Thai Massage: An Ancient Healing Art

Background

Thai massage has its roots in ancient India, where it was practiced over 2,500 years ago, well before thee time of Buddha.  It is believed that the  founder of Thai massage was a doctor in northern India by the name of Shivaka Kumar Baccha who was the Buddha’s personal medical advisor.  His teachings on herbal medicine and massage arrived in Thailand along with Buddhist teachings by the first Buddhist monks around the 2nd and 3rd century B.C.

Once in Thailand, knowledge of this healing art spread and techniques were handed down orally from teacher to student.  The ancient massage arts gradually gained a reputation for their abilities to alleviate backache, headache, stomach ache and nervous tension.

Thai massage reached its peak about 200 years ago, then began to fall in decline.  It was revived by King Rama III (1824 – 1851) who had all existing knowledge about techniques inscribed on stone tablets and erected at Wat Po in Bangkok, where they remain today.  The tablets depict diagrams of the human body showing the body’s key energy lines, where massage is applied to stimulate the circulation and effect healing.

Technique-wise, Thai massage is based on the concept of invisible energy lines running along the body.  This is linked to ancient Indian yoga philosophy, which states that we receive life energy, or prana, via a network of 72, 000 energy lines that interconnect along our bodies.  Thai massage focuses on ten key lines, known as a “sip sen” (ten lines) in Thai.

The energy along these lines powers all our physical, mental an emotional processes, so when there is an energy imbalance, the body’s harmony is disrupted, causing pain and disease.  Massaging along these energy lines can break up the blockages, stimulate the flow of prana and restore general well-being.

Application

A key difference from western massage is that Thai massage is applied without oils, and the recipient remains fully clothed.  Unlike the continuous strokes of Swedish massage, the Thai method uses pressure, muscle stretching an compression, practiced in gentle, rhythmic, rocking movements.  All the movements are flowing and smooth.  The masseur uses not just the hands, but also feet, knees and elbows.  The massage is usually preformed on a mattress on the floor.

Some people may ache after a Thai massage in places where they didn’t ache before.  This is because when a person is suffering from internal stress or anxiety, muscle tension in the form of frowning for example, may be so minute as to be unnoticeable.  Prolonged tension results in headache, backache or muscle pain in other parts of the body that become unnoticeable to the sufferer after a while.  When these habitually tensed muscles are massaged, their energy blockages are released, thus resulting in discomfort.  This can be remedied by a few more massage sessions.

Key Aspects

There are six key aspects to Traditional Thai Massage:

1. Yoga
2. Exercise
3. Meditation
4. Reflexology
5. Acupressure
6. Energy Healing

Benefits

The holistic benefits of Thai Massage are:

• Relieves pain and muscle tension
• Strengthens and rejuvenates the body
• Improves blood and lymphatic circulation
• Frees blocked energy flows
• Increases flexibility through passive yoga postures
• Increases ability to absorb food
• Enhances elimination of wastes and toxins
• Invigorates the nervous system
• facilitates relaxation

Interested in finding out more?  Click here to contact Holtz Spa for more information about Thai Massage