Unesco-status for traditional Thai yoga massage

Traditional Thai Yoga Massage – called Nuad Thai – has been added to the Unesco list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This list seeks to recognize things that are important to preserve for future generations.

First UN-recognized massage technique worldwide

It is the first time a massage technique has been acknowledged by the United Nations. Unesco is the United Nations’ agency for education, culture, and science.

In this article we will explain you why Nuad Thai is so important for our cultural heritage.

But first, we like to add that as the first International Training Massage School in Europe and the only certified & internationally recognized Traditional Thai Yoga Massage School in the Netherlands, we are very pleased with this great news. Being a franchise of ITM Chiang Mai – one of the best schools to learn Nuad Thai in Thailand – we have seen the benefits of traditional Thai yoga massage for our over more than 10,000 students.

Plus our lives have changed immensely since we practice Nuad Thai: we are happy and pain-free.

So what is Nuad Thai?

Benefits

Many people don’t know, but Nuad Thai is not the typical massage you’ll find in Spa’s in the west. It is better seen as the physio therapy of the east.

The combination of stretches and deep acupressure in Nuad Thai has an amazing impact on the human tissue. Nuad Thai is used as curative and preventive. A traditional Nuad Thai treatment is the best to relieve stress and tensions in the body.

Because the level of cortisol, the hormone released by stress, decreases. In addition, your body produces more lymphocytes, a white blood cell that ensures a better immune system.

Moreover, massage has an effect on the activity of a number of genes that directly inhibit muscle inflammation – the same result that you get when taking aspirin or ibuprofen – and the muscle recovers faster from exercise.

How is this different than other massage techniques?

If you ever received a traditional Nuad Thai massage, you know the difference from other massages. Thai yoga massage is based on acupressure, reflexology and yoga-like stretching. It is a full body massage that is given over the clothes, on a mat and usually lasts about 1.5 hours.

Benefits for both

Both the client as well as the masseur benefit from the massage. They both improve their flexibility through yoga-like stretches, reduce stress due to the meditative status during the massage and improve their blood circulation as they are doing exercise.

Due to the light acupressure and soft stretches – which you can deepen according to the client’s needs – this massage is accessible for everyone.

What makes Nuad Thai so important?

This is what Unesco states: ‘Nuad Thai, traditional Thai massage is regarded as part of the art, science and culture of traditional Thai healthcare.

As a non-medicinal remedy and manual therapy, it involves bodily manipulation in which the practitioner helps re-balance the patient’s body, energy and structure to treat illnesses believed to be caused by the obstruction of energy flow along ‘sen’, lines understood to crisscross the human body.

This manipulation is intended to normalize the four body elements: earth, water, wind and fire. To open up blocked routes, Nuad Thai therapists perform a combination of manipulations using their hands, elbows, knees and feet, together with herbal hot compresses to reduce inflammation.

Presently, Nuad Thai is classified into two main types: Nuad Thai therapy and Nuad Thai for health promotion. Nuad Thai has its roots in self-care in Thai peasant society of the past; every village had massage healers whom villagers would turn to when they had muscle aches from working in the field. Over time, these experiences have evolved into a formal system of knowledge, and Nuad Thai is now an income-generating occupation.’ That is what Unesco writes on their website.

Thai Hand massage Classes

We are very honored to teach everyone interested this centuries’ old healing art. Our school has been teaching Nuad Thai in the form of online courses, retreats in Thailand, and face-to-face courses and workshops in our school in Amsterdam.

However, we often hear this question: ‘I love to receive traditional Thai yoga massage, but a good professional Nuad Thai treatment is expensive.’ And new scientific research shows that you only get the real benefit if you undergo a massage twice a week.

Affordable massage for everyone

This is why our massage school developed Thai Hand Massage Classes. In these lessons you give, but also get yourself, a 30-minute deep acupressure and stretch massage by following the teacher’s instructions. For the price you pay for a yoga lesson.

Teacher Training

We are the first massage school in Europe to offer the benefits of a holistic deep acupressure massage in class-form daily. We believe that this can greatly improve health and we therefore developed a teacher training for those who would like to give these classes in their own yoga, massage or other schools to improve the immune system, reduce stress, fight diseases and recover faster from injuries.

It is our mission to make as many people healthier, happier and stress-free by massage.

Create a healthy, happy & stress-free day!
Nicole & Manel

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