Thai Yoga Massage

I am now on the fourth of my five pack of massages that my wife got me for my birthday a while back. I have enjoyed them, but frankly they aren't the end all. There is no doubt that while they are going on they are very relaxing, but I am in doubt as to the long term benefits.

I think perhaps this is because the state of my health in general is the best it has ever been, and that there really isn't much to fix. Sure, I have bumps and bruises all the time from MT, but rarely do I actually pull a muscle, or have back, arm, chest or leg pain that lasts more than a week or two. Usually my pain is from a strike or kick, rather than a pulled muscle.

Still interested in massage, I started to do some reading about different types. I think that a massage on occasion is a good way for an expert on muscles to keep an eye on me and warn me if something is seriously wrong. And it is relaxing to me, of that there is no doubt. It is mind boggling how many different types of massage there are.

I stumbled upon Thai Yoga massage. You may remember that I blogged a little about Yoga a few weeks ago, and noted that I can see how it would improve your flexibility and that some types of Yoga are probably pretty good exercise. Flexibility is something that I have been working on very hard as of late. It really helps you as a fighter to be flexible. Hard to kick someone in the head if you can't kick that high.

YouTube has everything, so I looked at some different videos of practitioners practicing Thay Yoga Massage. I was very interested.

I took a look at Craigslist and found a person locally who was having a two for one special. Sold. I made the appointment. I got a pair of two hour massages for $140, which averages to $35 an hour. Dirt cheap in the massage world. Two weeks ago Saturday was my first two hour session.

The massage took place in a Yoga studio. I met the masseuse there and there was the usual form filling out, and a short interview. She said that Thai Yoga Massage involved two parts - one was centering some sort of energies or other, and the second concentrated on stretching and moving the muscles and other structures. I immediatly told the masseuse, who was an extremely nice and caring woman, that I was not interested in the flim flam aspect of centering anything, and that I was very interested in the stretching and massage aspects. She was fine with that. She still said a little strange prayer or something before the massage, but that was the last of the supernatural crap. Well, I guess she might have been trying to "center" me or something during the massage, but how would I know?

This type of massage takes place on large soft mats placed on the floor, not on a massage table. Also, you don't disrobe at all, rather you have on a t-shirt and sweats. I was instructed to lay down and the masseuse began to manipulate me, working from the feet to my head. Some of the positions I was put in were pretty damned uncomfortable, but stretching and flexibility are things I knew I wanted to work on so I concentrated on my breathing and powered though. Most of the things are very relaxing and felt great. I think the best was when I was on my side, and the masseuse was holding one arm behind my back and was "walking" on my back with her feet.

Here is a video - many of these techniques were actually used on me during my session, along with many more. Thai Yoga massage is certainly not for everyone, but I think I will take one every few months or so. Pretty interesting and unique, and relaxing. And quite the stretch at times.