One of the titles for people in Thai language and culture is “Arjan”, which in the context of massage translates to “Master”. If we look at any art or skill, it is widely acknowledged that improvisation is the highest level of mastery (think of a jazz musician attempting to get on stage without having mastered their scales…disaster). Our Arjans have such a mastery of the fundamentals and such a wide breadth of experience to pull from that it is an absolute joy to watch them work. Both as a student and later as an assistant teacher, I have often found myself awed and smiling to see the way that they are able to react to the needs of students (or to the needs of clients in a massage treatment) to convey the knowledge (or healing) that was required. This is the sign of a true master, and a true teacher: the ability to seamlessly adapt to changing circumstances in order to fulfill needs, without compromising quality.

Recent winners of the Excellent Massage of Lanna Awards at the 2014 Lanna Expo, SVG has created a truly unique style of this ancient art of healing. Through countless years of working in massage, our Masters have developed a style that is saturated with their experience and with the Northern Thai culture, known for its slow rhythm of life. SVG focuses on body movement and the flow of energy between the therapist and the client. As such, all of our postures seek to not only benefit the client, but also the therapist with increased energy flow. After all, what good is it to help increase the wellbeing of somebody else, if you are harming yourself in the process? We believe that the best results are attained for client and therapist alike through this balance of energy. The subtleties of SVG’s treatment set us apart from others. It’s no coincidence that our Masters have been responsible for training the therapists of the world-renowned COMO Shambala wellness spas for many years now.

A lot businesses talk about being more like a family, at SVG we genuinely strive to make this a reality; this is at the heart of why we branched out and started SVG in the first place. We like only having enough students that we can all sit around a table together and enjoy a healthy, home cooked lunch. We like having the opportunity to invest deeply in our students so that we remember their names, quirks and anecdotes years later. This is, of course, made easier by the fact that we enjoy remaining in touch with our students long after they have initially studied with us. We pride ourselves on the fact that so many of our students continually return to our little school for further training and for visits. We celebrate the diversity of SVG’s family members and find ourselves ever-energized by the tributaries of stories, beliefs, and cultures that converge at our school in the interest of massage and healing. Overall, we are a small and simple school, and that’s the way we like it.

In the end, as with any education, it’s about fit. We recognize that we are not the school for everyone, and when we feel that we are not a good fit for prospective students, we will encourage those individuals to look into one of the many other massage schools in Chiang Mai. We do this in the interest of those prospective students, and in the interest of our SVG family.