Program Redesign ~ a message to my current and incoming students

As I watch the exponential spread of illness throughout our local, national, and global community it has become clear that I cannot in good conscience proceed forward with the hands-on classes that I had hoped to resume this fall. It simply doesn’t feel like right action in my gut. The primary lesson of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 is and has always been, that we are all connected and only through precautions that protect one another will we move out of these pandemic times. Whether it is the interconnectedness between two individuals through which virus can jump or the interconnectedness between nations that means that so long as any one country on this earth is suffering all peoples in all nations are in danger, the lesson has been from the very beginning that we must care about one another, even when this means making difficult changes and sacrifices; for we are one and love is the answer.

Over the last few days I have sat in contemplation reimagining how to offer the Thai medicine teachings I hold to meet the needs of the times we are in. This has required opening my heart-mind to doing something that I previously thought I would never do, and that is to teach entirely, including bodywork, through interactive distance education until we can safely gather and once again lay hands on one another. This reimagining is in progress, and I find myself surprisingly inspired by it.

I think I have to start by saying the reason that I thought I would never teach Thai massage online or in videos is because I had never seen it done in a way that I perceived to be safe and whole. To teach bodywork, such an inherently physical thing, and Thai bodywork at that, one of the most physically complex modalities extant, without being in the same room, at one time seemed impossible to me. But look at the moment we are in. The tools we have created. The ways in which humans have found to touch one another in untouchable times. The number of impossible things happening in the world around me is enough to reconfirm my belief in magic. We created one of the most effective vaccines in human history in a timeframe I thought impossible even given the decades of research that it stands on; surely I can figure out how to teach bodywork safely, to all corners of the earth, in a manner that goes beyond the limitations of how I have seen it done in the past.

Just give me a minute, I am creating this enormous thing.

More information is coming, but here is what I know right now:

• The program will not be truly finished until the day when we can gather in-person for a massage intensive, because I still believe that working directly with you, seeing you work, feeling your work, giving in-person guidance, is a key part of massage training. I imagine a two week in-person workshop someday in the future - there will be plenty of time to plan for it, don't worry. It could be shorter or longer, it depends on various factors that will reveal themselves.

• The program will be a multi-platform mixture of video lessons, hand outs, live zoom workshops, group messaging communications, weekly wai kru ritual and check-in, students sending in videos of themselves practicing, books, and more. We are going to use ALL the tools to make this work, make this fun, make this accessible.

• I can take more people into this program than I could take in my original hands-on program because the format will allow me to give the same level of personal guidance to more people and we can create multiple end of program intensives so that the true hands-on portion is still a small student/teacher ratio.

• Creating this program will be a huge undertaking for me, and costly, however I intend to keep the price the same if not lower than current prices. I can't say exactly what it will be yet, only that it will not be more expensive than current prices.

• My hands-on workshops were supposed to start on September 11th, but I'm going to need a bit more time to put this together. I'm currently thinking that the end of September is reasonable and will get back to you all with an exact date as soon as possible.

• I will try to keep the live Zoom workshops within the time blocks that are already allotted for in-person classes. The Zoom workshops will be shorter though.

• You will see changes to my website reflecting all of this soon and if you are already enrolled in a program or in talks with me I will reach out to you with the information as it evolves.

I send love and wishes of health and safety and happiness to each and every one of you. I know that this transition will be a delight to some, a relief, an unexpected opportunity; but I also know that it will be a sorrow for some as well; a disappointment and a letting go of excited expectations. I understand both how distance learning connects us to people who we would not have connected with before (and now not only those who are geographically distanced, but also those who could not attend hands-on classes due to a lack of antibodies), and also how it disconnects us. And I know that there are those who simply do not relate to computers. For those for whom this is wonderful news, big smiles. For those for who this is hard news, I give gratitude to your understanding, I give empathy for the loss, and give wishes/prayers that with time this change will prove itself to be of great benefit, to be right action.