It sounds perhaps awkward for a country that is stuffed with Thai Massage teachers and practitioners of their own, but some large and also some medium-sized Thai Massage schools in Thailand now and again work with foreign Thai Massage teachers to cater for their foreign students.
It’s simply a language thing, and a marketing thing also. The fact is that some foreign Thai Massage students really want instructions in their own language, or at least in English, and prefer education in a more “Western” style. One would perhaps say that Thailand is Thailand, and one should accept that, but things are what they are and the Thai, being a very adaptable people, don’t really make a point of it and “deliver the goods.”
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Thai Massage schools that are prone to work with foreign teachers are basically only to be found in the Chiang Mai region, the national and international hot-spot of Thai Massage training. Often, the foreign teachers have followed an instructor training course at the specific school itself, because they will need to teach the school’s style of Thai Massage.
Nevertheless, there are also Thai Massage schools that allow foreign teachers to offer specific non-Thai massage and bodywork training modalities or East-West Thai Massage blends. You will also see foreign Thai Massage teachers on the southern Thai islands (such as on Koh Phangan), offering more punctual training events or specialized workshops, especially in the tourist high season (months November up to April).
These independent Thai Massage teaching jobs are often arranged with Spa and Wellness resorts and retreats which serve as a training host provider. Think, for instance, of foreign Thai Massage instructors that offer Study Abroad Travel Programs and offer to give training to their Thai Massage students in Thailand instead of at home.
There are also foreign massage teachers who simply live in Thailand (the so-called expats), for years already, and have obtained the legal rights to work in Thailand and profit from their (foreign) background to cater for foreign massage students.
