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Bikram yoga and Thai massage

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Bikram yoga and Thai massage have been the cornerstones of my health regimen for years. I discovered Thai massage and yoga at around the same time then later bumped into Bikram practice. I’d never seen anything like Bikram yoga. My first class was an arduous, sweaty, New Orleans original with humidity that makes Austin look like child’s play. I tried, did what I could and left wondering what the hell did I just do?

Over the years I’ve integrated knowledge and distilled the essence of both practices into my own work as a bodyworker and yoga teacher. I ran across this article on blood stops the other day.

Blood stops in Thai massage are not something often spoken of. It’s a higher skill, taught later in my series of Thai massage classes. I learned them years ago, use them with clients and later realized while taking Bikram classes that Mr. Choudhury had incorporated specfic poses in his sequence, along with the heart pumping heat, to do the same. The tourniquet effect and a blood stop are essentially the same physiological mechanism.

This isn’t new information to me. I know it in the way that one knows your lover, from intimate contact and ongoing communion. What I was impressed to find was, oh someone else actually knows this and wrote about it. I rarely see Thai massage and Bikram yoga mentioned in conversations together and found it interesting that Bikram’s yoga was referenced twice in the pdf.

Bikram helped teach me to do some Thai massage to myself. Thanks to the staff at Yogagroove for helping me keep the blood moving all these 7 years. If you’re interested in my work there’s an Introduction to Thai massage class coming in late January.

What is Thai massage pt.4

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Thai massage is old world asian physical therapy. You’re not having a client do exercises but the therapist is helping extend range of motion in joints, softening muscle tissue and allowing the nervous system to idle in neutral.

Many people are keyed up. Modern life in cities is a constant blur and trying to remain sane is often a struggle. To say we’re scattered is putting it lightly. In yoga I’ve heard teachers talk about what it means to embodied. As a yoga teacher and practitioner I completely understand that process and its value. Thai massage allows me to give clients a small taste of that.

Life can be fun, full of joy and you can have less pain. Being in your body, enjoying the sensations of a therapist compressing muscle and moving you around can produce warm, glowing, nurturing sensations. In a culture where people touch little and have high degrees of back pain, Thai massage is desperately needed.

Low stress, better health and a more integrated sense of well being? Sign me up! Thai massage is the best.

What is Thai massage? pt.3

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Thai massage is bodywork designed for those who meditate or have the desire to do so. The bodywork has immense capability to help the human body heal but one of its additional long term the long term benefits is that it allows the receiver to drop in and tune into their own biorhythms.

Everyone develops muscle tension, small misalignments and imbalances which Thai massage helps unwind. Having your brain stop telling muscles to contract, you can then relax, ground and move more deeply into a meditative space. I’ve seen it time and again with clients who report surprisingly that they weren’t tired at all after a session and even had some trouble sleeping. Usually they report they felt so good they wanted to keep going and doing things. That same energy, can be channeled into meditation.

Instead of feeling lethargic after Thai massage most report feeling light, unencumbered and having increased feelings of mental well being. Insight would be a strong word but clearing muscle tension in the body allows one to see more clearly the issues at hand to focus and deal with them. As I write this I realize the depth and scope of the bodywork I’ve chosen to focus my career on. It’s got great depth.

What is Thai massage? pt.2

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Thai massage is bodywork that’s designed for those who do yoga. I’m consistently amazed that Thai massage hasn’t taken the yoga community by storm but I believe modern yoga is slowly starting to catch up.

Thai massage puts one through a series of poses similar to yoga poses and stretches many of the same muscle groups, like the hamstrings, glutes and calves. The difference is that a good Thai therapist can get about 10% extra stretch out of muscle and you as a receiver can just relax and let go. Typically in yoga you’re working many muscles to release a few. There’s no substitute for a regular yoga practice but Thai massage can help those who do yoga pin point problem areas to work on and excel in their practice.

The compressions in Thai massage on some areas like the glutes and hamstrings is something that’s difficult to achieve on your own. Bringing fresh, highly oxygenated blood into the area is good and generally refreshing. The letting go that happens during Thai massage allows the spine to stabilize and balance while the hips to open so you can sit and meditate, which is what yoga is designed to help your body do to begin with.

