12/14/2023
On Yoga and Thai Massage - Quantum Entaglement and "Thai Yoga Massage"
One term that has come into recent usage in the Thai massage and yoga communities is "Thai Yoga Massage." The phrase is a curious one to consider, because using the words "yoga" and "Thai massage" together is at one and the same time redundant and yet dichotomous. The two practices, asana yoga and Thai massage, are quite distinct and different activities/practices from two different cultures with different purposes and goals. Yet they are the same in sharing the same ancient origins and theory of energy and how the physical body exists and moves.
Yoga comes from India. The yoga of India is not generally known or practiced in Thai history or culture. Yoga is a personal practice and is entirely about personal cultivation/development/experience. Yoga, by definition, is a solitary undertaking and enterprise, one individual working with their own mind and body with the goal of seeking the true inner self. Performing bodywork on others is nowhere contemplated by yoga. You cannot "do" yoga to anybody, except yourself.
Thai massage, on the other hand, comes from Thailand. Thai massage is not yoga. Thai massage involves touching and working with the bodies/energy of other people. In Thailand, there is no historic or even meaningful modern adoption or practice of the asana yoga of India by Thai people.
So, the two are separate. Learning and practicing yoga does not involve or contemplate anything about doing bodywork on others. And historically (before asana yoga came to modern Thailand with foreigners) learning or practicing Thai massage did not involve knowing anything about the asana yoga of India.
Yet, to borrow a term/concept from western physics, there is a kind of "quantum entanglement" of asana yoga from India and Thai massage from Thailand. In quantum entanglement, one particle is split into two or more particles. After the split, there are clearly and absolutely two separate, measurable particles that exist. But, the odd thing is that the two particles mirror each other instantly, no matter how great the distance between them. Observe the spin, momentum, position, or polarization of one particle, and the other particle will be found to be mirroring the first instantaneously (what Einstein called "spooky action at a distance").
Watch a skilled yogi performing asana yoga and a skilled Thai massage therapist working on the mat, and there is a striking and obvious correlation especially when it comes to the shapes and stretches involved in Northern style traditional Thai massage. Anybody who knows/practices asana yoga cannot help but notice that the shapes and stretches used in Thai massage mirror and are analogues of asana yoga. But why?
The answer lies in the energy line theory of the body which is common to both. Asana yoga and Thai massage both begin with the theory that the physical body is not primary. For a physical body to exist, there must be some sort of energy moving, flowing, exchanging and binding that causes the human body to arise from nature into existence, that sustains the physical body while it is "alive," and then the body dissolves back into nature after the energy leaves.
Both asana yoga and Thai massage understand that dis-ease of the physical body is not primary, but rather is a secondary effect of energy imbalance, and that undertaking physical practices that bring greater balance to the flow of energy in the body has corresponding restorative/balancing physical effects.
And, the fundamental energy of both yoga and Thai massage is the same. In yoga it is called prana. In Thai massage it is called lom. Both are the "wind" - breath.
Both yoga and Thai massage begin from the shared theory/observation that the body is constituted of 72,000 (meaning an "infinite number") lines of energy (nadis in yoga, sen in Thai massage); that of these 72,000 lines there are a handful of lines that are "primary"; and that by working these "primary" energy lines of the body through compressions and stretching, the energy of all 72,000 lines (and thus the physical body itself) can be brought into greater health, harmony and balance.
So, in this sense, the term "Thai yoga massage" is duplicative / redundant. It's like saying the "orange orange." If the inside of the orange was yellow, it would not be an orange. It would be be a lemon. If it was pink, it would be a grapefruit. If either asana yoga or Thai massage were practiced according to some different energy line theory or map of the body (for example the Chinese meridians) the two would not have the same shapes (just as we can see that the practices and shapes of tai chi or qi gong are different than both yoga and Thai massage).
So, how to reconcile all of this? On the one hand, yoga and Thai massage are clearly distinct and different practices from different countries and cultures, and yet, on the other hand they are somehow fundamentally linked with and reflect each other. The term "Thai yoga massage" is odd, because it is both saying two very different things, and yet the exact same thing, all in one breath.
It is more accurate to say that the two separate practices, asana yoga and Thai massage have a common source in their understanding and underlying theories of the body being comprised of the same 72,000 energy lines of the body, and that by accessing working certain "major" energy lines which are common to both practices, the physical body will respond with improved energy flow and balance, which then results in improved physical (and mental) balance and health. Given that they have a common source, and that these two different practices from two different cultures rely on the same lines in the same locations, it can hardly be surprising that the shapes and stretches that show up in yoga happen to spontaneously also arise in Thai massage. Not because Thai massage "is" yoga. But because they both arise from a shared ancient theory of energy and the body.
As analogues, the two practices, asana yoga and Thai massage, are highly complimentary and each practices can both inform and support the other (just as observing one particle of an entangled pair gives you instant information about the other particle no matter how distant it may be). Whether intentionally or not, the best Thai massage therapists are essentially engaging in yogic practices (observing and working with their own mind, breath, and posture) as they work. And, as one might expect, the receiver of a well performed Thai massage will often find themselves drifting into their own yogic, meditative state as the massage proceeds, and that the results afterward are a more fluid and effective asana yoga practice.
In this way, the two practices are more like an object reflected in a mirror, but the mirror can be gazed into from either side. The object is not its reflection. They are two separate things, but are confirmations and validations of each other. Step through the mirror and look the other way, and the same holds true. Yoga energy theory indicates that Thai massage should "work" and have beneficial results, because (even without knowing anything about yoga) the skillful Thai massage therapist is working to identify and remove blockages and balance energy along the same energy lines as yoga. And, as any yogi who has received a well performed Thai massage knows, the areas where they may have challenges in their asana yoga practice are the same areas where the Thai massage therapist will naturally focus their work.
