The two methods to learn Thai Massage
There are two ways to learn Thai Massage – live training classes or online training courses. Let’s compare the two methods and come up with detailed pros and cons for both so that you can make an informed choice. We will look at these questions:
- How effective is Thai Massage online training?
- Is live classroom training always better?
- Can you really learn Thai Massage online?
- Which one is the best choice for you – live classroom training or online training?
But first, what makes me qualified to talk about this?
My unique perspective on massage education
As the founder and director of Thai Healing Massage Academy, which is the premier online Thai Massage training school, I have been working with online massage students every single day for two decades.
I live in a city that has the highest concentration of Thai Massage schools in the world: Chiang Mai – Thailand’s number one destination for learning Thai Massage.
After teaching Thai Massage for two decades in both live classes and online training courses, I have plenty of personal experience with both training methods.
When does online Thai Massage training work?
This is not a black-and-white issue. The only meaningful answer is:
It depends on your circumstances.
Let me demonstrate this with two hypothetical scenarios:
Scenario 1
You are a total beginner, you know very little idea about massage or yoga, and you decided to learn Thai Massage.
You live near a good school, you have the money and the time to study there, and you love to learn in a group dynamic.
You are also a very kinesthetic person and learn best via personal interaction.
Conclusion: In this scenario, a live course would be a better choice than an online Thai Massage training course.
Scenario 2
You are an experienced yoga practitioner and/or (Thai) massage therapist. You want to improve your skills, but there is no good Thai Massage school near where you live.
Your schedule and your finances don’t allow you to take a few weeks off and attend an expensive massage school.
You like visual learning, and you have friends or family members who would love to be your guinea pigs for new and fascinating techniques.
Conclusion: In this scenario, a good online training course would be a good choice for you.
The pros and cons of live Thai Massage training
Is live training always a good choice? As you will see, that’s not always the case. Let’s look at the pros and cons in detail.
The pros, or possible advantages:
- If you have the time and the money to pay for live training, you live near, or can easily get to an excellent Thai Massage school, and you know that the teacher is good, then this is the right choice.
- You can practice on a variety of students
- You get instant feedback from the teacher
- The group dynamic might inspire you
- If you attend a school in Thailand, you get to enjoy the culture and atmosphere
The cons, or possible disadvantages:
Neither a live Thai Massage course nor an online course is a guarantee for a quality or successful education. Let’s look at some reasons why a live course might not work out for you:
- You might end up with a teacher whom you don’t resonate with or who is just not top-notch.
- You might not like the presentation, i.e. it is all going too fast with too little practice time.
- The school might turn out to be a commercialized massage factory that churns out graduates for the money only.
- The teaching might be too mechanical and misses the heart and soul of Thai Massage.
- The forgetfulness factor: You neglect to practice regularly after the class has ended, and a few months later you can’t remember much of what you learned.
- The course is just not long enough for you to learn it properly.
- Unrealistic promises: The school promises you that you’ll be able to do a two-hour Thai Massage session if you take a three-day or five-day course (This happens all the time, at least here in Thailand).
You don’t learn good Thai Massage in a 1 day, 3 day, 5 day, or even a two-week course.
I have seen all of the above scenarios here in Chiang Mai, Thailand, countless times over the years.
It is entirely possible to attend a live Thai Massage course and either not learn it well at all, or walk away with the illusion of knowing it well which can be even worse. Live massage training is not a guarantee for quality education.
Are short live Thai Massage courses useful?
Although short or introductory live courses (like weekend courses) won’t turn you into an expert, they can serve a useful purpose:
When might live Thai Massage training NOT be your best option?
Ideally, anyone who wants to learn Thai Massage properly would take several months of in-depth live training with a highly qualified teacher. However, there are several reasons why this might not be possible or not even necessary.
Take a self-test for online Thai Massage training
Can you answer ‘yes’ to one or several questions from the following list?
If you recognize yourself in some of these examples, a quality online training program would probably be an excellent choice for you.
Evidence for online training results
There are teachers who insist that you cannot learn Thai Massage online. However, there is solid evidence that this is not true, given the right circumstances and the right training.
All you have to do is go to the forum of Thai Healing Massage Academy and read the progress reports of our students. You will find many thousands of posts where our students write about excellent success with our online training courses:
Can you learn Thai Massage online from a video?
There are thousands of students in our forum and Facebook group who have graduated from our training, and who have established a successful Thai Massage business or improved an existing one.
Many have invested in several, or even all of our 20 courses. Nobody would do that unless it is working for them.
Many students find that they can learn better from a video since they can replay it as often as they like, and they can read the transcripts. They also often get better closeup views than in live classes.
Most of the students of Thai Healing Massage Academy are already massage therapists and/or yoga teachers or practitioners. But we also have students with very little massage or yoga background who have successfully learned Thai Massage skills.
Some of our students used the techniques on their children, their spouses, friends, or partners, and they reported excellent results and wonderful feedback.
The majority of our online students are professionals from the healing arts field. There are many reports of students expanding their practice, attracting new clients, or even starting a new career.
Some students learned Thai Massage exclusively through our online training, and some studied both online and in live classes.
You can easily verify this for yourself by reading the many progress reports of real students in our forum.
When might online Thai Massage training not be right for you?
Let’s be objective and look at scenarios when online training might not be your best choice:
- If you have the time and the money to attend a live course with a good teacher, by all means do so.
- You are a total beginner, have no experience with massage or yoga, and need all the help you can get
- If you don’t have the discipline to practice regularly, even the best online training won’t help you.
- If you choose the wrong online course, with no support, no structure, no follow-up, no access to the teacher, no student community, and no interactive features, it probably won’t work well for you.
Now you have a solid basis for deciding if online Thai Massage training is right for you. By now it should be evident that live training is not automatically better than online training.
Both methods have their place. Both can be the right or the wrong choice, depending on your circumstances.
Live versus online training
==> A quality live training course with an excellent teacher is better than a massage DVD with no support, no community, and no learning environment.
==> A four-month long high-quality online Thai Massage multi-media training course is better than a low-quality 3-day live intro course which makes the false promise that you will be able to do a quality 2-hour session upon completion.
What can Thai Healing Massage Academy offer you?
As far as online Thai Massage training is concerned, you will not find any other source that offers as much quality, detail, support, follow-up, and in-depth training as Thai Healing Massage Academy’s courses.
The proof is out in the open through thousands of actual student posts and testimonials in our interactive forum.
All our courses are backed by an unconditional satisfaction guarantee. We also offer certification programs and CEUs which are approved by the NCBTMB (National Certification Board for Massage Therapy in the US).
Owning a permanent training library for life
In most live training courses you have little to fall back on once the training is over. The result is often a high forgetfulness factor.
I have met many students who told me that they had taken a Thai Massage course somewhere, but a couple of months later they had already forgotten half of it.
But in the case of online Thai Massage training, you get to keep the videos and all other training materials as a permanent reference, which is an important advantage. In this way you can never lose any of the training through forgetfulness.
We offer 20 specialized online training courses, which is the largest selection of fully supported Thai Massage online courses on the market, and we have years of experience with successfully teaching students online. Check out our most popular program:
The author, Shama Kern, has been practicing and teaching Thai Massage since 1999. He is the founder of Thai Healing Massage Academy and the creator of 20 Thai Massage online training programs.
