Thai Yoga Massage - 9780892819379

MASSAGE / BODYWORK

In the temples of Thailand, many centuries ago, a dynamic bodywork therapy based on yoga, Ayurveda, and the martial arts was born. In this unique healing system of Thai Yoga Massage, the practitioner guides the recipient through a series of yoga postures while palming and thumbing along the body’s energy lines and pressure points. Together these actions result in a comprehensive full-body treatment that relieves muscular tension, improves circulation, boosts the immune system, and balances the body energetically.

Thai Yoga Massage is practiced as a duet. Counterbalancing and levering the recipient’s body with his own, the practitioner works with gravity, breath, and directed touch to create a harmonious and therapeutic “dance” with the recipient that imparts physical vibrancy, grace, and spiritual energy.

In this fully illustrated instructional guide to Thai Yoga Massage, Kam Thye Chow, one of the world’s foremost teachers and practitioners, leads readers through every aspect of this ancient bodywork therapy--from its origins in Thai Buddhist temples and the theoretical foundations of its development to a detailed presentation of classic Thai Yoga Massage postures. Detailed, step-by-step photographs show the author performing each posture for a one- to two-hour full-body massage. Information on important contraindications and fundamental anatomy and physiology integrates Western medical knowledge and theory with this ancient healing tradition. Massage therapists, physical therapists, yoga practitioners, and others in the somatic arts will find Thai Yoga Massage an important and innovative complement to their work.

KAM THYE CHOW is the author of Tai Chi Chuan: Mindfulness in Motion, and his writings have been featured in Massage and Bodywork and other healing arts journals. Kam Thye teaches Thai Yoga Massage in Thailand and throughout Europe and North America. Currently based in Montreal, he is the founder and director of the first school of Thai massage to be accredited by the Quebec Massage Federation.