Frontmatter-A04138.qxd 7/25/06 6:40 PM Page iv 11830 Westline Industrial Drive St. Louis, Missouri 63146 THAI MASSAGE: A TRADITIONAL MEDICAL TECHNIQUE ISBN-13: 978-0-323-04138-6 Second Edition ISBN-10: 0-323-04138-8 Copyright © 2007 by Mosby, Inc., an affiliate of Elsevier Inc. Copyright © 1998 by Churchill Livingstone, an imprint of Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Health Sciences Rights Department in Philadelphia, PA, USA: phone: (+1) 215 239 3804, fax: (+1) 215 239 3805, e-mail: [email protected]. You may also complete your request on-line via the Elsevier homepage (http://www.elsevier.com), by selecting ‘Customer Support’ and then ‘Obtaining Permissions’. Notice Neither the Publisher nor the Author assumes any responsibility for any loss or injury and/or damage to persons or property arising out of or related to any use of the material contained in this book. It is the responsibility of the treating practitioner, relying on independent expertise and knowledge of the patient, to determine the best treatment and method of application for the patient. Previous edition copyrighted 1998 ISBN-13: 978-0-323-04138-6 ISBN-10: 0-323-04138-8 Publishing Director:Linda Duncan Senior Editor: Kellie White Senior Developmental Editor:Jennifer Watrous Publishing Services Manager: Patricia Tannian Project Manager: Jonathan M. Taylor Editorial Assistant: Elizabeth Clark Book Designer: Kimberly E. Denando Photographs by Larry Emlaw Printed in China Last digit is the print number: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Frontmatter-A04138.qxd 7/25/06 6:40 PM Page v to Ella and Roee dreams can manifest loving kindness can flourish Frontmatter-A04138.qxd 7/25/06 6:40 PM Page vii Foreword to the Second Edition The healing fostered by touch therapy is immediate, direct, and nuanced. The contact between two people is always unique and nonreplicable. The shifts in body and mind initiated by healing massage depend on countless subtle nuances and nonverbal negotiations between hands and body. Each civilization and culture has developed its own style and tradition that is a condensation and simplification of the inexpressible details that make bodywork such a subtle domain for healing. As the world develops an ever-increasing cross-cultural dialogue, it is important that the different approaches to massage learn from one another. Every approach can potentially increase the sensitivity of practitioners and their abilities to foster healing. The first edition of Dr. Richard Gold’s Thai Massage: A Traditional Medical Technique was a breakthrough event for Thai massage. Thai bodywork’s touch and voice were finally easily and authentically accessible in the west. The publication of a second revised edition of Dr. Richard Gold’s Thai Massage,now the recognized classic in the field, is a visible demonstration that more health care practitioners are seeking training in Thai massage. Many are undoubtedly trained in other massage traditions and are learning to expand their repertoire and sensitivity. Some may become primarily practitioners of Thai massage. But in any case, this expanded knowledge and skill set will benefit many patients and clients. Practitioners will have new sensitivities and patients will have more options. Besides its practical and therapeutic value, Thai massage will have an important influence on the entire Western encounter with Asian medicine. This book is valuable for any Western practitioner seeking to learn any form of Eastern healing. Drawing on indigenous traditions, Thai massage also represents an engagement and absorption of knowledge derived from China and India. This Thai encounter with its giant neighbors has important lessons to teach Westerners as we now encounter and absorb Chinese and Indian healing. How did the Thai absorb the Chinese idea of meridian pathway or the Indian idea of Chakras and still remain uniquely Thai? How does knowledge become global but still remain infused with local meaning and genuineness? These are important lessons in Thai massage on what it means to learn from other cultures, yet still remain authentic to local traditions. This second edition emphatically reminds us that Dr. Gold’s Thai Massage has become an important landmark for anyone who wants to learn from the East or learn how to learn from the East. Ted J. Kaptchuk Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School Author, The Web That Has No Weaver: Understanding Chinese Medicine vii Frontmatter-A04138.qxd 7/25/06 6:40 PM Page ix Foreword to the First Edition Dr. Richard Gold’s new volume on traditional Thai massage comes at an auspicious moment in the history of health care. For a long time, the words cosmopolitan medicine have meant the biological science-based medicine that developed primarily in Western Europe and North America.1 Until recently, this biomedical approach to illness and health has been the only common denominator for health care available in most urban centers throughout the world. All other medical systems or practices were regional or indigenous. In the last 20 years, the