What Is Authentic Thai Massage?

 Published: Mar 20, 2020 | Revised: Oct 14, 2023

What Is Authentic Thai Massage?

Those who want to have a Thai Massage but don’t know what exactly or how Thai Massage is, will most likely prefer to have a traditional, authentic Thai Massage treatment. Of course.

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Yet, authentic Thai Massage doesn’t really exist. Or let me say it differently — you can find several types, styles, and lineages of traditional massage in Thailand, which are all more or less “authentic,” if you want to put it that way.

Authentic massage styles in Thailand are, for instance, Southern Thai Style Massage, Northern Thai Style Massage, Wat Pho Style Massage, Royal Style Massage, among some others. Moreover, styles and lineages may be mixed.

Nevertheless, don’t worry, because most fortunately authentic or traditional Thai massages, whatever the style or lineage, all have certain elements in common, and we will discuss “the core Thai Massage session” further below in this post.

The Treatment Location

An authentic Thai Massage is usually carried out in a suitable, calm, and non-public space on the floor on a special mat, and basically not given with the receiver sitting in a chair or lying on a massage table.

Clothing during Thai Massage

As a rule, traditional Thai Massage is given clothed, meaning both masseur and client wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothes.

Thai Massage Treatment Scope

An original Thai Massage session is typically a full body massage, that is, all parts of the body are worked on, from head to toes, and the client will be placed in various positions, such as lying on the stomach, lying on the back, sitting, and sometimes also lying on the sides.

Furthermore, the aim of a Thai Massage session can be of a preventive, relaxative, or therapeutic nature.

Thai Massage Concepts

The concept behind a traditional Thai Massage is to unblock and clear the Thai Sib Sen Energy lines in order to promote the free flow and balance of Vital Life Force called Lom Pran (or Qi, Prana, and the like).

The goal is to bring our mind, body and energy system into cooperative harmony, and help the body’s self-healing and regeneration processes to function in an optimal way.

Tools and Additions

Typically, authentic Thai Massage doesn’t use any tools or additions, such as props, sticks, oils, creams, and so on. It’s a manual therapy with no extras added. Nevertheless, the masseur may supply a pillow, towel or blanket to better align the body (or body parts) of the receiver, or to keep the receiver warm.

Thai Massage Techniques

Thai Massage therapists may use many body parts to give the massage, meaning the hands, fingers, forearms, elbows, feet, and knees to name the most commonly used.

Additionally, an authentic Thai Massage session will, at the minimum, incorporate palm-pressure, acupressure, and stretches.




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