Studying Thai Massage in Chiang Mai, Thailand
In 2019, after experiencing a really unforgettable Thai yoga massage workshop in upstate New York with Diane Seiler, I was craving a longer course and more immersive environment to study this beautiful healing art. So, I registered for Level 1, 2 and 3, three weeks of beginner training at Old Medicine Hospital (Shivagokomarpaj) Massage School in Chiang Mai, Thailand. (oldmedicine.org).
It was the most amazing three weeks of my life in bodywork training. I learned so much from the various teachers (Pad Thai, Kang, Yaya and Gift). The basic level 1 and 2 really gave me a solid foundation into understanding the history and spiritual side of this healing art. We chant a verse to honor Shivagokomarpaj, the Buddha’s healer and a patron saint for all healing arts in Thailand. It was a reminder to center our hearts and bodies while we prepare to work with each other on bodywork. It was also a beautiful practice to honor the lineage of healing work and all the teachers/ancestors/sages that made this work possible. Each level was 5 days long and they provided a very tasty and basic lunch every day.
In our Level 3 coursework, we had a field trip to Hang Dong Massage School where we learned about mantra-healing with a natural leaf, tok sen (massage with wooden mallet and stick), and gave each other a fire massage with our feet (dip the foot in oil, flash flame and massage!) holding on to a beam on the ceiling. It was the most intense thing that we shared as a small class of 7 students. We deepened our knowledge on various stretching positions and how we can modify all the moves to focus on certain joints or muscles.
In 2020, the Covid pandemic shut everything down. Many of my favorite teachers were laid off and everyone sought alternative work. Some went into farm work, some became home-chefs selling food online, some went and had babies or spent more time with their own family in the rural areas.
In 2023, when the world reopened, I decided to return to my old school and finish all the coursework I didn’t get to. I took Level 4, Oil Massage and Foot Massage. Since the school just reopened, there were only two teachers managing the four levels of class. I was the only student for Level 4, the director personally instructed me with many theories of the sen-lines in Thai traditional medicine (influenced by Ayurveda medicine and small overlap with Chinese medicine) for three days. I had 2 days of practical training with the usual teachers of this level after they managed the Level 1 and 2 students. It was honestly a little disappointing to not have a lot of time for hands-on practice. But I tried to empathize with the post-covid situation.
Oil Massage and Foot Massage courses were intense, concise and as good as their usual coursework. The textbooks were easy to follow and the setup was good despite the disruptions from the building renovations. It really wasn’t the best time to be in the school building but I met the nicest classmates. They also stopped providing lunch because of the lack of manpower. Now, there is a small onsite restaurant that makes food to order at very reasonable prices. They are super yummy too!
After finishing up, we had a very informal get-together to celebrate my graduation. I learned so much about Thai culture — the rites of marriage, death, burial, birthday celebrations and how important alcohol is in all of them. I learned how the locals drink, Chang beers, Samsong rum with soda water, or you can use a menthos in cold water in a pinch. There was a beautiful ritual whenever a new bottle is open, we offer a sip to the land, to honor the land and spirits before we indulge. It was a beautiful sentiment.
I also learned that there are mediums and shamans in Thailand that help people connect to their departed family members. They would channel by connecting to clothing or items of the departed person. They often help in situations of sudden departure or traffic accidents where the person did not get to say goodbye to their loved ones.
After finishing my coursework at Old Medicine Hospital, I went to Sunshine Massage Academy for an advanced course called Osteopathy Meets Thai Massage with Paul Castelsague, (www.thaimassageacademy.org), a teacher from Spain who has studied in Thailand for 15 years and obtained his Doctorate in Osteopathy. He was a really fun teacher with a passion for kirtan offerings daily and called in a great group of mostly Spanish and American students. It was in a beautiful campus that Sunshine Academy owns, really cozy space with dedicated foot washing stations/bathrooms/showers, free wifi and fancy amenities. The course was very informative, we worked a lot on joints (traditional Thai massage tends to skip joints except at very advanced therapeutic level of training), internal organ/abdominal massages, and some cranio-sacral massage. Paul compiled his life’s work into a huge textbook with many background information about how to see Thai massage as a spiritual practice, a yoga practice with Buddhist philosophy of mindfulness and compassion combined. It was really beautiful to see his perspective. The coursework was very free-flowing as he knew he could not fit all his content into 5 days, so he handpicked different segments to demo and for us to practice in a group. The assistant teacher Titsiana was from Spain and brought all her magic from India where she was traveling. She had such beautiful energy and great knowledge of Paul’s work, I learned a lot from her. There was definitely a huge culture shock in the way the westerners run a massage course versus my previous school. In Asia, especially in Thailand and many countries where we sit and live on the floor, washing our feet as soon as we enter “home” is a ritual, a basic hygiene. This course never emphasized that and never requested anyone to. It was assumed that everyone was independent and wise enough to do it without prompting. I noticed some classmates/teachers’ feet being so soiled that I requested everyone to do so before our practice time together. Titsiana came to thank me personally for reminding her how caring for her own feet was a ritual of self-love and self-homage, she wasn’t just doing it for anyone else. It was lovely to receive that message.
