What is a Yam Khang massage?
A Yam Khang massage is a Lanna-style Thai healing practice in which a practitioner uses fire, oils, and feet.
Yam Khang (Thai Fire Therapy or Thai Fire Barefoot Massage) is an ancient Lanna-style Thai healing practice in which a practitioner uses heat, plai water, sesame oil, and their feet to massage their client.
The Thai word Yam means to step or walk, and the word Khang means plough. The symbolism of a Yam Khang is that the service will turn over the bad things in a person’s life just as a plough turns over the soil. The practical benefits of Yam Khang include relief of muscle, tendon, joint, and bone pain, and there is also some benefit for people with numbness or issues like frozen shoulder.
The uniqueness of Yam Khang comes from the use of oil and fire. Practitioners generally have two bowls of liquid to dip their feet in during a Yam Khang treatment. The first is a bowl of plai water. Practitioners scrape raw plai with stones into a water bowl and filter out everything except the infused water. The second bowl combines sesame oil and Thai whiskey, and this liquid provides the visual grandeur of a Yam Khang treatment.
Benefits
As with other forms of Traditional Thai massage, the purpose of Yam Khang is to work with Sib Sen and relieve muscle, tendon, joint and bone pain. But Yam Khang is considered a sacred art, and the practitioner must have gained spiritual maturity and high ethical standing. So you may find demonstrations of Yam Khang at Thai massage schools in Chiang Mai, but you will need help to learn Yam Khang.
You can find Yam Khang practitioners in the northern regions of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. The best place to experience treatment is in Ban Rai Kong Khing, a village that is one of the best places to experience all aspects of Traditional Thai Lanna culture. Or, if you are in Chiang Mai, you can experience or learn about this traditional form of Thai medicine at the Hangdong Thai Massage School.
Treatments
Clients lie on a mat with their legs, arms, and back uncovered beside a heated iron plough blade that is either lying on fire or covering a metal pail filled with charcoal embers. Practitioners stand between the client and the oil and plough blade. Sometimes a practitioner will use a wooden stick for balance. Or, if the treatment area is designed specifically for Yam Khang, the practitioner will balance themself with a wooden beam mounted above the recipient.
The actual treatment has three steps. First, practitioners dip one foot in the plai water, step on or swipe the heated blade with their foot, and then use their foot to massage the recipient’s muscles. When the practitioners’ foot gets cold, they repeat this first step of dipping their feet in the plai oil, stepping on the iron plough blade and massaging the recipient.
The final step is the most exciting to experience and watch. After warming up one area of the recipient using the plai water, the practitioner dips their foot in the oil and whiskey mixture, steps on or swipes the heated iron plough blade, and presses their foot on the area that they have already warmed up.
The experience for clients is unlike any other massage they might find elsewhere. Not only do they have the sensation of heat, but the combination of fire, smoke and chanting is equally memorable. When the practitioner steps on the plough after dipping their feet in plai water, there is a hissing sound and steam. But when they step on the plough with their oil-soaked foot, there is usually a burst into flame and an accompanying wave of heat.
You must be logged in to post a comment.