Robert Henderson

Thai Energie Massage

2012-02-04T19:22:00.001Z

I first started practising Nuad, or Thai Yoga Massage, in 2000. Over the years my massage has evolved into a much more gentle form with a greater emphasis on the use of acupressure to soften tight or tired muscles or to remove the
blockages in your energy system which can generate feelings of tension or stress.

As you can see, most of my massage is performed with the client lying comfortably in the side position. I have found this to be the best position for releasing tightness in the hips, lower back, neck and shoulders. I also work extensively on knees and hamstrings.

Some of my friends say that my massage can no longer be called Thai Yoga Massage as it different to what most people expect Thai Yoga Massage to be. That's why I now call it Thai Energie Massage. Certainly it is more gentle and relaxing than a 'by-the-book' Nuad treatment. That's why it works so well!

Im Jahr 2000 begann ich die Nuad (ThaiYoga Massage) zu erlernen, heute bin ich anerkannter Ausbilder in dieserTechnik (Thai Healing Alliance International und Thai Yoga Massage Association of New Zealand). Basis desNuad ist die Erkenntnis, dass im Körper - ähnlich wie in der TraditionellenChinesischen Medizin - unsichtbare Energiebahnen (Nadis) verlaufen. Auf ihnenliegen wichtige Energiepunkte, die in die Heilbehandlung mit einbezogen werden.Die Traditionelle Thai-Massage zielt vorrangig auf die Behandlung desEnergiekörpers und weniger auf eine muskulöse Entspannung. Gearbeitet wird aufdem Boden am bekleideten Körper.

Im Laufe derJahre hat sich meine persönliche Technik aber zu einer wesentlich sanfterenForm der Nuad-Massage gewandelt, mit Schwerpunkt auf der Akupressur und mit demZiel verhärtete oder müde Muskeln zu entspannen und Energieblockaden zu lösen.

Wie Sie obensehen können, werden die Meisten meiner Massagegriffe mit meinen Klienten inder Liege-Position (Seitenlage) durchgeführt. Meine lange Erfahrung hat mirgezeigt, dass dies die beste Lage ist, um Hüften, unteren Rücken, Nacken undSchultern zu entlasten. Knie und Oberschenkel werden intensiv berücksichtigt.

Meine Massagetechnik hat sich, ausgehend von der Nuad-Massage, weiter entwickelt,sodass ich entschieden habe sie Thai ‘Energie’ Bodywork zu nennen. Thai‘Energie’ Bodywork wirkt weit tiefer als eine übliche Nuad-Behandlung. Erreicht wird eine generelle Erhöhung des Energieniveaus, ein erfrischter Geist, eine Öffnung der Meridiane und blockierter Körperbereiche, Abbau von Schmerz und Spannung, eine generelle Stärkung von Körper und Geist.

Energy Work and Spiritual Healing in Massage and Bodywork

2012-02-04T19:22:00.000Z

This essential workshop is the most comprehensive of its kind and offers the student a complete understanding of the nature of energy, energy blocks, energy imbalance, emotional issues, spiritual awakening and spiritual energies in massage and bodywork.

The course introduces:

all aspects of energy, detailing the different ways we feel it in both ourselves and in others, from the most common manifestations such as body heat and skin condition through to the more metaphysical experiences of energy as colour, picture, symbol or intuitive feeling.

all aspects of energy blocks which present as physical condition, such as closed hips, tight hamstrings, coldness in the abdomen, weakness in the arms and tightness in the neck.

the full process of an energetic and emotional release in massage from the initial feeling of pain/discomfort to an abstract bodily sensation, such as feeling cold, heavy or irritated, through the stage of emotional release itself to the final understanding (enlightenment) and letting go.

the development of the energy connection between you and your client. the different energies you can use in your massage practice (heart energy, intellectual energy, intuitive energy or sexual energy). how the energy of your client can awaken a similar energy in yourself.

picking up on the energy of others. why some people can make you feel sick or give you a headache upon meeting them. how to spot the underlying intention (energy) of your massage teacher!

spiritual awakening in massage and bodywork: where deep in massage you transcend time and your own sense of self and you find that there is no physical separation between you and your client. how spiritual energy deepens the effect of your massage.

Exploring the nature of the energy running between ourselves and our family (red) and
between ourselves and our spouse and lovers (orange).

