Click here, drive there, switch the channel, make the deadline, leave him a message, call her back, hurry up and eat, check e-mail, wait for a delayed flight, go to sleep, wake up and do it all over again.
The daily pressures associated with modern living are many. We collectively push ourselves to do more, but need to learn how to take better care of ourselves to help to keep the stress and pressure associated with modern life in balance. Much of our time is spent in our heads and not truly in our bodies. We may be able to buy meditation DVDs online while sitting in our electronic massage chairs, but it may not truly nourish the deepest parts of ourselves. We all feel the push of the modern world which seems to be speeding up our lives ever more. Hopefully, we also feel the pull of some older traditions which allow us to truly be in our bodies.
Two very beneficial forms of traditional therapies to help balance the mind with the body are traditional Thai massage and acupuncture. Both have a rich history and hold an important place for the modern stress-related problems that we face.
Traditional Thai massage is one part of the bigger picture of traditional Thai medicine. Other branches of Thai medicine include herbal medicine, nutritional medicine, spiritual practices and forms of healing like massage therapy.
Traditional Thai medicine was passed along verbally from one generation to the next in the same manner as religious texts. Medical texts were highly valued right along religious texts. The wat, or monastery, has always been a place where Thai people go for treatment of their suffering; whether physical, emotional, or spiritual.
Developed from Theravada Buddhism, Thai massage demonstrates the Four Divine States of Mind: Loving Kindness, Compassion, Vicarious Joy, and Equanimity.
- Metta: The wish to make others full of happiness and the capacity to show loving kindness.
- Karuna: Showing compassion for suffering and a desire to ease pain for people.
- Mudita: Welcoming joy for those who have good fortune and rejecting envy.
- Upekkha: To be without prejudgment or preference for one’s fellow man.
In Thai Theravada Buddhism, significant emphasis is placed on practical application of spiritual philosophy — that higher ideals should be brought into everyday life activities and decisions. Specifically, Thai massage is a meditative practice with benefits for the recipient as well as the practitioner.
Statues at Wat Phra Chetuphon (or Wat Pho) temple illustrate various postures featuring methods
of self-massage known as 'Hermit's Self-massage' techniques evolving from yoga poses.
In 1832, the King of Siam, Rama III, had monks at Wat Pho temple in Bangkok carve epigraphs in stone depicting information from Thai medical texts. In these carvings, we can see “energy lines” known as sen lines in Thai medicine.
According to Thai philosophy, everything in the world is made up of four elements; Earth, Water, Wind and Fire. Of these four elements, wind is the most closely related to Thai massage. Wind can be associated with the idea of qi (pronounced chee) in Traditional Chinese Medicine. qi is often translated as breaths or energy.
The practice of Thai massage, with its unhurried pace, deep pressure, stretches, and rhythmic movements seeks to facilitate the correct movement and placement of wind (qi) in the body and to release wind from places where it has become stagnant.
Stagnant qi leads to static blood. Muscles become tense. They lose their flexibility. Muscles shorten and become fibrotic. This may be the result from stress, the process of aging, or even emotional constraint.
Unblock the stuck qi, or locked wind, then fresh qi can lead fresh blood in and make muscles well nourished and more flexible again. The release of stuck wind or energy in the body happens when the body twitches while being massaged.
Today, traditional Thai massage is practiced worldwide. This ancient form of healing is finding a rebirth for many stress related problems as well as physical discomfort. People come from all over the world to experience a Thai massage in the Kingdom of Thailand. Thai massage is widely available throughout Thailand, but experience varies in each place and for each practitioner. Massage clinics are everywhere in Thailand like delicatessens in New York. Look for places that truly practice authentic traditional Thai massage.
Traditional Thai massage may also use hot herbal compresses during the massage as a way of driving heat into the body to relax muscles. A massage at the Wat Pho school for massage in the Wat Pho temple grounds is an unforgettable experience for any visitor to the Kingdom. Hopefully, Thai massage practitioners throughout Thailand take their time and realize that this is a potent form of healing that they practice.
Drawing by Thanaphat Boonchuto |
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Acupuncture is part of a larger system of medicine which is known globally as Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM. TCM comprises five distinct branches of medicine to help man govern his health.
The five branches of TCM are exercise, nutrition, acupuncture, herbal medicine, and structural medicine like massage.
