Like gasoline, feet must be carefully treated and refined before they can be used to propel automobiles. Amplify your octane with today's Groupon: for $39, you get a 30-minute Chinese foot massage (a $60 value) and a 45-minute Tibetan foot-sauna treatment (a $30 value) at Qi Spa in Georgetown (a $90 total value).

Qi Spa's staff soothingly coddles live vessels with a kaleidoscope of body treatments that have garnered positive press from glossies such as the Washingtonian. During a foot massage, practitioners apply principles of traditional Chinese medicine to manipulate specific points on the feet and calves said to correspond to energy pathways through the rest of the body. The treatment aims to melt tension and toxins out of the lower extremities, relieve ailments from anxiety to indigestion, and erase grape-juice stains from marathon wine-making sessions. Staff further detangles lower-limb woes during a 45-minute stay in a Tibetan foot sauna, purported to ease aches from fibromyalgia or diabetes. While resting in a heated wooden chamber, toes wriggle out their toxins and blood vessels expand to improve circulation and make room for visiting in-laws.

Decked out in sunny-yellow walls and private treatment rooms, Qi Spa courts clients with lavender towels, earnest mixtapes, and complimentary beverages such as green tea. The soothing sanctuary books appointments seven days a week.