Pong Thai Massage — Wat Pho Lineage, Brunswick

Nuad Phaen Boran · นวดแผนโบราณ

Two hundred years of carried knowledge.

"Before we touch the body, we settle the breath. The rest is just following the line the ancestors drew."

Wat Pho — the Temple of the Reclining Buddha — is where Thai massage was formally recorded, engraved on stone tablets in the early nineteenth century. The technique passes from teacher to student, hand to hand, to this day. UNESCO inscribed it as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2019.

We trained there. Our head therapist studied ten years under Ajarn Sinchai in Chiang Mai, and still returns each year to refresh the work. Nothing we do is invented. It is remembered.

220Years of documented temple lineage

800h+Minimum training per therapist

— Ajarn Sinchai, teacher,
Chiang Mai 1998

The Offerings

Four traditional treatments.

No packages, no "signature blends." Each offering is taught exactly as it is taught at the Wat Pho school. Choose the one your body is asking for.

Nuad Phaen Boran

នួដផែនបូរាន

The classical dry massage. Loose cotton, no oil. Rhythmic thumb and palm pressure along the sen energy lines, with assisted yoga-adjacent stretches. For chronic tension, athletic recovery, and stuck posture.

$95 60 min

Luk Pra Kob

លូកប្រកប

Hand-tied herbal compresses — lemongrass, kaffir lime, turmeric, plai ginger, tamarind, camphor — steamed until aromatic, then pressed into the muscle. Paired with traditional work. For inflammation, cold weather, deep recovery.

$145 90 min

III

Nuad Nam Man

នួដណាមមែន

A softer session using warm coconut oil infused with Thai temple herbs. Longer strokes meet Thai pressure points. For the nervous system, first-time visitors, and the quietly frayed.

$110 60 min

Nuad Thai Thao

នួដថៃថៅ

Foot and lower-leg reflexology, worked with a carved wooden thong stick — the same tool found in every Bangkok street-side foot shop. Unexpectedly powerful for sleep, headaches, and winter circulation.

$75 45 min

The Compress Ritual

A muslin knot of herbs, steamed eight minutes.

The luk pra kob — the herbal compress — is the most distinctly Thai thing we do. We make ours fresh each Sunday, tying every bundle by hand in unbleached cotton. The compress is steamed until the whole room smells of lemongrass, then pressed along the body. Heat opens the tissue. The herbs finish the rest.

This is not aromatherapy. This is medicine a Thai grandmother would recognise.

Lemongrassตะไคร้
Kaffir limeมะกรูด
Turmericขมิ้น
Plai gingerไพล
Tamarind leafมะขาม
Camphorการบูร

The Hands

Every therapist trained in Thailand.

No short-course certifications. Our practitioners studied at Wat Pho in Bangkok or the Thai Traditional Medical Services Society in Chiang Mai — 800 hours minimum, plus continuing teacher-student practice weekly.

ปKhun Ploy
Wat Pho · 14 yrs

Khun Ploy

Head Therapist · 14 yrs

Wat Pho Bangkok. Deep traditional work and sports recovery.

นKhun Nok
Chiang Mai · 11 yrs

Khun Nok

Senior Therapist · 11 yrs

Chiang Mai lineage. Herbal compress and prenatal modifications.

ลKhun Lek
Bangkok · 6 yrs

Khun Lek

Therapist · 6 yrs

Oil work and foot reflexology. Gentle and methodical.

A blessing, offered in
hands — Pong Thai Massage —