About Health Traditions
ALL WORKSHOPS AND COURSES WITH HEALTH TRADITIONS are the result of first-hand research and decades of practice. Every workshop was the first of its kind, and courses in Traditional Thai Massage are the only ones outside Thailand to be recommended by the Wat Pho Thai Traditional Medical School – Headquarters by Royal patronage for over 300 years in Thailand. We trust you will find them unmatched in post – graduate education.
All workshops are designed to give the therapist skills that are effective, time and energy efficient, interesting to practice and take the concentration of effort away from the hands when appropriate.
BRUCE BENTLEY, FOUNDER OF HEALTH TRADITIONS pioneered research and practice of traditional medicine over thirty years ago. Following initial studies in Thai medicine and traditional Thai massage in Thailand, he went to Taiwan in 1976 and completed a five year Doctor's program in Traditional Chinese Medicine, in Chinese language, at the Chinese Acupuncture Hospital. His subsequent formal studies in Australia have included Western Medical Sciences, a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Chinese Herbal Medicine), an Honours degree in the Sociology of Health and Illness and a Masters degree in Health Studies.
Bruce has also undertaken archival and field research throughout South - East Asia, China, India, Europe and North Africa. In 2002 Bruce was employed by the Department of Human Services (Victoria) to carry out a full time 12-month project titled Folk Medical Practices within the Vietnamese Community and during this period he studied with Mr Trang Le, a Vietnamese man who is a holder of the Buddhist Wandering Monk Medical Tradition - a rare lineage that includes exceptional information about cupping and gua sha.
Bruce is also in private practice specialising in pain and stress conditions, and is a state registered practitioner of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine and is an accredited Chinese remedial massage (tuina) therapist.
COURSE LOCATIONS FOR 2008
Australia
Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Margaret River (WA)
United States of America
Seattle, Portland, Eugene (Oregon), Sarasota (Florida), Hawaii
Please come and say 'hi' to Bruce at the Earthspa and Advanced Educators Stand at the American Massage Therapy Association Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, from September 17 - 20.
Continuing Education Points (Australia)
- Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Association (AACMA)
- Australian Traditional Medicine Society (ATMS)
- Association of Massage Therapists (AMT)
- Australian Association of Massage Therapists (AAMT)
- Association of Remedial Masseurs (ARM)
- Australian Natural Therapists Association (ANTA)
- Yoga Teachers Association of Australia (YTAA)
Continuing Education Units (USA)
- The National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB) - Advanced Educators - pending
- National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) - pending