Nuad Phaen Boran is the traditional name for Thai massage in Thailand.

It translates to Ancient Massage or Traditional Massage. Now, it is known as Thai Massage or Thai Yoga Therapy. Thai Massage is a therapeutic technique that dates back thousands of years, but it’s precise origins are unknown.


Traditional Thai was developed over thousands of years as a natural and holistic approach to health and well-being, which includes proper nutrition, physical exercise, use of medicinal herbs and therapeutic massage.


Traditional Thai medicine is not only concerned with curing diseases and ailments. Its primary goal is maintaining health and well-being. Thais believed that “the absence of illness is the best blessing.” The medical knowledge that the Thai people have developed over the many generations is now known as the “ancient wisdom of Thailand.”


Energy or “Sen” Lines

Diagrams inscribed on the walls at the temple of Wat Po in Bangkok illustrate one of the fundamental principles of traditional Thai medicine: that energy flows through the body along ten major channels, or sen lines, which are similar to meridians in Chinese Medicine.

It is believed that pain or disease results if an obstruction occurs in any of these channels. In this sense, traditional Thai medicine is similar to many other ancient healing systems, which believe that illnesses are caused by an obstruction or imbalance between an individual and his environment.

Ancient Thais treated a number of ailments by using hands-on manipulation to restore the flow of energy throughout the body. Much like today, traditional Thai massage is a deep, full body treatment, including both stretching of the muscles and joints and compression applied to the Sen sip energy lines.


Benefits

Practitioners are taught that the flow in the transition between positions and the state of mind of the therapist are as important as the techniques themselves. A Thai massage treatment is a positive, energizing, uplifting experience for the client as well as the practitioner. A session is similar to the flow of a dance or a martial arts form. The client is passive and completely supported in all positions by the therapist.


Some people call Thai massage “lazy man’s yoga” because the therapist is skilled at supporting the client in stretches that are yoga poses. In many cases, the client can experience benefits from poses that would be difficult to achieve unassisted. Yoga can take years to develop the requisite strength, balance and flexibility to perform advanced poses in a solo yoga practice.

Thai massage has many benefits including:

• Stress and pain relief

• Resistance to injury

• Improved range of motion

• Release toxins and lactic acid from areas of build-up

• More energy

• Deep relaxation



Styles & Techniques

There are many different variations in Thai massage — so many that it would be difficult to classify them all. There is a common agreement on a “Northern Style,” which refers primarily to the sequence established at the Northern Medicine Hospital in Chiang Mai.


Also, the Thai people divide the work into the Royal Method and the Commoner Style. The Royal Method, or “Nuad Rachasamnak,” was specially developed for application on the royal family. The therapist uses only the hands during this style as a sign of respect.


The traditional way of Thai massage was to employ feet, knees, legs, elbows and any other efficient means of applying pressure. This style, practiced by the common people, was called “Nuad Chaleisak,” meaning folk or commoner style massage.


There are thousands of positions and techniques, including:

        • Joint compressions and decompressions

          • Pressure along the sen sip or energy lines of the body
• Gentle soothing movement
• Yogic stretching
• Rhythmic rocking
• Range of motion work
• Application of herbal oils

Thai Massage