Thai Massage Instruction
Receiving the highest level of instruction in Thai Massage is the difference between being able to use it for therapeutic purposes with total confidence in relieving chronic pain and being limited to using it mainly for relaxation purposes for overall tonification of the body.
The vast majority of Thai Massage therapists, both here in the USA and Thailand, are only equipped to be able to do a relaxation massage that is limited in its therapeutic value. The reason for this is that most of the Thai Massage schools in Thailand do not have the resources and staff to let the students work on the Master Instructors directly while learning the art.
In the best of all possible situations, these Masters would correct the students' technique firsthand prior to issuing diplomas and sending the students out to be massage therapists. That being said, most of these Thai Massage practitioners are excellent therapists when it comes to administering a relaxation massage.
Regrettably, most of these schools now have the students work on each other while the second tier instructors watch and supervise. Without being corrected by a Master as one works on him/her, the student will never know if they are using the correct angle, pressure, and placement in their techniques...all of which are critical to being able to execute effective chronic pain therapy. In fact, most of the second tier instructors in Thailand have never received this kind of training and, therefore, are lacking in their ability to provide this level of correction even when being worked on directly.
As these students migrate from Thailand to the USA and become teachers and therapists, they pass on the art with a limited potential to heal. By the time a 3rd generation of teacher is borne out of this process, it becomes like a bad game of "Phone" that one could observe grade schoolers playing: further down the line, no one really knows what the original message was but does their best to pass on what they heard, ironically convinced they have the message correct.
In contrast to this, my instruction included me working on my Blind Thai Massage Master instructor privately for 6 hours a day, months at a time...this after I had already finished 350 hours of formal training at a school for the blind in Bangkok and the introductory course at the famous Wat Po...him stopping me when I did something imperfectly, correcting me, and then not letting me proceed until I had it right...me soaking my thumbs in wine glasses filled with ice-water at night to relieve the pain of training relentlessly. We painstakingly went over every single technique in this manner.
It was a frustrating process, one that proceeded at a glacial pace. However, the Thai's have a saying:"if you want to go fast, crawl; if you want to go slow, run."
Now, the standard time someone trains in Thailand is anywhere between 30 and 150 hours, this with little or no correction. Most of the Thai's in the USA who practice and teach Thai Massage were trained like this back in Thailand, as well as most of the Westerners who practice and teach in the USA.
This level of training represents a "good start", but can hardly be considered a Master level of training. Sadly, I have heard many people with this level of training say things that were patently wrong about techniques in Thai Massage as if they were definitive/gospel, unwilling to listen to an alternative view that might actually increase their ability to heal. Ironic...
If you are interested in furthering your training in Thai Massage, you should email me. I am looking to train a select number of therapists and provide them with a winning situation to have a successful career in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, or San Francisco...that's right: a successful career in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, or San Francisco.
For more information on my technical background, see the "In-Depth" page.