The course demonstrates how a whole range of physical condition, such as stiff ankles, weak knees, tight hamstrings, closed hips, weak lower back, pain in the shoulder blades, tightness between the shoulder blades, tightness in the shoulders and weakness in the upper arms and wrists can have underlying causes relating to blocks and imbalance in energy, emotion or behaviour. The course reveals fully what each of these blocks are and suggests relevant practical treatment.

Each day of the workshop is broken up into two three-hour sessions with an intervening one-hour lunch break. The morning session comprises theory, discussion, shared experience and open Q&A. Topics to be covered in these sessions are listed in the Course Curriculum below.

It's not all theory. There are hours of lovely and loving massage practice too.

The afternoon session is devoted to touch. Students are guided to practice touch on a particular body area of a class 'model', for example the feet, and share their their experience with the class. The model then offers feedback on how the energy of each student feels. This is a wonderful guidance to receive and is designed to highlight the natural energy the student uses when giving treatment. On this basis, the student can define and develop their own expression of massage using the flow of their own natural energy.

This is a wonderful time for students as they begin to express what they feel but cannot see, while the model offers testament and affirmation. For many, it is like learning a new language in massage. The language of touch; touch balanced with intuition.

Energy as colour.

Although the course is advertised under the umbrella of massage and bodywork, it is also an ideal course for anyone on a path of self-inquiry and self-development through yoga, martial arts or meditation and who is beginning to touch their own energy and emotional bodies and who wishes to deepen their practice and understanding.

The insights contained in this course run very deep and can often be a life-changing experience for the student.

The course is facilitated by Robert Henderson, RTT, TYMANZ.
Robert has been practising, teaching and studying Thai massage since 2000. He is an Instructor member of the Thai Healing Alliance International (THAI), a Master Practitioner / Instructor member of the Thai Yoga Massage Association of New Zealand (TYMANZ) and an authorised teacher of the Sunshine Network.

An Introduction to Energy Work in Thai Yoga Massage

2012-02-04T19:21:00.001Z

This is a copy of the transcript I use for my workshop:

'Energy Work and Spiritual Healing in Massage and Bodywork'.

The content below covers the first half of the first day of the workshop and addresses the question: What is energy?

I last gave this workshop at the Freestyle Thai Massage European Gathering in Croatia, July 2011.

By posting the transcript here, I hope you will get an idea of the style and content of my workshops in Energy and Emotion in Massage & Bodywork.

I hope you enjoy reading it,

Robert Henderson

Day 1. What Is Energy?

It is difficult to explain what energy is to someone who has never had any experience of energy. It is like trying to describe electricity. You know electricity exists and you have a good idea of what it does, but you have no real conecpt of what it is until you touch it. It is only when you touch a live wire and feel the effects of electricity surge through you that you begin to understand what electricity is and can find words to describe it. It is the same with energy. You have to touch it. You have to experience it and feel its effects before you can begin to understand what it is. As you experience the different effects of energy, you find the words to describe what energy is.

That is why the best way to answer the question ‘what is energy?’ is to first reveal the way it feels. All the ways it feels, or all the ways we feel it. Once you have described all the ways you feel energy, or experience energy, then you know what energy is.

1) What does energy feel like?

Sensing and Interpreting the energy of the body

One of the first questions I ask students in my classes on ‘Energy Work and Spiritual Healing in Thai Yoga Massage’ is if anyone can sense or read energy, and if so, how? I start by asking who has x-ray vision (I know of two people who do), who can read auras or see colours and then work down towards the more common experiences of energy we all have. It’s a bit like a Dutch auction for energy! By the time I ask who can experience energy as body heat in a client, everyone has their hand up. For almost all of us, the heat of our client’s body is the expression, or form of energy we most easily relate to. It is the entry point at which most of us can begin to experience and understand energy.

Primary Experiences of Energy

One of the best ways to begin tuning yourself into energy in your massage is to check how hot or how cold certain parts of your client’s body feel. Using one hand, held about an inch over your client’s skin, scan their body and see if you can feel areas which feel hot or areas which feel cold. If you find you’re not picking up on anything, use your other hand. You may find that one of your hands is better at sensing energy than the other. After a short while, you will begin to discern the difference between body heat which feels normal and body heat which feels hotter or colder than normal. You may also use visual aids to help you with your diagnosis. Body areas which are hot tend to appear more red in complexion. Body areas which are cold tend to look pale or white in complexion, feet for example.

Body heat and skin colour are general indications of energy. In Thai massage they do not tell you enough about the energy condition of your client from which you can draw diagnosis. To get this information, you need to touch your client. Let’s take the example of feet which look white and feel cold when you scan them with one of your hands.

