Thai Dai Healing Space
The Thai Dai bodywork studio is a home-studio practice located in the beautiful City of Tualatin designed with the client in mind. The space has been built out of a home I share with my loving wife and two kitties. Our healing space radiates only the best vibrations to ensure a safe environment for anyone seeking to slow down, breathe a little bit deeper, and explore the wonders that lie between the tissues of the body.
Both natural and ambient light make easy work for clients needing to decompress as they take a moment to tune inward as they expand their bodily awareness in stillness. As we all unwind differently, the therapeutic soundscape can be tailored to any client preference - whether it be a silent respite from the noise and chaos, vibing out to some laid back lo-fi, or anything in between, the Healing Space and your practitioner are ready to provide the bodywork care you need when you are. I’ll meet you on the mat.
Philosophy of Touch
Thai Dai Massage is a traditional Thai massage studio that has emerged and formed itself in response to an absence of healthy touch in modern society. In the Western world, human touch and the views we hold about personal space have defined our touch culture and has shaped the way we connect to others and ourselves. What’s viewed as “normal” physical contact with other human beings has been reduced merely to acts of affection (sexual nature) or acts of aggression (violence). In contrast to many other cultures around the globe, these limited views prevent us from experiencing other forms of safe physical contact, including therapeutic touch. Much of the emotional callousness, the lack of compassion, toxic masculinity, and feelings of separation we either experience or witness daily can be attributed to this deficit of human touch.
Receiving regular doses of healing touch, performed responsibly, will improve our personal relationship with physical touch and even more, shift the way in which we view our world, including how we view ourselves. The bodywork itself is a physical exploration as we seek to relieve tension, aches, and imbalances that live in the tissues and recessed corners of our bodies. However, beyond the bodywork exists a stillness that can only be realized with mindful awareness and by practicing the arts of receiving and letting go. Many of us struggle with the concept, never really aware its a practice at all. let alone one worth mastering. We naturally default to the productive, or fast life as the good life slips through our fingers. We make the habit of depleting ourselves of our precious life energy and normalize feeling tired or run down. Massage, and the time we give it is a gift we give ourselves as an opportunity to “be” as we are. If and when we achieve that we finally invite and cultivate the necessary space for quiet, meditation, and stillness.
Regardless of income level, we are all born with these bodies and eventually we will die with these bodies. Each day we work hard to keep them properly nourished and (hopefully) properly rested in order to meet life’s too many demands and stressors. Therefore, it is our philosophy at Thai Dai Massage we are all equally deserving of access to bodywork treatment as we pursue our own wellness goals. Click here to explore our accessible Pay-What-You-Can (PWYC) bodywork offerings.
“Only when we can experience stillness do we find the ability to listen in to the subtle ways the body tries to tell us what we are grasping on to. Only then do we find the answers to what we need to let go.”
Finding Bodywork
“On the journey to myself, I’ve been so many people.” -Indigo Williams
Eric Hoàn’s journey into the healing arts and bodywork began after an unfortunate accident that led to a shoulder injury. With the help of medical insurance lifting some of the financial burdens he gained access to alternative medicines (TCM acupuncture and massage bodywork) which until then have never been available to him due to the high costs of Eastern forms of treatment. As he dabbled into this unknown medicine, Eric began seeking treatment from trained massage professionals who’d later become the first of many inspirations who spoke passionately of the concept of ‘bodywork as medicine’. Naturally this sparked a curiosity in him into the wonders of the human body that propelled him on his quest and in his craft to becoming a bodyworker.
After making the decision to begin a 2nd career in massage therapy, he found the East West College of the Healing Arts and began a 15-month program in March 2018. During his time there, he had the honor of learning under some of Portland’s most skilled professional massage therapists as he studied the art and science, the ethics, and therapeutic fundamentals behind the healing touch of massage. In March of 2019, the final term before completing his 800-hour massage training program Eric Hoàn chose an introductory course into Traditional Thai Massage as a required elective for graduating. Inspired by its holistic scope, the efficacy of its technique, and its unique approach to body mechanics and positioning Eric knew instantly this was going to become his massage modality of choice.
After graduating from the prestigious East West College of the Healing Arts and earning his licensure, Eric decided to continue in his educational pursuits with an aim to specialize in the Traditional Thai modality and become a traditional Thai bodyworker. Eric enrolled into a school in Northern Thailand immersing himself in an authentic traditional-style Thai training living onsite at the Baan Hom Samunphrai School. His training at the Baan Hom School consisted of 6-hours each day practicing specific techniques and set sequences as taught and demonstrated by his primary teacher, Homprang Chaleekanha* and her trusted assistants. It was here he received his certifications after successful completion of the 80-hour and 150-hour Traditional Thai Massage (Nuad Boran).
Eric is eager to bring home the fruits of his traditional Thai education and massage skills to his community where he will begin his practice in healing. He is committed to providing trustworthy and client-focused professional care in a safe space free of judgment to each and every person he treats.
Homprang Chaleekanha, M.S.
Maw Samunphrai, Doctor of Traditional Medicine
The photo above shows Maw Home touring her herbal farm introducing the fresh herbs and ingredients used in the herbal compresses she uses on her patients.
*Homprang Chaleekanha, is a licensed Traditional Doctor, Herbal Pharmacologist, and Midwife by the Thai Ministry of Public Health. She is a known locally as a healer and teacher of traditional Thai massage (nuad boran) having learned healing and medicine in the jungles of Chiang Mai since she was a young girl.
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