In
the last five years, significant changes have occurred in the world of Thai
massage. The Covid epidemic has closed many Thai massage schools; some teachers
have retired, some have changed professions, and some are no longer with us. If
you feel unsure about the direction in which to further develop and advance
your practice, consider signing up for a consultation to discuss it. You may
gain some new, fresh ideas. Welcome!
For more info please write to tttbelgrade@gmail.com
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Thai
massage has existed for centuries and would typically be practiced by a local
healer, often a member of the village. They would essentially grow into healers
within their local environment, learning the skill over many years, usually
from a family member, knowing personally most of their patients and their
medical history, familiar with local customs and beliefs, as well as surrounding
nature - the local climate, food, flora and fauna. They were, we might say,
inseparable from their immediate surroundings, which is a characteristic of all
traditional medicines worldwide. They would care for the health of the
community, and in return, the community would provide for all their basic
needs.
What we see in the first image, advertised as "Thai massage," is a serious, now already global, capitalist business. This "Thai massage" has emerged through the mutilation, simplification, and standardization of authentic Thai massage, all aimed at creating a brand that enables enormous profit.
Firstly,
the owner investing capital and opening a Thai massage salon is often some
businessman who has no personal connection to massage but see it as an attractive
business opportunity. To capitalize on the allure of authenticity, labor is
imported from Thailand. Thai natives practicing this "Thai massage"
don't spend years learning it in Thailand; instead, they undergo quick
standardized courses of a few hundred hours, learning fixed sequences of manual
techniques. Therefore, they approach
each client with the predictable pattern. As they lack knowledge of anatomy, physiology,
and diagnostics of Thai medicine, they apply Thai massage techniques solely for
relaxation and not as a physical therapy - what Thai massage really is.
Secondly,
practitioners not only leave their local communities, often heading to big cities
or remote tourist centers. In the last two decades, they have massively
migrated to other continents as well, facing unfamiliar languages, customs,
cultures, food and climates. In these conditions, thousands of kilometers away
from their families, their culture and their homeland, they work 12-hour
shifts, like on an assembly line, for usually meager wages .
From
personal experience, I know that in the
last twenty years, Europe could witness litteral mushrooming of these salons
offering "Thai massage". In my city alone, there are at least ten of
them now. Recently, I was even in a very small, remote Swiss village, and you
guessed it—there's a Thai massage salon there too.
The medications are divided into external medicines and
internal medicines with regard to their methods of application. The most common
external medicines are liniments, embrocations, ointments, poultices,
fomentation and herbal compresses. The most frequently used internal medicines
are oral remedies, nasal inhalants, ophthalmic remedies and ear drops.
The „yaa“ is also divided into household remedies and more
complex medications which have to be administered by a trained doctor. The
household remedies are used to alleviate the initial symptoms, for example
after the insect bites, they usually have only one ingredient or a very simple
formula and can be applied by a layperson. The highly refined medicines for
serious treatment of diseases are complex concoctions that must be prescribed
with the correct ingredients and prepared following a correct procedure. The
doctor has to be trained to accurately diagnose a patient’s disease and to be
knowledgeable of the ingredients and formulas of various medicines. These
complex medicines are regarded as strong ones, each with particular properties
to treat particular diseases – they can be harmful if prescribed incorrectly
based on a wrong diagnosis. Even for a very experienced doctor it is a
challenge to prescribe the right medicine for the right patient, in the right
amount and at the right time.
My first visit to Thailand was in 1995, to the small village of Haad Rin on the island of Koh Phangan. I remember eagerly anticipating trying Thai massage for the first time. An Israeli friend advised me not to go to massage ladies on the beach, suggesting that if I sought a true massage, I should look for an old medicine man walking with a stick. "Where can I find him?" I asked. "Actually nowhere," he replied. "He walks around the Sunset beach from time to time, and if you are lucky enough, you will stumble upon him, and you can ask for a treatment. He is doing something different than the ladies on the beach; I think it’s Shiatsu."
