FHT Training Conference: East Meets West – An Evolving Lineage of Thai Massage

By Lucy Trend – STMTS

January 2000, I travelled to Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand, to study the art of Thai Massage with Master Surin Janpanet. With five years of Shiatsu practice behind me, I picked up the techniques quickly, but the approach was very different, and I had much to learn.

Shiatsu and Thai Massage share many similarities: both are performed on a mat or futon, involve acupressure and stretching, release muscle tension, and treat the whole body holistically, usually with the receiver clothed. Both also work with concepts of Ki, Chi or Prana (which I will refer to collectively as Energy) through their respective energetic systems.

My Shiatsu training had taught me to adapt my touch to each client’s needs. Some people welcome deep pressure, while others tense up or resist, inhibiting breath and Energy flow. In Thailand, when I told Master Surin that his touch was painful, he simply replied, “Good for you,” and continued! I learned to befriend the discomfort, breathe into it and release my fear, eventually experiencing a wonderful sense of balance and relaxation.

Practising on my teacher was physically demanding. I would brace myself against the walls and floor while he calmly told me he could barely feel my touch and demanded more pressure! I practised all day, developing strength alongside technique, although I soon learned the importance of protecting my thumbs.

Gradually, I realised these differences were not simply about massage techniques, but reflected wider cultural approaches to bodywork. I was learning the art of Thai Massage through an oral tradition that had not been adapted to Western expectations of comfort or understanding.

My learning process was equally challenging. Accustomed to Western logic and a step-by-step approach, I struggled to accept Master Surin’s teaching, which was usually offered without explanation. Questions were often met with silence, and he would speak to me in Thai while I worked, leaving me to guess his meaning. I began to understand that learning could happen through doing rather than intellectual understanding. I also wondered whether some aspects of this ancient art could ever be fully translated into words, having been passed from teacher to student through direct experience rather than books or videos.

I had encountered something similar in my previous performing arts career, while working with Butoh artists. They spoke quietly in Japanese throughout repetitive workshops. I came to see these words as a kind of chanting, their significance lying not only in meaning but also in sound, repetition and the accumulated wisdom of generations.

Communication between Master Surin and me extended beyond words. Through treating one another, my body learned what my intellect could not yet comprehend. I became part of a lineage shaped by Master Surin’s own learning from a Chinese doctor in his village and from Thai monks during the twelve years he spent as a monk in a temple in Chiang Mai.

This experience continues to inform my practice, particularly my teaching. The art of Thai Massage seeks to balance the body’s Energy through the mindful, rhythmic application of stretches, palm pressure and thumb pressure. I learned to “hear” what a client’s Energy was telling me and respond without needing to analyse or explain.

When I teach the art of Thai Massage, I aspire to pass on an understanding of lineage: the roots of this indigenous tradition and how we can honour them while approaching the practice with our very different modern minds. Lineage is not just about preserving techniques; it is about passing on a way of learning and understanding through embodied experience. Its power lies not simply in “getting it right”, but in repetition, rhythm, mindful touch and the body’s capacity to learn through experience.

Every student of mine knows the name of Master Surin. We begin each class by reflecting on how our learning forms part of an ever-evolving lineage.

I’m Lucy Trend. I founded Shiatsu and Thai Massage Training Scotland in Glasgow in 1998, offering training in Shiatsu, Traditional Thai Therapies and Mindfulness. I hold a lifelong interest in somatic practices, with a deep curiosity about embodied experience both through stillness and touch, and through movement within the environment.

If you are interested in a taste of Thai Massage, I’m running a course for FHT, Thai Yoga Massage Stretches for on the Couch on 16th and17th January 2027. You can jJoin us in person in Glasgow, or Online, for a fun day learning Thai Yoga Massage and stretching techniques especially adapted for the massage couch so you can integrate them with your existing skills