Massage and Spiruality Thai massage,
Called Nud Boran,
Is a combination of massage,
Pressure point,
Stretching,
Energy treatment,
Herbal medicines and medical knowledge.
To study this I spent four years time in Wat Pho,
Which is located next to Wat Pak Kao and also called the Emerald Buddha Temple in Bangkok in Thailand.
It's the center of the city.
Massage has a direct and strong relationship with martial arts.
To be honest I do not understand why nearly all gyms in the world,
The camps and schools really ignore this very important part of our arts.
Every fighter undergoes one day in their career a good massage and competition fighters receive it every time they go to perform.
An important proof that martial arts are interlinked with massage shows the combination of training and massage in Kalari Payutta.
It is the Indian art of fighting,
Which is considered the oldest martial art on earth and probably the origin of all martial arts.
The origin can be found in Kerala,
Which is located at the coastal area of India.
Every training or their sessions has elements of massage to prepare the body for training.
We distinguish two kinds of massage methods.
One is self massage,
That is implied by yourself on your own body and the other is when you receive the massage by another person.
One of the most important effects of massage is the influence on your energy system.
Massage brings a flow of energy on the move in the body when applied well and then you can reach a real increase in positive energy.
There are two competing energy levels which can be called yin yang in traditional medicines.
For the ease of this podcast I stick to those two names,
But they have other names in Ayurveda and other methods and they all will finally refer to the same kind of system.
One is the negative,
It is called yin,
Female and the other one is yang,
Positive,
Is male.
While reading this you have to force yourself not to think negative when I mention the word negative,
As it has no negative meaning.
It is a way how to show opposing sides of energy.
In another podcast I explain that positive and negative merely is a difference in potentials of energy.
Energy always flows from high to low,
But with massage we can influence that with our moves and with the application of certain techniques.
Health massage is very important for every person and most of all for any person performing sport or other activity.
For any interested person it has,
Besides the function of controlling energy level,
Also a way to learn more of your own body.
This shows the strong and weak parts of your body through the experience of pain and pain relief.
These strong and weak parts do change regularly dependent on your state of health and the period of the month and the year you are in.
This refers to the effects of the differences to your natural bio-rhythm system.
To test the body we make use of pressure points which are located alongside the meridians.
By pressing a point you stimulate or break an energy flow.
When you apply it,
It is possible to cure injuries faster and cool down the mind.
After a good massage it is easier to meditate.
One of my teachers told me that when you break something down you should always know how to repair it.
He was referring to our training and the people who were aggressive and violent in training and not only on other people but also on themselves.
We practice very hard.
In Muay Thai you really actually beat each other and hit each other and you have to realize that moment that when you hurt that partner,
You break that partner,
You actually do damage to another person.
You really have to know how to repair that.
And if you don't know,
Don't inflict the damage.
When you massage another person you learn the strong and weak spots of the other person.
You learn how to manipulate energy levels within the body.
Without massaging you learn the different muscle tensions in the body and you feel the difference between a trained and an untrained person.
You learn a lot about pain and distinguish real pain from fake pain.
When you touch a part of the body that feels painful,
The source of the pain does not need to be at that very spot.
The source of pain can be at one place in the body but the manifestation completely elsewhere.
The problem of Western medicines is that they lost the holistic touch by looking at pain exactly as a local issue.
A good friend of mine compared Western medicines with a car repair center.
You go in with a broken front light which they repair really good as you requested it.
But when you drive away the repair person sees that your backlight is broken and decided not to warn you for that at all.
Because they know you will come back.
And then we have to ask ourselves is this commercial or ignorance?
Neither.
Western medicine are trained in symptomatic treatments.
They treat a certain cause and they will not look at the rest of your system as if they do not want to enter the field of another specialist and it's not allowed.
We consider that even they respect the other speciality.
So it's not that they don't want to do it but they are trained not to do it.
With massage you transfer energy between your body and the person you massage.
When there is too much energy it will be released and to less energy it will be withdrawn by your methods and often of your body.