Now touch them. How do they feel? Hard, soft, dry, spongy, wet or sticky? These are the secondary, or deeper expressions of energy in your client and by understanding these expressions of energy, you can slowly begin to draw a diagnosis of your client.

Secondary Experiences of Energy
Regardless of colour or temperature, feet which are dry, soft and yielding on touch are quite normal and do not require specific massage treatment. Indeed any body area which is normally warm and normally dry to the touch and is soft and yielding does not require any massage treatment. Pichest is very clear on this point in his teaching when he says “Do not massage somewhere that does not need massage”.

Feet which are hard, spongy, wet or sticky reveal an imbalance in energy. A body area which feels spongy to touch reveals a strong presence of yin, female, water or second chakra energy. An example can be seen in women who present with spongy ankles, feet or hands during menstruation. The spongy, or slightly swollen feel indicates a strong release of fluid, second chakra, sexual energy into the system, which passes after a few days.

Body areas which feel wet or sticky indicate an excess of yin, water, second chakra energy. Wet and sticky body areas tend to feel hard and tight when you massage them, which reveals a blockage. An excess of energy forms a blockage when the initial release of energy into the body is more than the body can normally process and ground. Over time this results in a build up of un-processed and un-grounded energy eventually causing a blockage and the resulting physical manifestation of blockage: tightness. Chronic tightness, or hardness, as a result of a long-term build up of un-processed energy can be difficult to soften with massage and may require a long course of treatment. In general terms, feet and lower legs which are wet, sticky and hard reveal a chronic build-up and blockage of the energy of fear. If you wish to work with a client who presents with this condition, be prepared as your treatment work may stir up old and hidden fears.

Skin which is very dry and feels flaky, cracked, crusty or is broken and weeping indicates an excess of heat or fire energy. The skin often appears pink-red in colour. Treatment involves balancing the area of fire energy with water energy. This is a tricky condition to treat in Thai massage as the skin can be very sensitive to the pressure and warmth of your hands. Even touching the area can cause irritation. Instead of using your hands, apply gentle pressure on the area with a soft cloth or cotton wool soaked with water, cleansing fluid or a cooling essential oil. An excess in fire energy is easier to treat with a course of TCM treatment or regular Qi Gong practice than it is with Thai massage, simply because of the touch-irritation factor.

Tension

Tension is another manifestation of energy which can be easily felt in Thai massage treatment. Tension, however, is not always a bad thing. The release of energy through muscles, internal organs or connective tissue naturally creates a temporary natural resistance or tension, creating stiffness, but not tightness or hardness. This is why a client can sometimes feel stiff the morning after a massage. The stiffness indicates an on-going release of energy. When the release of energy subsides, so does the feeling of stiffness. It is a natural process.

Tension, of course, can also indicate the presence of an acute or chronic energy blockage. A client can come to you on the back of having a bad week and be seething with rage over something. You can feel the buzz or vibration of energy as soon as you touch them. You may also have a client come to you who is carrying a long-term chronic condition, or who has been on a long-term regime of heavy medication. Both create tension which you can also feel in massage, but these types of tension are held deeper in the body. They are finer, more subtle forms of tension than the ‘seething with rage’ tension and are often beyond reach or treatment with Thai massage.

There is no single approach to treating tension with Thai massage. You may have two ‘seething with rage’ clients in one day who require very different treatment; one vigorous, one gentle. Tension needs to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis and correct treatment is something you learn only through experiment and practice. That’s the way it is. Some people respond better to gentle touch, while others respond better to a more vigorous touch. The only way to find out is to play with it. If you have a client with tight muscles in their lower back, for instance, see if the muscles respond better to a slow, gentle and warming touch, or to a more ‘pointed’ vigorous touch. Be guided by what you feel. Don’t worry if you end up using gentle touch and your client says he feels nothing. There are times, in massage, when what your client feels you are doing is very different from what you know you are doing. If you feel the muscles relax with gentle touch, then you are doing right.

Pain

Pain is another great indicator of energy block, but not all forms of pain are indicative of energy block. The way to tell the difference between regular pain and energy block pain, or metaphysical pain, is simple. When a client comes to you for massage treatment saying they have a pain in body area ‘x’, get them to pinpoint the pain with their index finger. If the pain is regular pain, as soon as they touch it they will go “Ow!”. Regular pain is pain with physiological origin: a cut or a bruise to the skin, a torn or ruptured muscle or ligament, an inflammation or swelling caused by infection. Something which hurts the moment you touch it. Energy block pain is harder to pinpoint. It is something beyond touch: “It’s here, no here, no not there, it’s around here somewhere, it’s deep inside”. Your client cannot pinpoint it.

