18/10/2026
I had a really interesting interaction with a colleague. I've been teaching in Austin for about 15 years and Thai massage seemed unknown in the area when I started. No facilities allowed mat work and it's slowly changed where a facility has added Thai to their menu of services to offer Thai likely trying to gain keywords and searches on google.
What they're offering could be mat, could be table, could be clothed, could be draped. There's no standardization.
My colleague did a practical interview and as with most Lmt who have taken class with me they featured Thai massage or NLPR training on their resume so the interviewer asked for some of that. It was clothed and afterwards the interviewer said, "it's not really Thai it's maybe NLPR but it's not Thai."
I wrote 700 pages of sequence manuals and 9 dvds of curriculum to get students started. Students take 2 days typically of training to feel that they understand the basics. Do they?
This isn't to disparage students or criticize facilities but facilities need standardized stable consistent services. When I ask what Thai massage is there's an expression of confusion. They say it's stretching. That's the difference, you stretch people.
When I ask what's the difference between stretch therapy and Thai they again, clam up and go, "well you know.."
No, I don't.
I used to do demonstrations and students looked at me working on a mat and said, "you're doing trigger point therapy. You're doing myofascial release." I'd look at them and say, "I thought I was doing Thai massage."
Fundamentally these things have Very Little definition. For someone to say my work isn't Thai I respond and go, "ok what is Thai?" They get frustrated but we're no closer to an answer.
I stopped focusing on Thai massage and built Next Level Pain Relief®. It's now apparently large enough that someone can make a distinction in Austin between NLPR and Thai and also has never taken a class with me nor ever had a session. Pretty nice. Straw men are easy to generate.
So, what's the difference between NLPR and Thai? A teacher once told me that, "it's only Thai if the theory is Thai." In my head at that moment I just declared that I was done.
I no longer teach Thai massage.
700 pages of sequence manuals and 9 dvds later you want to box me in? Nope. I'll create my own box.
Biomechanically my work can be seen as Thai but the theory? The theory is science. If my explanations don't fit double blind research studies we change the theory. I'm not basing my career on a practice that grew before antibiotics and waves a banner of tradition.
Now if I add education showing people how to work on themselves. If I add curriculum that shows a practitioner to work on 8 people at a time as part of a class. Is that Thai? No, it's not. It's Robert opening his heart and helping the people who come to him.
Having someone delcare what is or is not Thai then declaring what is or is not NLPR without ever having a class or a session? Oof how should I respond?
I'm not a Thai massage teacher, I just play one on tv.
Usefulness will determine what stays and grows. I'm not done teaching or expanding. When I die I'll still be working on improving.
NLPR is 2 things:
better for clients in pain
effortless for therapists to deliver
