Understanding and Internal Processes of the client during Nuad Boran Treatment

by Danko Lara Radic

Nowadays it is easy to acquire a lot of information about this therapy, unlike in the recent past, when Nuad Boran was shrouded under a veil of mystery. Much has already been said about what it is, what are the techniques it uses, what are the benefits it brings about, how to approach each individual client, etc. However, there is almost no mention of the role of client, that is, beneficiary, during treatment. Does he/she understand what this therapy is like? Is he/she ready to go through such experience? Is he/she aware of the level of cooperation that is necessary for this therapy to result successful? These and many other questions shall be addressed in the essay before you.

Theoretical understanding of Nuad Boran

General Misconceptions

1. What does the client expect from Nuad Boran?

Because of global boom in wellness business, Nuad Boran (popularly called Thai massage) is most often perceived by people as an exotic/luxury/wellness/spa product, or even, due to the flourishing sex tourism, as erotic service. Nuad Boran is none of the above. In wellness centers, treatments are carried out routinely, usually in the form of relaxation massage, without paying heed to clients individuality. Primary motive in this practice is profit plain and simple. Inside brothels and various parlors, it is just plain prostitution which takes place behind a smokescreen of Thai massage, or some kind of massage combined with erotic services. Therefore, clients should be explained in advance that Nuad Boran is an ancient spiritual and healing practice, which is not an entity for itself, but rather a component of Traditional Thai medicine, under the aegis of Buddhist religion.

2. Client expects rapid intervention from the outside world which shall rid him/her of all his/her problems
Today people are pretty indolent concerning their health and there are few among them who dedicate their time to prevention. Therefore, nowadays, most of the illnesses are chronic in nature, which means that disorders develop during a longer period of time that is, neglect, starting from a subtle disorder on energy level to its final manifestation on physical level. This process usually goes on for years. As painful symptoms appear only in the terminal stage, people for the most part react rather too late, but this does not prevent them from expecting healing instantly, which is a consequence of contemporary consumer/ fast food philosophy. Many clients come with such expectations, so they should be explained that pathology accumulated in them over years cannot be remedied with one or a few treatments.

3. Many clients have no awareness of their own responsibility for their health and they expect that a professional takes care of it against reimbursement
Man is not a washing machine in which a broken part can just be replaced. Most of the illnesses and disorders are caused by psychological patterns deeply-rooted in a person, and unless he/she takes active part and assumes personal responsibility, therapist can do little about it.

Practical experience and internal processes in client during Nuad Boran treatment Talkative client
Today there are a great number of people that suffer from verbosity or excessive wordiness. It is mainly a manifestation of a faulty attention span, complex or insecurity. Such persons are most often having a soliloquy ignoring that communication is a two-way process and disregarding if they have any feedback or not. Such clients usually go on talking even when the treatment begins and they dont stop unless you explicitly tell them to do so. However, Nuad Boran is not psychotherapy in the classic sense, so conservation may be held either before or after, but definitely not during treatment. Nuad Boran is a meditative type of bodywork, which means that it requires the therapist to be fully heedful and have conscious focus at any given moment, as well as to breathe in harmony with the client. This cannot be achieved while engaged in conversation, so absolute silence is necessary during treatment. Vocal expressions may be given vent only when processing certain sensations, requiring certain feedback or assistance or making a brief joke or observation.

Reaching pain threshold

During therapy, client may experience various types of pain with different intensity. Pain can be of physical or mental nature, and it serves as a signal emitted by the body to indicate that something is wrong. If we leave aside detrimental pain that occurs when therapist lacks skill, all other forms of pain are beneficial pain. This pain sends out a message that change is necessary. In modern times, people on daily basis undergo stressful situations to which they fail to respond in adequate manner, due to social pressure. All negative emotions that are repressed and unexpressed and all negative patterns remain etched in body as information , in fascia, muscles and internal organs. During therapy, these etchings are put into effect, emotions are revived, brought into conscious focus, and the client feels them as pain. It is necessary that the client understands this phenomenon in order to be able to process painful sensation, because it is the only way that pain can go away. Most people ultimately understand this process intuitively, which can be given vivid expression as ouch, there, right there, press it, ooouch, more, ooouch, mmmmm

