History/Lineage | ThaiMassage-NYC

In the world of Thai massage, the concept of lineage is both foundational and profound.

Lineage

Lineage refers to the direct transmission of knowledge, techniques, and philosophy from teacher to student, often from one generation to the next. This tradition of passing wisdom assures that the core principles, fine details, and authentic spirit of Thai massage are preserved and respected. Comprehending our own lineage allows us to value the richness of our practice, joining us to a larger ancestral story that stretches back through centuries of dedicated healers. Understanding the concept of lineage also helps us when we are in contact with other practitioners, helping us sort out the differences in how each of us approaches the work.

A sequence of ancestors and descendants or a group of people descended from a common ancestor.

Lineage

Monks preserved this knowledge in Buddhist temples, where it was passed down orally and integrated into monastic life. The practice, a key component of Traditional Thai Medicine (TTM), became an official profession in the 1920s and was recognized by UNESCO in 2019 as Intangible Cultural Heritage.¹

Whose your teacher?

Style

Think of lineage the same way as we view our family tree.

Who’s your teacher?

Who was your teacher’s teacher and so on?

Most Western practitioners will find that
tracing their lineage back will lead them
through the Old Medicine Hospital
in Chiang Mai.²

When you teach Thai Massage, you necessarily teach in your style. This style combines your experiences and development as a practitioner and later as a teacher, along with what you learned as a beginning Thai Massage student.

The Thai Massage methods and techniques we have learned are a collection of styles that belong to a particular Thai Massage lineage. One reason it is important to know our lineage is to account for the differences in our approaches to treating specific problems. We may be operating from a general heritage, such as Northern Thai Style Massage or Southern Thai Style Massage, or a particular lineage, such as Jap Sen Nerve Touch Massage, founded by the late Lek Chaiya, also known as “Mama Lek.”

keep the mind and spirit open

Style

Thai Massage is a vast set of integrated
healing practices, techniques, and
methods that have spanned centuries of
development throughout Thailand,
with somewhat contrasting
types of implementations.

It is important to explain.

The style and type of Thai Massage we will teach them belongs to “such and such” lineage, and more importantly, what they will learn is only one way of doing Thai Massage.

And more importantly, what they will learn is only one way of doing Thai Massage. This is crucial in terms of effectiveness because it keeps the mind and spirit open, avoiding dogmatism and prejudice regarding the rights and wrongs of partitioning Thai Massage. Too often, I have met Thai Massage practitioners who are pretty rigid, focusing too much on “the only right way” of doing Thai Massage.

As Thai Massage instructors, we know that even the Thai Sen (lines) are said to have different trajectories (depending on the lineage) and that other Thai Massage techniques and solutions may successfully resolve health issues.

Well, just a reminder to keep Thai Massage what it is — a vibrant and continuously developing Thai healing melting pot. There is no wrong/right here, but as the Thai people like to say, things are “same same, … but different”.

intro/history/
Revivals