Thai massage

Thailand, 2004

Thai massage: an ancestral technique

Thai massage was born in India more than 2500 years ago thanks to Shivaga Komarpaj, personal physician and disciple of Siddhartha (Buddha). He accompanied his master to spread the Buddhist philosophy and conceived a unique healing technique by massage inspired by yoga and based on traditional Ayurveda.

He taught it to Buddhist monks throughout his journey. Once in Thailand, he perfected the practice and taught it to traditional Thai doctors. It is then that it is transcribed, which allows it to cross time. The writings are still preserved in the Wat Pho temple, “Temple of the Reclining Buddha” in Bangkok, which has been home to a traditional massage school since 1962.

Learning Thai massage

by Chantal Lehmann

In 2004, I had the opportunity to go to Thailand on a mission with Sisley and asked my management to allow me to spend four weeks there, in addition to the scheduled stay, to study Thai massage in this beautiful traditional school that is Wat Po (Temple of the Reclining Buddha) in Bangkok.

At the end of her five weeks of training, I wanted to review everything she had learned with a master on the last day of school. Very concentrated, I entered a deep meditation to forget time. At the end, the clock in the classroom said 3:30 p.m., even though the session had started at 9 a.m.! From this experience came the synergy between the transmitter and the receiver, but also a good understanding of the necessity to have a flexible and painless body to take all the postures freely to transmit a correct and balanced energy.

The other techniques of the world

de Chantal Lehmann