Why Buddha Art?

My Story of TaSen Buddha Art

Dedicated to “Ta” the healing art of Thai massage based on the “Sen” energy lines that carry the life force in all of us.

Why Buddha Art?

I was diagnosed with Kienbock’s Disease in 2014. I spent 3 weeks in Thailand in 2015 receiving daily Thai massage and was able to heal my wrist.

The day before I left Thailand, I had one final massage. This Thai masseuse worked on my wrist for 4 hours and when it came time to pay I said “how much?” and he said “Nothing, I do this to heal you. I want you to return to America knowing that you don’t need surgery. I give this to you.” I couldn’t believe that someone would spend half of his work day for free to help heal my wrist.

In most Thai massage spaces, there is a small Buddhist shrine where offerings are collected. So instead of paying him, I donated to their temple to honor their compassion and for healing my wrist.

I returned back to Phoenix, back to my work place, Swiss Metal Works, I picked up the plasma cutter (which I hadn’t been able to do in 8 months) and began cutting. I started cutting out Buddha figures. How else could I share my story, share the Buddhist’s compassion and honor an incredible healing journey?

Each TaSen Buddha Art piece is blessed. It is blessed with the Buddhist incense and prayer. By purchasing a piece, may compassion and health be with you. I will also donate part of the sales profit to the Thai Buddhist Temple in Thong Thani Roi Et, Thailand for the monks in honor of their compassion and healing nature.

The Whole Story!

I was within weeks of being in an operating room as a patient one year ago, but Thai massage saved me from surgery! It all started in 2014 when I was diagnosed with Kienbock’s disease.

What’s Kienbock’s disease?

That’s what I wanted to know. I went to several specialists to learn that the searing pain and lack of movement I was experiencing in my wrist was because a bone in my hand (the lunate bone) was dying. The bone wasn’t getting enough blood flow, and therefore wasn’t getting enough oxygen. That’s Kienbock’s.

For more than a year I experienced excruciating pain and many medical appointments. I had several X-rays and MRIs, spent hundreds of hours researching and spent thousands of dollars diagnosing the condition, treating it, and treating the pain. Many of my efforts were “natural.” I tried acupuncture, herbs and I braced the wrist for months. I used positive thinking and heat and cold. I tried Reiki healing treatments, laser and infrared therapy, homeopathic creams and natural painkillers. After no success, my doctors put my wrist in a cast for 14 weeks.

Nothing worked.

I’ve been a professor most of my adult life and I now work in a metal shop where I lift heavy bars and run a cutting machine. Without use of both arms at work, I’m almost useless. By the time my surgery was scheduled I couldn’t even touch my wrist, pick up a toothbrush, write, eat, or stick my hand in my pocket, let alone work in a welding shop. My life seemed to come to a halt.

After a year, my condition was getting worse; three bones were now dying, instead of one, and numerous cysts had formed.

My wrist specialist told me with total certainty that the only option was surgery.

All surgery is dangerous and expensive. Infection can occur, and surgeries can go wrong. But, I was convinced the surgeon was right. I booked my surgery for three weeks later, after my long-planned trip to Thailand.

I contemplated cancelling the vacation since I was in so much pain and wouldn’t be able to enjoy the trip or do much. My doctor prescribed epilepsy medicine to endure the pain and I decided to take the trip and have surgery two days after my return.

While abroad I got Thai massages every day. For the first 13 hours of treatment I communicated to various massage therapists to not go near my right hand and wrist (which was in a brace). Finally, one massage therapist asked me what was wrong with my wrist. I told her I had terrible pain and that I couldn’t move the wrist or hand for about the last 8 months. She then informed me (through a translator) that my wrist was actually not the source of the pain. Instead, she said my neck and left shoulder had blockages and those blockages were the problem. She said that if I would allow her to remove the brace and access my wrist, she could help relieve the pain.

I had gone through one year of agony and had tried pretty much everything, so I thought: “Why not? It can’t get worse than it is.”

She methodically applied pressure and seemed to know exactly where to go, where to push and worked on the blockages in my neck, shoulder, forearm and wrist for 90 minutes. It was excruciating, but I somehow thought it was working. A huge release occurred. Blood or rather this feeling of “energy” shot into my wrist and I could feel life returning to my hand. Soon I was able to move my hand to about 30 degrees. It had been months since I’d been able to move it even a centimeter without crying!

I had seven more hours of massage by this particular woman and then six hours from another therapist in a different town. By the time I left Thailand, I had 26 hours of Thai massage and spent 14 of those hours specifically working on my wrist problems. The pain decreased tremendously, I stopped taking the epilepsy pills and by the time I boarded the plane home, my wrist was about 60 percent healed.

I canceled my surgery.

Since then I’ve spent hundreds of hours researching Thai massage and the “Sen lines” (energy channels in the body) this practice is based on. The two practitioners who helped heal my wrist used a technique to flush the blood and release blockages to return blood flow to my dying bones. They pushed on pressure points that were excruciatingly painful and when they released the pressure, a “flush” occurred. I felt the blood rush to the tips of my fingers.

Had I gone the surgery route, doctors were going to splice arteries in my wrist and drill holes into my bones to bring more blood supply to the lunate bone. But the fact is, I didn’t even have enough blood circulating to my wrist in the first place, which means the surgery may have been pointless at best, and have done major damage at worst. Sure enough, I’ve seen and heard of many cases of people with the same disease who were in much worse shape years after their surgeries than before they went under the knife.

When I returned home, I was committed to finding a similar Thai massage like I had in Thailand. A note that Thai massage is different than Western massage in several ways, including that the clients are clothed and that there are other people in the room. Be aware, there are different forms of Thai massage and that a licensed Thai masseuse doesn’t necessarily mean that they know about this key technique. Ask around and look for someone who will work through energy channels and not just give a relaxing massage.

A year later my wrist is flexible and strong and through the creation of Buddha art, I share my story…… https://www.facebook.com/TaSenHealing/