Thai massage differs radically from "Swedish Massage" (often called "Classical Massage") which is the most widespread technique of massage in the West. That kind of massage is very much restricted to working with muscles and soft tissue.
Your doctor sends you to a masseur who will knead your muscles for 15 to 30 minutes in an attempt to induce physical and emotional relaxation. There is no doubt that such relaxing massage plays an important role in a world dominated by haste and stress but in Thai massage the aspect of muscular relaxation is only a secondary goal.
Contrary to Swedish massage, traditional Thai massage does not primarily work with the physical body but rather with the energy body of man. The kneading of muscles which dominates in Swedish massage is absent from Thai massage: energy points are pressed or general pressure is used instead.
There is a lot of stretching involved and many exercises might well be described as "applied Hatha Yoga or applied physical Yoga". Rather than using the term "Thai massage", it wouldn't be a bad idea to actually call it "Yoga massage" since that's what this art essentially is. The tradition is more or less lost in India nowadays, as Ayurvedic massage and Indian Yoga massage has evolved in different directions. But the Yoga background of Thai massage is obvious from all of the beautiful postures used.
There are basically two main streams of Thai massage in Thailand. They are known as "southern Style", and "Northern Style", and they have developed slightly differently over the centuries. "Southern Style" is taught at Wat Pho in Bangkok, and "Northern Style" is taught at the Massage Hospital of "Foundation of Shivago Komarpaj" in Chiang Mai.
Benefits from Thai massage
- Helps relieve pain.
- Helps relax tense muscles.
- Improves circulation.
- Relieves swelling or inflammation.
- Therapy muscle system.
