Traditional Thai massage has been practised for over 2,500 years. It not only relaxes the body, but the mind as well. It actually began in India. The Buddhist monks practised both massage and other healing arts. This spread to families and as Buddhism spread to Asia, the traditional Thai massage became a part of both the religious and healing part of the religion. It is believed that traditional Thai massage made it to Thailand around the 3rd or 2nd century BC. Many times, monastery temples were built near medical schools so the art of massage was taught among both monks and medical students.
Traditional focuses on the experience of the whole body. It works on the major energy lines, known as 'Sen'. These Sen run throughout the body. By loosening blockages, the massage will help harmonize the body and recoup any deficiencies of the energy lines. Just as Chinese medicine uses acupuncture to help revive health, traditional Thai massage uses a similar system of pressure points to help heal and relieve stress. The Prana, or life energy, is allows to freely circulate through the body.
Traditional Thai massage has many benefits. Whether you are the receiver of the massage or the giver of the massage, you can feel joy, ease, and comfort. The massage will open up your chakras, allowing you to have a more peaceful mind as well as benefiting your health.
The giver of the traditional Thai massage also will receive generosity, compassion, equanimity, the feeling of oneness, the feeling of loving kindness, and the pride that can only be felt by a healer. The receiver will feel the joy of receiving as well as a calmness of rest and a refreshed spirit. Physically, the receiver feels a general increase in energy due to the opening of Sen and other blocked areas in the body. They will also feel relief from pain and muscle tension, blood and lymph circulation is improved, and the nervous system is balanced. An increase in flexibility is also possible.
Traditional Thai massage is a floor massage. The receiver usually is asked to lay on a pad or light mattress. By lying on the floor, the practitioner can easily manipulate the limbs of the receiver. Massages are given in silence, so the practitioner can better understand what the receiver needs are while the receiver can concentrate on learning about himself and his body. Practitioners start at the feet and moves toward the receiver's head, making the body feel loosened and stretched. A massage can last between two and three hours. Sometimes it combines techniques used in western physical therapies such as Neuromuscular therapy, Myofascial Release Techniques, and Remedial massage. Traditional Thai massage is great for athletes as it keeps them flexible and helps prevent and treat injuries. It also helps improve the flexibility and mobility of the handicapped.
Traditional Thai Massage (TTM) has a long history of over 2,500 years. It originated as a distillation of Indian Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese healing arts into a yoga-based method based on lines, points and remedies. The Thai system, to the present day, is based on these primary energy lines (meridians) and wind gates (chakras). TTM system of Ayurvedic medicine owes much of its early systematization, preservation, and subsequent propagation to ascetic Buddhists and their monastic institution. Throughout the ages, the practitioners of this medicine were Therevada Buddhist monks, practicing their healing at the monasteries.
As Thailand is located along the trade routes between India and China and Buddhism spreads out from India, this healing medicine spread along with it. It found its way to Southeast Asia where, for centuries, it was practiced by monks as one element of indigenous Thai medicine. Thai people, believing illness results from an imbalance in the body, mind and spirit would then seek healing at their local temples.
Evolution of Thai Massage The evolution of Thai massage is shrouded in the mystery of time caused by the destruction of written records during the Burmese invasion of the Siamese capital of Ayutthaya in 1767. However,the influenced of yoga, ayurvedic medicine, and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is obvious, as the movements are based on the asanas of yoga, and the attention to pressure points is similar to the nadis of Ayurveda and the meridians of Chinese medicine. Buddhist monks and nuns would later integrate any beneficial medical system to the one brought from India.
The influence from China, India and other surrounding countries has played an important role in enriching the existing Thai Traditional Massage System. As a result of modernization and western influences, traditional Thai massage which earlier was practiced in Buddhist temples by monks and nuns is no longer limited to the temples and its vicinities.
Benefits of Traditional Thai Massage TTM is beneficial for both the young or old, active or inactive, healthy or not so healthy. TTM has been used for countless generations to treat degenerative conditions and promote wellness. However, each person will respond in terms of their own experience and present state of health. TTM builds upon the body's natural desire for complete health and a sense of ease and well-being.
The benefits of Thai Traditional Massage include pain relief, reduced anxiety, depression, reduced blood pressure and heart rate. Other benefits of TTM include blocking pain signals to the brain (gate control theory), activating the parasympathetic nervous system to stimulate the release of endorphins and serotonin, preventing fibrosis or scar tissue, increasing the flow of lymph, and improving sleep but these benefits have not been supported by extensive clinical studies.
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