Thai Massage
Healing fit for a king
At her San Mateo studio, Boontharika (Aoy) Casper performs traditional Thai massage on client Monica Miranda.
Photograph by Lane Johnson
Bay Area residents come to the Boontharika Traditional Thai Massage center in San Mateo complaining about shoulder, neck, and upper-back pain from sitting in front of their computers all day. Luckily for them, owner Boontharika Casper, a.k.a. Aoy, not only was trained at Wat Pho, a famous healing temple in Thailand, she is a model of serenity and sweetness, just like her names suggest. (Boontharika means “wild lotus” and Aoy means “sugar cane”).
Traditional Thai massage originated during the time of Buddha and eventually spread to other parts of the world. The practice incorporates Hatha yoga, acupressure, and reflexology. Started as a method of healing and caring for the Thai kings, traditional Thai massage often looks more like a partnered yoga practice than what Westerners usually think of as massage. Utilizing passive stretching, as well as the application of pressure, Thai massage is designed to help align the skeletal structure and increase flexibility and range of motion.
What sets Thai massage apart from other types of massage, Aoy says, is that “the client is usually fully clothed and lies on a mat instead of a table; no oils are used, like in other massages; and [practitioners] use their whole bodies—hands, elbow, thumbs, feet, and heels—not only to loosen muscles, but also to stretch the body.”
About 600 clients from all walks of life—athletes, police officers, dentists, homemakers, and more—come for Aoy’s treatments. Brooke Treseder, a regular client, says that she “has been playing sports all her life” and keeps coming back to Aoy, who “puts her
back together.”
Aoy came to the United States from Thailand in 2005 and started working in a massage center in San Francisco. She soon realized that she could not adhere to the strict 60-minute rituals and needed more time to provide effective care, so in 2008 she opened the Boontharika Traditional Thai Massage Center in San Mateo, which was elegantly designed and decorated by her husband and son.
To try out Thai massage locally, head to:
Boontharika Traditional Thai Massage, San Mateo
Six Harmonies Traditional Medicine Center, Los Gatos
Restore, Los Altos
Suchada Traditional Thai Massage, San Francisco
School of Traditional Medical Thai Massage, San Francisco and Mill Valley
