Thai-yoga is not well known outside of Thailand – most people think of Thai massage when they hear Thai yoga, which is also due to the fact that many Western practitioners of traditional Thai massage refer to their practice as “Thai Yoga massage”. But that is not what this is about.
Thai-Yoga is a form of yoga – it is not a massage or bodywork. It used to be practiced by hermits in Thailand to cure certain ailments. There were certain postures that were used to treat lower back pain, headaches, and so on.
Unfortunately, the knowledge of Thai hermit yoga, as it’s also sometimes called, was only passed on orally, and most of the things that have been written down about it where destroyed when the Burmese armies invaded the former capital of Thailand, Ayutthaya, in 1767 and destroyed the city.
Thai’s refer to it as Rusie Dotton, or ruessie datton.