Big decision

I made a big decision last week. Faced with the conclusion of Level III, I realized that I have so much material. Way too much material. The curriculum at school is similar to the curriculum at Bikram Teacher Training in that you learn a whole lot and are never afforded the opportunity to put it all together. I currently have enough Thai Massage technique to administer a six-hour massage. And though that might be lovely under certain conditions, what New Yorker is going to find that to be practical? Imagine trying to allot six hours out of your day in order to do something wonderful for yourself. So rather than follow through with Level IV — which focuses specifically on the acupressure point work of Traditional Chinese Medicine which I already know from my Shiatsu training — I decided to graduate one week early and spend my last week here in Chiang Mai devoted to putting together all of the pieces and getting in some much-needed practice. It was a big decision for me because it could be interpreted as me giving up in a way. But I don't believe that for a minute. I'd much rather return to NYC having had time to practice and become comfortable with these new methods. After all, you're all going to want to book some Deep Root Thai immediately upon my arrival, right? So I'm spending my days formulating a general massage routine that will work for my clients (upon which I'll add on to custom-tailor,) practicing the moves, seeing more temples, and knocking a few more of the incredible vegetarian restaurants off of my list. So, in an official sense, I've graduated! I'm done! And rather than clouding my brain with doing well on an exam, I can focus on becoming good at the actual technique. Yay for no more coloring of diagrams. It's a good thing too because my colored pencils were getting tinier and tinier by the day. But now … less typing; more practice.