Deloria and Having A Traditional Thai Massage In Thailand With Knees, Elbows, Fore-Arms. Thumbs,Knuckles and Stretching

Picture of Deloria and I having a Traditional Thai Massage last week in Thailand. Franco couldn't join us at the last minute, so we had three wonderful Traditional Thai Massage Specialists work on us with elbows, knees, thumbs, knuckles, feet and various combinations of stretching , pressure points, and walking on your back for two hours. The cost was 100 Baht per hour($3.33). We added to that for their great healing work.

From my experience, a far better massage than you would pay $60.00 or more per hour in Canada or the US. Traditional Thai massage is done on mats on the floor, seperated by curtains that can be pulled back, so you can visit together while having your massage.

A full Thai massage session typically lasts two hours or more, and includes rhythmic pressing and stretching of the entire body; this may include pulling fingers, toes, ears, cracking the knuckles, walking on the recipient's back, and arching the recipient's into bhujangasana or (cobra position).

The founder of Thai massage and medicine is said to have been Shivago Komarpaj (Jīvaka Komarabhācca), who is said in the Pāli Buddhist Canon to have been the Buddha's physician over 2500 years ago. In fact, the history of Thai massage is more complex than this legend of a single founder would suggest. Thai massage, like Traditional Thai Medicine more generally, is a combination of influences from Indian, Chinese, Southeast Asian cultural spheres and traditions of medicine. Every year those that practice Traditional Thai Massage have a Traditional Ceremony to honor and thank their linage of Teachers, that goes back more than 2500 years, so their work will continue to be blessed. After about 40 hours of this over the past three weeks I feel healthy and fairly flexible at 66.