Training in Thailand?

[Fayde]

I was curious if anyone has ever studied Traditional Thai Massage / medicine in Thailand? I was looking at one of those complete immersion courses where you live in the school, and study all day 6 days a week for a month. It works out at 165 hours of study / practice. Also would this be accepted as a professional qualification back in the UK?

I'd be interested to hear from anyone that tried something similar. The school I was looking at seems very famous - Wat Po.

Thanks

 

[dpoxvdcl]

The cornish pixie man will have some info for you!

I'm sure he'll pick up this thread soon

I'm looking at the same thing.

INDO

 

[J R]

i think Reiki Pexie is the one you want as i believe he has done training in Thailand

 

[xscreamx29]

My little pixie ears are burning!

Hi studiomonkey, welcome to Hp

For a start, what have you done in the UK therapy wise? Would be useful to know.

Many people go to Thailand to train in traditional massage come back to the UK and find that insurance companies and professional associations are not too keen on it. One problem is A&P (anatomy and physiology). None or very little is taught in Thailand (depending on the school) and often Thai therapists in the UK have to go to a local college to obtain an A&P qual (level 3) to get insurance coverage and professional recognition. Also in the UK, 72 hours contact time for Thai training is the minimum standard you need.

I haven't trained at Wat Po but it does have a good reputation. So 165 hours of training would be good to have! If in doubt contact several insurance companies and professional associations to see what their criteria is. Try www.ctha.com and www.fht.org.uk

Best wishes

RP

 

[jobromancer]

Hi Reiki Pixie,

I am interested in Thai Massage, can you advise please.

A college near me has been advertsing a Thai Massage course since late last year, but keep changing the course date, due to not enough people interested in the course. The course was for 17 weeks, around 85 hrs, with 12 case studies with 3 clients. Now this would be an ideal course.

Now I am getting desperate to do the course as I have an opertunity to hire a room and deliver the treatment.

Yesterday I went to professional beauty and there was a company in St Albans (pranaspa) offering the course for 2 days with no case studies etc.

Do you think it would be wise to go on the 2 day course. I have looked at many other companies but all are too expensive.

Can you advise on what to do.

Thankyou in advance.

Desi Girl

 

[HarryPotterFan]

Hi Studio Monkey

I trained at the 300 hr teacher training course in chiangmai, at the thai massage school of chiangmai, they also have a 150hr practitioner course, its full time 9am to 4pm or something similar every weekday, its quite a strict course, they do teach some A & P but its not recognised in the uk, you can also visit a cadaver lab as part of the course should you wish and i think they've added some more stuff since i did the course check out tmc school on google.

However I was able to get insured by IPTI before I did my swedish massage and uk A & P qualifications.

If your in chiangmai, there are a lot of other schools such as the school of massage for health, ITM school, Namo amongst others, some have teachers which have left other schools for various reasons.

The TMC school has probably the best course book on offer in thailand mainly as the two heads of the school are quite into their marketing one of them has a degree in it, ITM uses a sort of colouring book which you fill in yourself which im sure is good for memory retention.

Chilled out wise the school of massage for health is a nice school in a great walled off garden with lots of water features, in this school they also do hot stones, fire therapy, traditional thai massage, thai oil massage

i did all these courses at that school as well .. and it has the best family type atmosphere as tmc is quite regimented but thats probably a good idea on your first course.

ITM just around the corner from massage for health also has an area called spa mantra, where they do tong sen and oil massage etc as well.

There is also the famous sunshine school previously run by the famous akosananda (hope i spelt that right) they have a 12 day total immersion course in a village outside of chiangmai , i wish id done this course as his books are excellent (he wrote the first western book on thai massage), the sunshine school do courses worldwide in places like greece as well i believe.

I didnt go south at all during my stay there as chiangmai is a very studenty type place, loads of therapists wandering about, ive got friends i met there for life and we chat all the time on facebook

hope that helps



Desi girl .... i had a friend who did a one day or two course with jing .. on thai massage, they are a really good school, if I was going to do thai massage (in the uk) id do it with them, I believe it delivered a good basic routine for you to follow .. thai massage can be a risky business unless you know what your doing if you try to do anything to mad without the proper training

PS studio monkey you dont normally live in the school, they have a recommdended list of places to stay in the area, which are generally quite good !!! i met some great people in all my guesthouses, if you study for 6 days a week there wouldnt be time for all that hectic socialising ... 5 is enough ...

