Finding a door to the path of Thai Yoga Massage

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Permalink Reply by TaoMountain on October 20, 2009 at 12:36pm

Hi Brian.

First of all, welcome!

Secondly, check out some of the recommended teachers in the RESOURCES link. Any one of them will be more than happy to chat with you about options for beginning training. Most of the stuff you'll find attached to my name (reading packets, correspondence/conference call courses, etc.) are highly specialized and really targeted toward teachers. The exception would be my 3-book series on Thai medicine (available on the recommended books page, or see the book excerpts page), which are designed to give beginners a broad overview of the three main branches of Thai medicine.

Lastly, poke around on this site's RESOURCES long enough and you'll find info on just about everything. Look at the articles, view the videos, listen to the audio clips, etc., and keep asking questions!

Thanks for the note, and good luck in your search.

P.

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Permalink Reply by TaoMountain on October 25, 2009 at 8:46am

I will mention here that after this post, Brian created a group for newbies that is a great place for our beginning students to chat, meet, exchange tips, etc.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Moyer on October 25, 2009 at 2:11pm

Thank you for the warm welcome :) I am working my way through the resources on here and enjoying what I am seeing so far.

Brian

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Permalink Reply by nephyr on October 22, 2009 at 5:06pm

Hi and welcome.
As Pierce said, any of us teachers would be happy to talk to you. My recommendation is to start out by taking a couple of entry level Thai massage classes with different teachers if you can. See who you relate to, then continue with that teacher. If you wonder between studying domestically and studying in Thailand, I usually advise people to start domestically unless you have a lot of time to spend in Thailand. If you can only go to Thailand for a couple of weeks, then best to get your foundational stuff done in the country you live in and go to Thailand for things you can't get at home. Also, by starting here (are you in the U.S.?) you will talk to teachers and other students who have been to Thailand such that you can start to gather advice on where to go when get there; rather than going in cold and spending a bunch of your time in Thailand figuring things out.
Cheers,
-Nephyr

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Permalink Reply by Brian Moyer on October 25, 2009 at 2:15pm

Thanks for the suggestions. I only have the resources currently to study domestically at this time. I am looking for "home study" options (books and videos) that I am able to do at work. I have free time currently while I am building up my client base :) Once I have a solid understanding of the foundations, I want to seek a local teacher. As my resources grow, soon i will be able to afford to attend some of the week long classes i see on this site :)

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Permalink Reply by nephyr on November 5, 2009 at 3:18am

Hey Brian,
for home study I highly recommend Pierce Salguero's books. Also, this book http://www.tmcschool.com/thai_massage_book.asp
you can only get this one online from Thailand, so it's a bit spendy, but it has some of the most accurate theory and history I've seen. You cannot learn Thai massage from books and videos. It is the most physically intensive, complicated and potentially dangerous form of bodywork I have encountered in nearly 2o years as a massage therapist, so I am very serious when I say you can't learn it without a teacher; real, live, in person. This is why I suggest Pierce's books and the TMC one. Since what you can study is the theory, history and culture without a teacher, these are the books to go for. Look over the techniques, but leave the true learning of them for a class.
Good luck,
-nephyr

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Permalink Reply by Brian Moyer on November 5, 2009 at 1:36pm

nephyr,

You bring up a very valid point. Massage in all its forms is inherently kinestetic, and like martial arts, is very difficult and even dangerous to learn without hands on guidence. I definately want significant hands on guidence before attempting to actually use any thai techniques. My only limiting factor atm is fiscal. as my client base continues to grow and prosper my options for training will increase with it :)

namaste,

brian

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Permalink Reply by Leah Pozorski on November 5, 2009 at 8:22pm

Hi Brian: Good luck with your journey. Thai bodywork can be challenging. I am new to Thai massage . I will say that doing 14 years of traditional massage, sports massage, etc, has really been hard on my body too. I have only had 30 hours of Thai training and will take more as soon as possible. I have lots of energy after doing three 90 minute Thai sessions, as opposed to doing three 90 minute regular massage sessions in a day.
Your idea for the newbie group is great. What I have learned here on the TM sight has significantly impacted where I spend future Thai training $$.

Leah

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Permalink Reply by Steven Lowe on November 10, 2009 at 10:19pm

Hi Brian,

At the moment I'm in DC taking a Basic Thai Massage Course with David Roylance at the Thai Institute. You can check out his site www.thai-institute.com I'm having a great time and he's easy to relate to. You can also buy the book that nephyr recommended, it's a little cheaper than ordering it from Thailand, and he ships priority mail, so you should get it about 3 days after you ordered it. Just a little word of mouth for David! I hope that helps a little along your way to became a Thai Massage Practitioner....

Steven

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