Types of Thai Massage Practitioners

Our practitioner rates correlate with seven different levels of Thai massage proficiency.

Sirius Health is proud of our team. But we believe that an excellent Thai massage practitioner is continually challenging themselves to become better and deepen their knowledge of Thai massage.

We have created a practitioner roadmap that consists of seven different levels of Thai massage proficiency. Each class has explicit criteria, including association membership, hours of hands-on training, hours of practice, years of experience, and the number of certifications in Thai massage modalities.

Training + Practice + Experience
= Proficiency

The advantage to our customers is twofold. First, since we document the progress of our practitioners each step of the way, there is no surprise when the rates rise for a practicing practitioner. But more importantly, the more we learn and progress in our professional field, the better service we can offer you when you book with us at Sirius Health.

Student Practitioner

Base Rate: $40/hr

Accreditation: None
Hands-On Training Hours: 0
Client Hours: 0

Apprentice Practitioner

Base Rate: $60/hr

Accreditation: None
Hands-On Training Hours: 60
Client Hours: 60

Certified Practitioner

Base Rate: $70/hr

Accreditation: NHCP
Designation: Certified
Hands-On Training Hours: 150
Schools Attended: 1
Client Hours: 150
Years Experience: 0
Level 1 Modalities: 1+
Level 2 Modalities: 0
Level 3 Modalities: 0

Registered Practitioner

Base Rate: $80/hr

Accreditation: THAI, NHPC
Designation: RTT
Hands-On Training Hours: 250
Schools Attended: 2
Client Hours: 1500
Years Experience: 3
Level 1 Modalities: 1+
Level 2 Modalities: 1+
Level 3 Modalities: 0

Advanced Practitioner

Base Rate: $90/hr

Accreditation: THAI, NHPC
Designation: Advanced RTT
Hands-On Training Hours: 350
Schools Attended: 3
Client Hours: 2500
Years Experience: 5
Level 1 Modalities: 1+
Level 2 Modalities: 1+
Level 3 Modalities: 1+

Instructor Practitioner

Base Rate: $100/hr

Accreditation: THAI, NHPC
Designation: Registered Instructor
Hands-On Training Hours: 500
Schools Attended: 4
Client Hours: 3500
Teaching Hours: 500
Years Experience: 8
Level 1 Modalities: 1+
Level 2 Modalities: 1+
Level 3 Modalities: 2+

Senior Practitioner

Base Rate: $110/hr

Accreditation: THAI, NHPC
Designation: Registered Instructor
Hands-On Training Hours: 1000
Schools Attended: 5
Client Hours: 5000
Teaching Hours: 1000
Years Experience: 10
Level 1 Modalities: 1+
Level 2 Modalities: 1+
Level 3 Modalities: 3+

Accreditation

Natural Health Practitioners of Canada (NHPC)

NHPC represents over 6,300 practitioners that work in over 60 massage and holistic health practices, including Thai massage. NHPC is committed to strengthening and maintaining professional standards for its practitioners across Canada.

Certified Thai Practitioner: To certify as a Thai massage practitioner, NHPC requires that a practitioner have a minimum of 150 hours of in-person training at Thai massage schools recognized by NHPC.

Thai Healing Alliance International (THAI)

THAI is an international network of massage therapists, teachers and schools that work in traditional Thai massage. THAI promotes basic standards of study and practice of traditional Thai massage worldwide and offers the general public information about Thai healing arts.

Registered Thai Therapist (RTT): The minimum requirements to become an RTT are 250 hours of formal hands-on training with two different teachers or schools, and 40% of this training must be with teachers or schools affiliated with THAI. And at least 18 months must have elapsed since the completion of your first training.

Advanced Registered Thai Therapist (Advanced RTT): The minimum requirements to become an Advanced RTT are 350 hours of formal hands-on training with at least three different teachers or schools, two of which must be associated with THAI. Advanced RTT members must also have studied at least once in Thailand and have completed at least 10 hours of Thai cultural studies. At least three years must have elapsed since the completion of the practitioners first training in Thai massage.

