| Who owns massage? Strange question! But, let’s try to come up with an answer. Do the professional massage therapists own it through their licenses? Or is it the regulatory agencies who pass laws that affect those therapists? What about the red light districts all over the world who advertise massage in most major cities on the planet – they could not possibly own it? How about all the billions of mothers who stroke and massage their babies and children lovingly? Do they own it? Or maybe the countless native healers, shamans and medicine people who have used massage in some form or another for thousands of years? Maybe all the village therapists here in Thailand who learned the craft from their mother, aunt, or grandma, and who have never seen a massage school from the inside. Or could it be that all the couples of the world who stroke and massage their partners lovingly as part of their relationship can stake a claim here? Continue reading  Why should Thai Massage only work on humans? You are probably thinking that Thai Massage is a system of stretches, and that cannot be done on animals. But that’s not correct.
Let’s redefine Thai Massage. In contrast to Swedish-style oil massage systems that are done directly on the skin and require taking off your clothes, Thai Massage is done fully dressed. Therefore it requires different techniques like pressure, kneading, rocking and stretching. Oil massage does not require movement on the part of the client, but Thai Massage uses lots of movement oriented techniques. While stretching is part of the system, it is not its main definition. It is entirely possible to do a full Thai Massage without any stretching. Continue reading What kind of title is this? I can tell you. It is the title of a new series of articles I am writing. It will be about real life, not an official version of massage which is approved by an American massage association with a long list of ethics rules. It won’t be about clinical massage facts that have been verified by a consortium of scientists. These articles will show you massage from many perspectives, not just from the point of view of professional massage therapists. Massage can be a part of life in many ways. It is not something that only exists in an office building, administered by someone with a bunch of official letters behind their names, and done only if you sign a form that you won’t sue your therapist. Continue reading Warning: If you do not have a sense of humor, DO NOT READ THIS Thai Massage article. Close it right away!! You have been warned! Read at your own risk. Recently I checked out the website of a major US Thai Massage association (I won’t name them here) to find out what it takes to publish an article on their site. I enjoy writing articles about Thai Massage and have been doing so for years. I publish them on three of my own healing arts websites and they have been republished by hundreds of other websites. After practicing and teaching Thai Massage in Thailand and other countries for 12 years and running an online Thai Massage video training school, I have lots of interesting topics to share. But back to the website of the Thai Massage association. Their rules state that the article cannot appear anywhere else, that they have the rights to the article, that I have to submit proof who I have studied Thai Massage with, plus I have to submit evidence that I had a certain amount of study and practice hours, and at least one of my massage teachers has to be approved by them as a qualified teacher by their standards. Continue reading  Loi Krathong Festival Float in Chiang Mai, Thailand I am trying to video tape new Thai massage clips, but these days it is very difficult here in Thailand to find a quiet spot. The noisiest festival of the year is approaching, it’s happening this weekend. Yes, it is noisier than New Year’s, and unlike New Year’s, this festival is three days long. Just to warm up for the real noise, the Thais start at least a week before the actual event to shoot off firecrackers and fireworks. For the record I want to say that this festival, Loi Krathong, is spectacular, colorful, and lots of fun – if you don’t mind forsaking your sleep for three days. If you wouldn’t know that all the explosions come from fireworks and firecrackers, you might think that you ended up in a war zone with major battles going on. Continue reading  Open air Thai massage shop I love writing about Thai massage. I have been practicing and teaching it for over a decade. And I live in Thailand, the homeland of Thai massage, which gives me a very different perspective from the western one. I could write nice sanitized, politically correct massage articles that pass muster with the American regulatory agencies and professional associations. And sometimes I do that. Let’s be politically incorrect for the moment But here in Asia there is a different world, different standards apply, nobody cares about what is correct in America or Europe. Nobody takes any courses in ethics, draping, anatomy or physiology, or therapist-client psychology, but Thai massage has been flourishing here for thousands of years regardless. Here massage, social life and cultural values mix freely and create a unique and colorful potpourri of experiences that just do not happen in western countries. So I take the liberty to write about the entire spectrum of healing arts and Thai Massage in Thailand, even if it does not pass the politically correct standards in the west. But it tells the story as it is here in Asia, it makes for a good read, and it opens your cultural eyes. Continue reading I have spent most of my massage career in Thailand. Thai massage is not only the main therapy here, but it is also a part of Thai culture. When you get a Thai massage session in Thailand, it is a very different experience than in the West. You learn something about Thai people, you get to know them on a different level. Normally Thais don’t touch each other. Traditionally any hand holding, hugging or kissing in public is not acceptable. Handshakes as a greeting are not done, touching someone’s head is considered offensive, and even stepping over someone’s legs is inappropriate. So how do they combine their touch aversion with the widespread use of Thai massage? The answer is: remarkably well. Continue reading Thai massage is an exotic healing art. It has a certain mystique which comes from the fact that not many people understand it very well. Sometimes I browse Thai massage videos on youtube. One has to be the icing on the cake for being sensational. It shows an elephant doing a so-called Thai massage by stepping on someone’s back. I know that elephants are smart animals and can be trained to do all kinds of tricks. I have seen elephants play football, paint pictures and other stunts. Since elephants in Thailand lost their traditional jobs in the logging industry, they have been retrained to cater to the tourism industry. Someone has to pay for their expensive upkeep.  Elephant "Thai Massage" But even elephants, as big as they are, can get spooked by certain things. A trainer in a local elephant camp here in Thailand told me the story of one who got totally spooked by a mouse. So personally, I prefer to have a human who does not weigh several tons rub my back. It’s not as sensational and it won’t impress the folks at home with my death-defying bravery. I’ll leave that to the tourists and I will stick with good old fashioned human Thai massage. But if you are looking for some excitement in your life, now you know where to get it! . . Continue reading  Temple in Thailand When I first began to study Thai Massage in the late 90s, I had a magical experience which is still as clear in my mind as if it had been yesterday. I was a student at Chiang Mai’s Old Medicine Hospital, the original and first Thai Massage school in the north of Thailand. At that time I had been studying and practicing for a few weeks, but I had never done any real massage work on clients. Continue reading I took the plunge. Colleagues of mine warned me to never mention Thai massage therapy and the “three-letter-word” in one breath in order not to tarnish the image of it, or – God forbid – make anyone think that Thai massage could be anything other than a snow white unblemished healing therapy. I happen to be a long time professional Thai massage therapist and instructor, and I do belong to the snow white camp. But I also live in Thailand and it is obvious that there are a quite a number of places that use Thai massage as a front for sexual services. During the Vietnam war tens of thousands of US soldiers came to Bangkok for a vacation, and Thai massage in the gray zone, or should I say in the red zone, became a booming business. Continue reading | |