ethnocentricity of the world has diminished and (excluding fundamentalist and racist trends) there exists a new openness to the experiences, knowledge, and wisdom of multiple cultures. This is especially true of health care. Acupuncture and other forms of East Asian medicine are now available in every major city on every continent.2,3Ayurvedic medicine has ceased to be confined to the Indian subcontinent and is almost as easily available as Oriental medicine.2 Alternative and unconventional Western versions of health care have also spread across the globe. Homeopathy is now widely available throughout the world.4,5Chiropractic, the most indigenous American healing art, has established itself as an integral part of health care systems in major centers on every continent.6,7 Cosmopolitan medicine has ceased to be the product of one epistemology and has become a concept in flux. This volume is especially important because of this global shift. At what point does a local tradition become integrated into the broadly available medicine of the entire planet? How is this managed? In what way is this valuable? Who decides? The traditional medicine of Thailand is an important test case. Outside of Thai culture, for a long time, it has been mostly an intellectual and academic secret (for example, see references 8 and 9). Few major presentations have been undertaken to make Thai medicine accessible to the general public and/or professional health care providers. Dr. Gold’s new book is a critical step towards filling this void. He has presented the traditional approach to hands-on healing and bodywork that has long been essential to the traditional medicine of Thailand. For the first time, this dimension of Thai health care has an opportunity to make its voice heard in the world arena. What we encounter in this volume is a thoughtful, coherent, respectful, and profound method of healing. Dr. Gold’s book presents the reader and professional health care provider with both a challenge and an opportunity. How we respond to Dr. Gold’s trans- mission will help formulate the vital question of how a new cosmopolitan tradition will be formulated in the 21st century. Dr. Gold’s book comes at an auspicious moment for another reason. Health care is rediscovering the value of touch, bodywork, and massage. Advanced technology, sophisticated pharmacology, and even ‘holistic’ approaches with herbs, acupuncture, or psychotherapy, still omit a vital component of what many people need for healing. Medical historians have speculated that massage may be the oldest form of healing.10 Massage is now undergoing a renaissance and re-emerging as a critical component of medicine. The archaic depths of the implications of being touched to promote ix Frontmatter-A04138.qxd 7/25/06 6:40 PM Page x healing and maintain health are asserting themselves. The primordial need to feel physical connection when illness threatens a person’s intactness is again felt. Dr. Gold’s book helps all health care providers see the importance of this dimension of healing. Hopefully, Thai massage, like Japanese shiatsu and Chinese tui na, will become part of the new cosmopolitan approach to health care in general and body work in particular. Ted J. Kaptchuk References 1. Leslie C: Medical pluralism in world perspective, Social Science and Medicine 14B:191-195, 1980. 2. National Institutes of Health: Alternative medicine: expanding medical horizons—a report of the National Institutes of Heal on alternative medical systems and practices in the United States, publication 94-006, Washington, DC, 1995, National Institutes of Health. 3. Lewith G, Aldridge D: Complementary medicine and the European community, Saffron Walden, England, 1991, CW Daniel. 4. Ernst E, Kaptchuk T: Homeopathy revisited, Archives of Internal Medicine 156:2162-2164, 1996. 5. Bhardwaj SM: Medical pluralism and homeopathy: a geographic perspective, Social Science in Medicine 14B:209-216, 1980. 6. Tamulaitis CM, Auerbach GA: Chiropractic growth outside of North America. In: Haldeman S, editor: Principles and practice of chiropractic, Norwalk, Conn, 1992, Appleton & Lange. 7. British Medical Association: Complementary medicine: new approaches to good practice, Oxford, 1993, Oxford University Press. 8. Brun V, Schumacher T: Traditional herbal medicine in northern Thailand, Berkeley, 1987, University of California Press. 9. Golomb L: An anthropology of curing multiethnic Thailand, Urbana, 1985, University of Illinois Press. 