“Thai massage is to yoga as chocolate is to peanut butter.”~~Robert Gardner

What is Thai massage?

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I’m often asked what Thai massage is. The answer is simple, for most people in the west, it’s the best bodywork you’ve never had. I stumbled onto the work 8 or more years ago and little has changed my life so fundamentally other than yoga. The two practices are the most healing regimens I’ve discovered in the past ten years of scouring the planet. Healing comes from within and both practices help you cultivate, increase and channel your own healing potential.

Swedish and deep tissue are the most common forms of bodywork in the US currently. In 20 years or less I believe Thai massage will be as ubiquitous as what you receive at any spa or chiropractors office. As I try to write this blog post I recognize that anything I say about Thai massage, doesn’t even remotely do it justice. It’s the best.

My Thai massage classes start with an Intro. to Thai massage class that’s 14 hours. This introductory class is a solid get to know you but my full training encompasses not just traditional Thai massage as taught in Thailand but a blend of western bodywork like trigger point therapy, rehab exercises and a full gamut of information related to pain management and spine rehabilitation from 8 years as a yoga teacher. Where does the yoga end and the Thai massage begin? Chicken or the egg?

You can study Thai massage in many places. You can only study what I do, with me. I’m helping shift how bodywork is practiced in Austin and the rest of Texas. When I am old, I wish for people to thank me for helping them when no one else could. I want students to cherish what we’ve shared and allows them to help others, build careers as healers and saved their hands all at the same time. I want both to understand that I’ve put humans above profit and healing above all else.

Massage Therapy Austin Tx

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Pondering massage therapy Austin, Tx I’m blown away. I’m up way too late and I’m teaching an Intro. to Thai massage class tomorrow. Seven years in and when clients ask me who I see for bodywork I hang my head and tell them it’s why I started teaching, I need someone to work on me. None of the therapists I’ve met over the years have the skills I need to access what’s inside my body and work on me as I would work on me. It’s not ego, just fact. If you’re reading this, and you’re the bodyworker I’m looking for, please contact me.

The state of Tx has CEU requirements for it’s massage therapists that are half what they were in my home state of Louisiana. I need bodywork on par with what physical therapists provide. In Louisiana that gap wasn’t that large, I’d fallen into a group of Highly skilled Thai massage therapists and my teacher and her students could work on me if I needed. Here in Austin, Round Rock…I hear an echo.

In discussing business with an associate I tried to describe the marketplace I’m in and the utter frustration of it all comes pouring in. What is the use of selling a Lamborghini when everyone announces that their Toyota takes them where they want to go? Anyone can go to massage warehouse surplus but who wants to see what bodywork can really do?

What is Thai massage? To me that’s like asking who is Jesus. It’s the thing that let all the light in and showed me life was worth living. It can do the same for you.

Starvation Mentality

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One concept has come up again and again over the years in relation to healing work and marketing. Just like any business advertising plays its role in yoga and bodywork. You’re trying to let people know what it is that you do and draw them in. In no way however do I wish to be a used car salesman. There is no real pitch and certainly nothing I deem as soul crushing as a gimmick.

I give away what I do, you just pay to pick some of it up. Whether in a yoga class or learning Thai massage I don’t interact with my work and business in a way to protect what I do from others learning it. I want you to learn what I know, I want you to know how to do the things I do and help others whether or not I get a profit financially.

In jazz circles I’ve heard stories that long ago trumpet players would hang a handkerchief over their playing hand while playing so that other trumpeters couldn’t see how they were pressing the keys in a certain way to attain certain sounds. They were protecting their market. Even Robert Johnson is said to have tuned his guitar turned away from the crowd so that others couldn’t see how he set things up before playing blues.

I don’t do this in my practice. As I recently heard on the show Treme, “sunlight is the best disinfectant.” All I do is transparent. I’ve no desire to hide behind walls, regulations and red tape protecting the knowledge that I have.

