Thai Yoga Massage: How Does It Work?

A new client recently asked me, after we finished her second session, "I have tried stretching before myself, and read about different ways of stretching.  Why is your method so effective?"

To explain, yes, there are different styles of stretching...here's a list:

Static Stretches

• Static Stretching
• Passive Stretching
• Active Stretching
• PNF Stretching
• Isometric Stretching

Dynamic Stretches

• Ballistic Stretching
• Dynamic Stretching
• Active Isolated Stretching

For the sake of this post, I'll not go into detail on each style (you can look it up on the Internet yourself).  Thai Yoga Massage, as assessed by CHEK practitioner, involves dynamic stretching.  According to Brad Walker, author of The Anatomy of Stretching, "Dynamic stretching is slow, gentle, and very purposeful.  At no time during dynamic stretching should a body part be forced past the joints normal range of movement. Ballistic stretching, on the other hand, is much more aggressive and its very purpose is to force the body part beyond the limit of its normal range of movement." (pg. 24)

I don't suppose you've ever over-stretched yourself with ballistic-type stretching, and maybe even hurt yourself?  I know I have.  It didn't feel pleasant, and if I wasn't in this professional stretching business, it might have turned me off completely to stretching by myself!  The body remembers very quickly what feels good and what doesn't, and sends your brain a signal recording that moment.  It's no wonder many of my clients tell me, "I hate stretching.  It's boring, I don't know what to do, and even if I could, I'd need someone's help to get into it properly without hurting myself!"  

When I'm working with my client, using Thai Yoga massage, I am listening with my hands just how far to take their body.  My teacher, Asokananda, was German, so his philosophy was, "Pain! Das ist GOOD!"  I, however, take a different approach, and only wish to bring my clients' bodies to their threshold...this is the threshold between Good Pain and Bad Pain (yes there is a difference!).  Bad Pain is beyond your threshold limit, and generally causes trauma, not to mention pain.  It just doesn't make sense to me to cause someone's body to tighten up in defense: that's the opposite result I want to produce for them!!  Good Pain is therapeutic, takes you just up to your threshold, prompting your brain to understand a new limit that's OK, and helps release blockages. This is the zone of my Thai Yoga massage: I mindfully stretch you in such a way that your brain simultaneously feels safe, but is monitoring what I'm doing to your body, and acknowledging a new range of movement.  Essentially what this does is re-program your brain and body to accept a new limit...a limit that offers a far greater range of movement!  

That is why, in a nutshell, Thai Yoga massage is one of the most effective ways of stretching: it's safe, gentle, and progressive in helping the body open up.  By opening up, my clients report feeling new surges of energy, which translates to more productive, healthy living -- this is stagnant energy that finally had somewhere to go/release from the body.  Also, due to joints opening and muscles loosening gradually, my clients feel pain-free.  One woman told me recently, "I did a 7 mile walk last weekend, and I was amazed: no pain in my hips, knees, or legs...nothing like I used to have!"  It's gratifying to hear her response because to me we're generally so used to living with, being resigned to pain in our lives and bodies.  We forget to listen to our bodies as they cry out in pain, and then grow numb out of our neglect and ignorance.  

A DJ friend of mine once said, "Never settle!"  I don't suppose Thai Yoga massage is for everyone, but I am pleased to be able to show my clients a new perspective on living: one that is flexible, energetic, and pain-free.