 

[RitchWilliams]

Hi DG

Two day course is OK for an introduction, but to be a full-on Thai practitioner you really need to do at least 12 days (72 hours) of training. Traditional Thai (Yoga)Massage is a complex art form that you can spend a lifetime of giving and experiencing, and in all due respects isn't a 5 minute wonder (said in a most respectful tone of voice). Following on from Jaffas comments, if you want to do a bit of Thai, Jing and other companies in the UK offer one or two day Thai Table Massage where you can learn the basics.

One thing I will say about Thai massage is that it is an effective form of bodywork and money spent training in it is worthwhile, as you can things with it that other forms of massage would find it hard to achieve!

Best wishes

RP

 

[single white female]

Hi Jaffas

Yam Khang Fire Therapy at the SMH? Do you practise it at all? I did it there and have used it but without the fire bit. I think it would freak the clients out, lol.

RP

 

[surfstoked]

Just to reiterate RP's comment about the one or two day courses. I've done the 1-day Jing Table Thai massage course. They teach you the stretches rather than the sen lines (is that what they are called?). It can be used as part of your normal table massage routine to incorporate stretches or as a stand alone stretch routine. It of course is not a full thai massage course but rather an introduction to what is involved with Thai massage.

 

[Silve]

Hi E99, Sen lines is what they are called. RP

 

[Leka.D]

For all the advise, think I'll hang on until the local college have enough people to run the course. I suppose in my "heart of hearts" I know I am better off studying for the longer course with case studies etc.

Oh and Studiomonkey sorry for "hijacking" your thread.

Thanks again.

Desi Girl

 

[paulad23]

Desi Girl, no worries
Everyone else, thanks so much for the input. I have so much to think about!!

Jaffas, thanks so much for all that information. I hadn't looked at any other schools that I could study with, so I need to do that first.

Wat Po insist that you stay in their hostel at the school for some reason - I would guess that it's a great earner for them? It works out as expensive for the accomodation as it does for the travel and the course!

I'll have a look at some other schools in Thailand.

I think the thing I'm most worried about is the travelling on my own thing, and especially to Thailand... I've watched an unhealthy amount of Banged Up Abroad! haha, so silly I know, but hey!

Maybe I'll try and plan it so I can go with someone else, or with a group? I dunno! It's not exactly something I'll rush into

I don't have an A&P cert yet. I keep putting off doing it, but I know I'll need it for just about every other bodywork course I may want to do!

Thanks again for all the help

 

[Morgastein]

Im not sure if I mentioned it, but if you book on a long course, at the tmc school you are put into the GCT group straight away (government certified teacher). being thai and having an eye for details as a lot of thai people seem to have, they are prepared for everything and know fine well, that people who spend three months massaging each other are going to socialise and become a sort of mini family

They even tell you not to book into any accommodation long term because you will no doubt move in with your classmates, I met some great people in my first guest house but as they didnt stay for the whole time I was there,so i moved into a guest house with about 10 of our students in it and kept both groups of friends until the first gang went home

accomdation at its most expensive is £100 a month, with an in room fridge and cable tv .. which is always nice to have if your at a loose end, but your not a lot as your group will always be up to something.

from a safety perspective apart from the (songkran) water festival or if the red shirts and yellow shirts are fighting, thailand is so safe its unbelievable in the north, where westerners seem to be largely ignored, the south and the beachs are a different kettle of fish.

I was in nepal last year and loads of the walks had: (you will get mugged if you go up here or people have been known to go missing in these mountains) your never sure if they fell down a crevasse or were hacked to bits by someone with a kukhuri, i was at the top of a mountain and over some rice someone tried to sell me something dubious ....

plus finding a reasonably priced massage course is hard work, if anyone wants advice on that one, let me know sometime

J

PS i did have a minor bit of that banged up abroad syndrome as well, but as i didnt stray south of chiangmai, it wasnt a hassle for me, i think if id been in bangkok it might have been a different experience for me, my girlfriend had been to chiangmai so i just followed her journey for a longer trip

 

[Caz]

Thanks Jaffas21! Very helpful advice. Hopefully I'll be able to go through with it at some point in the near future.

If you have any advice at all on finding a good price for a massage course, let me know. I'm open to any info you can provide.... on anything to do with studying in Thailand