If you are a Thai Massage instructor and run a Thai Massage training course, you will most likely receive Thai Massage students with very different physical abilities and fitness.
Some students are rather stiff, others very flexible and some are in-between, some have past injuries or a certain particular physical constitution, others are bony in contrast to chubby participants, and so on, and so on. As a teacher it’s something to pay attention to, because those particular characteristics decide what techniques students can do (or should do differently) or receive (from other students during the training).
It’s also wise, before starting the actual Thai Massage training course, to ask students if there are any special conditions one needs to be informed of, such as high blood pressure, medication, diabetes, artificial implants, and so on, I mean, one need better know if there are any medical conditions to take into account, which again guide what a student can do or receive. And perhaps it goes without saying, but it’s not really okay if a pregnant woman would join the classes.
In fact, a teacher simply needs to be aware that the usual Thai Massage precautions and contraindications should be taken into consideration, because a typical Thai Massage training course consists of plenty giving and receiving massage.
When I was still teaching, I would also tell my students that everybody is different, that everybody has weak and strong physical characteristics and that it’s good to have a great diversity of people in the group to make the Thai Massage training and practice more realistic. In real life one will need to massage very different types of clients, and moreover, most clients visit a massage therapist because they have some health complaint and are not at all in a “perfect” condition.
It’s important also to tell students to immediately say if something hurts or if something doesn’t feel good during the training, because Thai Massage students (like clients) have the tendency to take and endure too much, because they simply don’t want “to spoil” the class atmosphere or class progress or they might think that they must endure. Students need to feel welcomed with who, how and what they are, feel listened to, and a teacher should promote an open and honest environment.
All by all, a safe and healthy space for students during a Thai Massage training is of utmost significance. We don’t want to hurt students, we don’t want students to hurt other students, and moreover, we don’t want students to hurt their future clients.
