Courses and Retreats

Enjoy the video from the Thai Yoga Massage retreat at Ostello Altanon , Italy. To see more about the location click here

The first level is open to complete beginners without the need of any pre-requisite, as well as bodywork practitioners coming from different traditions of work. It will give the student the confidence and the knowledge to be able to give a full body treatment, from the feet to the head,following principles, here are some : being fully present, developing a mindful touch, keeping a perfect touch with the body of the receiver, following the rhythm of the breath, working the energy lines both directions, no skipping or overlapping during the line work, being centred with the back straight, using the shift of body weight during the work, not using force or strength coming from muscles, keeping a relaxed and confortable posture

Level 2 is an integral part of the basic training of Thai yoga massage. It is a course that complements the material covered in Level 1; the material that is added will mainly allow the student to increase the knowledge of techniques in order to treat the different types of clients depending on the anatomical flexibility, the physical height, the possible health contraindications, and the mental / emotional state.

We will see how to treat the receiver in more detail in a side position, in the prone position and in the sitting position, adding the work of more advanced stretchings, which were introduced in the traditional Thai Massage from the practice of Hatha Yoga Asana.

Also we begin to treat the “SEN” energy lines, not only with hands and thumbs, but also using elbows and knees, and we will see how this gives us both a chance to work more deeply on the lines, and not to tire the thumbs too much.

And finally, we introduce into our work, some dynamic style techniques, in addition to the more traditional static ones. We will also focus on how to become more confident with the basics that characterise Thai Yoga Massage: that the rhythm and fluidity facilitate the flow of vital energy and fluids in the body to enable healing.

The course/retreat will be held over a period of 10 days, where we will learn a sequence of exercises that willhelp the student to able to give a complete full body treatment, that will be relaxing and energetically balancing to the receiver, giving a deep feeling of relaxation and Well-being.

The retreat will follow the tradition started by Asokananda, the founder of the School “Sunshine Network” based on a Lahu hill tribe village in the north of Chiang Mai, Thailand.

It will be complemented by the daily practice of Hatha Yoga and Vipasana Meditation, to cultivate awareness of body, mind and breath. It will also help the students to cultivate the inner qualities of Mindfulness (Sati), and Loving-kindness (Metta), to give the profound healing experience both for the practitioner and the receiver.

Traditional Thai massage is a full body holistic workout that covers the physical body, the energy body and the psychic or emotional bodies. It is based on the idea of the five bodies of  man (human), which we find in the yoga philosophy.

For Thai massage to fully show its potential of energy balancing on all levels, a complete workout of the whole physical body is imperative, as the physical body is the tool to reach the other bodies. Primarily the energy body is the target, but emotional release arising from touching the memory and subconscious bodies is also facilitated. This is normally achieved by working from the toes to the head, using different body positions, lying on the back, lying on the side, lying on the stomach and sitting.

But it is also possible to do a complete full body massage using the side position only. This is particularly helpful when you work on someone who finds it difficult to lie on the back, like people with lower back problems or pregnant women, who are advised, after the first trimester, to no longer lie on the stomach or back. The reason for this is the pressure of the baby on the organs, the arteries and lungs reducing their function, all of which could negatively affect the baby.

In this course we will review how to solidify and structure the basic principles of Thai yoga massage, extending the spectrum of practice to stretching and working with the feet, elbows and knees. We will go to the discovery of dynamic techniques that increase the flexibility of the body and facilitate the flow of energy and fluids to bring back health and well-being.
We will review the 4 postures visited in the basic course including stretching exercises to activate and open the various energy lines of the body. We will focus once more to the importance of maintaining a correct posture, working with the gravity and weight of the body, with the help and guidance of the breath and we will focus on the more precise work of the energy lines. We will also study some of the main pressure points located on the lines to treat and alleviate common symptoms. This will give you a better treatment perspective, greater confidence and will allow you to work more effectively and accurately on different body types.

One of the characteristics of Thai Massage is the possibility it offers us to be able to use not only hands and thumbs but also other parts of the body such as what we will see in this course which are the elbows, knees and feet. These give us the possibility of creating an infinite number of ways of working the body and the energy lines, of being able to expand the work according to the needs of the recipient and in particular on those occasions when, for example, the receiver is much larger and heavier than us and / or needs a deeper job. In these cases, working with hands and thumbs may not be enough and can lead to having to use the latter in an excessive way, creating pain or excessive fatigue, and so to protect ourselves and to obtain a more effective result we learn to use the other parts of the body.