If you’ve studied at the Wat Po massage school (which is actually named Chetawan) then you might have gotten to know Khun Preeda (Preeda Tangtrongchitr), the owner. IF so, then this article might be interesting to you, as he answers some questions and shares his views, expertise and opinions about traditional Thai massage and tells the story of how he got into this business.

His massage school has trained an estimated number of 200,000 massage therapists over the course of the last five decades, and a Wat Po certificate is still the most widely recognized accreditation for Thai massage practitioners worldwide today.

Click here to read the full article.

There is an article about the history of massage in the Examiner, written by Lisa Ferguson, CMT. There’s also a short mention of Thai massage, so it makes for an interesting overview of different traditions.

If there’d be a name for this style, I’d call it “dancing Thai yoga”. Very artful video.

If you want to learn Thai massage or currently practice it, just remember that the way it feels for the person receiving it is a lot more important than the way it looks to someone observing :-)

Here’s a little Thai massage demonstration that shows you some techniques from the seating position. These aim mainly to stretch the body and release the flow of energy:

If you are flexible, this feels great. But it can feel even greater if you are not flexible, because it opens up your body in ways that you might not imagine – however, it’s important that a skilled, experienced, qualified practitioner performs this with you slowly and carefully so that you are able to enjoy the movements in a relaxed and safe manner.

And here another video that shares some basics of how to take care of your hands and wrists when giving Thai massage:

Here is another part of the series on wrist care of Thai massage practitioners. Make sure to take care yourself just as good as you take care your clients! :-)

Here’s another video on wrist care for Thai massage practitioners. If you haven’t seen part 1 yet, watch the first part first here.

Here is another video for Thai massage practitioners. It’s another part in a series of videos that will help you to take proper care of your health, joints, tendons and muscles by using good body mechanics.

This is a very fundamental lesson, but it’s good to review it anyway – because if you get the basics right, you’ll always provide good work for your patients, and you’ll be able to practice for many years to come.

As a Thai massage practitioner one thing that you really need to learn is to take care of yourself. If you don’t practice Thai massage with mindfulness, you will most likely end up using your body in ways that aren’t good for it – that’s why body mechanics are important.
And sometimes, if you experience pain, that’s a signal of your body that you need to either do things differently, or that you need to balance out the strains you put on your body.
Knee pain is very common among beginning Thai massage practitioners – and here’s a good demonstration of an exercise that can help you to build stronger, healthier knees.

If you have at least 2 years of experience, there might be a job opening for you in Washington DC. See this job posting for more info.