Energy block pain is the pain which doesn’t show up in hospital tests, on x-rays or ultrasound. It is a pain your general practitioner cannot diagnose, yet, to your client, it is legitimate and real. It is a pain which can last days, weeks, months or years and then mysteriously vanish, leaving no physical damage. Sometimes it is sudden and sharp, sometimes dull and long-lasting. It is pain without rules. If you have a client with this type of pain, you are dealing with energy block.

Energy block pain can also play a little trick on you. A client can come to you complaining of a pain in their lower back, for instance, yet when you touch where they say they have pain, they don’t feel any pain. This does not mean the pain has gone away. The pain is still there. This is subtle pain, the experience of which lies outside the realm of touch. Massage the area in question, even if your client feels nothing, your treatment will still address the energy causing the pain.

We will go through 30 examples of energy block pain later in the workshop. It is my hope to show you that some common stiffness, tightness, weakness and pain in the body do not have a physiological cause, but are related to different types of energy blockage.

More Abstract Experiences of Energy

Here are some additional experiences of energy which are not as easily noticeable as those listed above. They are said to be deeper or more subtle experiences, or expressions of energy. They are, nevertheless, worthy of note.

Spasms, involuntary jerks, cramping (feet or hands), catatonia
- Acute movement or release of energy held in meridians, organs, muscles or nerves.

Lumps or clots
- Small, semi-soft lumps of coagulated blood, just under the skin surface. These ‘clots’ dissolve after light massaging. Tend to be in area of abdomen and calf muscles.

Inability to look someone directly in the eye
- Release of second chakra energy (fear)

Inability to keep still
- Release of third chakra energy (agitation)

Weight
- Sometimes when you lift your client’s leg it feels heavier or lighter than expected. This reveals an imbalance in energy. If it feels heavier than expected it reveals an excess of, or blockage in, energy from the lower energy centres in the legs. If lighter than expected, there is an excess of energy from the higher energy centres moving through the legs.

The same effect can be seen when you give a client a massage that focuses mostly on the legs and lower torso. The client will feel heavy afterwards. Conversely, when you give a massage treatment to someone where the focus of the work is on the upper half of the torso, the client can leave feeling light or light-headed. The energy housed in the two lowest energy centres of the body, the first and second chakras is said to be heavier than the energies housed in the energy centres, or chakras, higher than or above these two chakras. There is no scientific proof of this phenomenon but just ask anyone how they feel after strong leg massage and they will say ‘heavy’!

Also note that sometimes a client’s leg can feel light when you lift it because the client themselves is lifting their leg for you. If the client is stressed and unable to relax in the massage, they will not be aware of this happening. As the energy of stress is housed in the third chakra, the client who lifts their leg for you in massage is revealing an excess of third chakra energy.

Tiredness
Feeling continuously tired when you have no reason to be, when you are eating well, sleeping well and when work is going well.
- usually indicates an imbalance in current lifestyle.
a. You are in the wrong place
b. You are doing the wrong thing
c. You are with the wrong people / person
(by ‘wrong’ = you are being called to go somewhere else or do something else).

Sudden tiredness when you have no reason to be, most notably at night. Can indicate a higher vibrational energy, or spirit, wishing to enter your energy field. As a therapist, or meditator, you may also find that working with higher energies makes you tired.

An area of underlying area of ‘weak’ energy
- causing physical weakness or pain in the joints or muscles.
Three key areas:
knees, sacro-iliac joint, outer upper-arm.
These are energy blockages and will be discussed in full detail when we examine the 30 commonly-found energy blocks in the body.

Discomfort in the digestive system and sensitivity to certain food types
- such as dairy, fried foods and alcohol.
In many instances, sensitivity to certain food types, or the inability to digest certain food types, reflects disharmony in the energies of the stomach and the spleen. Food is not causing the person to feel sick, food is the indicator of the person’s underlying energy imbalance or dis-harmony which is already present. This usually happens when someone or some situation in your life is having too strong an effect on you.

If you find yourself in a situation which is overbearing, or hard to stomach – a situation at home (parent, sibling, child, spouse), a situation with a current or past partner, a situation at work, school or social situation (employer, colleague, friend) - you energetically reduce the amount of energy you take in from that situation or person in order to protect yourself from the energy of that person or situation.

