Chuck Duff, Certified Thai Therapist and Instructor

Thai Massage Chicago and Evanston, IL

Chuck Duff, CTT, CTI is a much sought-after Thai massage therapist and teacher. He is a faculty member at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and National University of Health Science. Chuck's practice specializes in peak performance, enhancement of function and the treatment of chronic pain. Over the years, Chuck has treated many performers, including members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera, dance companies, chamber music groups and Northwestern Music School.

We often find that conditions diagnosed as tendonitis, focal dystonia, peripheral neuropathy, etc. have their origin in soft tissue, and are partially or totally remediated through our work. Chuck works with clients to educate them in self-treatment and maintenance techniques that can support them in staying free of pain. Out of the experiences of his years of successful practice, Chuck developed a new bodywork modality, Clinical Thai Bodywork, and teaches CTB certification trainings at the school.

Treatments available include Thai massage, Clinical Thai Bodywork and Luk Pra Kob Herbal compress.

Rates: $100 per hour, discounts available on an individual need basis

Hours: T-Th 10-6, occasional Friday hours; no outcalls, Evanston studio only.

To contact Chuck, please phone 847-440-7525, or use the online contact form.

About Chuck Duff, Thai Bodywork Founder

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 vedic 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 provided Chuck learning opportunities with such luminaries as Alan Ginsberg, Gregory Bateson, Chogyam Trungpa, Anne Waldman, Gregory Corso, and 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. 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.

Yoga and Thai Massage

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.

As a yoga practitioner, Chuck found that Thai massage treatments enhanced and accelerated his practice. Chuck became certified as a Thai Therapist and Certified Thai Instructor with Dr. Anthony James, who was among the first individuals to practice and teach Thai massage in the US. Chuck became certified as a Luk Pra Kob (Thai herbal compress) therapist by the Thai Ministry of Health, Bangkok. He has been certified in Basic and Advanced Nerve Touch Thai Massage and herbal compress with Khruu Lek Chaiya in Chiang Mai, Thailand and with blind master Aachan Tawee in Chiang Rai province, Thailand.

Since 2001, Chuck has trained hundreds of basic and advanced practitioners in traditional Thai Yoga 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 became a member of the faculty at National University of Health Science in 2007. Chuck is the producer and teacher for the Thai Bodywork DVD Series, beginning with Thai Massage: The Northern Style with Chuck Duff, which one reviewer has described as the "best Thai massage instructional video available today".