All memos tagged #thai-bodywork-lexicon

Wai khru is the brief opening acknowledgment of teachers that some practitioners begin with. A short bow or pause before the first contact. In Thai Bodywork it is optional, traditional, and not a...

Loose clothing is worn throughout, since the work uses no oil and moves the body through space. In Thai Bodywork the receiver stays dressed in something that can stretch, fold, and be palmed through....

Nuad Thai is the Thai name for the tradition, inscribed by UNESCO in 2019. In this library the work is called Thai Bodywork (also Thai massage) so the session note stays in Chase's register. Nuad...

Metta is loving-kindness, the intention the practitioner traditionally holds during the work. In Thai Bodywork the word names a quality of contact — unhurried, not extracting, not performing — not a...

Palming is pressing with the heel of the palm along a line, the most common stroke. The contact is broad, rhythmic, and follows a sen line or a muscle rather than digging a thumb in first. In Thai...

Mat work is the whole session happening on a firm floor mat rather than a table. The floor lets the practitioner use feet, body weight, and long stretches that a table cannot hold. In Thai Bodywork...

Sen lines are the ten main energy lines of Thai medicine along which pressure is applied, a line-based relative of Acupressure. Palming and thumbing follow those paths rather than chasing a single...

Foot pressing is the practitioner using the feet to compress broad areas such as the backs of the thighs. The contact is wide and rhythmic, not a stomp. In Thai Bodywork it is how large posterior...

Forearm pressing is using the forearm for wide, even pressure over large muscles. The tool is broader than a thumb and slower than a palm race. In Thai Bodywork it meets a back, a thigh, or a calf...

Rhythm is the steady rocking tempo that keeps the receiver from bracing against pressure. In Thai Bodywork palming and stretches arrive on a pulse, not as surprises. Speed is how the work becomes a...

Positions are the four shapes a session moves through: lying on the back, on the side, face down, and seated. In Thai Bodywork the sequence is a map, not a requirement to complete all four every...

Rocking is gentle side-to-side movement of the body to settle the nervous system. In Thai Bodywork it often opens or closes a region, and it rides inside palming. The movement is small enough to...

Thumbing is pressing with the thumbs point by point along a sen line. In Thai Bodywork it usually follows palming, not as a first stroke. The contact is specific and rhythmic; speed and digging are...

Hip opener is a positioned stretch that lets the hip rotate outward or inward. In Thai Bodywork the practitioner places the leg and stays at the stretch threshold. The receiver is passive. It is not...

Plough is a lying stretch in which the legs are taken up and over toward the head, done only within comfort. In Thai Bodywork the practitioner supports the legs; the receiver stays passive. Many...

Cobra is a lift of the upper body into a gentle back arch while the receiver lies face down, taken only as far as comfortable. In Thai Bodywork the practitioner supports the lift; the receiver stays...

Assisted stretch is the practitioner moving the receiver's limb or spine into a yoga-like stretch while the receiver stays passive. The receiver does not pull themselves into the shape. In Thai...

Stretch threshold is the point of a good opening, not a sharp end range, where every stretch stops. In Thai Bodywork the practitioner feels for ease, not for a trophy angle. Past the threshold the...

Spinal twist is a seated or lying rotation of the spine assisted by the practitioner. In Thai Bodywork the receiver stays passive; the stop is the stretch threshold, not a pop. This is not a spinal...

Passive yoga is another name for the assisted stretches, since the receiver is placed in yoga-like shapes without effort. In Thai Bodywork cobra, plough, Hip Openers, and Spinal Twists are this: the...