Traditional Thai massage dates back to around 2500 years ago with it’s roots in Indian Ayurvedic and Yogic healing. It was brought over to Thailand as a medical practice by the renowned Indian doctor Jivaka Kumar Baccha‚ who was the Buddha’s personal physician and doctor of the monks in the monasteries of that time.

Thai Yoga Massage is a western term and, as it is used in the west, is interchangeable with Thai Massage, Traditional Thai Massage and Traditional Thai Yoga Massage and sometimes Thai Yoga. In Thailand the term is Nuad Phaen Boran (นวดแผนไทย), which simply translates as Traditional Massage or Ancient Massage.

Thai massage is an ancient practice dating back some 2500 years. It has Buddhist, Ayurvedic and indigenous pagan Thai spiritual influences. It is considered a spiritual practice, as well as a healing art, in it’s own right.

The founder is considered to be Jivaka Kumarabhacca who is also known as the Father Doctor Shivago. He was born in an ancient Indian region, Magadaha, that is now known as modern Tibet. There are accounts of his life in Pali (the ancient language of Thailand), Sanskrit, Tibetan and Chinese. While the accounts differ, some being more magical and more politically correct, there are some common themes. Jivaka was abandoned as an infant but was discovered in a very bad state. Jivaka comes from the word jivati, which means “alive”. It is likely that he was born to a slave courtesan of the royal family and was the bastard son of King Bimbisara. Upon being found he was taken into the royal environs and raised by the by the harem under the protection of the king’s son, Abhaya. Kumarabhacca means nourished by a prince. So his name translates as “alive, nourished by a prince”.

As Jivaka approached maturity he realised that he must find his own livelihood in order to maintain the good wishes of the royal family. He decided to learn the art of healing after seeing the white-clad physicians. Upon learning the foundations of medical craft which induced herbs and pulse reading he wanted to deepen his knowledge. He travelled to Taxila to study with a internationally-renowned physician called Atreya, with whom he completed 14 years of study in 7 years. Jivaka was to become his successor.

Eventually, Jivaka was to return to Magadha and successfully treated King Bimbishara’s fistula with herbs. He also cured a merchant’s son from Varanasi by opening his skull – an advanced art he learned from Atreya, as well as curing the King of Ujjain’s jaundice by dying some cheese in order to make him eat it, apparently.

Jivaka become the royal physician as well as the personal physician of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. He said to have cured the Buddha of digestive issues and blood poisoning.

Jivaka is regarded as the Father of Medicine and a source of knowledge about the healing powers of plants, minerals and massage. His teachings travelled to Thailand along with the spread of Buddhism in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. The medical practices were considered an integral part of the religious system and temples where built alongside dispensaries and medical schools.

Masssage and other healing arts were studied and practiced in monasteries as well as within families. It is thought local cultures of each region had indigenous medicine, which had a long period of evolution before the mainstream religious beliefs came into Thai society. Some amount of cross-pollination and integration would have been inevitable. Indigenous pagan spirituality is still an integral part of Thai culture. The precise origin of Thai Massage is largely unknown due to the fact that the family tradition of learning was oral and the destructive invasions by Muslims in northern India as well the Burmese invasion of the capital of Ayutthaya in 1767. Only fragments of the medical texts, that the Buddhist monks made, survived. In 1832, King Rama III, engraved what fragments that were available onto stone to preserve them. These form the epigraphs at Wat Pho, the Buddhist temple complex in Bangkok. Various textbooks of all gathered knowledge were also made. The stone inscriptions in Wat Pho are divided into four major categories: ruesi dadton (self-stretching), medicine (vechasart), pharmacy, and massage. There are 60 images of human massaging.

Thai massage, as it’s practiced in the West is usually done fully clothed, on a futon on the ground with finger pressure work along energy lines called Sen lines, passive stretching and deep compression. Aspects of Buddhism, like the concept of Metta – loving kindness, are a big part of the practice of Thai massage in the West, but the more magical pagan aspect is generally absent. Herb compresses are often used by more traditional and advanced practitioners.

In Thailand, Traditional Massage, which is a branch of Traditional Thai Medicine, is an ongoing tradition that goes much deeper into various theories which include wind gates (Lom) as well as the Sen energy lines, a four element theory, herbal therapy, Buddhism as well as spirit healing magic and rituals.  Tables, oil and herb compresses may also be used in Thailand if deemed appropriate for the patient’s condition.

According to the WHO, Thailand has its own system of traditional medicine called “Thai traditional medicine” (TTM). Historical evidence shows that Thai people began to use herbal medicine for the treatment of various symptoms and diseases and health promotion since the Sukhothai period (1238-1377). TTM knowledge was gradually developed, systematized, revised, recorded, and passed on from generation to generation throughout the country’s history, from Sukothai to Ayutthaya (1350-1767), Thonburi (1767-1782), and the early Rattanakosin period (1782-1916), as a means of health care for the Thai people. Unfortunately, the influence of Western medicine, which was introduced into Thailand by missionaries and western physicians since the reign of King Rama III (1787-1851), gradually increased and eventually led to the abandonment of the systematic teaching of TTM in the medical school in 1916. This sparked the decline in TTM acceptance, especially among people in the urban areas, and the status of TTM practitioners in the country’s health care system for over 60 years.

The revival of TTM began around 1978 after the proclamation of the Alma-Ata Declaration when the, accordion to the World Health Organisation, it urged its member countries to include traditional medicine and medicinal plants in their primary health care program.

Traditional Thai Massage is one of the branches of Traditional Thai Medicine which includes medical practice – diagnosis and treatment of disease, pharmacy practice – involving the use of plants, minerals and animals as use for traditional medicine, traditional midwifery, and Traditional Thai Massage.

In Thailand, it is a minimum 2 years (800 hours) apprenticeship is required before being eligible for the licensing examination to be a Traditional Thai massage therapist under the certified Traditional Thai Medicine practitioner system. As of 2009 there were 332 qualified Traditional Thai Massage practitioners under this system provided by the current form of the health Act.