To put it in another way, you limit the range of energy you ingest and digest from a particular source, whether it be a person, a situation or your environment. This limitation you put on the range of energy you ingest and digest is then reflected in the limitation in the range of energy you are able to ingest and digest from another energy source: food.

The energy for self-protection, or self-limitation, or self-control, originates in the spleen. One of the normal functions of the spleen is to provide heating energy for the stomach to help it digest food effectively. But if some of that energy is diverted for the purpose of protection and limitation, then less energy is diverted to the stomach, making the stomach less able to properly digest. Sometimes the cure to food sensitivity is not to control or limit your diet, but to investigate your environment and see if there is anything which is having an overbearing affect on you. This may be a person who has been in your life a long time, for example a parent or spouse. However, as it is in life, it is easier to blame food for this type of discomfort than it is to look closely at your life and the people in it.

Workshop Logistics

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Although the class is advertised under the umbrella heading of massage, the course is open to anyone with any background in either energy work, hands on/hands-off healing or spiritual self-development. In previous classes, students have come from a wide range of backgrounds including shiatsu, reiki, osteopathy, yoga, martial arts, shamanism, spiritual channeling and of course, massage.

Each day of the course is broken up into two three-hour sessions with an intervening one-hour lunch break. The morning session comprises theory, discussion, shared experience and open Q&A. Topics to be covered in these sessions are listed in the Course Curriculum.

The morning session is followed by three hours of 'free-form' practice in the afternoon. This is a supervised three-hour practice session where students pair up to give each other a treatment (this can be in any modality, either hands-on or hands-off) and are encouraged to let go of the 'form' and to open themselves to their intuition. Students are then asked to share their experience after each treatment. This final part of the day can be the most exciting for the student as they begin to express what they feel but cannot see, while their partner offers testament and affirmation.

This course can often be a life-changing experience for the student as it introduces so many new and exciting ways of interpreting and feeling the energy, emotion and spirit which reside in all of us. For some students the class represents the beginning of an entirely new way of looking at life.

The five-day course 'Energy and Emotion in Massage' is suitable for a maximum of 12 students.

If you are interested in hosting this course at your school or massage/yoga/reiki/healing centre, the following are the basics which need to be supplied.

* A teaching area with access to sunlight and which can comfortably accommodate up to six Thai massage or shiatsu mats.

* Up to six Thai massage or shiatsu mats.

* One sheet and two pillows with pillow cases for each mat.

* Chairs for students to sit on while note-taking or a selection of large cushions or beanbags which can be put on the floor and which students can sit in.

* Heating (if necessary during the cooler winter months).

* Access to toilets and washing facilities incl. towels.

* A white board with white board markers.

Food & Drink.
* Morning tea and coffee making facilities.

* Access to drinking water.

The provision of food for lunch is optional.
Most schools I have taught in are city-based, so students are free to eat-out in near-by restaurants.
Some students do like to bring their own lunch with them, so a fridge on the premesis is very important.

Instructor Fee.
The instructor fee for teaching the five-day course is 2,250Euros in Europe and $2,250 dollars in The United States. This amount includes instructor travel to and from the venue.

For further detail or clarification, please contact Robert Henderson at:

write.to.robert@gmail.com

Thank you,

Robert Henderson.

About Robert

2012-02-04T19:16:00.000Z

Robert Henderson has been practising, studying and teaching Thai Yoga Massage since 2000. Between 2000-2004 he studied with Asokananda and the masters Chaiyuth Priyasith and Pichest Boonthumme in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand and in New Zealand. He was personally authorised to teach by Asokananda in 2003 and in 2004 was conferred a Master Practitioner / Instructor member of the Thai Yoga Massage Association of New Zealand.

In Chiang Mai, Robert additionally studied energy work with Jasmine Vishnu whose techniques enabled him to deeply experience his own pain and energy blocks until he self-understood their nature and root causes.

Between 2004-2010 Robert has been working as Thai Yoga Massage therapist at the Yoga Plus astanga yoga centre on Crete, returning to the Sunshine Massage School, Chiang Mai, in wintertime to further develop his teaching. It was during this time Robert was able to bridge the elements of energy work with massage. He grew to understand that the blocks and pains he felt in his clients merely reflected his own blocks and pains and that by self-investigating his own blocks and pains, he understood the nature of pain and energy blocks in others. It is this philosophy which has formed the foundation of both his teachings and his treatment work.