In teaching Thai massage this provides a particular case we can examine to see why. In our area there aren’t many practitioners of Thai massage. I could resist teaching, continue working with clients and build clientele and never teach. It depends on what goals we have for our healing work and business. Eventually I’d have many clients, work on them and that would be that.

Thing is, my goal is to help people heal. Because my end goal isn’t just making money it changes the way I choose to interact with clients and students. If I teach Thai massage do I cripple my market? No. In no way shape or form do I hurt my market. Massage therapists aren’t competeing regardless of what anyone else says. Let’s say maybe 5% of the total populace gets a massage semi-regularly. Are massage therapists competing to get some of that 5%? I’m not, I’m working on trying to communicate with that other 95% who maybe have never even had a massage.

If I teach it has its own benefits. Doing healing work is healing in and of itself. I obtain some financial incentive to teach good classes and have students. I also send out a vast array of personalities, people and healers to work on others. If I can add to what a student knows, helping them invest in their tool box then I’ll be able to increase healing overall for more people. I can only do so many sessions with my own two hands. Let me teach 20 people fully…that’s a huge amount of overall gain not only for my practice but for our community.

When students learn Thai massage from me who will they come to when they want a session? Possibly me, so I’m also adding a possible client down the road. When that student needs more CEU’s at a later date who will they contact? Possibly me. Have I then detracted financial incentive or destroyed my market? Not at all, we’ve created a new one.

In regards to yoga and bodywork, we’re only at the beginning. There are days when the overall crushing burden Americans must feel physically takes it’s toll on me psychically. Why does everyone come in with this same upper back and neck issue? Because they don’t do yoga regularly and they know very little about their bodies structure and function. Once you know, you know. It’s easy to work with and help heal when you know there is a cure. For most people there isn’t, they feel this is just what happens as people age and grow old. Frankly, it’s not, not even close. People do age and change but the amount of burden I’ve seen in 10 years as a massage therapist is almost overwhelming. It’s why my internal response has been to grow and change. Don’t just do massage, teach yoga, don’t just teach yoga teach bodywork, don’t just teach bodywork do yoga therapy. Teach all that is helpful to others. If people do not know, they cannot respond to a situation with that information.

Am I destroying my market? Not at all.

In conversation with my wife I was discussing what would be my ideal situation. Apart from settings like locale, studio and luxury it looked something like this. I have a small private studio. Other than when I see clients or have a yoga class, currently the studio is empty. My preference would be to simply keep the studio open. Students could come and practice as they see fit and I could wander in and out at will. I teach but it’s hanging out, informal. Students just come around because they want to feel better and there is a jar at the door where they can drop donations to support our work. Notice I said our work. Is Ebb and Flow yoga studio mine? No…it’s Ours. You create it just as much as I.

The deep burning and searing goal of my work is to help others heal. Money will come, money will go. I’m not avoiding it or looking down on it, I just feel that if money is my only focus I’d have left this business long ago. You want to be a healer? Take a vow of poverty and help others heal. You want to make money, start a business. I’m in between. There’s no dishonor in that. I need little to live a luxurious lifestyle compared to many around the world.

Students in massage school years ago went and took a class with a teacher. When they returned they refused to tell other students what they had learned because they felt it would give them an advantage over the students who hadn’t taken the class. After all, they had invested the money taking it right? Wouldn’t they be watering down what they’d learned instead of treating it like a precious resource to be held onto exlusively?

In my core I just don’t agree. For all the students I’ll teach Thai massage to, will all of them practice it? No. Many will continue working on the table and use bits and pieces in their work. If I continue gardening will I start a CSA? Well, there’s a whole different level of involvement between having a good garden, harvesting produce and running a business supplying others. Not everyone is going to take my yoga classes and decide to become a yoga teacher. They want to learn yoga not necessarily teach others the same things. The same goes with Thai massage. Even if I taught 100 other therapists in and around Austin that just builds up a small community of people who like Thai yoga and work with it, introducing it to people I’d never have the time or energy to work on myself.

