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Thai seated back pt.2

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This continues our series on Thai massage in a seated position. The video shows work that’s used on an extremely common problem area, the upper back where it meets the neck. Levator scapulae are the muscles that go from the top of the shoulder blade to the base of the skull and they’re often tight and tense. The use of the elbow saves your hands, allows you to work effectively without strain.

Share these with friends. They’re easy to perform techniques that post little risk when done in communication with those you’re working on. Ask those who receive from you how it feels. Better still show them how to perform it and trade. The best way to learn is to give and receive.

See you soon for a Thai massage class here in Austin, Texas.

http://robertgardnerwellness.com/class/thai-yoga-massage/

Thai seated back pt.1

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This new video shows work around the scapula or shoulder blade. For people with constant upper back and neck issues this is a good way to begin the process of opening the chest and having that slumped forward posture start to change. This usually brings some relief from upper back pain albeit temporary. This particular stretch is easy to do while someone is seated on the floor or in a chair so it’s good to use on friends and family at parties.

Opening the rhomboids, trapezius and erector spinae addresses some of the core issues that come from computer work. This chin jutted forward slouch is bad for posture long term.

Thai massage classes including certification are ongoing in the new year. Look for emails and updates here and on facebook/twitter. See you all soon.

Happy New Years everyone. I wish us all a happy, healthy and prosperous 2012.

Thai massage in Austin

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Often people ask what Thai massage is? I’m finding more and more that I’ve learned my way into a spot that most don’t understand or find themselves aware of. Thai massage isn’t massage in the same way that swedish and deep tissue is. Thai massage is done clothed on a mat on the ground and resembles passive yoga more than some sensual oiled session most massage therapists provide.

Thai massage has its place within western bodywork at this point and I’ve little doubt that in 30 years time it’ll be as ubiquitous as swedish and deep tissue are. I loathe to think massage therapists are ending their careers far too soon by working ineffectively and abusing their hands. Thai massage helps me make use of my feet, heels, toes and knees in a way that was liberating when I first started using it.

Over the holidays try this Thai neck massage out on friends and family. If their response is, “oh..that’s really tight or that feels really good” you’ll see why Thai massage is spreading. It’s extremely effective and easy to use.

If you’ve never had a Thai massage give yourself a Christmas treat and schedule a session. There’s no reason to continue having back pain. Call to schedule. 512 905 2298

What is Thai massage?

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I get this question more than anything regarding my work. There isn’t really a category for what I do. I’m a yoga teacher, bodyworker and cook but really what I do is take my life’s work and offer it to you. If you have posture problems and back pain I can help you.

Thai massage is far too vast a subject for a single blog post but maybe this will become part one of ninety thousand. Thai massage is in short, the best bodywork I’ve ever received. I’ve devoted my life to practicing it along with yoga to pry apart the secrets of the human body and healing. In that ongoing quest to help myself I’ve become a wonderful person along the way, whatever seed was there originally has sprouted and is producing fruit.

I work on someone with back pain in ways they’re unfamiliar with. I move you around on a mat while clothed on the floor and stretch, press, pull and knead all the tension away. When you walk out of my office you feel taller, less encumbered and closer to how you felt when you were a baby, you could stand but without postural tension and distortion. The physical connects to the spiritual. I use the handle I’ve been given, the body. “The body is my temple and asana are my prayers.”~~BKS Iyengar

People often wonder how I know where to press or what to stretch. I can only communicate my experience over the past ten years. I’ve had more pain and aches than I care to remember but out of that reservoir of experience emerged a healer. I can unwind the patterns because I’ve experience unwinding them in myself. My maps are yoga and Thai massage. I had to travel the path though, otherwise it’s just images on a page.

You can take the journey as well. Thai massage is the best bodywork I’ve received and I’ve scoured the US and various states looking for more. If I find anything better I’ll learn it and start teaching it in addition. For now if you want the best massage in Austin or Round Rock, Texas you come to me. If you’re a massage therapist and want to learn Thai massage you come to me as well. You can settle for less in a bodyworker and healer but with the stress of family and jobs don’t you deserve the best? Isn’t it time you felt less pain and let someone help you feel good regularly? That, my friends, is what Thai massage is as well as yoga. It’s a path to healing.

Get a session before Christmas by calling soon. I don’t have much space available. Business is busy.

Namaste’,
Robert
512 905 2298

Teaching Thai massage

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In teaching Thai massage I’ve a daunting task. How does one pass down the traditional bodywork of a people whose country I’ve never visited? I’m a Scots-Irish kid from south Louisiana, I’m from the land of gumbo not coconut curry!

I learned Thai massage from a well trained and thoroughly versed teacher over the course of two years and was a teaching assistant for her classes in three different states. When I called my teacher one day and said, “I want to teach.” She just told me to, “Go! You know it, go teach.” That was enough for me.

In the midst of sharing this work I’m sharing ten years of in depth study of anatomy/physiology and my yoga practice. Everything is being slowly distilled into my students and I give the meaty chunks of the work, little is light or topical. A vein of ten years worth of practice is tapped to help people with posture problems and back pain. If students pay attention and absord what I’m passing along it’s no longer just Thai massage, it’s Thai massage from a western bodyworker and yoga instructor. That’s to say, you’re getting far more than you pay for.

Students can save their hands, work more efficiently and learn things that will help their clients long term. It’s not just a single session, we’re educating them so they can educate their clients. What we’re really teaching isn’t Thai massage, it isn’t western massage, it’s healing. Healing has no copyright and can’t truly be taught. I pass along techniques, you pick them up and with heart centered focus use them until you intuitively grasp the healing that can be done.

Yoga isn’t just learned in India, nor Thai massage in Thailand. Healing is where you find it. If you want to learn Thai massage, take a class with me soon.