Since 2007, Robert has been teaching the specialised five-day workshop: 'Energy, Emotions and Spiritual Awakening in Massage', details of which can be found above. He has taught the course regularly at the Sunshine Massage School in Chiang Mai and also in Austria, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland and the UK.

Robert is also an Instructor member of Thai Healing Alliance International (THAI).

If you would like Robert to come and teach this course at your centre or school, please click on 'Course Logistics' within the 'Blog Contents' tab on the left of this page.

Where I Offer Treatment

2010-08-19T12:30:00.008+01:00

I am pleased to announce that I am now offering Nuad bodywork treatments from the following locations in Vienna.
Treatments last 70-80 minutes.
Please email or telephone for bookings and prices.
E: write.to.robert@gmail.com
T: 0650/860 7660

I am also available for out-calls.
Please email or teklephone for details.

Ich freue mich Ihnen mitzuteilen, wo ich jetzt meine Massage in Wien anbiete.

Behandlung dauert 70-80 Minuten.

Bitte um E-Mail oder Anruf für Buchungen und Preise.

Poweryoga Vienna
Franz Hochedlingergasse 4/3/1,
1020 Wien
T: 0676 - 64 16 774
www.poweryoga-vienna.at

Sattva Yoga
Fasholdgasse 3/9
1130 Wien
T: 0699 116 77 097
www.yoga-sattva.at

Forthcoming Workshop Dates and Locations

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2012

February 22-26
Stefan Peters Massagen, Leipzig, Germany.
http://www.stefanpeters-massagen.de
http://www.facebook.com/events/142670789167160/
Timings: Monday - Friday 10.00 - 17.00 (including 1hr. lunchbreak)
Workshop fee: 425 Euro
For booking form and payment instructions, contact Stefan Peters at: kontakt@stefanpeters-massagen.de

March 02-04 & 09-11
Yoga Cesate, Cesate (Milan), Italy.
http://www.yogacesate.org
http://www.facebook.com/groups/110388552407552/
Workshop fee: 450 Euro
For booking form and payment instructions, contact Chantal Hermans at: yogacesate@live.it

March 23-25 & March 30-01 April
Praktijk voor Holistiche Massage & Beweging, Goes, Netherlands
http://www.mariekehamelink.nl
Workshop Fee: 450 Euro
For booking form and payment instructions, email Marieke Hamelink at: massage@mariekehamelink.nl

April 05-09
Gondt Massaje og Healing, Bergen, Norway
www.gondt.org
http://www.facebook.com/events/155524907854207/
Timings: Thursday - Monday 10.00 - 17.00 (including 1hr. lunchbreak)
Fee: 4000kr
For booking form and payment instructions, please contact Roy Cato Solend, Gondt Massaje og Healing: caoz-70@hotmail.com

Workshop Curriculum

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The main energy centres in the body:
The Chakras

Day 1: An Introduction to Energy

* What is Energy?
- What does energy feel like
- Sensing and Interpreting the energy of the body
- Primary experiences of energy
- Secondary experiences of energy
- Tension
- Pain
- Abstract experiences of energy

* The complete cycle of an energy release in a massage
treatment from initial feeling of pain or discomfort, through
the full cycle of emotional release to the final revelation of
the origin of the energy release, bringing full understanding
of the circumstance of the initial energy block/release.


Day 2(A): Spiritual Healing in Massage

* The evolution of the energy interplay between you and your client in massage
* The spiritual bond between you and your client in massage
* How spiritual understanding deepens the healing effect of your massage
* Giving back what was once taken away
    - The most effective method of healing energy which has been hurt or damaged in either yourself or in
your client

Day 2(B): When you and your client become one

"There just comes a point one day during a massage treatment when you suddenly feel that there is no space or separation between you and the person you are massaging. You have, in some way, become an extension of your client. Your client, an extension of you. You have somehow become one."

* When deep in massage you find there is no separation between yourself and your client.
* The role of your client re-assessed.
     - Who is your client?
     - What does the condition of your client tell you about the condition of yourself?
     - How can you take on the bad energy of your client if your client is an extension of yourself?
- If your client is an extension of yourself, then what is the 'bad energy' you feel from your client?
* The role of healing re-assessed.
     - If your client is an extension of yourself, then who is healing who?

The Solar Plexus Chakra. Yellow Energy.
The source energy of stress.
Also the source energy for the connections we make
with friends, work colleagues and fellow students.
Crucial area in massage treatment for stress.

