Blind massage therapists are a big thing in Thailand. We were taught that back home at Swedish Institute … that blind men were historically, the first people commissioned as massage therapists. It only makes sense. Aside from probably being one of the only occupations available to them, the blind are thought to have a superior sense of touch. So not only are they extraordinarily skilled tradesmen, but it also offered employment in ancient times when there was not much else available to them. And it only seems natural. When I work, I try to picture the muscles and soft tissue structures beneath the skin. I've seen them in the past on cadavers but I'm unable to see them on the client. So I use my skills of visualization in order to work the structures. And who among us gets the most practice at visualization? Blind people. Massage has been used as a form of treatment in traditional Chinese medicine since ancient times and blind practitioners seem to have historically been the pioneers of the field.
Ajarn Sinchai Sukparset is known as Thailand's true Master of Massage and is recognized by the local population and medical community as Chiang Mai's most competent and experienced practicioner of Therapuetic Medical massage. I went to visit him for a massage last night. Sinchai was busy teaching class when I arrived but I was put in the competent hands of his one and only assistant, Khun Dee-ow. The office space was dingy and quite literally, a bit scary. But the massage was good. His methods involved no stretching whatsoever (which is traditionally a major component in Thai Massage.) It was exclusively point work. He had some interesting techniques. For instance, one of the methods that we use to apply pressure is with double-thumbs. He chose to support the active thumb with his palm rather than his other thumb. It created a nice blend of simultaneous specific and generalized pressure.
Dee-ow obviously had a heightened sense of touch which also seemed to magnify his intuition. Without me divulging any cat-out-of-the-bag information, he knew that I was a massage therapist. I never imagined that my body could tangibly receive massage any differently than anyone else's but apparently, I was giving off some sort of subtlety upon which Dee-ow was receptive. He used a sort of "caterpillar finger" technique to walk his way along my body finding specific points along the way. He told me that he enjoyed working on me because I had "good muscles." Sweet.
He had a talking watch. It was a bit disturbing every time he'd activate it in order to figure out the time. I consult the clock constantly while I'm working in order to continually adjust my plan of action. But I'd be embarrassed if my clients knew how often I was checking in on the time. He was good about it though. I had the feeling that his time-management was right on target from beginning to end. The interesting thing was that his watch was speaking in English: "The time is 7:13pm." Why, I wonder, would a person — whose primary language is Thai — choose to use an English-speaking watch?
Since arriving in Thailand, I've had several professional massages, two acupuncture sessions, and taken a yoga class. Not once has a waiver or intake form passed before me. Things are just done differently here. I suppose if there were a significant number of toddler injuries from motor scooter accidents, we'd see less toddlers on the motor scooters. But we don't. They just keep on doing things the way that they've been done since the beginning of time (presumably.)
Once again, it's a small world after all. Sinchai's class came to an end during my massage and as the students poured out of the classroom, I came in contact with one of the instructors from my school. She was taking a course from the blind master. She didn't recognize me on the floor, but after she said her goodbyes to Dee-ow, I said "Hi, Sarah" and she was just as surprised to see me there as I was her. Is anyone keeping track of the number of times I've randomly bumped into someone that I know? I've lost count.
No comments:
Post a Comment