If you want to have a positive result in massages you have to bring mind and body in the right balance and your body should be in a good condition.
Massaging effectively is only possible when you bring your body and mind in harmony by the right preparation such as concentration exercises or meditation.
This also comes when you massage yourself to reach the right state of mind.
I suggest following techniques.
These techniques are use personal keywords or sentences and you are able to get inside the needed state of mind faster.
Sometimes these keys are called mantras.
Use sounds.
When you use the bass it is a typical male sound while a female sound is higher and lighter.
The use of sounds brings vibrations which have a strong energetic effect on the body.
Close your eyes when you massage.
Without sight you are able to focus on the differences in energy and tension within the body you are busy with.
With closed eyes your mind does not get distracted by emotions or other things like the body parts of the person you massage.
Visualize technical applications while you are working.
Massage is looking forward to the next step,
The next move and follow the energy lines.
To massage well you need to apply different technical methods for a maximum result.
Think about the use of elbows,
Knees,
Shoulders,
Feet,
Body weight and so on.
There are so many ways how to apply massage.
But a warning is at place here.
If you do not have the right techniques don't apply them.
It's like in fighting arts when you apply the wrong techniques you or the opponent will get injured and this is the same with massage.
Only use what you are able to do and not more.
Your massage partner is not a toy or a doll and must be treated with care and respect.
There are plenty of different massage related methods of which I strongly advise you leave to the experts and do not experiment without proper knowledge.
Such as a moxa treatment is with herbal,
Conical,
Bowel or spike shaped products which are placed or hold on a certain part of the body and lighted with fire.
The heat enters the body with a healing effect but it also can damage if not applied well.
Cupping therapy is a method that use heat to create a certain vacuum and cups which are placed on certain parts of the body.
Sometimes you see the people walking around in Asia with big round colored spots on their body and thus nearly always referred to cupping.
Acupressure the method looks like acupuncture but they don't use any needles.
There is at the moment also dry needling and so on.
In Ayurveda we find the use of warm,
Etheric ollies during massage.
For a specific complaint you use a different kind of oil.
The way of massage consists of stretching and the application of different kind of force in different directions.
But massage does more,
It creates a connection between people.
With this physical contact the energy of two persons gets involved with each other and they open channels with each other often are closed before.
Many people get emotional of massage in various different ways.
When you are able to adjust your energy level to the person you are massaging and you have communication without words a real connection of energy.
Massage stimulates balance of energy levels and takes away blockage in the body but also in the mind.
But it is also intimate and this intimacy that can scare people.
When a person has bad experience in the past with intimate contact such as rape or molest victims,
Massage must be applied with the clothes on and not directly to the skin.
There is an important difference between the methods in Asia and the Western.
When I apply massage in Asia most of the time the people are wearing clothes while when I apply massage in the West most of those people are completely naked or wear little clothes.
When you wish to apply massage please do take good note of the wishes and the past of a person to avoid awkward situations.
Massage should be a bridging of emotions by a physical interaction and need to be a safe environment at all time.
Trust is the key factor of massage and we need to be sure that both people agree on the terms of how we massage before you start.
During the period of 1985-1995 I did have the top ballet ladies of the Royal National Ballet as my customers and each needed a very personal touch.
You understand that also the men needed a completely different method than the ladies.
During this time I did learn that only a combination of methods used from all over the world was a good treatment because those bodies are pure muscles and there is no fat on them and to massage them is a really heavy job.
And there is no method which can cover all the problems or helps them in every physical way.
You really have to try,
Try,
Try because only exercise makes perfect.
Massage is treatment that works the best when you do it as often as possible even when you are doing it on your own body.
A good massage helps your body and your mind to find more harmony,
Pleasure and relaxation.
So do it as often as you can.
Play with your body,
Learn to know your own body because only after you learn and know your own body you are able to explore the body of somebody else.
You can reach me by leaving a message here,
Send me an email or use whatsapp to reach me,
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A warm regards,
Why not.
