Thai Massage and Yoga: Match made in Heaven

By: Jessica Proulx

Anyone who has started a yoga practice will rave about its benefits: the increased range of motion, the increased strength, the mindfulness associated with the moving meditation and breath, and so on and on and on and on. And, likewise, we hear the same from those that have given themselves the gift of regular massage. The mind body connection of these practices leaves you feeling younger, happier, healthier, and allows you to step out of the mundane day to day to give yourself moments of peace, stress relief, and renewal.

BUT- What if you could combine the two?

Thai Massage gives you the ability to do just that.

Imagine entering the serene space of the massage office. Instead of a table, a comfortable mat on the floor, about the size of a double bed. You keep all your clothes on, wearing something light and easily moveable. Light music fills the room, already lulling you away from your day and as you lay down and start to melt into the floor. Your therapist does all the work for you- massaging and kneading your legs, taking you through some range of motion and stretches that open the body in a way that even your yoga poses have not allowed you to do. As the therapist moves up the body you get twisted and pulled and opened and with each breath you start to relax and settle in more and more. Deep stretching through the spine, the neck, the hips- the whole body. Time seems to fly by and stand still all at the same time and before you know it, and in a way that will leave you guessing how you got there, your therapists sits you up and has you in a place of deep surrender and complete letting go. And you, somehow, just spent an hour or 90minutes doing yoga and pranayama (breath work), and meditation, and massage all at the same time. What a gift.

Caring for the self, mind, body and spirit, is not a luxury but an essential practice of prevention and health. If longevity, vitality, and happiness are important to you, than a program of self care needs to be as well. If not now, when?