If I decline a session it’s because currently I only take a single day off each week. Soon I hope to make that two. I love working on people but even I have my limits physically and energetically. I promise to spend as much time taking care of myself as I spend working on helping you with your aches, pains and health.

So many clients mean I spend more time teaching and promoting other therapists to work with you. Teaching has it’s own joys and I love students seeing the light and how they can not only help others but live a good life in the process. Here’s a list of upcoming classes. Thank you for helping build my practice.

Throughout the book there was a sense of his being a brother, of sharing what he’d learned and what helped him without any dogma. He didn’t force me to a position, he just presented what he’d been through and encouraged you to explore for yourself. His writing read like poetry, the feeling of the book is what caught me, I sensed he was onto something.

I particularly related to the portions of the book that reinterpreted the way I saw the figure of Jesus. Christ became another teacher, someone to look up and aspire to but one of many. None of the dogmatic fire and brimstone was found within Ram Dass’ text. Jesus compassion to those around him while he was on the cross was an amazing shift, a different perspective on a story I’d read many times.

Ram Dass‘ humanity is what stuck with me. I’ve never forgotten how he’d opened a door and helped me see beyond my day to day suffering to a larger picture. I’d been stuck, unable to see out of the little cell I’d been caught in to see the larger picture. In much the same way that your vantage point in a city changes when you go into an airplane, Ram Dass’ book gave me the courage to begin exploring flight.

Not physical flight but the flight of the spirit. Ram Dass made me consider that I may not be as physical as I’d at first thought. Maybe, just maybe I was Self. Somewhere underneath all of my stuff was a more permanent I. For someone who’d suffered chronic pain that was a positive shift in perspective.

I know that asian traditions have wisdom for westerns to draw from, as a yoga instructor and Thai massage teacher it’s obvious that I respect these traditions. At the same time I’m a westerner, I’ve little use for sanskrit, less use for gurus in the traditional sense and I take what I can learn from and leave the rest behind. These wisdom traditions have things to share, things we can benefit from but I don’t hold religious zealotry about it.

He who sits on fruit has sweet bottom.

People in asia are just humans, people like us. As east and west continue to collide and westerners look for guides and road maps it’s important to remember that the truth that we need lives inside us. Be quiet and listen.

I love what BKS Iyengar, Ramana Maharshi, Neem Karoli Baba, Osho and other teachers have to share. Part of me is a westerner though, I grew up in a different culture, a different time and place with youtube. We can pick and choose who our teachers are and there are many of them. Before we run to far off lands to find them let’s remember they also live inside us.

Special thanks to Michael Zernial of Relax Georgetown for the image.

If you’re a massage therapist I recommend listening to this one. Tyrone recently got his massage license after attending massage school locally in Austin, Texas. He’s way ahead of the curve when it comes to bodywork and the anatomy he learned in school has heightened his skill set.

In short it’s amazing, simple and easy to use bodywork for the masses. In 20 years or so Thai massage will be as common as swedish and deep tissue is now. Trust me. There’s a class coming up in May. Sign up.

Marketing? I don’t know anything about marketing. My class was full though. I thought about it. Wait, I didn’t pay for any advertising and I have a full class. How did I do it? I had great marketing. Marketing isn’t what most think it is. Want to see? This is where I started. I had a $400 laptop and a $100 flipcam and was still wondering what twitter was.

Students, peers and friends if you want to excel in business go with your heart. Choose something that excites and inspires you. Interact with your clients and everyone you meet with everyone’s best interest. Share you love…ceaselessly.

In the 21st century your business is only as strong as your social network.

The absolute hardest part of teaching or releasing anything definitive in Thai massage is the fact that every session is different. A workbook, text or a book are not improvisational. Thai massage is improvisational by its very nature. No two bodies are the same and even though the dance is similar I’ve never had two of the same sessions.

The photos and text are being compiled and I go back and forth with my associates to make sure we release something that’s easy to read, easy to understand and shows the basics of Thai massage in a way that anyone can use. Stay tuned, the workbook will be here soon.

Consumer culture teaches us to chase the newest best thing and eternal youth. Neither has anything to do with reality. Yoga as a practice teaches you to focus your body to harness your mind and learn to let go. The breath is no longer held and you surrender. Learning to let go and not cling or grasp has been one of the greatest benefits of my practice.

In a tough situation, when I’m floundering on what to do I can just breathe and admit that I’ve no clue. Life can sort itself out. I go back to basics and remind myself that I’m not in control of anything other than my own actions. Sitting, breathing and observing first, I make better choices when I go into action.

Just sit. Be.

I’ve had to learn to nap since I grew up with some odd protestant work ethic that meant naps were for lazy people. Once Andrea and I moved in I realized that when I did nap, I was more alert, calm, centered and did far better quality work post nap. The nap itself, improved work. The siesta exists for a reason.

I gain weight in winter, slim in summer due to dietary changes and exercise levels. My mental clarity is best in the evening when others are already in bed. Over time I’ve learned to just go with it. It’s why I can write a clear blog post at 1am.

Honor your body and your cycles. Don’t resist so much. Sleep when you’re tired, eat when you’re hungry and listen to your body.

Is what I do yoga? Yes. Is what I do Thai massage? Yes. Is what I do yoga therapy? Yes. Wellness education? Yes. It’s a mix of all of these things. Any information I have, I just pass it along.

If you’re working with massage therapists who aren’t educating you I think that’s falling down on the job. If you want something completely different, something completely new to help you access deeper levels of your own healing, then you come to me.

If you say, $130.00 a session! Wow, that’s expensive. Then I may not be what you’re looking for. My busy practice and growing clientele seems happy to pay for a quality service they can’t get elsewhere. Does your massage therapist meditate? Do they do yoga to calm their own nervous system so they can listen to your body more? Those are the questions the public should be asking massage therapists.

If you’re not into those things, well, there’s a spa down the road where a therapist will be happy to slap some cream on your back.