泰國北部 – 清邁，一個我心想已久，美麗又動人的城市。充滿著令人驚豔的亞熱帶自然風景，宏偉的佛寺，還有最令我嚮往的，是這裡舉世聞名的 “泰式瑜伽按摩”。在這裡，此項傳統藝術風氣相當之盛行，滿街都是相關的商店跟學校，甚至還可以在這裡找到專業的師傅教授這項技能。
Chiang Mai is a city at the north of Thailand. It is a lovely city and has many attractions, such as stunning subtropical nature and wonderful temples. But for me the biggest pull of this city is that it is the world capital of Thai Massage. No other city in the world has so many massage shops, massage schools and individual masters who practice and teach this ancient art.
其實，現階段的泰式瑜伽按摩已經不同以往，它不但延續古老傳統的基本架構，更是不斷在增進與提升之中。在接下來的故事裡面，我將慢慢跟各位分享泰式瑜伽按摩是如何的影響著我們現在的日常生活。
Actually this ancient art continues to develop in our modern world and Thai Massage keeps on going different evolutions that makes it very relevant for our modern life style. I will write a special entry regarding this interesting subject.
十多年前，自從揮別印度之旅，我來到泰國最美麗的城市 - 清邁。舉世聞名的泰式筋絡技巧就藏身此處，我毫不猶疑立刻挑選了為期兩周在 Old Medicine醫院的課程。這是一個相當有趣的課，它不但讓我在這一方面獲得更多專業的體驗，更從中發掘到許許多多將來在臨床上必須運用的特殊技巧。關於這一門課，還有一個更吸引人的地方，那就是畢業的學生們，可以繳付很小額的學費之後，繼續留在醫院所提供的區域裡進行人與人之間臨床的操作與練習。
I came first to Chiang Mai at the beginning of the 2000’s. At first I did the two weeks course at the Old Medicine Hospital. After completing the course I felt that I got so much information, so many techniques that to learn them properly, to really understand the objective and correct appliance of every technique will need a lot of time. So I stayed on and went on going to the school every day. They had an arrangements that course graduates can come and practice paying only a small fee every day. Once I paid I was allowed to go to the back where the massage therapist were hanging out and resting and then simply offer to massage them!
在這個學校所提供的練習場地上，存在著形形色色的人，其中有一位體型較為壯碩的婦女，讓我印象深刻，我很記得她，因為她的表現讓我覺得有點怪，也有點特別。她似乎是很著迷一般，而且甚麼都會，也甚麼都懂。
They were a colorful bunch of people, few of them really eccentric! I remember this heavy woman that was totally obsessed with tendons ligaments and knew exactly the pathways of each one and how to reach them in the body. She was only talking about that!
在後續的練習期間，我記得有一次，一位大約六十多歲的男子，他是這所學校的校長，在我毫無預警的狀態下，一股勁兒的坐在我面前，接著說 : 幫我按摩吧! 當下的我，傻了….因為要幫一個人按摩? 這是我從來想都沒想過，也不習慣的事。不過，我還是對著他說 : 好啊! 不過你有甚麼要跟我說的嗎?
Once the headmaster of the institute, a small guy in his late sixties, came in threw himself down near me and commanded – ‘give massage!’ I was extremely insecure about giving massage to someone really experienced like him, so I said – ‘I will be happy to give you massage but is there anything you want to tell me first?’
沒錯! 你說對了! 我的確有些話想跟你說。”泰式瑜伽按摩”以及”泰式拳法”，其實是一樣的，它們都是需要非常使勁的一種功夫。而他會挑選我幫他服務，完全是因為我個子高，在泰國的華人圈裡面，我的身高跟體重確實是相對高壯許多。
‘Yes!’ he said. ‘I want to tell you something. Nuad Boran (Thai Massage), Muai Thai (Thai Boxing) same same! Need to do very strong!’ He was choosing me because in Thai standards I’m a big guy and he enjoyed really deep pressure so he was looking for someone with some weight…
大多數的客戶們將會慢慢清楚並了解，在我而言，我並非依循不變的慣例而固執的展現過往所學的一切，但我會設法讓大家明白並深刻感受，在泰式瑜伽按摩的世界裡，究竟有多麼的美好與瘋狂。在接下來的分享故事裡，我會繼續傳達我所學習的點點滴滴，包括接觸過的師長們，學校與相關的課程。
Most of my clients will be relieved to know I didn’t follow advice in later on but I wanted to give you a feel of this little crazy but wonderful world of Thai Massage. I went on and studied in many different schools and with different teachers and more about that in future posts.