Nursing staff at a Thai rehabilitation centre that uses complementary therapies such as Thai massage and herbal therapies describe their role in stroke patients' recovery. Through interviews, nurses emphasized two themes: their professional landscape and changes in patients' embodiment. Their discourse centers on attending to holistic care, preparing patients for a state of readiness to heal. Nurses motivate, advise, educate, calm, and impart a sense of family, establishing a strong connection between mind, body, and spirit that potentiates recovery. The contexts of time, space, and other people influence patients' progress.
Vipassana meditation, a practice widely accepted in Thai culture, offers a strategy for managing stress and anxiety by addressing somatic responses. This article presents a first-person narrative of the embodied experience of practicing Vipassana meditation in Thailand, describing what occurred and how it unfolded. The narrative aims to provide insight into the personal, lived experience of this traditional therapy, which is increasingly attracting Western visitors to Thai Buddhist centers for preventative health and well-being. The cultural acceptance of such complementary therapies in Thai health care may offer lessons for contemporary Western health care.