If people want to know what it is that I do they just need to hang out long enough to get some of my work, take some yoga classes and see for themselves. Any advertising is inadequate. I can’t process and pare down ten years of experience into a slogan. Do I feel that teaching and helping people will water down and saturate an already full market? No. The market isn’t even remotely full. Most people don’t get massage. Those that do are getting table massage that’s probably not that different from other kinds of bodywork going around.

Most don’t do yoga. I’m regularly fielding questions from people who ask about its spirituality and connection to Hinduism. What does your spine have to do with Sanskrit? I wholly admit yogas roots but let’s keep in mind that more people in the US do yoga than in its home country of India. That’s right, more people practice yoga in the west than in the east.

Teaching and sharing the knowledge of healing work doesn’t saturate and already full market, it opens up new markets as more people find out what they should be taught from the time they’re children.

Saturating a market? Oh, how I wish. If people had the bodies they could have and the lack of back pain that I dream of I could retire. At its core what I see is starvation mentality. Everyone thinks they have to gorge and eat all they can because the food and prosperity may dry up. I do not and will not subscribe to that idea.

Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 6:26 “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?”

Thai massage for hips

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Clients continually seem amazed that we’re able to ferret out what’s going on with their bodies and make them feel better quickly. In even a short 30 minute session I can usually go a long way to making them feel better and further than that, educate them on how to prevent it from happening in the future.

Low back pain is almost always coming from the hips and pelvic bowl. In my clinical experience most times when someone points to their lumbar vertebrae they’re having issues below, in their pelvic bowl and in the muscular attachments around the pelvic bowl. I’ll soften the muscles around the area, mobilize and stretch them and when clients stand up they’re amazed that the pain is gone or at least lessened.

Massage therapists who are learning Thai massage are changing how bodywork, massage and our profession works in Austin, Texas. I told recent students that they can come in as a licensed massage therapist and leave a healer. That’s a big jump but I stand by my words. You can get CEU’s through the state of Texas taking my classes but we’re more than massage therapists, we’re trying to help people heal. We do that with Thai massage and a heavy dose of educating clients so they can help themselves.

Don’t short change yourself. You deserve to feel better and so do clients. I teach, share and give away this work because I must. No one should suffer needlessly. Try these stretches out on friends. I’ll see you soon.

Hope

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Having a conversation with a client he announced, “you give people hope.” When clients pay small verbal affirmations of my work I’ve made it a point to sit in them, honor them and let them sink in. All too often I finish a session thinking if I could have been more in tune, if I could have used more pressure etc. Being a perfectionist has its downfalls. I’m happy to give people hope, I’ve had it myself for quite some time.

Clients come to me with a list of complaints, aches, pains and usually in 2 hours they leave feeling much better. Their conditions don’t just go away, we’ve just lessened the issue. Their medical complaints are so vast I can’t expect to cure anything, that’s not really what I do. The only cure comes from inside them. Beyond genetics, they control the nurture. You can nurture all sorts of conditions and see improvement. It reminds me of veterans who’ve lost limbs. They seem to have the strongest bodies because the rest of them is compensating for not having the extra limb. They seem stronger than everyone else. I told myself many years ago that my pain may never fully go away but if it cannot the rest of my body will be so strong and so healthy my issue is just an annoyance that doesn’t rob me of my life.

You have arthritis? Carpal tunnel syndrome? Thoracic outlet syndrome? Pain and tingling in your hands and arms? Pain in your feet or lower legs? Pain that runs down your leg from your buttocks? Low back pain? Upper back and neck pain? All of those are the most common conditions I see and I can almost guarantee that within a few sessions I can show you great relief. Beyond that I can help describe what may be happening, how you can work on it at home and how we can prevent it in the future. That’s where hope comes in. I don’t work with you to keep you coming back. I work with you so you get better. I’m happy to work on you but it does my life no great joy to create a revolving door of clients.

Let’s look at something as insidious as arthritis. This one is personal to me since this seems to run in my family. There is I don’t doubt some genetic component but nature/nurture is the battle I see looming large. Until the science steps up and gives us more details I believe most conditions can be made tolerable if not healed. Any kind of -itis is usually inflammation at some point. Inflammation seems to be a normal healing response that goes haywire.