And of course, I missed the daily mantra chanting to honor Shivagokomarpaj. Missed the stray cats in Old Medicine Hospital. Missed how efficient my teachers tried to squeeze all the content into our brains and body in a very structured but relaxed way. And all my sweet classmates in the old school who loved Thai Massage.
After the course ended, I had a weekend off to relax. A really awesome advanced massage therapist from Vegas, a Korean American brother invited us to practice in his AirBnB after class. I got to receive the most mindful and skilled Thai massage I’ve gotten for a long time. I couldn’t really relax into it because I was still in my head studying and analyzing and thinking of feedback to give. I got to practice on the same friend and was told my massage had a lot of room for improvement (aka the worst massage he had received...) It was telling and awakening for me to think about the philosophy I valued in my practice and a feedback from a more Western-philosophy trained practitioner. He told me that studying with Paul and their teachers, he had to unlearn many Eastern bodywork philosophy such as “no pain no gain,” and recognized that the pain/discomfort induced by many street massage therapists were unneccessary or even harmful to the clients. I was truly shaken to my core, in many of my training, we were taught to see discomfort as part of the healing, part of the body’s reaction and it is okay as long as we relax and comfort the pain after the work. I am still sitting with how to harmonize the two schools of teaching and how to adjust my offerings. I fully agree that bodywork shouldn’t be painful, and the pace can be adjusted to maximize therapeutic effects and comfort.
On my final week, I went to another massage school, Ongs Massage Training School (www.ongs-thaimassageschool.com), a women-owned, small massage school that is the most mindfully curated space I’ve ever been to. They had a huge menu of courses to choose from, very flexible to tailor their coursework to any student’s level of experience, and there were altars honoring the land, Shivagokomarpaj, Buddha, Ganesha, and the tools of the trade — the Tok Sen massage set. Every morning, there is a free communal class on Rusii Datton (Thai yoga), Vipassana Meditation or Qigong before the class starts with the classic chant to honor Shivagokomarpaj. And all students are invited to come back and review what they have learned for free. There was always herbal teas and snacks to share, beautiful energy and enthusiastic students from around the world. There were a large population of students from Japan because the teachers were also fluent in Japanese.
Rusii Datton — Thai Yoga is truly a form of exercise that every Thai massage practitioner needs. I learned how inflexible I was despite my experience with Hatha or Vinyasa yoga. I learned awesome poses in Thai Yoga that I never knew I could do, realized my inflexible ankles due to my injured knees and found specific areas I need to work on. It was a beautiful practice started by a Thai monk or hermit. Russii means a hermit. Datton is a self-stretching or exercise for wellbeing.
I then took Tok Sen massage — a really intense and fun massage with a wooden mallet and a wooden stick, farmers used all tools to provide muscle relief back in the days. They realized the power of a gentle knocking on the muscles with a wooden mallet and they honored the tools every day on an altar, recognizing the spirit of healing. The massage followed the main trajectory of traditional Thai massage, working on all the main energy lines/sen lines. It was very healing to feel the sounds of the knocking vibrating throughout the body. It was sound healing plus bodywork.
By the universe’s synchronicity, I took Thai Towel Massage — Pa Khaw Ma massage class instead of reviewing Thai Stretching Massage that I was in love with years ago. This massage course was so awesome that I have to especially write a recommendation. It is a massage done with Thai towels — a very long cotton scarf/towel that can be used as a clothing or headwear or baby-carrying shawl. It involves a lot of gentle stretching and swinging by the towel. It is super fun, super gentle and very suitable for clients in very delicate health conditions. And it had a very mild vibe of being wrapped/tied up in a cocoon or ropes ;)
Follow Teacher Jeaw (IG: pkjeaw72) for free videos of all the fun we are having in Ongs massage school.
All in all, studying Thai massage in Chiang Mai is the best experience and investment ever. Most classes are around 4500 to 6000 THB (200 USD) for 5 days or less. You get snacks, textbooks and a place to immerse yourself in Thai culture, meet locals, share memories, and learn a lifelong healing craft.