Acupuncture, as a branch, has grown globally as well. I have met TCM practitioners from far-away places like Norway, England, India, America, Germany, Israel, Iceland and Thailand, to name a few. People from all over the world are finding relief from serious physical and mental illnesses with this ancient therapy.
Acupuncture treatment most likely started with people poking each other in places that hurt with tools in a form of crude massage. Eventually, the Chinese mapped rivers of energy called meridians, or channels, on the body. Much in the way energy flows down a river, the same is true in the body. Energy moves quickly in some places, deep in others, and also stagnates in common acu-point locations.
As time passed, the ancients refined specific points on these meridians that created a broad range of action on both physical and emotional conditions. Needles used to be made from bones, then eventually, metal. Today, they are made from stainless steel which can be sterilized and is disposable.
After a series of questions, a practitioner of Chinese medicine will look at your tongue, feel your pulse, and reach a diagnosis. Then an acupuncture prescription will be matched to your diagnosis. The combination of acu-points are needled and possible heat therapy (moxibustion) or mild electrical stimulation added to the needles. Needles are retained in the body for a period of 20 to 30 minutes. During that time, the nervous energy of the whole body tries to push these needles out and tunes into itself for healing. When the needles come to equilibrium with the body and mind, a healing message has been received. Ultimately an acupuncture treatment should catapult your whole being into a deep state of ease so your body and mind can overcome energy imbalances, pain and disease.
The World Health Organization’s list of What Acupuncture Can Treat
Infections
Colds and flu, bronchitis, hepatitis
Internal
Hypoglycemia, asthma, high blood pressure, ulcers, colitis, indigestion, diarrhea, diabetes, constipation, and hemorrhoids
Eyes-ears-nose-throat
Deafness, ringing the ears, earaches, poor eyesight, dizziness, sinus infection, sore throat, allergies
Dermatological
Eczema, acne, herpes
Musculo-skeletal and neurologic
Arthritis, neuralgia, sciatica, back pain, bursitis, tendonitis, stiff neck, Bell’s palsy, Trigeminal neuralgia, headache, stroke, sprains
Genito-Urinary and reproductive
Impotence, infertility, PMS, vaginitis, irregular period, cramps, morning sickness
Mental-Emotional
Anxiety, depression, stress, drug addiction, insomnia
Traditional Thai massage and acupuncture share one major common thread. Both have mapped out energy lines in the body. These energy lines, or meridians, are neither Chinese nor Thai, but human first and foremost. These energy lines may vary from person to person slightly. Both therapies promote the movement of stuck or blocked qi in the body. One does this by human pressure, the other by the insertion of thin needles at places where energy becomes static in common areas of the body.
Thai massage moves many of the connecting vessels (the local roads) along the main energy lines while acupuncture rids the body of static nervous energy through the highways of energy lines on the body. Each, when done properly and in a timely manner are profound healing experiences. Each compliments the other perfectly in the spa environment. Acupuncture, from my experience, can reach untouched places within our bodies and minds while the healing touch of Thai massage is a very nourishing form of healing.
Simply, both traditional Thai massage and acupuncture put the body and mind into a relaxed state so a greater sense of well-being and healing can take place naturally.
Hopefully, more and more people will discover the immense healing potential of each of these older therapies as the modern world continues to speed up and stress out. Tuning into our own healing capacity is important during these busy times. Chronic constraint does not have to be a way of life. The choice is ours.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ken Rosen M.S. L.Ac.
A practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine with specialties in Thai Medical Massage and Integrative Nutrition
Ken Rosen has been studying medicine since he was diagnosed with cancer over 20 years ago. After graduating from New York University with a film degree, he attended Pacific College of Oriental Medicine for four years and graduated with a Master’s degree in the Science of Traditional Oriental Medicine.
He has been published with articles on Chinese medicine, cancer treatment, and nutrition. The University of Arizona’s programme in integrative medicine invited him to speak at a conference on Nutrition and Health held in March, 2004. Dr. Andrew Weil’s newsletter interviewed Ken on several topics including a feature on acupuncture. He is a licensed acupuncturist and board certified herbologist. In addition to his private practice, Ken also taught classes in nutrition, diagnosis, and Thai Medical Massage at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in New York for the past five years.
At the beginning of 2006, Ken moved to Thailand to be a resident therapist at Chiva-Som international health resort. He also lectured at the I-Spa conference this year as well as at Spa Asia’s wellness summit. |
