POSTPONED: HandsFree Thai Massage Level 1 - December 2020

This weekend course provides an introduction to the powerful HandsFree techniques of Chuck Duff's Coaching The Body method. Students are taught to work from a place of meditative ease using leverage and body weight, a practice that cultivates maximum sensitivity to your client's body cues and avoids injury from overuse of forearm, shoulder and hand muscles. Variations using feet, legs and knees allow you as therapist to provide broad, deep pressure without endangering yourself. This is an excellent way for the practitioner to safely work with athletes and other clients who require deeper pressure without putting stress on themselves.

As in all of our courses, we maintain a strong therapeutic focus in our teaching, guiding the student in how to work with specific issues of pain or dysfunction. We employ the principles of Coaching The Body to understand common patterns of pain and its origins while using HandsFree techniques. Thai bodywork has a long tradition of walking techniques, as do many other indigenous forms. These techniques can be practiced without elaborate equipment such as ropes, bars or specially made treatment rooms. If the practitioner is developing balance, a simple object like a chair is sufficient to help maintain safe balance while on the client. We teach the student to be able to do this work with as little mechanical assistance as possible.

Along with the in-person course, student receives an online course that will take them through the techniques learned in class, breaking down the sequences from a more clinical lens. Hands Free Level 1 trainings are primarily taught by CTB Master Practitioner, Doug Ringwald. Upon successful completion, the student receives a 17-hour certificate. This course provides 17 NCBTMB CE hours.