The Khwan (ขวัญ) is a specific cultural and metaphysical phenomenon found among the people of Thailand and has no adequate equivalent in the Western world. The term is very difficult to translate, with numerous meanings, deeply rooted in Thai culture, especially in the North and Northeast of Thailand. It is extremely challenging for an outsider to grasp this phenomenon, as even in Thailand, it is understood in many different and complex ways. Khwan resides in humans, animals (e.g., elephants, horses), and in some inanimate objects (e.g., rice, houses). Commonly, it is perceived either from a Buddhist or non-Buddhist, tribal perspective. From a Buddhist perspective, it is perceived as the "pinnacle of willpower/spirit/will." From a tribal perspective, it is more likely perceived as "morale/spirit/vital principle of life/entity."
When we refer to Khwan in the context of the human condition, we look at the 32 Khwans, each corresponding to one of the 32 organs of the physical body and responsible for the function of that organ. However, the 32 Khwans are usually considered as one Khwan, that of a particular person. In Northern Thailand, illness is often interpreted as the dislodging of Khwan.
When the Khwan is strong, stable, and in its proper place, the person is in good health, called "krop samsipsong" (ครบสามสิบสอง) – "complete thirty-two." However, when one experiences intense emotions, such as fear, pain, sadness, anxiety, sickness, loss, or sudden shock or accident, the Khwan can run away (khwan nee ขวัญหนี), become lost (khwan haai ขวัญหาย), or become weak (khwan awn ขวัญอ่อน). It can also be caught by various malevolent spirits or damaged by black magic. All of this can result in illness, calamity, or even death.
In places where tribal tradition is still prevalent, like in the Yang Luang village in Mae Chaem district in Northern Thailand, Khwan is seen more as an entity or spirit and is part of local ancestral practices: a fetus and a baby are not thought of as a person until the Khwan is completely settled in the body. There is no precise time when the Khwan fully resides in the womb. The baby’s Khwan does not contain any part of the mother’s or father’s Khwan. Instead, the child’s Khwan is the reincarnated spirit of the ancestor by matrilineage (lineage of the mother). The ancestor’s "outside-the-body spirit" Phii (ผี) transforms into the child’s "inside-the-body spirit" Khwan (ขวัญ). It is believed that the child inherits the basic characteristics of the ancestor; however, affected by various experiences during lifetime, the child grows and matures into a new person. When the person dies and his/her Khwan leaves the body, it then transforms back to "outside-the-body spirit," or Phii, and joins the ancestors until the next incarnation. This is the eternal cycle of rebirth, which emphasizes the permanence of the spirit over the temporary nature of the physical body.
During pregnancy, Khwan can enter and leave the womb freely at all times, and even after birth, the vulnerable stage is not yet over. Khwan can leave the baby, and another Khwan can replace it. For this reason, it is not recommended to massage a woman in early pregnancy, as this can disturb the residing Khwan. Children generally have weaker Khwan in the same way their Elements are still weak and immature, so they are more sensitive and prone to illness. They are believed to exist both in the spiritual and the physical world. For this reason, in Thailand, it is a taboo to touch the heads of small children, as it can disturb their Khwan.
As one grows older, both Khwan and the Elements become stronger; one experiences good health and is fully involved in the physical world. In old age, the Elements become overused, and the Khwan weaker, making old people more prone to illness again. Similar to children, they reside in both the physical and spiritual worlds, this time gradually moving in the opposite direction, from physical to spiritual.
Different ceremonies are carried out to affect the status of the Khwan. These are performed by a specialist called Mo (Maw, Mor) Khwan (หมอขวัญ). For example, after the baby is born or before a person goes on a long journey or faces a risky or unpredictable situation, a ceremony called Phuuk khwan (ผูกขวัญ) is performed. In such cases, special offerings are prepared, an appropriate incantation is performed, and a holy thread (สายสิญจน์ - Saaisin) is tied around the wrist to "bind the Khwan to the body and prevent it from deserting it." Reeak Khwan (เรียกขวัญ) is a ceremony performed to "make, strengthen, and reinsure the Khwan," Bamrung Khwan (บำรุงขวัญ) ritual to "encourage and make the Khwan well and brave," and Rab Khwan (รับขวัญ) is a ritual to "call the Khwan back to the body." Kawng Khwan (ของขวัญ) are the offerings to Khwan.
