Wi is the laughing – tiny, but strong Thai woman who greets you in the door. She sits you down at her table and ask how she can help you. – just to clear up all misunderstandings before we begin, Poo, in the Poo Massage, really translate into something like Mountain Jungle Herb.
In the North of Thailand, in the mountains where the jungle grow wild, this special herbs originate. Because of the unique environment up north, with both the warm and the cold, sun and shadow, wind and rain, these herbs grow extra strong and magical. After the pickings they will be taken to a temple where the Monks will bless them before Wi uses them in her massages, drinks and food.
Wi has been working with massage for 8 years now. She started in Bangkok where she was trained.
12 years ago she arrived to Phangan, but with no education and no job. She started working in a coffee shop but very quickly found that this was not for her. She was only visiting Koh Phangan for a holiday at that time, but loved it so much here that she decided to stay. She wanted to make something for herself and hopefully be able to help other people at the same time. So the idea of a massage education was not so far away. This way she could help both herself AND others.
She went back to Bangkok, where she worked before in a newsletter office, to get her training and was trained in all kind of massage styles. It was here she also learned about the magical herbs and started mixing her knowledge from one teaching to another. For her it made good sense to draw experience from all the different styles and mould it into 1 new style - also working with Oils and Herbs.
She went to work in a hospital in Surathani to assist as a nurse in her training period. With her knowledge of biology and massage, she was a good assistant for the doctors. Especially recovering patients were happy to meet her! She can do wonders for a recovering body! Rehabilitation and handicapped patients became 1 of her specialties.
Finally 8 years ago she could return to Koh Phangan as a very skilled expert. She found a place to make her shop in Ban Tai. She is now in her second shop across the street from where her first shop was.
In the years she have been here, she became so popular, that she needed more space for her shop. She now also needed and have a space where her “patients” can relax before, in-between or after her massage. Also she find it very important to have a good space where she can talk with her customers. Sometimes a good laugh or cry can make as big miracles as my hands, - she say. To breathe right for a moment releases the body for the restrains.
She makes her own oils for her treatments. Mixing herbs and oils for different treatments. F.ex she make and mix a special skin treatment for white people. “When the white people come here, they shock their skin.
They are not use to all this sun and sun bathing is very popular even it is such a bad thing for any skin!” So she helps them cool down after too much sun. Same Oils is also good for preventing or helping on skin cancer!
“People come to me and say they want to be healed. So they go detoxing in the
yoga schools.
Detox can be good, but you have to do it carefully. It’s a matter of cleaning without emptying. The body goes into a form of shock when you clean it for all it has. A
detox should be done slowly over days and under supervision of a trained helper. While you are cleaning, it is f.ex good to still eat the herbs that cleans your liver and kidneys and drink lots of water. Same time you could also be using the herbs for better blood cirkulation. This knowledge are very important while you are cleaning to not just shock your body system and make it worse than it actually was before.”
“It is the same with using the herbal saunas. It is very healhty but only if you use them right. When you have go to a sauna, bring or buy srubbing herbs and cleaning herbs for your skin. Do not stay for more than 10 minuttes inside and wait 2 minuttes outside before you splash the cold water on your body. Also here it is a matter of not shocking your body system. When the body is hot from the sauna and you splash the ice water on it after, all the little molecules inside jumps in different directions and gets confused for a while. This is not healthy for you. So wait 2 minuttes after the 10 minuttes sauna before using water. When you go back in don’t go more than 10 minuttes again and this time use your scrubbing herbs. When you come out after this time, don’t go back. Again just wait 2 minuttes and then cool down by the water and clean your skin for the scrubbing herbs.”
“Same with the massage,” she say, “wait 1 hour at least before taking shower or going swimming. Water clear your body energy and when I have worked on you, my touch needs to manipheste in your body before you flush it of with water again.”
She makes different magical drinks of herbs too. She can make you 1 that gives you power, or 1 that puts you to sleep. If you are sick from cold or fever, she have a drink for you too.
She told me how to gain power and get good blood cirkulation by drinking the Hales drink ( from any Thai grocery shop ) and mix it with soda water.
“and Valium”, she say, “don’t ever use! Instead mix 1 spoon of honey with a small spoon of sesame seeds.”
Lucky as she is, she also have a guy to entertain her customers if she is not there or is working on someone else. In the small garden next to her shop, you will find Niklas with a cold beer, ready to entertain and offer you a cold drink while waiting for Wi.
“If you don’t like him first, its ok,” she say, “‘cause I didn’t either!” “He came around my shop in the beginning when I opened and wanted massage. I told him that I don’t make traditional
Thai massage and I was very expensive because I am a Healer also. He said okay and kept coming back. I didn’t like him because I saw him in the bars so I made him pay a 1000 bath for every treatment because of that. But after many hours of massages and talks, I see his heart and in the end I fell in Love with him. He has helped me with all my work and I’m very happy for him now - Most of the times “– she say.
Wi have a dream!
One day she want to find a big space where she can make full treatments. She need a big space for her own herbal garden and a “walking space” for her customers, to learn to walk again. Regular people, like you and me, have forgotten how to breathe and how to walk. We do both in harmful ways to our bodies. She want a “ walking space” where she will put stones and or coconut shells out for making walking exercises on. “ The foot have 36 points that all reaches out to some specific part of your body. By using your feet right and walking on hard grounds and unequal ground you reach those points with your full body weight and it works in the same way as if I was to push those “buttons.” Except this way, you get more power on the pressure points because of your own weight and the biggest benefit of course is, that you can learn to walk so you always press your points when you are walking normally.
She want to make many more plants and herbs for her treatments and to grow them herself also. She will use the sons and daughters of the strong herbs from the north to make a new herb family in her own garden. She will ask the monks to come and bless her garden and her pickings every month.
I have seen her work wonders on friends and I have talked to her about her knowledge of herbs, plants and oils. She is a small magical woman. So pure and so sweet.
“What ever the doctor say to you, come and talk to me after and I’m sure I have a treatment he never heard about. Some people are told by their doctor that they cannot recover, but when they come here, we still make progress with whatever the problem have been and sometimes even cure what the doctor failed to cure.”
We wish all the Luck for Wi and Niklas here from the Magazine and hope that her dream will come true 1 day, so that we all have a place to come to learn how to breathe and walk again!
For now we are gratefull that we can come to her shop for her treatments.
Now I will go to her shop and get my treatment for the week!
WitchBitch
