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September 20, 2014
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Hi everyone,
I'm loving this ! Very clever way of involving people around their online learning experience !
Session 1
- Regarding breathing and synchronisation with work being done, I have one question. As one's breathing cycle length is rather stable and sometimes short, does this means the work you're performing (e.g. compression) is time limited by your breathing ?
Not sure I'm making myself clear (!). Let's say you breath out every 5s, does it means all of your work is going to be rhythmical around 5s positions/actions ?
Keep training and practising !
// CD
June 28, 2010
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Hi Cyril,
Welcome to the Complete Thai Massage course and our forum! 
Please take a moment and familiarize yourself with our certification check list below:
Certification check list
Regarding the breathing, you cannot use your breath to time all techniques in Thai Massage. It works very well for slow, sustained moves, but it doesn't work for other kinds of techniques. You will find out more about it throughout the course. However it is important to have a general breath awareness which helps you focus and allows the energy to flow better.
The idea is not to combine every technique with a certain breathing pattern. That would definitely not work. But you will see that some techniques can and should be combined with a certain breathing pattern.
September 20, 2014
Offline Hi Shama,
Thanks for your detailed feedback !
// CD
September 20, 2014
Offline Session 2 (Chi machine) :
- I practised the technique both on my wife and my 7 years old son. Getting the "wave" up to the head was OK. I just did not felt to comfortable with the rhythm : too fast or too slow ? I did also struggle a bit with posture before achieving proper form without spending too much energy
- The tingling sensation was stronger with my son
I'll practice tomorrow on my 11 years old daughter !
Warm Regards,
// CD
June 28, 2010
Offline First of all the Chi Machine technique is one of the more difficult ones to get right, so don't worry if it takes you a few times to find the right rhythm.
Second I always love hearing when course students practice on their children. Quite a few of them do that. I think it's great to have massage work happening within the family!
The best way to improve on your techniques is to watch the videos several times. You will almost certainly pick up things which you had missed the first time you watched it.
September 20, 2014
Offline Great !
Thks Shama for your advices
It happened my son asked me for another chi machine massage the next evening !
What a fantastic interaction with your kid. Thks for that also Shama
Warm Regards,
// CD
September 20, 2014
Offline Session 3 (foot massage 1) :
This is starting to get fun : everyone at home are awaiting for the next video to be delivered so they can serve as massage partner and "benefit" from my training !
- Some struggles on the flexes : not easy to estimate what power is efficient but not painfull
- The position with my leg under the client's knee felt a bit hard on the tendons under her knee. What do you believe I'm not doing correctly ?
- I concluded the work with percussion technics I saw from one of your "tips & tricks" videos. The feedback I got from my partners was very positive
Warm Regards,
// CD
June 28, 2010
Offline Make sure that your straight leg is angled out so that the client is not lying right on top of the shin bone (tibia), but more on the gastrocnemius muscle. That makes it feel a bit softer.
September 20, 2014
Offline Thks for your advices Shama !
Session 4 (foot massage 2) :
Now I get a line-up of all my family to serve as "client" ! 
- My main difficulties was to deliver consistently pressure on the points 1, 2 & 3. My thumb tend to lend at different locations each time. If I put all my focus on pressing the exact location, I lose some ability to deliver a "flow" experience, following a slow but powerful rhythm
June 28, 2010
Offline Don't worry too much about the exact location. It is more important to develop the "flow" feeling. The technical expertise can always become more precise, but all technical knowledge in the world won't help you if the techniques don't flow nicely.
It is possible to make Thai Massage feel lifeless and mechanical when a therapist does not develop a good feeling for flow. That's why I often compare Thai Massage with a dance or with Tai Chi movements which are graceful and flowing.
September 20, 2014
Offline Thks Shama !
I'm not a great Thai dancer yet but I'm practising a lot !
Session 5 (leg warm up) :
- The "butterfly" move on the upper leg was sometimes perceived as a little painful if I let all my body weight "sink" into the muscle, especially with my 7 years old son (very small build)
- Do we get to work later on the front of the lower leg and the back of the upper leg ?
I really need to work on a proper mat set up ! I'm lacking room to position myself comfortably around !
June 28, 2010
Offline Well, you don't have to sink into the muscle with ALL your body weight, especially on a 7 year old! The "sinking" does not mean you sink with all the weight you have. It only means you transfer pressure through body weight instead of muscle pressure. You can sink in with only 20 percent of your body weight which is what you should do with your son. And make sure to work on feeling softness in your hands and your techniques.
Of course you will get to work on all areas of the leg.
September 20, 2014
Offline Thks Shama, it makes sense !
Session 6 (leg warm up forearms) :
One can give really strong massage using forearms !
- I struggle a bit with the angle of my forearm. I'm rather "bony" so it feels to hard if I don't use the softer side of my forearm
- The rocking part felt especially good on my partner and acted as a natural "tension releaser"
- I have one question about colds hands. The weather is getting colder over here in Europe and when I start massaging my hands can be quite colds and this does not feel to good the the person I'm massaging. I tried soaking them in warm water or rubbing them together to get a "friction warming effect" but do you have any tips or tricks I could use to make my hands warmer before starting a massage ?
June 28, 2010
Offline You know, that's an issue I never had to deal with since I spent most of my massage career in Thailand. Here we have the opposite problem since it is usually quite hot, and we need A/C or fans to keep everyone cool. So I really don't have personal experience with this issue.
September 20, 2014
Offline Session 7 (leg stretch 1) :
It feels good to start "dancing" with the client !
- Very good learning on the imbalance of the hips. I like to be able to adapt part of the massage depending on the specificities of the customer. One size does not fit all !
- I had difficulties to hold some of the positions myself ! But I still see that I adapted a lot my posture since starting the course. Long way to go still
!
June 28, 2010
Offline Long way to go, but you are on the right track. Every journey starts with one step, and if you take enough steps, you will certainly get there!
"One size fits all" Thai Massage does not feel very good at all. There is no creativity in that. The art is in the individual adaptations, as you pointed out.
September 20, 2014
Offline Thks Shama !
Session 8 (leg stretch 2) :
- It keeps amazing me the difference one get between a "pure muscle work" and a "whole body work". The concept of connecting with your total energy is one step further. It makes a whole world of difference for the person benefiting from the massage
- My kids enjoyed very much the knee massage with the circular motion using hands on each side !
- Since session 7, you touched some of the observations you can make on your customer's posture to decide what type of work you're going to deliver. Are you going to explore further this topic in the coming sessions ? If not, what resources do you advise to get some more abilities on this subject ?
Best Regards,
// Cyril
June 28, 2010
Offline Yes, there is more information coming on how to decide what type of work is best for a particular client. This is an ongoing theme throughout this course.
I also have many much more specialized therapy courses which go even deeper into very specific applications like knee problems, back problems, hip problems, or sciatica problems. There is no way to put all possible therapeutic applications into one single course. You will learn a lot about it in this course, and if you want to go even deeper, then you have many choices among my other courses.
Many of my students have worked their way through many or even all of my courses. It just depends on how far you want to go with Thai Massage. It's a huge subject, and there is certainly no shortage of training materials.
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