Ananda Apfelbaum is a national and international Thai Massage instructor with over 18 years of teaching experience. She is a certified Thai Massage therapist and a New York State licensed massage therapist. Ananda is the author of one of the foremost books on Thai Massage, “Thai Massage, Sacred Bodywork” (Avery of Penguin & Putnam, 2003) and the producer of the instructional DVD, “Thai Massage, Sacred Bodywork,” 2003. Ananda has a NYC based private clientele and currently runs Thai Yoga Massage training programs in New York City.
Ananda was the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies' Thai Massage instructor for a decade (1993 - 2003). She then taught the Thai Yoga Massage Training Program at Ashtanga Yoga Shala, NYC from 2002 - 2007. Since 2007, Ananda has been teaching a three level program of Thai massage at the Warshaw Studio, NYC. Ananda has taught courses, classes and workshops at the Bancroft School of Massage Therapy, Worcester, MA, The Breathing Project, NYC, The Yoga Studio, Toronto, Canada, the Body of Truth studio, Kingston, NY, the Academy of Massage Therapy, NJ, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NYC and the Fujin Center, Kyoto, Japan.
Ananda graduated from the Swedish Institute of New York City in 1989. She then traveled to Thailand, China, and Japan to study Eastern bodywork. In Thailand, she trained with some of Thailand’s most influential Thai Massage masters, including the late Ashokananda, the late Chaiyuth Priyasith, Chongkol Settakorn at the Institute of Thai Massage, and master healer and teacher Pichest Boonthumme whose style she now emulates. In 1992 Ananda received certification as a Thai Massage therapist from the Buntautuk Traditional Hospital in Chiangmai, northern Thailand. Ananda created the original manual used by Pichest Boonthumme to teach his students Thai Massage and has often been his teaching assistant.
Ananda also studied Shiatsu at the Ohashi Institute, NYC as well as in Japan at the Kansai Shiatsu Center and the Asahi Cultural Center. She also studied Tuina in China at the Yue-Yang Hospital in Shanghai. Back in the US, Ananda studied reflexology at the Laura Norman & Associates Reflexology Center in New York City.
Ananda has been featured for her Thai Massage work in Time Magazine and on Canadian television in Toronto Tonight, Toronto Today, and Toronto Life.
Ananda has been a professional dancer and an award-winning photographer. She received a BA in dance from the renowned Kalakshetra College of Fine Arts, Madras, India and was awarded scholarships three times from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) for advanced training in Odissi (a style of Indian temple dance). Ananda performed Odissi in India, Europe, and the US. Ananda later received a grant from the American Institute for Indian Studies, Chicago to photographically document Odissi dance. Ananda also was awarded a grant from the Lyman Fund to photograph Tibetans. Her photography has been on exhibit at the India International Center, the American Embassy, Lalit Kala Akademi and the Omega Institute. In 1999, her Tibetan photographs were published, as a calendar and card-line called, “In the Heart of Prayer,” by Amber Lotus Publishing Company, San Francisco.
Ananda is also the founder and director of the Tibetan Relief Project, Inc. (TRP), a non-profit organization established in 1997 to help destitute Tibetans with education and medical care. Her project has helped many Tibetans in India, Nepal and Tibet. Ananda created an educational slide show on Tibet to raise awareness of the Tibetan situation. She has received teachings from HH the Dalai Lama.
