Thai Medicine Workshop with
Historian, Pierce Salguero 

This workshop is led by Pierce Salguero, a specialist in Asian medicine who has a Ph.D. in History of Medicine from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He is a college professor, author, researcher, and practitioner of Traditional Thai Massage and Buddhist Medicine.

Learn how politics, economics, culture and geography have given rise to the texts and concepts that have moved through time to become modern practices of Thai medicine, Ayurveda, Yoga, Chinese medicine and Buddhism.

Once enough people signup, participants will receive a copy of the updated version of his book Traditional Thai Medicine: Buddhism, Animism, Yoga and Ayurveda via mail prior to the weekend (those who sign up less than two weeks before may receive the book at the workshop). We encourage you to read this book, as it will enrich your experience.

The topics that will be covered are:

Buddhism & Spirit Healing: Buddhist foundations of Thai healing, including the history and practice of specific healing meditations, chants, and other means of alleviating mental and physical suffering within the Buddhist framework. A large part of traditional medicine in Thailand involves engaging with the spirit world, so the focus will be on understanding Thai healing magic, rituals of protection, spirit invocation, exorcism, magic charms, amulets, and other aspects of indigenous Thai spirit healing.

Thai Healing Culture: Specific topics include “wai khru” ceremonies, altars and other sacred spaces, and Thai medical concepts and vocabulary. Delve into these and other aspects of the culture of Thai healing, with emphasis on “culturally translating” Thai traditions to fit with participants’ own teaching and practice goals.

Thai Medical History: Familiarity with the history of Thai medicine is crucial to being able to teach the Thai healing arts with integrity and depth. The workshop is dedicated to providing participants with the tools to separate fact from myth, and to deepening the factual knowledge they can share with their own students.

Connections with India and China: Explore the connections between Thai medicine and other Asian traditions such as hatha-yoga, Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and various forms of Buddhism. This part of the workshop is particularly helpful for practitioners of other complementary-alternative modalities to understand how Thai medicine fits with these practice.                                                               

Cost:

• • $220 with Early Registration through February 24th, 2017.
  • $275 with Regular Registration after February 24th, 2017.