In my case I’ve apparently come from a line of people who are prone to arthritis and I’ve had trauma to my neck and upper back from a car accident. Double whammy. Do I have arthritis? I don’t believe so. Will I have it? A doctor has told me that I will probably get it particularly in areas that were damaged in the accident. That sets up my life and my challenge. I want to be healthy and whole.

Yoga in particular holds great potential. Thai massage and other bodywork is good as well but yoga in particular appeals because it’s inexpensive, noninvasive but goes to the core of your being and you take it with you. You don’t have to keep coming back to me, you know how to care for things yourself, with practice. Along with deterioration of a joint that goes with arthritis I believe there are muscular and structural issues at play. You must keep the joint mobile within reason and help your cardiovascular system flush the area with fresh, clean blood as much as possible.

It’s been my experience that warming the area, flushing it with blood will help with symptoms and long term I believe it may in some instances heal arthritis. Mine, if I have it isn’t bad. Certainly not to the point of taking medications. Currently I take…nothing. Not even an aleve from time to time. So, heat the body up, keep it pliable, strengthen muscles and continue using your body. Very simple health advice overall. This does however go deeper.

The poses in yoga help clean you out from the inside out. Your Whole body. This is the definition of holistic. Part of that work is breathing, the pranayama exercises in yoga. This work regulates the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in your bloodstream and also helps balance the different parts of your nervous system. People’s sympathetic nervous system is often keyed up, fight or flight wins. Problem is in fight or flight your body doesn’t care if you digest food, doesn’t care about cleansing and repair. You Must stimulate your relaxation response. This part of your nervous system that takes over is the parasympathetic. This part cleans, repairs, and nourishes the relaxation response. Your body and your nervous system must be balanced.

Krishnamacharya held that the breath was critical to controlling the inner functions of the body. He would say, in English, “Lungs are pump. Control breathing. Control heartbeat.” ~ A. G. Mohan, “Krishnamacharya: His Life and Teachings”

Now we get to where it’s really interesting. This is the edge, the area that’s hardly been studied scientifically. Yoga gives you control over your body. With practice you can control things that most doctors will tell you you cannot control. We talked about vascularity and blood flow and how important it is in inflammatory conditions like arthritis. What about the center of the cardiovascular system, the heart? Here’s cutting to the chase. Not only do I think you can make areas more vascular and cleanse them I think that you can fundamentally gain control of your heart and heart beat itself. With practice you can stop your heart. Most will tell you this is impossible and that’s fine.

I don’t necessarily wish to have this control, this is deep, far reaching work that may take a lifetime but if you can control your heart enough to make it stop do you think you could help a case of arthritis? My point exactly. You have Far more control over your health and conditions than most would have you believe.

If you have arthritis I recommend Bikram yoga. The practice works your heart, warms your body and speeds cleansing and repair. The internal tourniquets you form flush the problem areas with blood. This may never heal your condition fully but if the symptoms go away, do you still have arthritis? Let’s explore and see. I’ve been doing so for the past 7 years.

Thai massage for feet

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Thai massage is the most simple yet effective bodywork I’ve ever experienced. Clients walk out feeling taller, more aligned and often give me this look of “how did you do that?” I can tell they’ve never felt this way before, didn’t even know it was possible. I’ve made it my mission to make sure everyone knows what this work is and why it needs to spread to every spa, chiropractors office and private studio in town. If you’re not getting Thai massage, you’re selling your life short.

This sequence is easy to follow, watch it with a friend and practice along.

People have extremely tight feet. Toes in particular are very tight and immobile. The pulling and stretching we do to the muscles that run underneath the arch create space for the bones and move the toes through their range of motion. Feet are often cramped inside shoes so there isn’t much mobility.

Energetically feet are the bottom of the body, the foundation. In Thai massage we encounter eastern theories about chakras and in traditional Thai massage we’re working on the feet first, then move ourselves up through the rest of the body. The feet have much to do with the alignment, balance and foundation we feel in the rest of our lives. Don’t forget, to teach his disciples Jesus washed his students feet. Keep that in mind while you work.

2 hours?

