I am offering a five-month course in Traditional Thai Massage, starting in the middle of July 2006, ending just before the Xmas holidays. Teaching classes on the techniques will be one evening per week (provisionally Monday evenings), three and a half to four hours per session.

One Saturday per month will also be utilized in exploring compatible massage techniques from other systems, marketing and advertising techniques, business aspects (legalities, bookkeeping, taxation etc.) and other topics of special interest such as selecting which market would be best for your specific needs. The reason behind this being to prepare you not only in terms of massage techniques but also in terms of other factors that may be needed to set up and run a successful massage business. As a graduate of this course I want you to be fully prepared to go out and start earning a living as a Thai massage practitioner and the course is therefore geared towards this.

In addition to these classes you are expected to practice the techniques in your own time with practice partners or friends and to do study and research on your own.

The course will be held at my studio, in the Southern suburbs.Numbers will be limited because of space considerations and also so as to ensure that the material will be grasped and at this stage it looks as if this may be the only time I am offering this course, as I have other commitments in 2007.

The course will be broken down into 5 separate modules of one month each. Students may elect to do the whole course or to just choose to complete the first one or two modules. This is done so as to enable students who want to simply learn some basic techniques so as to integrate them into their own existing massage work to do so. It also allows for non-professionals who want to pick up some basic massage skills to apply to their loved ones, without going to the effort and expense of doing the whole course.

Each module will cost R 995-00, if paid for on a module-by-module basis. For the professional course, including assessment and certification, the fee will be R4000-00, payable cash and in advance. You can also pay off the professional course on a month-by-month basis at R995-00 per month. Students will also need to purchase a copy of my book, available from most branches of Exclusives and Wordsworth.

At the end of the course, I will assess the student’s abilities and, should these abilities satisfy the course requirements, a “certificate of competence” will be awarded, which states that you have achieved, in my opinion as a duly qualified teacher of Nuad Phan Bo Rarn and in accordance with the syllabus and standards as set out in Thailand, a high level of competence in giving a Thai massage.

For those choosing to do all five modules with the intention of practicing Thai massage on a professional level, there will be fairly stringent periodic hands-on assessments during the course. There will also be a written assignment.

There is no prerequisite knowledge (academically or in terms of previous massage training) or certification needed for this course (some of the best practitioners I have met in Thailand, for instance, were blind). I would however need to meet you individually before the course and give you a short practical aptitude test, as there would be no point in spending the money for such a course if you have no aptitude for massage (what I mean by aptitude is a basic sensitivity, an ability to listen and to feel).

If you have any questions regarding the course please feel free to e mail me or phone me on 082 92 999 50.

Schedule for the Saturday Workshops:

1st Saturday : Energy work, stretching and self-care for the massage practitioner

2nd Saturday : Techniques from other systems that are compatible with Thai massage A

3rd Saturday : Techniques from other systems that are compatible with Thai massage B

4th Saturday : Business aspects. Marketing, advertising, professionalism,
bookkeeping, taxation

5th Saturday : Putting it all together. Massage as a life-path. Questions and answers.