Yogis have discovered that the places where energy gets stuck in the body are the joints. Yoga releases stuck energy and help you feel better. From a Thai Bodywork perspective, 
our bodies have meridians or sen lines of energy that flow throughout. Thai Bodywork, also called Thai Yoga Massage also helps the body release stuck energy. It does this through Nuad Boran or "touch with the intention of healing." With acupressure, stimulation, and manipulation of energy lines, and marma points, energy moves. Marma points are special acupressure points that are vortexes of energy and when pressed, allow healing to come to the body.

It is like this as a metaphor: Streams of water on the Earth that get clogged with sticks. When we clear away the sticks and the water flows faster and clean and clear throughout. Our bodies are the same and not only does Thai Bodywork on the physical body but also the energy bodies surrounding the body. It is a meditative art both for the receiver and the giver. Thus yoga moves stuck energy and you feel better with less pain as does Thai Bodywork, except it is passive.

Overall, Thai Bodywork is to relax, to heal, to release pain, to deal with problems in the body, to relax the nervous system, to deal with stress, to balance and soothe emotions, and to calm the mental body so that unnecessary thinking slows down. Thai Bodywork helps you be in a more peaceful state and it helps unwind problems that you may have from neck or back pain, an arm that goes numb, bad knees, tightness between the shoulders or hip pain. The stretches work with the healing touch of Nuad Boran (Thai Massage) to help you feel better. ~Shivrael

Bodywork is more than a relaxation tool to feel good. Bodywork in Thailand is passed down in the family and is considered a necessity for wellness, as a regular thing which family members can offer one another. Our culture is less touch based and doesn't see massage as an essential for feeling good all the time. We go get a massage when we are in pain. What if more people knew how to do bodywork and we had the time and energy to exchange it? I dream of a world like that. What if more people could receive bodywork as a way of staying well, not just to fix something? It not only improves your health and reduces pain, it puts you in a better mood to get a massage. You find your softness, ease and gentleness in approaching the world. You are able to embrace life with a smile and flow more.

A bodywork session is an excavation into the self because our body has messages for us. When I receive a session, I realize places that are tight or have stuck energy that I didn't even realize. Once we relax, we open up to really feeling what is going on. Then we can ask questions like "When did this sensation or pain first occur?"

"What does my body require of me to feel better?" Every sensation and pain in our body has an emotional component as well as an energetic and physical component. We can ask a place in our body “ What is the emotion associated with this?” From there, we may be able to acknowledge and then release the emotion and thus the tightness, pain or sensation in our body and feel freer. It is my sense energy flow and emotional flow all contribute to our body's well being. Thai bodywork unblocks meridians ( lines one energy) that run through the body. Thai bodywork is a collaboration between the recipient and their body and the work of the practitioner. Of course, it doesn't have to be hard work. It can be relaxing and relieving to simply receive.

Bodywork seems to help us get in touch with the emotions and the body, our inner self, especially if we inquire within. After you get a session, you can journal and ask yourself what your body needs, when did you first feel this something in your body, and what is the cause of it? What does your body need to be at feeling its best? You may get images or messages while you are receiving.

Bodywork puts me in an expanded, multidimensional state where I can access information beyond the usual realm as I am tuned inward. It shifts me to feeling better and more awareness. Awareness about our emotions and bodies is what we need to be healthy. A basis for this awareness is touch. Let's create a safe touch based culture of giving and receiving. Every person deserves the tender caring that is through bodywork and massage.


Shivrael, Mt. Shasta Thai Bodwork and Foot Massage Http://www.thaibodyworker.com

(feel free to republish with credit and  link intact)

I read an article on the neurohormones released via massage. The article has some information on the different ones- endorphins, dopamine, seratonin and oxytocin. Our body releases these and we feel good. I know it is true as I feel it in my own body when I receive a massage. Massage is my absolute #1 thing to bring me back into feeling good.
​~Shivrael, Thai Bodyworker, Mt.Shasta, CA

​What I love about giving Thai Massage is seeing person I am working on shift in a couple of ways. 

