Jen Mainelli is bringing the “lazy man’s yoga” practiced in Thailand to Athens for residents who are looking to experience a kind of holistic self-healing.
“In the past couple years, I’ve been creating a way to make a workshop and teach people, rather than just giving the massage as a bodywork kind of practice,” Mainelli, co-owner of Athens Yoga, said.
The Lotus Palm Thai Yoga Workshop will emphasize centering, transitioning, balancing and using the least amount of effort to achieve maximum results. Attendees will be giving and receiving massages in specific locations and switching back and forth from giver to recipient. The class will move slowly, and Mainelli will talk thoroughly through the techniques of a 90-minute massage. The workshop will take place Saturday evening.
The massage will focus on all the major muscle groups, as well as the meridians, which in Chinese medicine are the energy lines in the body, Mainelli said.
“The meridians pertain to different systems in the body,” Mainelli said. “We usually hit the kidney and the bladder systems applying pressure with the palm and the thumb in a rocking-type fashion. That gets the lymphs moving and the blood moving, which increases circulation.”
The workshop is heavily focused on massaging the hips because there’s so much stored in the hips energetically, muscularly and physically.
“Once we get through the legs, there’s a lot of stuff that releases above them,” Mainelli said. “So it’s pretty cool that halfway through the massage you might start to feel better in your upper back because of some connection through the hip.”
Mainelli makes sure she teaches all of her workshops in a loving and compassionate way, showing her clients that she enjoys what she’s doing and cares about making them feel better.
“We learn our energies can be transferred into another, so if we’re focusing on a negative we’re definitely putting some of that intention into the massage, which is obviously not good,” she said.
The Lotus Palm Thai Yoga Massage Workshop is for people who are looking for something more than a typical medical massage, where they’re lying on a table while a masseuse practices certain techniques on them.
“We use all these different techniques in Thai massage where the client is interacting with us more,” Mainelli said. “I think there’s a mental, energetic kind of balance after the massage, so it’s not like that lazy lethargic, ‘I wanna sleep’ feeling. It’s more of a lightness and energized sensation.”
Although many of the benefits match many other types of massages, Mainelli feels like, energetically, one is focusing more on the meridians and clearing energetic pathways.
“As a culture in Thailand, this is a really big part of holistic medicine,” Mainelli said. “So that’s really cool that there are some hidden benefits that you can use to assess your well-being.”
Raina Schoonover took the Lotus Palm Thai Yoga Workshop last year and thought it was a great experience where she learned massage techniques she applies in her everyday life.
“It’s a really wholesome way of healing for me because I have a lot of joint and muscle pain,” Schoonover said. “Thai massage works with my body, heart rate and breath by using pressure in a methodical way to help relieve the pain.”
Amanda McLean is planning on attending Mainelli’s workshop this year.
“I have done yoga at Athena Yoga in the past and loved it,” McLean said. “I feel it will help my mind spiritually to be the best me and help me balance myself and my well-being. I love learning how to become more self aware, and find my inner peace.”
