Wat Po General Thai Massage (30 hours) training

After thinking about it for almost a year, I decide to go to Bangkok to learn Thai Massage from the renowned Wat Po massage school, teaching traditional thai massage since 1962. I have considered going to Chiang Mai to learn because there are many good schools and teachers (including the one who started the massage program in Wat Po) but the timing is not good for me. I would love to learn the Northern style if I have a chance in the future. 

So here I am! In an alley opposite the west side of Wat Po. If you need to look for this place, turn in and walk till the end of the alley when you see 'Coconut Palm Restaurant' at the corner. 

The entrance of the Wat Po massage school 

The reception area

Second floor with a water cooler and shoe racks. 

The practice hall, where everyone takes turn to massage their partner under the teacher's supervision. I practice here for 5 days!

So it's hard work... but it's not difficult to pass. We have to memorize the whole set of sequences within 5 days, but because we repeated it so many times, and have been corrected on the weak spots many times, we sort of get the flow at the end of the training. Have a good rest every night because you will be kneeling down, massaging people and being massaged by amateurs most of the time. Surprisingly it doesn't feel that laborious, because we learn how to use our body weight, certain postures and angles to massage. What we learn is mainly for general relaxation, and this is a very practical oriented course, which means there isn't much theory besides a quick introduction of the 10 energy lines. For anyone who is interested to learn more about the theories and for therapy purposes, they have a 10-day advanced course that started every 2nd and 4th saturday, if I am not wrong.