Cosmo School of Thai Yoga Massage
Cosmo Thai Yoga is an accredited school of Thai Yoga massage based in Uk. The school provides 4 levels of training from beginner to teacher level in a system of 7 courses over 70 days of training in total. The qualification students obtain are FHT accredited and enable students to practice in Uk and most places throughout Europe where insurance may be required.
My name is Cosmo and I teach the Yoga aspect of training and all levels of the path. I am the mentor for students in the teacher training program and I run the school alongside my wife Anna, who has created a very unique element for the school, which is a Thai Massage for Female Health element that combines 2 courses at the specialist level 4. After her studies in Yoga for female health and body-based psychotherapeutic approach with Babette Rothschild, Anna is also introducing a new online annex to our training for those students interested in working with trauma through the body.
My contribution to the art of Thai Yoga massage is in 3 areas. Firstly, creating a school in the Uk that enables students to become accredited teachers if they wish. The second is to provide 4 courses for the modern Thai massage practitioner that go beyond the classical system, which covers Female Health and the cycle of life through Fertility, Pregnancy, and Postnatal care, and also a nice 8-day fusion of Osteopathy and Thai massage. Finally, I have also given clear structure to what can be quite an ambiguous system sometimes and called it the Inner & Outer Path and 5 Yoga Principles of Thai massage.
I began my studies of Thai massage in 2008 after completing a 120-hour Advanced Practitioner course in Thailand, and I was so impressed that I went back the following year to study the 400 hour Teacher Training program and qualified as a Teacher through the Thai Ministry of Health in 2009. I then returned home to the Uk and began teaching the students from my existing Yoga classes and they loved it. This gave me the enthusiasm to keep going in this direction.
I began to study everything to do with Thai massage and soon noticed that at that time in 2010, although there were many teachers and courses available in the Uk, there was no organized system that offered complete training in the art of Thai massage as a path from beginning to end. There were also no schools that enabled students to evolve into becoming qualified teachers and holders of the lineage rooted in Yoga. As a qualified Yoga teacher and now a qualified Thai Massage Instructor, I felt it was my calling to train longer and much deeper and create this training opportunity for students who wanted more than a few short courses here and there, but who instead wanted to study the art and a complete system.
Although I was now a qualified teacher I knew very little, so I spent the next 8 years going to Thailand for 3 months every winter and studying at the famous Sunshine Massage School in Chiang Mai, which hosted teachers from all over the world.
4 levels of Training
Level 1&2 is our 12 day Beginners course done over 6 weekends. It is accredited by the Federation of Holistic Therapists (FHT). For those who want to continue their training and become intermediate/advanced practitioners, we provide Level 3, an 18-day course done over three modules. It is also accredited as ‘Advanced Practitioner in Thai Yoga Massage’
Level 1&2 is the Beginners Foundation, and Level 3 is the Advanced Foundations of Thai massage course. Together I call them the Complete Foundation of Thai Yoga Massage, as they represent most of the Classical System and integrate the Northern style ‘Nuad Bo Rarn’ with the Southern Style ‘Wat Po’
The Level 1&2 course introduces the essential structure of Thai Yoga massage as a spiritual system within a framework of asana practice and learning postures. We introduce the general program of using hands, knees and feet to give Thai massage. Students are also introduced to the Inner and Outer Path and the 5 Yoga Principles of Massage application as the fundamental basis of the art.
The Level 3 course, specializes in key aspects of technique such as Using the Feet, Using the Knees, Using the Elbows, and Using Acupressure along Sen Lines and Origins and Insertion points of major muscle groups. I consider Levels 1, 2 & 3 to be the most important aspect of study for the Classical system in Thai Yoga Massage. Everything is built upon them. They are the trunk of the tree. The level 4 courses are like the branches and Yoga is the root system.
After completing the first 3 levels, students can then evolve with greater skill and confidence onto level 4, which includes the following specialist modules: Thai massage for Female Health, Thai Massage Pregnancy and Postnatal care, Advanced Thai Abdominal massage, Advanced Thai Acupressure, Dynamic Osteo-Thai massage, and Thai-Rebozo. There are also a number of short courses between 2/3 days, to cover areas not addressed in the main 4 levels
Teacher Training & Assistants
Cosmo Thai Yoga encourages progression and has created a pathway to help students to become teachers if they wish to complete the system of training. Once students have completed levels 1, 2 and 3, they can attend future courses as teaching assistants for that valuable experience needed to become a teacher in the future.
Requirements for teaching qualification: Students complete levels 1, 2, 3 and then complete 2 of the 5 courses available at level 4. Students will also be required to assist Cosmo teach on 3 courses.
Our philosophy for the school reflects the philosophy of Thai Yoga massage as it has been for thousands of years, in that Thai massage is a spiritual path within a framework of postures and massage techniques. What we are offering with our school is a complete system to represent the art of Thai Yoga Massage. Our training has a clear structure and good sequential order for continued personal and professional development. Like any art, Thai Yoga massage is a long path and to become a true master and teacher takes time, and training in all the essential components of the art. Our school provides this path as a complete system with all its components integrated into one.