Thai Massage And Traditional Sen Lines image of Thai Massage energy lines Thai Massage Energy Lines Thai Massage is mostly known for its work on energy lines, called Sen lines in Thailand, and for its many stretches that often resemble yoga moves. Most Asian bodywork is based on the concept that there is a system of energy lines in the body. If they are blocked, health problems develop. Unblocking this energy flow results in improved health. In Thailand this energy is called Sen, in China Chi, in Japan Ki, and in India prana. There are various ways of working with those energy lines. Acupuncture uses needles on specific points along the lines. Qigong uses gentle movements combined with breath. Yoga uses a variety of methods to open the energy. The best known in the western world are yoga asanas or postures. Thai Massage uses pressure along the sen lines. I have studied Thai Massage in several schools in Thailand, and in all of them we were taught to work those energy lines extensively. However it did not take me long to notice that in actual practice not many therapists work as much on the sen lines. I receive regular massage sessions, and sen line work according to text book fashion is rarely done. Why is that? Since I have been practicing and teaching Thai Massage for many years, it became quite obvious to me what the reasons are. 1. Sen line work in Thai Massage is always applied with thumbs. There are six major lines on the legs, six major lines on the arms, and four major lines on the back, along with several lines on both feet and hands. In order to effectively work them, a good amount of pressure is needed. If every therapist would work all those lines every day on all their clients, they could count the days until they would burn out their thumbs and their career right along with it. Especially working on large and muscular people strains thumbs considerably. Therefore most therapists wisely use alternative methods like palms, forearms or elbows. This does not allow the precision approach that can be done with the thumbs, but it will preserve the career of the therapist. Some therapists have very strong thumbs and they are able to use them a lot while others are simply physically not able to using them as much. Without any doubt the preservation of the massage therapist’s health is more important than following a traditional system of therapy through thumb pressure. Rather than seeing this as a drawback, it is actually one of the greatest strengths of Thai Massage that the therapist has a choice to work with many body parts including thumbs, palms, forearms, elbows, knees and feet.
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 09:55:01 +0000
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