Of course, most of the times we read about the health benefits of Thai Massage for the client, but then again, how healthy is doing Thai Massage for the massage therapist?
Well, let me first say this: I fell in love with the Thai Massage profession because I immediately experienced the benefits for me personally when I started learning to give it. Let me explain this.
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When I started my first training course in Chiang Mai, Thailand, my weight was about 74 kilograms. For me that was way too much as I’m quite a short guy, 1.65 m. I had been doing an office job for about 17 years, with little movement and exercise, and I simply grew too much fat.
In my first three months of taking Thai Massage training courses I lost the staggering amount of 19 kilograms with an end result of me weighing about 55 kilograms. That was a bit too much weight-loss, but still, I felt very very good, both physically and mentally, better than in a long time. I moved lighter, swifter, easier, in many ways. Until today, that is 11 years later, I only gained 7 kilos on top of that and currently I move between 60 kg and 65 kg — much, much better.
Losing weight, or let me say it differently, not being overweight has many health benefits — for our heart, lungs, knees, back, our mind, our flexibility and resilience, well, it’s just good for about everything.
Another benefit of doing Thai Massage was that I gained flexibility and felt much less stiff. Giving Thai Massage sessions on the floor on a mat and applying broad-surfaced stretches is a kind of doing Yoga and stretching yourself. The many varied working positions of the Thai masseur add up to stretching and exercising a variety of body parts.
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Being more flexible in the limbs and muscles gives less risks of hurting ourselves — muscle, ligament and joint sprains, twists and torsions become less because our bodies can take more “odd” and sudden movements. It’s one thing I surely noticed: before doing Thai Massage I always had sudden muscle cramps, sprains or sudden twists of joints, and so on. Basically, that has become very rare nowadays.
In fact, regularly giving Thai Massage professionally is a workout for oneself. A paid workout, that is. We train our bodies and mind, stimulate our blood circulation and immune system and stay fit, and at the same time we earn a living with it. Could it be better?
Then, last but not least, surely it’s very nice and satisfactory if one is able to help and support people getting healthier or alleviating their health issues. It’s just super gratifying and a feel-good. One is able to give something to the world, to people, even if it’s just a little bit compared to the grand scale of things.
In fact, being about 11 years older now I actually feel 11 years younger than 11 years ago — physically, emotionally, and mentally. Really, I wouldn’t want to have missed that for the world.
