It starts with a feather touch. A real feather tail brushes your head and slowly glides down your back. Then cometh the soft bristles moving over your head, your shoulders, and your arms too. There's ...

I’m sitting on a futon in a stranger’s apartment with my friend Ashley. In front of us, Melinda Lauw—a slender, wide-eyed Singaporean woman—is crouched in a squat, holding a small flickering candle, ...