It lightens you up! 

One is that they come in more serious or neutral in mood and affect, and that they sometimes leave laughing or giggling. I have seen this the with the last two people I worked on. I find that I am more giggly and light feeling inside. 

The other advantage to Thai Massage is that people tend to get floaty and relaxed. I attribute this to the whole of the work and also the ending, which begins with the feet moving up to the head. Working on the feet seems important as it starts to send healing energy to those places that people have more tension, their problem areas. The areas start to loosen up with therapeutic reflexology. That is furthered with working on the leg lines in Thai Massage, which are specific on each leg, for different aspects of the mind/body. I use palming with my hands and thumbing with my thumbs on these lines and I tune into the person to find out what pressure is best for them inviting communication on the matter. Then I open up the joints with some stretching and palming legs. There is bellywork that is deeply grounding. I spend time on the back, neck and shoulders while the person is sidelying or on their belly, depending on what they need and how they need it. Arms and hands get attention. I have discovered some special ways of dealing with elbows, forearms and hands for guitar players, computer users, and those with arm issues. I may add some shea butter to feet or hands during the massage work in these areas. The end included neck, shoulders, gentle work on the face. 

People also get really floaty and relaxed with the ending which is using specific Access Bars energy points which are held on the head. This is to release files of thoughts that are no longer needed within the mind. It feels relaxing and sometimes people fall asleep for a bit, or check out and then come back feeling great. There is often visible relaxation in their face, a smile and sometimes giggling. I love to see the shift from serious to smiling! 

Doesn't it make you tired? 

No. People wonder if I feel tired from Thai Massage or am depleted by it. The truth is that I feel better. For Thai Massage uses moves that are based on leverage and I don't really use your muscles as much to apply pressure with strength, though there is pressure in the massage for those who want it! It is more a pouring of weight that is gradual. I use my hands, elbows, feet, toes, knee, and forearm to apply pressure or strech a person. The mechanics of giving Thai Massage are based on using alignment and rocking providing leverage instead of hard work and strain for me. It is like yoga, in that it is a practice to make you flexible and it is based on how you stack your body in a way that is easy and effortless.

The other thing I love about Thai Massage is that I am receiving a relaxation experience when I work on another. I relax as the person relaxes and at the end I am more chilled out, less anxious and more happy than when I began, just like my clients and friends. How lucky am I to experience this in the work that I do! 

The thing I love most about Thai Massage is to receive it because it feels great! 

Shivrael, Certified Thai Bodyworker in Mt.Shasta

​Each day these bodies that we have go through moving through space, through work in our lives, through play, through exercise and stretching, through emotions that pass through, through habitual motion that can stress our muscles. Each day we awaken and inhabit the physicality of our forms as we come back from the dream world. 

The dream world is a rest for the body as we travel out of the form to the unconscious realm. In dreamtime, we can bring back gifts to heal our body, to figure out our lives, to enrich our experience. After all, we exist in these bodies for the joy of it. 

Our bodies are miracles. We are unique and special and meant to be here, each for a special purpose. Let us take care of our bodies, of one another, and in taking care of our bodies through receiving healing touch of massage, we also take care of our emotions, our relations with others, our health, our well-being and inner balance. 

With Massage, we can receive with these intentions: 
To have ease and grace and flow in our bodies.
To have more comfort, less pain.
To feel soothed on all levels.
To relax right down to our soul level.
To let go of worries.
To walk and move more freely.
To support one another through sacred touch.
To feel the support of touch on all the muscles.
To be grounded an anchored in our bodies.
To be powerful and empowered through feeling grounded.
To be more present in the body.
To release pain and discomfort.
To feel more flow and mobility.
To ease tension.
To let go of what we don't need- energetic patterns, emotions, thought forms.
To transform into the new highest version of us.
To smile and laugh more and feel spacious with room for joy.

Wishing you and everyone all of this and more...through a culture based on sharing healing touch! 

~Shivrael 
Thai Bodyworker in Mt.Shasta