Client wants to help

This is perhaps symptomatically the biggest obstacle precisely in Nuad Boran, because unlike in other therapies, clients body is in movement most of the time. While moving or stretching, client often wants to help by moving/stretching a given part of body himself/herself. This shows that the client fails to understand the concept of therapy, and there are three reasons for which he/she can do this. The first reason is that, as soon as he/she feels that the movement will go beyond his/her comfort zone, the client feels fear of the unknown and channel the movement direction back to the comfort zone. This can be indicative of clients unreadiness to face his/her pattern or his/her lack of confidence in the therapist. The second reason is of mental nature and characteristic of control freaks who are not willing to let any movement pass without their control. These persons must always be in charge of the situation and who are utterly incapable of surrendering themselves. This phenomenon on the physical level is only a reflection of their lifestyle pattern, that is, they

are in general extremely dominant persons, such as people holding important positions in management, like CEOs. These clients are a great challenge for every therapist. The third reason is the situation when a client is significantly more corpulent than the therapist and wants to help him out of compassion thinking that it must be difficult for the therapist to physically manipulate his/her body. This only shows that the client is not familiar with the body mechanics of Nuad Boran, which does not require strength and which provides adequate technique for each and every client without being strenuous for the therapist. It is up to the therapist to determine which type the client belongs to, and hence to provide an explanation about it to him/her.

Positions unpleasant for the client

It is often the case that the client finds himself/herself in a position that is not painful for him/her, but still arouses unpleasant emotion and thus requires the therapist to proceed to the next technique. This happens because in some positions the pattern within fascia is being attacked, the fascia unfolds and the information is released in the form of traumatic emotion. This phenomenon can also be of psychological nature; certain position can be identical to a position in which a person suffered traumatic experience, so that position may cause mental association and unpleasant emotion. This process should be clarified to the client.

Disconnection with the body

Some people never close their eyes during the entire treatment, they turn their head and look around. Those people are not ready to face themselves, they are looking for constant external stimulation. It is a huge problem for them to probe their inner being and they oftentimes dont feel their own body as their self. If you tell them to relax, they will usually reply that they are already relaxed. You should carefully explain what is going on and help them to try to get in touch with themselves.

Inability of relaxation
Similar to the previous case are persons who superficially appear to be relaxed, but when you try to perform a movement, you face resistance. When you tell your client to relax a certain part of the body, he/she will say yes, I have relaxed it, yet when you try to repeat this movement, you will still feel resistance. This kind of strain is largely on unconscious level, so the client cannot control it easily, since he/she has poor communication with the body. If you suggest the client to relax, it is likely that the resistance will intensify, because unconscious stress is topped by clients conscious stress and fear that he/she might not be able to relax, which is additionally frustrating. This can be overcome by introducing tender and smooth repetitive movements, like rotation, that will make it easier for the client to surrender himself/herself.

Breathing patterns
Many people dont know to breathe correctly and they dont understand the importance of proper breathing, especially during interaction such as Nuad Boran. It is well-known that each basic emotion has its corresponding breathing pattern. Clients breathing during treatment will be defined in the course of sensations experienced by him/her; nevertheless, as much as correct breathing fashion can be helpful in this process, incorrect breathing can likewise be harmful. Breath is the carrier of vital energy, through which we take it inside our body and let it go out of our body. That is the reason why we say exhale the pain. Namely, when we feel a painful sensation, a significant part of its energy structure is successfully released through exhaling. However, when they feel pain, many people react by contorting their body and holding their breath, which is symptomatic of defense mechanism and the well-known Im-gonna-endure-this

attitude. Once again, this is just a physical reflection of the mental pattern of inability to surrender oneself. Even when you indicate to such a client that he/she should exhale, he/she will usually breathe out only shallow, needlessly engaging his/her lips while at it. This is particularly evident in women who take excessive care about their looks and what kind of esthetic impression they make on people, as well as in control freaks who extend their control even to the simple act of breathing. In both cases, the problem is their inability to exhale from their soul.

Stoicism and the lack of communication

It often happens that some introverted persons go through the entire treatment without showing any kind of emotion or sensation, which doesnt mean that they have no such experience. You will often feel strain, trembling or uneasiness, an altogether turbulent internal process, but the person will strive to keep it all hidden and not let it out. This is hard-core version of Im-gonna-endure-this attitude. You must explain to such clients what is the importance of exploring ones emotions and sensations, the importance of letting go their breath, grimace, yell or a tear.

Emotional reactions
Sometimes powerful traumas in people are resolved during treatment, they experience strong emotions, like intense sorrow, anger, feeling of guilt, etc. so they get surprised and blame the therapist for that, asking something like what did you do to me? It should be explained to these clients what did come about and they should be given active support if they feel shattered.

