“Thai Massage is a traditional healing system that is seeing a resurgence in popularity due to its invigorating effects on the mind and body,” said Harmony Morgan, Director for Healing Hands School of Holistic Health. “Our Thai Massage classes were added in 2012 and have been popular among students ever since”, she added.
The Thai Class’ Instructor, Claudia Baben, began her journey to becoming a Holistic Health Practitioner in the United Kingdom in 1999. Her studies included several alternative therapies for self-healing. Claudia earned a Master certification in Reiki from the Kether School of Reiki, Stafford, UK. She also journeyed to Chiang Mai, Thailand on several occasions earning multiple Certifications in a variety of Thai modalities. Having learned these modalities just as they had been taught for centuries, Claudia returned inspired, and excited to share this knowledge with Healing Hands students.
Already a valued member of the Healing Hands Faculty and Staff, the new classes Claudia created for Healing Hands met and exceeded curriculum guidelines, as provided by Founding Director, Paula Curtiss. Claudia’s new classes include: Traditional Thai Massage, Herbal Thai Massage, and Thai Foot Massage and Table Thai, which adapts the traditional mat-based modality to the massage table. Note: Both Thai Massage (a 100-hour course) and Table Thai, (a 20-hour course), will be taught at Healing Hands Escondido Campus in October, with registration deadlines of Sept 26th – (Thai) and October 14th– (Table Thai).
Traditional Thai Massage is practiced on a thick mat on the floor with the client wearing loose-fitting, comfortable clothing. The Practitioner uses their hands, feet and knees to provide gentle, rhythmic compression and yoga-like stretches to joints and muscles.
In the Table Thai class, Claudia instructs students how to adapt these techniques for the massage table. Students will learn the basic flow of a Traditional Thai Massage as well as breath work, rhythmic rocking and techniques to promote deep stretches. These combinations of movements stimulate the ten major energy paths in the body called ‘Sen’ lines. The recipient is lulled into a state of meditative relaxation that positively impacts the body’s internal organs and functions. For example, recipients of this modality may experience enhanced metabolism and energy levels, emotional mood, mental clarity, digestion and sleep.
Though Traditional Thai Massage beneficial effects on the body and mind has been known to professional athletes for decades, it’s now earned its place as an integrative therapeutic modality. A well-executed Thai Massage will ease muscle stiffness, increase range of motion of joints and clear the body’s energy pathways. The combination of benefits leaves clients feeling mentally alert, physically energized, and refreshed.
Other classes Claudia teaches include Thai Foot Massage. In this elective class, students learn to deliver a foot massage that combines the ancient healing arts of Chinese Tui Na, Japanese Shiatsu, Reflexology, and Indian Ayurvedic Yoga. Students learn to use hands, fingers, thumbs, knuckles, and a rounded wooden stick with lotion or oil to work the feet, lower legs and knees. As with other Thai modalities, a Thai Foot Massage frees up blocked energy within the body’s many energy ‘Sen’ lines to produce a deeply relaxed and comfortable feeling of balance, mental alertness, and well-being.
Claudia also teaches Herbal Thai Massage. Benefits of this modality include all those mentioned above for Traditional Thai Massage plus detoxification, deep muscle relaxation, increased lymph flow and quicker repair of muscle tissue. In this class students learn to make and integrate the use a Thai Herbal Ball (made from select herbs and essential oils) into their Thai massage practice.
Claudia shares her dedication and passion for healing, bodywork and Thai massage with students as well as within her own successful private practice. In addition to her four Thai modalities, Claudia teaches courses in Circulatory Massage, Lomi Lomi, and Yoga Massage at all three Healing Hands classroom locations.
To learn more about Table Thai Massage or one of the other 80+ courses offered at Healing Hands, please visit us online at www.HealingHandsSchool.com or call us at (949) 305-2722 in Laguna Hills, or (760)756-9364 in Escondido or (858) 505-1100 in Kearny Mesa.
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