Thai massage
Thai Massage is an ancient massage that comes from Thailand. It is very old, has its roots in ancient India and came to Thailand along with Buddhism. Nowadays, traditional Thai massage is very popular among tourists in Thailand, and many Thais have been trained in Thai massage.
There are many styles of Thai massage, and “Traditional Thai Massage” is one of them. In Thai, it is usually called nuat phaen thai (‘Thai-style massage’) or nuat phaen boran (‘old-style massage’), although its formal name is nuat thai.
UNESCO added traditional Thai massage to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December 2019.
YOGA
“Yoga” comes from the Sanskrit root yuj, which means union. The sacred Hindu texts (Upanishads) mention the word “yoga” on various occasions to refer to very different things: from referring to it as a “meditative state” to using it as a synonym for “control of the senses.”
Currently there is a fairly simple meaning, related to physical exercise and stretching. But the definition that could be most accepted today is that Yoga is a philosophy of life. In fact, Yoga is a religion where the gods are ourselves.
One of the most important texts on Yoga is the Yoga Sutra, by Patanjali. This book explains what yoga is (the cessation of disturbances of the mind) and step by step guides the yogi towards the path of self-realization.
The origin of the so-called Hatha Yoga is found in a book that appeared in the 15th century called Hatha Yoga Pradipika (Light on Hatha Yoga). It clearly shows the description of different yoga postures (practically all postures on the floor), as well as the different pranayamas and other physical purification techniques.
ABOUT ME
I discovered yoga more than 10 years ago when I lived in Montpellier, France. I remember very well that while practicing, I couldn’t stop yawning. What a liberation!
From that moment I began a training process, first in France, at the ENPY; then in southern India, in a school of the Shivananda tradition; and finally a deepening training in VaidikaDharma. My most appreciated teachers are Nicolas and Marie Christine, over 80 years old and living in French Brittany.
A few years ago I took a Thai Massage course. But it was not until early 2023 that I decided to delve deeper into this massage, go to Thailand and train at the Asokananda tradition school in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
In contact with Thai massage since 2018 and in continuous learning acquiring OsteoThai techniques.