Registered Instructor: The minimum requirements to become a Registered Instructor are 500 hours of formal hands-on training with at least three different teachers or schools, and 40% of this training must be with teachers or schools affiliated with THAI. Registered Instructors must have a wide range of study and experience with many different teachers over a minimum period of 3 years. In addition to manual techniques, they should also have some study experience in Thai acupressure protocols and basic knowledge of Thai element theory.

Hands-On Training

With formal hands-on training, a student learns Thai massage by performing massage on other students under an instructor’s guidance. Working with instructors and other students in person provides opportunities for a more significant interaction. More importantly, the instructor is available to work with the student to provide guidance.

A Student Practitioner requires no formal hands-on training, and the Apprentice Practitioner requires 60 hours of training, which is equivalent to taking Level 1 and 2 at most Thai massage schools. The Certified Practitioner must meet the requirements of NHPC, while THAI requirements define the education requirements for the Registered, Advanced and Instructor Practitioners. The Senior Practitioner must receive an additional 500 hours of hands-on training after becoming a Registered Instructor.

Schools Attended

In the Western tradition, becoming an expert means becoming more and more specialized in your field. Thai massage is not a static discipline with an established set of techniques taught identically in every Thai massage school. Schools share the basic understanding of Thai massage, but each school does Thai massage a bit differently.

Two Thai massage practitioners who come from two different Thai massage schools will do Thai massage differently. So to become more proficient in Thai massage, a practitioner must learn from more than one school.

THAI requires an RTT to study at two schools and an Advanced RTT or Instructor to study at three schools. We expect a bit more from our practitioners. To become an Instructor, a practitioner must train at four schools and five to become a Senior Practitioner.

Client and
Teaching Hours

Neither NHPC nor THAI requires specific hours of client practice for their designations. THAI requires that 18 months pass after a student first studies Thai massage before they are eligible the become an RTT and three years before they can qualify as an Advanced RTT or Registered Instructor. But it does not require any set amount of client hours during this time.

Sirius Health believes that simply learning new skills is only the first step to proficiency. Once a practitioner learns new skills, the next step is to deliberately practise the acquired skills. Deliberate practice involves attention, rehearsal and repetition and leads to new knowledge or skills that can develop into more complex understanding.

The Student practitioner does not require any hours of practice as it is a learning position, but the Apprentice practitioner requires at least 60 hours of training. For a Certified Practitioner, Sirius Health requires a minimum of 150 hours of client sessions in addition to the 150 hours of training.

Once a practitioner is certified, we set the bar even higher and require 10 hours of practice for every 1 hour of study needed from a previous level. For example, to move from being Certified to Registered, a practitioner needs to accumulate 10 hours of practice for each of the 150 hours they spent training to be Certified. Likewise, a Registered practitioner needs to complete 10 hours of preparation for each of the 250 hours they spent training. And so on up the list.

If a practitioner wishes to advance beyond the level of Advanced RTT, they will need additional skills such as communicating well, organizing subject material and more. The best way to learn is to practice teaching Thai massage, so we require teaching hours equal to the number of hours of hands-on training necessary for both the Instructor and Senior Practitioner.

Years Experience

The third component to proficiency is experience. The difference between practice and experience is that practice is usually done in a controlled environment. But the real world has many more variables. The more you encounter a variety of different variables, the better you become at dealing with and anticipating them.

Perhaps the best explanation is this short story.

A ship engine failed. No one could fix it. Then they brought in a man with 40 years on the job.

He inspected the engine carefully, top to bottom. After looking things over, the guy reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something.

Instantly, the engine lurched into life. The engine was fixed!

Seven days later, the owners got his bill for $10k

“What?!” the owners said. “You hardly did anything. Send us an itemized bill.”

The reply simply said: “Tapping with a hammer. $2. Knowing where to tap? $9,998.

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