Additionally, Khwan ceremonies are performed on any occasion that can cause mental instability, such as returning home after a long absence, a wedding, ordination into monkhood, change of status or residence, welcoming guests, etc., to restore the psychological balance of a person and reconnect him/her with the family, society, and divine forces.
Reeak Khwan Offerings
Midwifery (งานหมอตำแย) is one of the specializations of Traditional Medicine in Thailand. It is exclusive to women as holders of this tradition. This knowledge and these skills are usually transmitted from mother to daughter throughout a lifetime. In the West, these women are usually known as "Doula" – someone who assists in the delivery of a child. However, a midwife in Thailand is much more than a midwife in the West. She is a doctor of Traditional Medicine. These are the women who provide medical, psychological, and emotional support to other women in one of the most difficult and challenging experiences a woman can go through – giving new life. Midwives are there from the moment of conception, throughout pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum recovery. Literally, they are healers and caregivers helping human beings come into this world.
If we look at the vast scope of Thai medical knowledge, midwives are probably the ones who have to encompass the most of it. First, they have to administer complete prenatal care – providing proper dietary instructions to the mother according to her constitution and condition, observing the baby's growth, knowing how to move the baby in the womb, how to treat the mother if she catches a disease, how to prepare different kinds of herbal remedies, as well as giving massages in the middle-late pregnancy.
Then, they assist in actual childbirth – taking all precautions to avoid any risk of infection, helping with the delivery, and knowing how to react if the delivery goes wrong. They follow all the procedures that would make the newborn safe. Immediately after childbirth, comes postpartum recovery, which consists of numerous physical therapies and herbal remedies. The midwife checks if the whole placenta is delivered, instructs the mother on how to breastfeed, and usually treats mothers with different kinds of warming therapies to dry the body of excess water. These therapies, together with massages in the following months, help the organs recover and regain their original shape and location, especially the womb. The midwife also takes care of the baby's health until the mother fully recovers.
This process requires a midwife to master an enormous body of knowledge and have a lot of experience in almost all aspects of Traditional Medicine. She has to be skilled in physical therapies, herbal medicine, spirit medicine, astrology, psychology, and so on. All this makes midwifery one of the most demanding specializations one can dedicate themselves to in Traditional Medicine of Thailand.
Since ancient times, different civilizations have questioned reality and what it means to be a human being. Sages from India, China, Tibet, Greece, Babylon, and other parts of the world concluded that the best possible way to explain reality to the human mind is through Elements. Although Element theories differ in structure among various traditions, they all share the common role of being an unsurpassed way to describe everything. The theory of Elements helps us understand how natural forces define human life from birth, through growth, maturation, aging, to the moment of death. It also helps us realize that each of us is born with a specific quality, or better put, a "natural signature" - Element constitution, a fact widely unknown or denied throughout Western civilization, which tends to perceive us all as equal, like machines. We are not. With this natural constitution at birth, our lives begin to unfold, influenced by numerous natural phenomena such as seasons, weather, the food we eat, other people, plants, and animals. In response to all these influences, we react according to our constitution. This constitution, along with our interaction with the world, shapes our character, life tendencies, the types of activities we choose, the way we react to the environment and other people, and, for the therapist, the most important aspect - it affects our health.
For every body-mind-oriented therapist, it is crucial to understand these fundamental laws of nature. Every human has specific needs and is prone to developing specific diseases. To effectively counteract disease, we need knowledge of the recommended therapies and activities for each Element constitution, and how to match them. Not all people should eat the same food; what is healthy for someone may be unhealthy for someone else. The same goes for all other activities, such as the type of work we should do, the length of sleep, the type of exercises, and so on. Each of us is unique. The knowledge of these natural processes that shape our existence is truly a requirement if you want to elevate your practice to a higher level. This lecture is meant for all bodywork professionals, regardless of their background, and is specifically adjusted to match the attendee’s experience and current level of knowledge and understanding.