Day 3: Energy from other people

“Between you and every other person of significance in your life, past or present, invisible energy chords or energy connections are developed and maintained.”

* The way in which energy connections from other
people can effect you physically, holding your body in
great tension.
* The depth of influence of parental and ancestral energy
connections on your physical, behavioural and
emotional wellbeing.
* How to deal with the energy of other people which can
sometimes leave you feeling imbalanced, ungrounded,
blocked, irritated, nauseous, unwell or with a headache.

How the energy in a meridian, or energy channel, gets
tighter and tighter, until it eventually causes a knot.

Day 4: Energy Blocks

Energy Blocks.
* What is an energy block?
* What do energy blocks feel like?
* What causes an energy block?

Listening to your body.
* The origin and cause of 30 energy blocks which
manifest in your body as discomfort or physical
pain. The root of each blockage is revealed and
appropriate treatment suggested where relevant.

Day 5: The Energies and Emotions underlying Stress

* What is stress?
* The pre-Stress state.
* Stress in relation to self-development. What steps to take in your own life to rid yourself of stress.
* Stress in relation to the massage and healing of a client suffering the effects of stress..
- The body areas most physically effected by stress.
- The emotional energies underlying stress.
- The behavioural energies underlying stress.
- Effective massage treatment for the different types of stress.

Wiping away the energy of ferar!!

Spirituality in Massage

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I recently received an email from a fellow Thai massage therapist in the UK who is on the point of self-realisation that the client he massages is nothing but a projection of himself. He writes: “I have just realised that whatever is going on with my client is just a reflection of me as there is no one outside of me. I am still trying to get my head around that one”.

It is also the experience shared by some of my students in Chiang Mai and is something I self-discovered in my own massage practice a few years back.

There just comes a point one day when during a massage treatment you suddenly feel that there is no space or separation between you and the person you are massaging. You have, in some way, become an extension of your client. Your client, an extension of you. The two of you have somehow become One. Your concept of self-identity is altered, the physical boundaries which normally separate you from the ‘outside’ world are no longer real; no longer tangible. You intuitively understand that your client is an externalised projection of your inner self and that what you see or feel in your client is merely a reflection of what is already within yourself. This is something only you as a therapist can experience but cannot be taught.

There is no separation; there is no division; there is no ‘other’; there is only the One-ness of an extended being. It is a moment of complete spiritual clarity when the ego (as represented by your normal belief that you are in a physical body with physical limits/boundaries) is revealed as not necessarily so and the spirit (as represented by a state without boundaries, without physical or experiential reference points) is revealed as a legitimate alternative. It is an incredibly liberating space to inhabit. To have broken through the illusion of physical boundary. Suddenly you are free. Suddenly your massage is free.

This is the essence of spirituality in massage; when the two become one; where there is no difference or separation between therapist and client.

There is, however, a great challenge, a sizemic shift in experience and understanding when you enter this space; when you recognise yourself in your client, when you recognise your client as yourself. Everything you have ever learnt about massage suddenly becomes incidental.

Traditional beliefs and teachings about diagnosis are brought into question as their focus is on making the diagnosis on an other. So what do you do when you suddenly realise in your massage treatment that there is no other; when you suddenly realise that it is not a client you are treating, but yourself (in the projected form of your client). Who do you then diagnose? Who has the sickness, pain or block that needs diagnosis and treatment? Yourself or your client? And the big question you have to ask yourself at this point is: when I see my client as an unwell person, is it my client I see as unwell, or is my client, in the guise of my projected self, there to tell me how unwell I am in my own self. And if indeed that is the case, then who do I diagnose?

Traditional beliefs and teachings about treatment also go out the door as they too focus on the physical application of a treatment on an other (as represented by the client). The question that now comes to the spiritually aware therapist is: who is massaging who? The answer, as always revealed by your intuition is: it is the self massaging the self. The answer is never: the therapist is massaging the client. How can it be?

There is a lot of cosmetic spirituality in Thai massage. Images of the Buddha, hands in prayer position and quotes from the Dalai Lama abound everywhere. Everyone is happy to chant Om, the unifying sound of the universe, or the sound of the universe unified as One, but no one is happy to do Om.

If everything is One, then why does a teacher or school, advertising themselves and what they teach to be spiritual in approach, only teach students diagnosis, massage technique and treatments in relation to an other? The contradiction is so big as to be lost to sight. The teacher is chanting Om but clearly not doing Om. Where’s the value in that?

