| I often get questions and comments along the lines of: “How pure is a particular healing arts, massage, or yoga system?” “How close is it to it’s origins?” “How much does it adhere to its tradition?” “How much has it been tampered with or altered?” “How much has it been commercialized?” “How spiritual or conscious is it?” Enter “Human Nature” and its quirksLet’s apply a broader perspective to these questions. It’s called human nature. It is full of variety and differences and there is no one right way contained in it. I know, I know, YOUR way is the right way, and of course my way is even more right. But before we get into an argument about what is right or wrong, let’s step back and look at all this from a more neutral perspective. Continue reading What makes Thai Massage or any other therapy unique? There are countless massage and therapy systems to choose from, and that’s great! But just like not everyone likes to eat the same kind of food, not every type of massage or therapy will work for all of us. There are big differences. For example, let’s take Rolfing which is a highly physical and intense therapy which can sometimes be quite painful. Now compare that with Cranio Sacral therapy which is very gentle, totally pain free, and hardly involves any physical movement at all. Or let’s look at Thai Massage which involves lots of physical movements like stretches, twists, traction, and passive yoga moves. Compare that with Swedish massage which in its basic form does not use any of those movements. Continue reading The following is a guest post written by Jillian McKee. As more people embrace holistic therapies for improving health and fighting disease, yoga and massage are becoming more common among cancer patients and other chronic sufferers. Yoga and massage therapies combine ancient philosophies with modern techniques to ease symptoms and optimize treatment effectiveness. While most health practitioners do not endorse these therapies as a cure for cancer or a treatment for disease, they do support them as effective complementary therapies. Many cancer treatment centers now offer yoga classes and massage sessions for cancer patients. And persons with other chronic diseases are utilizing their benefits as well. Yoga and massage offer a courageous touch for the people who need it most. It has proven helpful for even those with the most aggressive cancers such as mesothelioma. Continue reading How much Anatomy do Massage Therapists Need to Know?
In my massage video training courses I use very few specific anatomical terms. There are three reasons for this: 1. The first reason is quite simple: Anatomy uses a scientific language which is not understood by most people unless they have studied the subject. My video training courses are purchased by students all over the world. For quite a few of them, English is not their first language. If I used specific anatomical terms, it would be more difficult for those students to follow the training. Therefore I intentionally keep it simple. In other words, my video courses are not exclusively targeted at massage therapists whose first language is English and who have studied anatomy and physiology. Continue reading What does Thai Massage have to do with your life?As it turns out, quite a bit. And why is that so? Here are six good reasons. Thai Massage and the yoga connection1. Thai Massage therapy has its origins in yoga. Yoga is not just a system that teaches you how to turn yourself into a pretzel or stand on your head. It is a process to reconnect with your higher self, your spiritual nature, your divine essence, or God, or whatever else you might want to call it. It’s not about religion or arguing about which kind of God we are talking about. Yoga is a process that helps you to raise your consciousness to a higher level. Continue reading Massage therapy is not just about technique. It is also very much about your health, your energy and your attitude. As a massage therapist we have to protect our bodies and our energy. Our most precious tool is our body. If it malfunctions, our career can stop dead in its tracks. Sometimes we have to know when to say NO.  My first exposure to potential problems in my new career
When I first started learning Thai Massage, we were taught many, actually way too many techniques that required strong pressure with the thumbs on legs, arms and back. It only took me a few months of daily Thai Massage work to develop problems in my thumb joints. I soon realized that I had to use different techniques if I wanted to survive as a massage therapist. Continue reading  I just watched a short video in which a massage therapist listed some benefits of massage. She looked nice, her work looked good, and I am sure it felt great.
She explained that massage increases circulation, eases tension, brings more blood flow to an area, eases the ischemic points (whatever that is…), brings the person into their parasympathetic nervous system (I have heard that word somewhere…). Then she said that “often people claim to be more relaxed after the session”, and that “some people claim to have decreased blood pressure after the session”. Why do normal people get a massage session? I am sure the therapist was good at what she was doing and she meant well with her listing of benefits. But to me it shows a sorry state of affairs in the world of healing arts. I mean, come on people, who really gets a massage because of their ischemic points or their parasympathetic nervous system! Continue reading The short answer is yes, my students are doing it all the time, and I have lots of forum posts, emails and testimonials to back that claim up. But, let’s qualify this a bit more and delve deeper into this subject by looking at the advantages and disadvantages of learning massage in a particular way. Live Massage Course Advantages- You can get immediate feedback and corrections from the instructor
- You are part of a motivated group of students which generates enthusiasm
- You get to practice under supervision
- You get to practice on a variety of bodies
Live Course Disadvantages- Generally quite expensive
- Often involve travel to the course location Continue reading
When I started doing Thai Massage therapy over 12 years ago, it never crossed my mind to have a website. That was for big businesses or geeks, not for massage therapists. I thought I was pretty cool because I had an email address and I even collected the emails of my clients. Well, times have changed. Websites are not just for big business anymore. Anyone who has a real business – yes that includes us healing arts types – really needs a web presence. It might be just a small site which is little more than an online business card. Or it could be a large one like my own site, www.thaihealingmassage.com, with hundreds of pages, blog, forum, picture gallery and product store. Here are 8 reasons why massage therapists and healing arts practitioners need a website: Continue reading “I am a fully licensed professional massage therapist” – sounds impressive, doesn’t it? Especially in the United States the “professional” title is taken very seriously, and it can be easily defined. It generally means you have taken your 500 hours of training or whatever your state requires, and passed the state’s massage board licensing exam. Easy definition, and now you are a real professional. Or are you? Let’s look at some different scenarios - You are licensed in one state but not in another. If you do a massage in this other state, are you still a professional or are you an offender, someone who broke the law?
- You are licensed in the US, and now you go to a country which has no licensing laws for massage. If you do a massage there, is that a professional or unprofessional massage? Continue reading
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