Remedial Massage and Pichest Thai Massage Technique.

Melbourne Massage and Treatment is a Massage clinic that offer services that combines the understanding and approach of Myotherapy with the eastern practice of Thai Massage.

I, got into too massage therapy back in 2016, when I did study a Certificate IV in Massage Therapy at the SSNT, in Fitzroy, Melbourne.

After that course, I got inspired and directed by a friend to go and study in Chiang Mai, Thailand with Pichest Boonthumme.

I could never make a better choice. Was March 2018 when I first started studying with Pichest.

But who is Pichest Bonthumme?

Why training with Pichest can make a difference?

Pichest is probably the most famous and talented Thai Massage teacher/practitioner alive.

Pichest was born in Hong-Dong (district south of Chiang Mai) in 1958.
He started practising massage in his 20’s at the Chiang Mai Medicinal Hospital, where his father was working as a massage practitioner.

It was Pichest’s father who told Pichest himself the basics of Thai Massage.

As Pichest was practising and working at the old medicine hospital, he realised that the technique of work that he was using was demanding on his body, till the point he injured his back.

From this problem, he creates his strength.

He starts working on himself, through meditation practice and devotion to the Buddhist religion, he creates and shaped a new way of massaging and using his body to heal the next one.

As you may be aware, Thai people are not so told, and that’s the case of Pichest too.

So Pichest massage technique is based on using the body shape and weight to apply pressure on the body of the receiver.

Indeed, with this way of working, there is not really a sequence to follow, but there is a pure intuitional approach to go for.

Observing the client in their movement and body shape/tension is all you need to start with.

Next, come’s the sharpening of the touch. Learn how to feel the tension in the different body parts.

In conclusion, once those practices are combined, the Pichest Thai Massage technique is not something that we can achieve in a day or a week of training. We need constant work, in everyday life as it’s more a habit than just a way of massaging, and it’s different from practitioner to practitioner, as we are all different in body size and weight.

So where I am with this way of working.

I have been studying with Pichest for several months, along with 2018 and 2019.

Thanks to previous experience, in the massage industry and elsewhere, I found it easier to start working with the Pichest technique.

Said so, there was and still, there are several improvements that I have to achieve.

But back to the comparison to a general Thai Massage, Melbourne Thai Treatment offers a more unique way of massaging, as I focus more on the individual needs and not on a general sequence that I can apply to anyone.

To reinforce my understanding and knowledge of the body and its way of working I took an Advance Diploma in Myotherapy, at RMIT University.

This course allowed me to improve my anatomy knowledge and understanding.

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In addition, I could appreciate even more what I did learn with Pichest, as working on the floor as we do as Thai Massage therapists and working on the table, as Remedial Massage therapists do, are 2 different realities.

Working on the floor allows you to move freely and you can use all your body weight as needed to apply pressure.

Where, working with a table, you are standing all day long, you must apply force just with your upper body, and the use of hands is demanding, to a point that a massage therapist after few years of practice can injure its hands or wrist badly.

Furthermore, working with a Remedial Massage technique style you can use only your hands and elbow to manipulate and massage the receiver.

With the Thai Massage, thanks to its intuitional approach you are allowed to use feet, knees, elbows or other body parts.

So, the use of knees, feet or other body parts is strictly subjective to the therapist ability and the client needs.

It is easier to apply stronger pressure with a knee than a hand probably, but this doesn’t mean that the work done with a knee must be strong all the time.

You may wanna use the knee just because you and the client can be in a more ergonomic and comfortable position.

But how you can apply the right pressure with the knee?
Well, that’s part of our training. Walking with the knee of the wood floor is a start, but also moving from seated to standing on the floor is part of the training.

In fact, the Thai Yoga exercises are part of the training that we take as therapists to heal our body from tensions.

To finalize, Melbourne Thai Treatment is yes a Thai Massage service, but is based on eastern and western practice and understanding of the body.

In order to, improve and enrich my knowledge than, for the upcoming year (2022) I will look into starting a Myotherapist course, always at the RMIT. This is because I would like to add to my practice service as dry-needling and have still a better and more complete understanding of the body and its functionality.