Sexual energy
This matter has always been very delicate, especially in case of Nuad Boran, popularly known as Thai massage. Even at present day there is a lot of misuse and exploitation of this therapy by the prostitution lobby worldwide. On micro level, this skill employs touch, the same tool that is employed in expressing ones sexuality and therefore it often leads to misunderstandings because it is a very thin line between these two fields. Sexual energy can be implemented in Nuad Boran treatment either by the client or the therapist, or by the two of them at the same time. There are many therapists who misuse Nuad Boran practice in order to fulfill their sexual aspirations, who actively use their sexual energy, sometimes consciously and oftentimes even unconsciously. Each therapist should reconsider himself/herself in this respect in an honest and sincere manner. On the other hand, there are likewise a great number of clients who use their sexual energy during treatment, consciously and unconsciously as well. Those who use it consciously surely have a clear motive to do so. However, a lot of clients start to emit their sexual energy unconsciously, often only to prolong the treatment. We live in a time when many people are sexually frustrated and have no satisfactory sexual life. In the course of two hours of relatively intimate interaction like Nuad Boran, where one part has a delicate sense and mastery of touch, while the other part often has many sexual frustrations, sexual energy easily bursts out and comes to the surface because it is extremely powerful. Sometimes there is chemistry between therapist and client and then the treatment risks eventually developing into something else. Whatever starts going on, responsibility for the ensuing situation lies on the therapist, as the bearer of spiritual discipline that should in no way be confused with sexuality. If the therapist feels sexual energy in the air, he should end contact and annul it in a diplomatic manner, and then professionally carry on.

Relapsing symptoms
It is often the case that on the following meeting, when asked how did he/she feel after the previous treatment, the client responds that there was some amelioration, but the symptoms relapsed and everything is just as it was. This happens because what lies at the heart of the problem has not been resolved. The problem can even disappear from the treated area, but only to reappear on another place, or the symptoms may change. A lot of problems that people suffer today are chronic pathologies, which take long time to develop and it is not easy to cure them. Those problems are psychological and physical patterns that are characteristic of a given lifestyle, which is the cause from which they usually originate. Therefore, without permanent change in lifestyle, the root of the problem cannot be resolved, and no matter how many treatments a client takes, pathologies remain. Many people think that they can go on with their unwholesome lifestyle and just go on treatments where someone will remedy all the damage done by them, and thus achieve a status quo. It is not like that at all. The best example of this pattern is anti-cellulite massage first you eat unwholesome food for three months, and then you go on 10 anti-cellulite treatments, take it off a bit, and then go back to unwholesome food habits, and continue like that on and on, while cellulite piles up more and more. And what happens in case of serious pathologies, some of which are life-threatening? Each client must understand that the responsibility for his/her health lies primarily on himself/herself, while therapists role is to give you instructions, maximum support and concrete help in your change of the entire lifestyle pattern.

Conclusion
All afore mentioned categories are divided in order to make their understanding and association easier. In practice, they are most often mixed within a person, who can react simultaneously in a number of ways mentioned above. Therapist should have strictly individual approach, to sense intuitively where the problem lies, and to help clients healthy being to surmount pathological pattern. Nuad Boran is one of the most complex healing skills. It permeates the very essence of the human being. Bearing this in mind, we must first explain profound processes going on to the client. When we are children, we develop specific patterns of behavior, as forms of adaptation and response to the environment, which is often inimical to us, in order to survive both mentally and emotionally. Those patterns remain deeply rooted in our subconsciousness, and generally we keep them in our adulthood too, even though the environment is different. As a result, our responses to the environment are usually inadequate and therefore we end up saying Theres no help for me! I always same situations same failures same things same mistakes same people Most of the people do not recognize their patterns because they lost touch with themselves. The entire civilization promotes and fosters a new demonic religion, constant external stimulation in the form of consumerism and entertainment. It is the dominant philosophy of the day, which distracts people from self-examination. People stopped examining themselves, now they direct their attention to the outside, and they blame others, society, even the whole world, for their hardships. This leaves an impression that human being is only a cog in a giant machinery of the society, and that nothing depends on him/her, so he/she repetitively finds himself/herself in the same situations in life, over and over again, as a ping-pong ball. In Nuad Boran it is the therapist that bears the responsibility to make the client face his/her inappropriate patterns and to provide help so that he/she can reprogram them into healthy patterns. However, therapist is only a guide and support, while the main responsibility is on the client, who must face himself/herself, enter deep within himself/herself and change, because no one else can do that for him/her.