Winning ways of wellness travel
Dipping a toe in a wealth of wellness through a Thai traditional massage
Terri Roamer
I am what they call a late convert to the world of wellness. To be precise I gingerly dip a toe and not much more into the waters of wellness tourism. My expectations are rudimentary. Can I snooze through a soothing foot massage for 60 minutes after a fitness workout?
That’s my sole criteria to judge the merits of the wellness tourism.
Fortunately for this multi-million dollar industry, I am not typical. Millions of leisure travellers annually weave a holiday around their wellness and health programmes without batting an eyelid.
They are not medical tourists seeking cosmetic surgery or re arranging their plumbing at a fraction of the cost at hospitals back home.
Wellness tourism is about enhancing a healthy status, delving into the world of new experiences. Possibly yoga or a new exotic body treatment figures on the menu dished up by a five-star spa usually on site at an equally luxurious hotel.
Thailand has it all whether you are a medical tourist heading for elective surgery or just striving to perfect a healthy lifestyle.
Actually, despite all the hype about medical tourism, surveys show wellness tourism is the more profitable business channel. It dwarfs medical tourism delivering revenues of US$120 billion while medical tourism just scrapes past US$50 billion a year.
Of course, medical tourism delivers an international address for corrective or elective medical treatments that often involve a post-treatment holiday. That can be a lucrative side business for hotels near hospitals or resorts.
Lumped together the treatment and holiday costs at one of Thailand’s top medical facilities are a fraction of the cost of a treatment alone in west Europe, North America or Australia.
Wellness tourism is an entirely different experience, geared to enhancing good health with touches of luxury and lifestyle features such as learning yoga exercises or taking a meditation course.
There are literally thousands of spas, wellness centres, and resorts that cater to travellers who are in the best of health and simply want to keep it that way when on holiday. They will indulge in spa treatments and healthy diet plans. They are likely to dabble in yoga exercises, or look for health refreshing herbs that can set them on a journey to defy aging.
Wellness tourism covers all the popular destinations – Phuket, Samui Phuket, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Each destination will have its own spin on the wellness theme. It is called local content in the wellness trade where a location has a specific expertise that sets it apart from its wellness peers.
They could be resort havens that provide expert guidance on how to tweak a diet or pursue healthier lifestyles using traditional herbs. Some will specialise in yoga. There are even centres for alternative medicine and anti-aging clinics that mix and match modern and traditional medicine.
Wellness tourism is far from a being just a fad exploited by luxury resorts. Its popularity is seated firmly in a desire to build health and explore paths that can help us beat modern-day stress or stay ahead of the aging curve.
Usually, Thailand’s wellness products are associated with five-star resort luxury and a high degree of pampering bundled with a line-up of enticing and exotic treatments. But there are simpler versions too based on ancient arts, herbs and traditional medicine.
In fact surveys show that some of the most popular features of wellness tourism are in fact quite simple.
A global survey on wellness tourism showed a simple massage was the most sought after service. Around 76% of survey respondents opted for a massage, while the more exotic and expensive body treatments trailed with 50% and meditation or mind-body programmes at 45%. Facial treatments gained 38% in the attention rating and exercise or fitness programmes 35%.
This is good news for Thai wellness as the core element is a traditional massage that unlike European disciplines does not require exotic oils or the need to disrobe and change to spa attire.
Massage and herbal healing treatments are as old as the hills and many of the traditional massage techniques and associated herbs can be traced to the third century BC when Indian Brahmins and Buddhist monks first visited Thailand.
They introduced a holistic approach to healing known as Ayurveda, which is based on maintaining a balanced flow of energy through meridians in the body and includes massage and herbal remedies.
Chinese massage techniques, too, influenced the evolution of what is now the distinctive Thai traditional massage. China passed on skills in acupressure and acupuncture.
Although the history of Thai traditional massage dates back to the Khmer Empire, it flourished during the Sukhothai era and reached a pinnacle during Ayutthaya period, 14th to 18th centuries until the royal city was sacked by a Burmese army in 1767.
Today, the icon of Thailand’s famous traditional massage is Wat Wat Phra Chetuphon in Bangkok, popularly known Wat Pho. Here ancient traditions and skills were painstakingly revived over nearly two centuries. It required a painstaking reconstruction of the art and traditions as most of the literature and text books had long been destroyed in the fires that engulfed Ayutthaya.
Visitors to the temple can see inscriptions on the walls that describe royal drug remedies or visit the first royal dispensary where traditional massage and herbal treatments were revived.
In the early 1900s, Wat Pho established a massage school together with its homeopathic programme where a specific tradition in techniques developed linked to Ayurveda philosophy and yoga systems
Today, Wat Pho offers elaborate courses for would-be traditional Thai massage therapists and an internet site presents a variety of training programmes that are applicable to visitors. It has trained thousands of practitioners both locals and overseas visitors who want to pursue a life’s interest or begin a new career.
Wat Pho represents all that is authentic about Thai traditional massage; its simplicity and charm as well as ensuring centuries of learning can be passed on to a new generation.
Thai traditional massage is very simple in that the recipients remain clothed and no oils are applied in the technique. The massage is also performed on the ground or floor with the practitioners using their hands, elbows, knees, and feet.
Thanks to its simplicity we can all gently dip a toe into wellness without fear it will break the bank.
Of course there are many sophisticated elements in Thailand’s vast range of wellness tourism products. They come in all shapes and sizes from luxurious spas with exotic treatments that change by the season.
There are resorts that offer detox programmes, fasting, herbal medicine courses to purify and improve physical health.
But none quite deliver the history, traditions and know-how of a Wat Pho massage, or the opportunity to go to the next level and become a student of Thai traditional massage.
It will take you through the techniques of traditional Thai massage, known as nuat phaen boran, while looking at herbs and massage techniques that when combined create holistic treatments for the body and mind.
Wat Pho’s massage school and homeopathic programme is based on the school of thought that there are 10 energy lines radiating from the abdomen. This is where it differs from the massage traditions taught in North Thailand that focus on extremities.
Wat Pho’s school has offered a variety of programmes since 1955. There are now four broad areas of study presented on its website that offers training in traditional pharmacy, medical practice, midwifery and the Thai massage.
Courses covering massage techniques taught at the Wat Pho Thai Traditional Medical School vary from a five-week course covering 200 hours of study to shorter versions of 32 and 82 hours serving the requirements of professional and amateur massage. Actual courses can cost as much as Bt42,000 and that does not include the hostel costs at the Salaya campus known as Chetawan Health School.
It takes a genuine commitment to enrol, but there is no shortage of students prepared to embark on the lengthy course to gain professional accreditation.
That doesn’t leave the rest of us out of the loop. Wat Pho practitioners are to be found at most reputable spas or we can enjoy the authentic experience in the serene atmosphere of temple cloisters. While lacking the trappings of luxury, a Wat Pho massage more than makes up for it in authenticity and an environment of spiritual calm.
Elaborating on wellness, Wat Pho style, an enthusiast wrote on the website this succinct shower of praise.
“Since 1955 it has been Thai massage Thai style. Forget the luxury, line up, next time dress in Thai pants and a top and get a real massage, partly painful, partly blissful, prodding, poking and stretching. Hooked?”
