A fortnight in Chiang Mai: learning Thai Massage from the masters

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Ajarn Sinchai, Chiang Mai, Jack Chaiya, massage course, masters, Nua Thai, Thai Massage, Thai Yoga Massage

ON A QUEST FOR KNOWLEDGE

One of the main reasons why I chose South East Asia as the direction of my long journey was that I could participate in Thai Yoga Massage training with the local masters. I started my journey in April 2018 in Bangkok but didn’t go north to Chiang Mai, the capital of Thai Yoga Massage that time. In retrospect, it was a great decision to leave studying for later since I would have probably forgotten all I’d learned during one year of travels. To be honest, I was really scared I’d lose all my massage skills since I had barely had a chance to massage anyone for one long year.

I spent two wonderful weeks in beautiful Chiang Mai 

After spending December- March in Sri Lanka, I was ready to finish the South East Asian loop and then return to Europe. I went to Chiang Mai on my own to stay fully focused on the studies and also not to make my husband too bored. I spent there two wonderful and fruitful weeks.

The number of Thai Massage (aka Nuad Thai) schools in Chiang Mai is mind-boggling. I was lucky to have my friend Sigita recommend me some of the teachers she had studied with a year before. Most of the newbie students head to one of the ‘factory’ schools which might be famous but don’t offer much personal attention. I decided to study with two masters from very small schools who would take only up to 8-10 students at a time. With my limited budget, I had to constrain myself to only those two teachers.

AJARN SINCHAI – TEACHER WITH HEART OF GOLD

I spent the first week attending the evening classes with Ajarn (teacher) Sinchai, a 75-year old, blind master known for his gentle approach. Before arriving, I had many doubts regarding the training: would the teacher speak understandable English? Would the style of teaching match my expectations of a structured study and well-explained instructions?

Ajarn Sichai was the loveliest person

All those fears and reservations disappeared as soon as I stepped through Sinchai’s doors. He was the loveliest person ever. I came half an hour before the class (not knowing yet I could be picked up from the old town for free by his wife) but Sinchai not only welcomed me in but started teaching me straight away.

The informal atmosphere at Sinchai’s classes

Then the Spanish-dominated group turned up and the whole room became filled with laughter and positive energy. Sinchai liked joking with his students and he treated them very well. Our teacher would praise us often and explain each move with infinite patience and smile.

ASIAN APPROACH

What I loved about Thai teachers was that they (as opposed to my previous European teachers) did not stop at just demonstrating all the moves. They repeated them over and over again, making sure that each and every student received the massage sequence directly from them.

Teachers in Thailand don’t use ‘models’ to present the moves, they show the moves on each and every student

That makes all of a difference as it gives the student the idea how a particular move should FEEL like, not only how it looks like from the outside. Sinchai, as a blind person, would ‘look’ at the students by holding their arms as they practiced which I’d imagine gave him a better idea about the body mechanics and pressure used than if he was simply looking.

Sinchai would feel how well we perform the massage on each other

At first, I wasn’t sure how many classes I’d have with Sinchai (I was paying on a drop-in basis) but I ended up completing 5 days – effectively half of his course. It was a shame I could not complete the entire course. I had already booked another training for the following week  and I would have surely felt too overwhelmed doing two courses simultaneously

It was a shame I could not finish the 10-days course with Ajarn Sinchai

The greatest revelation of working with Sinchai was that we learned to perform an entire Thai Massage almost without applying any stretches. Moreover, such treatment would still be highly effiective in improving the range of mobility! Sinchai demonstrated it very nicely by showing us shoulder mobility range tests and teaching us how to tackle each restriction. After working on a particular spot for a couple of minutes, the range would increase significantly.

And… magic: the arm goes higher

I realised how much variety and space for your own style there was in Thai Massage. Sinchai’s manual followed more or less similar material which I covered during my foundation course but almost every single move was done slightly differently. Maybe it would be use of a forearm instead of fingers, or a different body mechanics. Those might seem insignificant but actually turned out to be important differences. Each teacher seemed to have his ‘signature technique’. For Sinchai, it was vibration: creating a vibration on client’s body by making your own arm tremble.

DIFFERENT COURSE, DIFFERENT TEACHER, DIFFERENT APPROACH

The next week I started a 5-day course with Jack Chaiya, son of the late legendary female therapist Mama Lek. It was an advanced training and from what I’d heard from the Spanish bunch I met at Sinchai’s, his course would be much more fast-paced and comprehensive.

There were only 4 people in our group which was great. This training was supposed to last from 9 am till 5 pm but in fact it was 9 am till 4 pm with a 1.5 h lunch break in between. There was a huge difference in personality and attitude between Sinchai and Jack. Sinchai would often go well beyond his 2 hours if he thought he didn’t finish, even if there were people waiting for a treatment with him. Jack gave the impression he would like to get over it as soon as possible and have a time for his siesta.

Unfortunately, Jack also lacked patience so crucial for a teacher. If somebody didn’t quite get a particular move, he’d get irritated and start talking in Thai wondering why we were so stupid presumably. Despite having a bit of an attitude, he’d still make sure that he gave a massage to each one of us.

Jack taught us many deep stretches

It was a shame I didn’t get along with Jack well on a personal level since I found his training absolutely awesome and really valuable. Around 60% of the moves we learned were completely new to me and those which I knew were all performed in a different manner. Jack’s Thai Massage was more traditional in a sense it involved plenty of stretches, foot, knee and elbow work.

5-day course with Jack Chaiya completed

I wasn’t used to absorb that much material in such a short space of time so I’d make videos during the training and then watch them and make notes back at the hostel. I’d mentally go through the sequence so that next day I’d be the only person who  could remember it.

I knew I had to practice as much as I could so I was glad that finding eager guinea pigs in Chiang Mai wasn’t difficult at all. Gigit, a really cool guy I met at a yoga class was my regular swapping partner until my husband joined me and I could practice on him.

Swapping massage skills with Gigit

Inevitably, as soon as I was back to proper travelling, I wouldn’t have time or conditions to practice. Luckily, I was sure I’d be back to Kolkata and Europe in just 2-3 months so the gap wouldn’t be too long.