Thai Bodywork Chief Instructor Chuck Duff

Chuck became interested in Hatha yoga, eastern philosophy and Buddhism as a teenager. He received his BA from the University of Chicago, where he was the first student in a newly instituted multi-disciplinary program entitled Religion and the Humanities. His studies there focused on a comparison of Buddhist and yogic models and western psychology.

During and after college, Chuck studied Kundalini yoga. spent some time living in an ashram and attended Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, founded by Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche to further the study of Tibetan Buddhism and its relevance to the west. Naropa was an exciting environment that had become a mecca for such luminaries as Alan Ginsberg, Gregory Bateson, Chogyam Trungpa, Anne Waldman, Gregory Corso, and many other musicians, artists, philosophers and creative explorers.

An artist and musician, and excited by the prospects of emerging technology and empowering personal creativity, Chuck attended graduate school at the U. of Illinois to study computer graphics. He also took up the study of Hapkido, a Korean monastic martial art, and earned his black belt under Master Kwang Seek Hyun. After a career as an entrepreneur and technology innovator, Chuck made a decision to return to his humanistic and spiritual roots. When he discovered Thai massage in the late 90s, he found a discipline that integrated the physical and energetic effects of yoga with the tradition, lineage and formal practice of martial arts.

Chuck has continued to study yoga throughout his life with many gifted teachers, including Suddha Weixler, John Friend, Richard Friedman, Yogi Bhajan, Stephen Cope and Tias Little. He considers the ongoing practice of yoga to be an integral part of living a healthy life.

As a yoga practitioner, Chuck found that Thai massage treatments enhanced and accelerated his practice. Chuck became a Certified Thai Therapist and Certified Thai Instructor at the Luma Center with Dr. Anthony James, who was among the first individuals to practice and teach Thai massage in the US. Chuck also became certified as a Luk Pra Kob (Thai herbal compress) therapist by the Thai Ministry of Health, Bangkok. He has pursued advanced studies in Thai massage and herbal compress application with Khruu Lek Chaiya in Chiang Mai, Thailand and Aachan Tawee of Wat Wiangkolok, Chiang Rai province, Thailand.

Since 2001, Chuck has trained hundreds of basic and advanced practitioners in traditional Thai Massage. His teaching integrates his extensive background in Buddhist studies, martial arts, yoga, and western clinical approaches to give his students a unique understanding of body mechanics, movement without effort and use of core energy in healing. Chuck developed and taught the first course in Clinical Thai Bodywork, a highly effective therapeutic modality, in 2005. Chuck joined the faculty of Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in 2003, where he teaches Thai massage within the Oriental Body Therapies program. He teaches on-site workshops for spas and private groups throughout the country, for day rates please contact Thai Bodywork.

Chuck is available for Thai yoga sessions at his studio in Evanston, IL.