10. Sigerist HE: A history of medicine, vol 1, Oxford, 1951, Oxford University Press. x Frontmatter-A04138.qxd 7/25/06 6:40 PM Page xi Preface The wind shows its body through the trembling leaves. In 1998 I concluded my original book, Thai Massage: A Traditional Medical Technique, expressing my earnest hope and desire that many others would become passionately interested in the study and practice of traditional Thai massage and contribute to the academic development of the field with research and publishing. Thankfully, this has happened. There has been a huge wave of interest in experiencing and studying traditional Thai massage and, to a lesser degree, an interest in under- standing and experiencing other aspects of traditional Thai medicine. A number of well-written and beautifully illustrated books have been published. These books have added to the increased interest in the field and have furthered academic understanding of traditional Thai medicine. At this time, Thai massage is practiced at numerous healing centers and at many of the leading destination and day spas around the world. Thai massage is available on many luxury cruise ships that are plying the waters of our world. Competent teachers are teaching at many schools and educational retreat centers. Thai massage associations have formed in South America, Japan, Europe, Israel, New Zealand, Australia, and the United States. Numerous new schools have even opened in Thailand. The Thai government has encouraged and endorsed the spreading of this knowledge through the approval of new schools and funding of research. Academic research is taking place at major universities in the Western world. The field is exploding! There is still much to discover, study, learn, and experience. This new, updated version of my original text from 1998 is again designed to vividly display and accurately describe numerous techniques of traditional Thai massage. Other new features in this edition: • Additional information is provided to bridge the gap between an energy-based system of healing and the effects of this type of work on the physical, anatomical body. Numerous anatomical drawings are provided so that practitioners can have a precise view of exactly where they are applying the techniques and where the effect is primarily felt and experienced by the recipient. Specific information is provided to delineate which muscles are pressed or stretched with each technique. Often, stretching techniques are felt primarily in a body area that is not even being directly touched. In order to facilitate the learning process, the anatomical locations being pressed and stretched are specifically delineated with each photograph. • Each procedure has been named. The purpose of the naming is to give each procedure a unique personality and to aid in memorization. • I have added material to emphasize the importance of proper body mechanics in the application of these techniques. • Another new feature of this updated edition is the inclusion of a new chapter to help practitioners to create Thai massage sessions of differing amounts of time. xi Frontmatter-A04138.qxd 7/25/06 6:40 PM Page xii • Another new chapter is provided that correlates the individual Thai massage techniques with specific yoga asanas (postures). As I wrote in 1998, I write again in 2006: It is my sincere and earnest hope that traditional Thai massage continues to find its place among the diverse, wonderful, and effective approaches to healing and longevity that the ancient Eastern cultures have provided for all humanity. I encourage practitioners and recipients all over our precious planet to partake in this dynamic and wonderful approach to healing. With Metta, Richard Gold San Diego, California Acknowledgments There are a number of people I wish to thank for their roles in helping this book come to fruition. My parents, Harriet and Baron Gold, who instilled in me a healthy curiosity to discover and learn and a willingness to travel on new paths. My primary teachers who have graciously and skillfully shared their wisdom and knowledge in the fields of traditional medicine and meditation. In particular: Dr. Tin Yao So, my first teacher of Traditional Chinese Medicine, who ignited a spark in me that has not diminished; Dr. Ted Kaptchuk, teacher, friend, inspiration, who for 30 years has charted new directions and established higher levels of inquiry; Chao Kun, a Thai Theravada Buddhist monk who first instructed me in Buddhist meditation in 1971; Sensei Kyoshi Kato of Osaka, Japan, who in 1986 accepted me as an apprentice, taught me Seitai Shiatsu, and encouraged me to teach; and the entire teaching staff, especially Chongkol Setthakorn and Pichet Boonthume, at the Old Medicine Hospital, the Foundation of Shivago Komparaj in Chiang Mai, Thailand, who in 1988 joyfully shared their skills, reverence, humor, knowledge, and touch. The two models who luminously fill the pages of this text, Carmel Trejo and Pnina Riter Gold. Larry Emlaw, whose artistic eye, patience, and more than 20 years of meditation practice made him an ideal photographer for this project. A special thanks goes to the Boards of Directors of the International Professional School of Bodywork (IPSB) and the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM), who consistently supported my work in the field of Thai medicine in the early years and continuously provided the academic environments in which I could actively teach, share, and refine this work. Graduate students Kate Henrioulle and Dariella Attolini, who helped me to develop the materials on anatomical and yogic correlations. Kellie White and Jennifer Watrous, my editors at Elsevier, who initiated this new edition and encouraged