History of Thai massage and its evolution

22 November 2022

The origin of Thai massages

The history of Thai massage dates back more than 2,500 years, founded by the legendary Shivago Komparaj, who was a doctor and a personal friend of the Buddha. Thai medicine has influences from Indian, Chinese and Southeast Asian culture in general: a privileged environment where different ways of perceiving religiosity, nature and perception of the sensible world came together. However, the credit for the development of Thai massage goes to Shivago, for bringing together the properties of different countries to create what we now know as Thai massage. In fact, most Thai masseurs believe that Shivago is the inventor of traditional Thai medicine and that he worked for King Magadha Bimbisara together with the Buddhist monks of the Sangha. The Buddhist monasteries were the temples of this knowledge, in charge of transmitting these techniques orally through a secret code, from teacher to disciple, to perpetrate the knowledge from generation to generation and that they did not fall into oblivion.

The expansion of Thai massages and their schools

Much of the recorded history of Thai massage was lost during a Burmese attack on Ayutthaya in 1767. The few records that survived the attack were recorded in the Moh Nuat room, a massage pavilion in Bangkok. After World War II, Thailand transformed, becoming a popular destination with tourists, making Thai massage a world-renowned therapy. Thanks to this discovery of this alternative therapy, today we can enjoy the prodigious benefits of Thai massage around the world.

There are two major schools of traditional Thai massage, the Wat Po school and the school located in Chiang Mai. The particularity that lies in these massages is the combination of meditation, yoga and pressure on the energy points, also called Sen, that cross our body. Around seventy-two thousand Sen lines line the framework of our physical body, lines that are also shared with Chinese acupuncture and Indian Ayurvedic medicine. Precisely in these two temples, the one in Wat Po and the one in Chiang Mai is where the Thai masseurs who work at Thai Spa Massage Barcelona have learned all the techniques of Thai massage.

Thai massage today

A session can last about an hour or more, depending on the treatment required. Thai massage consists of deep stretching and massage and is normally performed on the floor on a mat. It is a therapeutic procedure that provides relaxation and restores blood circulation. In this massage techniques are alternated to treat energy blocks, weak and dysfunctional organs, aches and pains, stress and tension, flexibility, nervous problems and a long list of ailments that decrease thanks to the benefits of this massage, both physically and on a psychological level.

On December 13, 2019, Thai massage or Nuad Thai was declared by Unesco as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity. Now you have the opportunity to try all the benefits of this ancient massage without having to travel to Thailand and without leaving Barcelona. You just have to call Thai Spa Massage Barcelona and ask for your appointment. Are you going to stay without trying it?

The history of Thai massage dates back more than 2,500 years, founded by the legendary Shivago Komparaj, who was a doctor and a personal friend of the Buddha.