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In a Thai massage class I taught recently a student commented that they could never work on someone for 2 hours. I was struck by the statement and opinions and ideas are always interesting as a spring board for reflection. The response was due to my discussing how I work with clients and what I charge for my sessions.

I have no time limit. I currently charge $100/session and a typical session last 1.5-2 hours. A regular client who’s had deep structural issues and the right situation financially, time wise with physical issues has been getting 3 hour sessions from me for some time. Why? To be frank she’s a healer, she’s working on herself and we see in each other our capacity to help others heal. She pays, I have the time and we both don’t know anyone else who can do the work.

It’s about healing, not about money. Money is just stuff to move around and pay bills with. Beyond a certain point attachment to it leads to suffering. I could charge by the hour but why? What’s the benefit? Clients will look at their watch, I’ll be more concerned about booking to the minute. All seems completely anathema to what I’m trying to build. Over the years I’ve struggled to be the best. I want to give clients bodywork they can’t get elsewhere. Who has no time limit? Who does Thai massage this well? Being completely different in its own way is good marketing.

On September 1st, I’m raising my rates to $130/session. I thought about this long and hard. Does it mean I have less clients? Will people leave? I’m unsure. I presume if they do they have their reasons. If I do work on you for 2 hours then that’s less than $70/hour. Still seems reasonable. That income allows me to possibly see fewer clients, reserve my energy for those that are willing to compensate me for my time.

Focusing on another person for 2 hours in a session Is my meditation. Only within the past six months has my back pain receded enough to allow a deeper seated meditation practice. What have I done all these years? Moving meditation. Moving meditation in the form of yoga, moving meditation in the form of bodywork and Thai massage. I’ve spend 10 years working on me, working on you and somewhere in the middle figuring out how to narrow my focus and concentrate on what I Can control. I help you with pain, I don’t hurt. I help me with pain, I don’t hurt. When the hurt subsides enough I sit and meditate and continue a path that’s told to lead to the cessation of suffering. All makes sense to me.

I’m a healer. Healing starts with me. No illusions, no pretending to be something you’re not. If you see me at the office wearing scrubs I’m still a healer, I just disguise myself as a massage therapist. When my student asked about the 2 hours I reminded myself that Thai massage was said to have been created by the Buddha’s doctor. It’s been preserved by Buddhist monks in monasteries. It’s fundamental practice is that of metta or lovingkindness. At it’s core it’s healing work to help those who suffer. When I help you suffer less, I get lost. I embrace the boundary and ego dissolving quality of healing work. You are me. We are no different. If I can ease your suffering, I’ve eased mine. There is no separation.

2 hours may seem like a long time but this is how I meditate. I’ve never done what I’ve done for money. It’s why the money begins to come. A client described a pain down his leg into his foot and I nodded. I told him we would take a look and we did over the 2 hour session he had with me recently. I had time to work with his legs and address other postural issues during our time. When he stood up after the session he looked at me, almost quizzically and said, “there’s no pain down my leg.” I nodded and honestly barely even noticed his comment. He was surprised that I’d somehow helped.

The reason I can help is because I’ve devoted myself to my path as a healer for sessions that often last 2 hours. Healing takes time, tissue change can’t be forced. That built up catalog of observation over the last ten years in meditation is what allows me to help. Thank you to my clients and students who provide space for me to continue that path.

Thai massage for hands

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Hands that get constant use also need regular tlc. As a massage therapist the work I do with my hands keeps me going, allowing me to work on clients without concern that I’m harming myself in the process. Thai bodywork in particular allows a therapist to work effectively using more of your body and leverage to save my digits and carpals.

In this sequence we show a simple to use and learn set of techniques to work on hands and forearms. This opens the carpals and stretches tiny muscles in the hand that are often tense causing hand pain or tingling fingers. The traction to the fingers decompresses joints and creates for space for free flow of blood and nutrition to your hands.

The model in this video is Erika Maassen, a local musician. Her dog Maggie is featured in our how to massage your dog video from a few weeks back. Erika plays ukulele, piano and guitar in addition to spending time at a keyboard so the work we do on her hands is greatly appreciated and helps keep her performing.