I felt exhausted and fell asleep for 2 hours then mowed the lawn in the rain and was full of energy.
This is a review I got from a client a while back. And it happens often. People tell me after having the massage their energy levels went up or down, sometimes crazily so.
The reason for this is that Thai massage differs greatly from what we in the West are used to perceive as a massage. We expect that we will be lying on a table and a therapist will knead our muscles to relieve tightness and help them relax.
Energy lines
In Thai massage we work not only on soft tissue but also on energy lines. They are much like the Chinese meridians that are used in acupuncture. However both traditions developed different understanding of the system of lines in the human body. So even if very similar, there are significant differences between them as well.
We use acupressure to work those lines and certain points on them. There are also a lot of stretching techniques which resemble yoga poses. And oftentimes we are still using acupressure on the lines in the stretches.
In this way we eliminate blockages, open the energy channels, reduce tension and ultimately rebalance the energy flow in the body.
Here is a good explanation by Asokananda, who was a very influential figure in Thai massage, teacher of many practitioners and teachers, among them my own.
Some people react far more sensitively than others to a workout on the energy lines. You may encounter quite a variety of reactions ranging from insomnia to the opposite extreme of heavy weariness, from an incredible mental high to a deep depression. Such diverse responses result from influencing energy streams in the body. Both positive and negative states are only temporary, and so there is no reason to worry. On the contrary, passing through such experiences helps to restore the energy balance of the body.
The Art of Traditional Thai Massage, Asokananda, 1990
