Energy and Balance
The underlying goal of Thai massage, according to David Roylance, is to balance the body's energy systems.
Thai medicine asserts that the body contains an infinite number of energy channels called "sen" lines. These are similar to the meridians of Chinese medicine, but meridians are said to correlate with specific organs while sen lines correlate with symptoms.
A Thai massage client gets a stretch from a practitioner's hands and feet.
(Photodisc/Punchstock Image)
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"If there are blockages in the energy systems, you can start to see symptoms in the body -- a cramp in your arm, asthma, skin disease, a psychological illness," said Roylance, who studied with Salguero. "What we do, using acupressure and stretching and compressions, is to free those blockages, open up the body, and restore it back to health."
Thai massage resembles a type of dance. "It's very fluid, very methodical," Brown said. "Each movement flows into the next." The dance improves with each visit, he said, as the practitioner gains a deeper understanding of a client's body and its limitations and the client comes to know the routine.
Because the massage is active -- and interactive -- recipients aren't likely to nod off.
"If someone wants to zone out, I'd tell them to go get a Swedish massage," said Martine Burkel of Bethesda, a client of Brown's for the past two years.
"I'm a terrible self-stretcher, so I sort of feel that I compensate by doing this," said Burkel, 46. "If it's between five more minutes of running [at the end of a workout] or going to stretch, I'll choose the running."
But even if you're a dedicated self-stretcher or yoga regular, you can derive benefits from Thai massage, practitioners and clients say. There seems to be something unique about having stretching done to you.
"If you stretch yourself, you are actively stretching," Roylance said. "Your muscles are actively engaged in stretching. But if someone is stretching you, your muscles are relaxed and passive, which means you can go into a pose much more easily and deeply than if you were to do it on your own."
A relative newcomer to massage therapies, I'd expected to lump Thai massage under a general "feel-good treatment" umbrella along with the Swedish massages I'd thoroughly enjoyed on a few occasions.
It did feel good. I felt so limber and light I worried mid-massage that I'd have to be poured into my car afterward and pumped with caffeine to stay focused for the drive home.
But when the treatment ended and I stood, I felt straight and tall and loose -- in a wide-awake, the-juices-are-flowing way. I gladly accepted the cup of hot peppermint tea -- caffeine-free -- Tukta handed me on the way out. I didn't need the energy boost. I simply wanted to savor the moment. •
Freelance writer Dana Scarton has written about fitness topics for the Health section.
