Thai Self-Massage is part of Reusi Datton (Thai Yoga) practices and is about healing care for oneself. In Thailand, there even exists an official practice that incorporates self-care called Dhammanamai, which is about holistic care of the body, the mind, of our society and environment based on Buddhist relaxation techniques and moral precepts.
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In the basic Reusi Datton set designed by the Thai Institute of Thai Traditional Medicine (ITTM) there are some sequences that concern self-massage. The complete ITTM set consists of fifteen sequences and within those, Sequence Nº1 (with 9 exercises) and Sequence Nº5 (with 4 exercises) are self-massage practices for the face and head.
The ITTM set also includes self-massage exercises for the legs by the way (2 explicit sequences), but in this post I’d like to show you some pictures of Thai Face Self-Massage as done in the ITTM set. Quite a number of Thai Massage schools in Thailand start the class day with the ITTM Reusi Datton set, as a kind of warm-up, but it’s rare that the self-massage exercises are done as a firm massage; they are often taught as just gently “caressing” the face, instead of really giving pressure.
Nevertheless, officially, most Reusi Datton Thai Yoga exercises need to be done with power and a breathing technique accompanying the movements. There are many reasons why that’s often not done, but just check out the Related Articles section below this post to know more about it if you’re interested.
