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April 10, 2012
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Lesson 1.
Having studied other massages and physical therapy this lesson was easy. Just wanted to mention, that it's not common to find spine deformed strictly in one way. Kyphosis and lordosis maybe, but scoliosis is always accompanied by rotation and vice versa, and often also with assymetric kyphosis/lordosis. I believe that's not new for you, it just makes things more complicated. But in practice it actually makes it easier to spot skoliosys.
June 28, 2010
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You are absolutely correct. You rarely find only one isolated type of problem in the spine. Once something is wrong it often affects several things. To get into this in great detail is way beyond the scope of this course. It would require a whole new course. My main purpose was to give a simplified explanation of what can be wrong with the spine and what to look out for when checking out a client. That is already more than most massage therapists ever do, and it is important in order to get a bigger picture instead of just pressing wherever the pain is according to the client.
April 10, 2012
Offline Lesson 2.
This was the sum up of different causes of back pain and what thai massage can do.
Many of those things are discussed everywhere, except energetic part. I haven't found anywhere where they teach that in depth. In massage schools in Thailand they only name the sen lines and show how to press on them on legs and hands without any specific purpose and outcome in mind. Still continue to look for more information on this topic.
June 28, 2010
Offline I had the same experience when I originally attended Thai Massage schools in Thailand. They talked about energy lines, but in real practice we did not learn much about energy in those schools.
Since you studied all my major courses, and some of the smaller ones, you should have a much better idea about energetic concepts. Especially the Magic Touch Secrets course, which was a bonus course for the Complete Thai Massage course, has a lot of information about this.
Since you have almost all of my courses, some of the material in the Thai Back Massage course will be familiar to you, but there will also be a lot of new material and more in depth training. I am already planning an additional module. 
April 10, 2012
Offline Lesson 3.
I liked the emphasis on strength exercises here. I'm thinking a lot about this, having experience of improving my posture a bit using them, while doing only stretching provided only temporary relief.
However motivating clients to do them is a very complex topic itself.
And very important point about working with your wrist at 45, not 90 degree angle. It really is a big difference ergonomy wise. How about slow sinking movements when you shoulder is directly above your hand and pressure is vertical? In this position it's still 90 degrees, but it really allows to sink vs. to press. Do I understand correctly, that when you need this vertical pressure you try to use other body parts to not stress you wrists?
I remember too studying in school in Thailand in 5 weeks course. At the end of the second week our thumbs were extremely sore and completely not functional. I can't figure how the manage to work for a long time like this. Do you know for how long in average do masseurs continue to work in Thailand?
June 28, 2010
Offline You are absolutely correct. Whenever possible I replace my hands with forearms or knees or feet. You can do the sinking with other body parts just as well.
Regarding the schools - there is a big difference between what they teach in the schools and real life practice. Very few full time Thai Massage therapists would stay in business for long if they would do all this thumbing which they teach in the schools. They adapt a lot of these thumbing moves to other body parts, otherwise they burn out rather quickly.
My courses are based on my real life experience of doing Thai Massage full time for many years. That's why I only teach what really works, and not the stuff that burns you out. When I originally went to Thai Massage school here in Thailand they were teaching us all those thumbing moves too. After practicing Thai Massage a lot for a couple of years, I developed a nasty thumb joint inflammation which took me two years to get rid off.
So I know the dangers of overusing thumbs and wrists first hand. That's why I emphasize correct ergonomics and best practices so much in my courses, because I don't want my students to suffer the same problems that I went through and which burn out countless therapists.
That's also why I don't teach the typical sen line thumbing which is taught in all the schools here. That's a perfect thumb killer! There are better ways of doing it. First we as therapists have to protect ourselves, otherwise we won't be any good for our clients, or at least not for very long.
April 10, 2012
Offline Lesson 4.
Having used these techniques many times already I still sometimes struggle with the last one. Especially on man with tight back I just don't seem to get this alternating movement going.
June 28, 2010
Offline Are you referring to the "offset back and forth rocking"? I wouldn't worry about it too much. There are so many back techniques in this course, if one is challenging for you, nobody will ever miss it if you don't use it.
April 10, 2012
Offline Lesson 5.
Beginning sacrum work. This one is easy and really feels very good. I've got really positive feedback from the time I started to use it a long time ago.
Nothing much to comment or ask about those techniques. Easy and useful.
June 28, 2010
Offline In this course it will be even more in depth than in previous courses.
April 10, 2012
Offline Lesson 6.
That's quite interesting moves. I haven't seen anybody before working on this area.
I found that lot's of people have trigger points near SI joint and is quite painful.
I still feel a little clumsy while moving from one side to the other while rocking, but I guess that's normal)
June 28, 2010
Offline Yes, that's definitely normal in the beginning. And it will change with practice. I am glad you appreciate the unique content in this module.
April 10, 2012
Offline Lesson 7. Sacrum and Hips
Lots of new ideas in this lesson, I'm finally getting happy I've purchased this course:-)
It was hard several times when I worked on small woman. I'm big, so when I tried techniques using forearms or elbows on hip muscles I don't have much space to move them, bones are everywhere. On the other hand, they are small, so maybe they don't need much forearm/elbow work.
June 28, 2010
Offline If you wouldn't have purchased all my courses, you would have found more new things in this one, hehe! 
There is plenty of new stuff yet to come, I can assure you.
You are correct, small women don't need power tools. Better use your hands on them. Forearms work well on big muscle areas like the buttocks and the hamstrings, even on small people, but on many upper body areas forearms, elbows and knees don't work well on small bony people. At the end of the course there is a good section which shows you all the ways you can use to work on a single area, from feather light to power moves.
April 10, 2012
Offline Lesson 8.
I haven't been able to practice those techniques really using any considerable weight. I yet have to get somebody big enough to lay my knees on.
June 28, 2010
Offline Actually it is a good idea to work with your knees on lighter people also, because that will force you to develop lots of sensitivity. Knee work can be done in a very light and gentle way.
April 10, 2012
Offline Lesson 9.
This crossfiber work on erector muscles feels quite good by itself. I sometimes stay longer with this. Other moves are quite easy, I am still trying to be as light as possible when doing vertical pressing, cause I'm pretty big.
June 28, 2010
Offline The more challenging section will be once you get to all the stretching. But there it will come in handy that you are big. Some of those stretches can be more difficult to do if you are quite small.
April 10, 2012
Offline Lesson 10.
These were familiar techniques - working with elbow on lower back. Actually I work with my elbows on lower back almost all the time, except when I need to look for small tight spots.
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