Thai Massage is Love, by Shai Plonski

My dear friends, I have been searching for a way that describes what Thai Massage is all about and why training in this modality is truly unique, and infinitely rewarding. I think I managed to sum it up in the 4 words which are the title of this article. I said it, and I mean it. Thai Massage is love, a love of the highest order. The reason d’etre behind my teaching is to help understand what this is all about and why Thai Massage helps you to give the absolute best treatments you ever thought possible.

I know those of you who are trained professionals have all learned some of the greatest techniques from some of the most accomplished and successful therapists and teachers in the field. I believe many of you already have thriving practices and a full roster of clients. My question to you is there room for improvement to make it even easier on your body? The fundamental structure of a Thai Massage and of our courses is meditation and compassion. Meditation in the sense that we take time to know our body in three dimensions and what helps us to feel ever better when giving a treatment. The rule of thumb is that the best massages have to feel great to receive and to give. The better it feels to give the better the massage. When you give a Thai Massage your whole body is a massage tool and you understand how to gain leverage in such a way that every part of your body supports the next. You learn to massage so that you fall in love with what you do again and again and since you get stronger with each session, you help to buck the trends that say the average career in massage therapy is only 7-10 years. Here we are talking about learning how to give for the long term. Massaging until your 80, 90 even 100 years old- and absolutely loving it? Why not! When it comes to giving a table Thai Massage, what comes to mind is how it is like taking a walk in the park. Picture yourself, calm, centred, and totally at ease on a beautiful summer’s day and you begin to get an idea of what it feels like to bring Thai Massage onto the table. Imagine being able to sit for long stretches of your massage, not because you’re tired, but because it’s the best way to use your body for optimal pressure and for your own comfort! And when you give the massage think of how great it would be to use your feet, your elbows, your knees, your forearms to help out your hands and thumbs and you gain a deeper sense of how a Thai Massage comes together.

Now with all this talk of how it helps you to feel great, well how about your clients? One of the things that make Thai Massage so intelligent is the understanding that so many of the issues that our clients present with are the result of improper or overuse of their body. By bringing movement and stretching into the massage you recreate the natural healthier movements that their body is built for. Whether it’s repetitive strain, poor posture, too many hours on their feet, not enough hours out of the chair, sleeping with their neck crooked or any number of additional examples, there are stretches that we can use which bring some instant relief and that feeling of having your body move and relax in ways it hasn’t in years. Now think of adding some wonderful massage techniques while being stretched or after you’ve been stretched and how nice that can feel­­, how profound the results are. So what does it all mean? We have a modality that is born out of being kind to ourselves and our body which touches others and the inherent deeper intelligence of their body and all their muscles. And these are techniques that you can’t help but want to apply to all your other modalities. They are also techniques that you will be able to master in 3 days of training. Sounds like love to me!