me to see it through to completion. And finally, thanks to my wife, Pnina, and our two precious children, Ella and Roee, who always kept the home fires burning. xii Frontmatter-A04138.qxd 7/25/06 6:40 PM Page xii • Another new chapter is provided that correlates the individual Thai massage techniques with specific yoga asanas (postures). As I wrote in 1998, I write again in 2006: It is my sincere and earnest hope that traditional Thai massage continues to find its place among the diverse, wonderful, and effective approaches to healing and longevity that the ancient Eastern cultures have provided for all humanity. I encourage practitioners and recipients all over our precious planet to partake in this dynamic and wonderful approach to healing. With Metta, Richard Gold San Diego, California Acknowledgments There are a number of people I wish to thank for their roles in helping this book come to fruition. My parents, Harriet and Baron Gold, who instilled in me a healthy curiosity to discover and learn and a willingness to travel on new paths. My primary teachers who have graciously and skillfully shared their wisdom and knowledge in the fields of traditional medicine and meditation. In particular: Dr. Tin Yao So, my first teacher of Traditional Chinese Medicine, who ignited a spark in me that has not diminished; Dr. Ted Kaptchuk, teacher, friend, inspiration, who for 30 years has charted new directions and established higher levels of inquiry; Chao Kun, a Thai Theravada Buddhist monk who first instructed me in Buddhist meditation in 1971; Sensei Kyoshi Kato of Osaka, Japan, who in 1986 accepted me as an apprentice, taught me Seitai Shiatsu, and encouraged me to teach; and the entire teaching staff, especially Chongkol Setthakorn and Pichet Boonthume, at the Old Medicine Hospital, the Foundation of Shivago Komparaj in Chiang Mai, Thailand, who in 1988 joyfully shared their skills, reverence, humor, knowledge, and touch. The two models who luminously fill the pages of this text, Carmel Trejo and Pnina Riter Gold. Larry Emlaw, whose artistic eye, patience, and more than 20 years of meditation practice made him an ideal photographer for this project. A special thanks goes to the Boards of Directors of the International Professional School of Bodywork (IPSB) and the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM), who consistently supported my work in the field of Thai medicine in the early years and continuously provided the academic environments in which I could actively teach, share, and refine this work. Graduate students Kate Henrioulle and Dariella Attolini, who helped me to develop the materials on anatomical and yogic correlations. Kellie White and Jennifer Watrous, my editors at Elsevier, who initiated this new edition and encouraged me to see it through to completion. And finally, thanks to my wife, Pnina, and our two precious children, Ella and Roee, who always kept the home fires burning. xii Intro-A04138.qxd 7/24/06 9:14 AM Page 1 INTRODUCTION: CLOSING A CIRCLE In December 1988, I arrived in Thailand for the first time, thereby completing an essential circle in my personal life. Seventeen years earlier, in 1971, as a 20-year-old junior premedical student at Oberlin College, I had my first experience in seeking mindfulness during a month-long meditation retreat led by a Theravada Buddhist monk from Thailand. This first exposure to meditation and personal growth was a profound, difficult, and challenging experience for me. Primarily, I learned how far from mindfulness I was and how incessantly busy my mind was. Even so, this first experience had a lasting and influential impact on my life. Subsequent to the medita- tion retreat, my major at college switched from premedicine to reli- gion. These studies introduced me to the spiritual literature of Eastern and Western religions. In the first 5 years after college, from 1972 to 1977, meditation and yoga practice became a focal point of my life. During these years, I lived alone as a hermit in a log cabin on an isolated farm in rural Kentucky. My outward life revolved around physical labor in organic agriculture and forest improvement. My inner life was devoted to seeking mindfulness: seeking an ability to quiet my mind and having my mind be capable of observing “Mind.” This inner work proved to be a very difficult and elusive task. Fortunately, I did become adept at organic agriculture. In addition, I loved forestry work and felt very alive and connected to nature while working among big trees. In fact, while I was engaged in physical labor, I approached a sense of medita- tive mindfulness that far exceeded anything attained while seated in meditation or practicing yoga. In the winter of 1975, I awoke one morning in my log cabin from a deep dreamspace. As my mind cleared from sleep, all I could think about was wanting to study acupuncture. The specifics of the dream never registered in my conscious mind, but the deep desire to study acupuncture never left my mind (and spirit). Up until that moment, I only had the haziest idea of what acupuncture was. There were no 1