definitive actions that one can take to achieve it.
AS: Why should someone look into getting Ayurvedic treatments or medicine? Is there a particular “type” of person whom this type of medicine would benefit most?
JS: I don’t think Ayurvedic treatment is for everything, I believe that Western medicine has made many advances from traditional and alternative forms of medicine which should not be denied this is why I have always advocated using both Western and alternative approaches. But I do think that there are many people who can’t find the help they want or need within the boundaries of Western medicine. The person who wants more and needs more than Western medicine can provide is the “type” of person that most benefits from Ayurvedic treatment. It is the person who, like me, wants to have options, wants to have the tools to help themselves, and who like me, does not stop seeking the solutions for total wellness inside and out.
AS: How does The Juhi Center differ from other spas or medical spas in NYC?
JS: The Juhi Center is not like anything I’ve seen in New York, which is why I had to start it! It’s not just a spa, medical clinic, or treatment facility fixed on a single approach. The center is where a variety of approaches, an international gamut of knowledge, and a vast array of practices, perfected by my hand-selected team and based on professional and personal experience of success, come together. It is my “one-stop shop” with an approach that focuses on improving health and beauty from the inside out.
AS: What has been your most rewarding experience since opening The Juhi Center?
JS: My center developed organically, it was just me and some amazing patients who arrived through word-of-mouth. One patient led to another, led to another, which has led to a center. So really, the most rewarding thing about my center for me is knowing that this whole place, this team, this crazy-busy schedule of patients, and everything we are is just as it is because people have needed it. Every day that I get a new consultation I’m rewarded endlessly with the fact that this person is here, looking for help, seeking options, wanting health and beauty, and knowing that I have the team that can give them what they want—which is ultimately, a better life. And we all deserve at least something about our lives to be better.
AS: What is next for your practice and the center?
JS: I try not to think too much about what is next for the practice and the center because I give absolutely everything I’ve got to my patients. My work requires full attention and focus. But if I have to think about it, what I would like to see next for the center is what I would like to see for our world. I want options and knowledge of options to be available to as many people as possible. If I can find a way to bring awareness of these medical tools and approaches that don’t involve surgery, pills, and enormous bills, I will do everything I can to do so. Ultimately, I want my center to be a home for a new culture of alternative approaches to medicine. One that is well aware of its roots in both Eastern and Western experiences: a home that seeks to heal more and more people rather than growing in a direction that is even further for people to reach.
For more information, visit www.juhi.center.
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