The spiritually aware teacher knows that the answers are to be found in the self. The same teacher therefore knows that to find the answers (to correct diagnosis, treatment, technique etc) he/she has to inquire of themselves. This they do by looking into themselves deeply, finding their own pain and self-investigating that pain until they come out the other side with the knowledge of how to heal themselves of that pain. The same teacher finally knows that to teach the student proper healing and massage technique, is to teach the student to self-investigate their own pain, their own life, until they learn the methods of technique and healing from within. By healing yourself first, you automatically heal all others. That’s how it works. If you do not have the pain in yourself, then your client cannot possibly have it either. Don’t forget: All is One! If the therapist and the client are One, then one cannot be ill and the other free from illness. That's a gross spiritual contradiction. Similarly, if you feel a block or pain in your client, it means you have the same block yourself. You may not consciously be aware of it, but it is there.

This is the essence of spirituality in massage: to heal oneself first. When you have understood the nature of pain in yourself, you understand the nature of pain in all others. Remember: All is One. When you have understood how to heal yourself of a particular pain, then you automatically understand how to heal others of the same pain. Remember again: All is One (or so your Om-chanting teacher teaches you). You do not need to be taught a hundred different techniques to unblock a pain, because you have discovered the way to unblock it from within. Only by healing yourself, can you heal others, or teach others how to heal.

Why is this simple, clear wisdom lost in the mire of all the supposedly spiritual teachings relating to Thai massage or any other modality of healing or bodywork which claims to be spiritual in nature?

Metta, or Loving Kindness, in Massage

2010-08-16T09:25:00.003+01:00

One of the great joys of Thai massage is the growth in spiritual freedom, understanding and love it develops within us as we continue practising it. This facet of Thai massage is known as Metta, or Loving Kindness and is one of the four sublime states within Buddhist philosophy.

It is a term much used by western Thai massage therapists in their advertising and can be very often seen described as an intricate part of their massage philosophy and offering. To a client in search of love and/or reassurance which may be missing in life, this is a very attractive proposition: to receive Loving Kindness in a massage treatment. To the potential student of Thai massage it is also a very attractive proposition: to be able to advertise yourself as someone offering Loving Kindness in massage.

There is, however, a huge difference between the Loving Kindness expressed by the Thai-based masters of Thai massage and the Loving Kindness expressed by many western-based Thai massage practitioners.

Of the greatest importance is that all Thai-based Thai massage masters love their Lord Buddha deeply. The connection they have with their Buddha brings them great joy and it is this love for Buddha and the joy it brings which is shared with you , as a client, during massage treatment. Before each treatment starts, the master connects himself to Buddha through prayer and then shares this connection with you. The master treats your humble human body in no different way to the way he would treat the body of his beloved Buddha. And this happens because, as far as the master is concerned, it is not he himself who is treating you, but it is Lord Buddha who is treating you, through the empty vessel-body of the master. What an honour and what a healing is bestowed upon you.

The sharing of Loving Kindness in the massage is a sharing with you, the client, of the love the master shares with Buddha. It is not an expression of love he has especially for you. This is something completely different. It is a love he has for all beings; it is the Buddha’s love for all beings, channelled through the master. It is a ‘love without clinging’. This is why there is no emotional aspect in the massage whatsoever. No lovey-dovey feeling of love. No embracing of the client by the master, or vise-versa, nothing clingy, just the acknowledgement that a love far beyond emotional love has been present.

The other great aspect of this love is that it is shared equally among all the master’s massage clients. This is known as Equanimity and is also one of the four sublime states of Buddhist philosophy. The sharing of Loving Kindness, or Metta, or Compassion is unlimited for everyone, whether the most favoured or least favoured client. If you find in your massage practice that you treat your favourite client differently than your most difficult client, then what you are practising is a mixture of Judgement and Reward. It is not Loving Kindness. If you do not judge your clients, then by nature all your clients are equal and if all are equal, then all are equally treated. Loving Kindness is not dependent on Judgement. It is beyond.

So tread carefully when you seek out or advertise Loving Kindness in Thai massage. What you seek or offer may be something different. In their most basic forms, Loving Kindness means: ‘the wish that all sentient beings be happy’ and Compassion: ‘the hope that a person’s suffering will diminish’. Wishes and Hopes are non-emotional and can be bestowed to all equally. Let this be the basis of Loving Kindness in your Thai massage practice.