Determination pays off for Thai immigrant drawn to twin careers in massage, cuisine

A friend gets walked over every month and loves it.

He’s become a regular client of Thai Yogic in North Liberty, where proprietor Gig Britt hangs on to wooden bars attached to the ceiling and massages his back and limbs with her bare feet.

It’s one of many ancient techniques Britt uses at her new shop location in the Liberty Plaza commercial complex. She plans to celebrate her new quarters and seven years of business with an open house on July 20.

Like many immigrants, Britt’s life story is unique.

She was born in Thailand and grew up in the province of Udon, about 500 miles from Bangkok. Her father was a district government leader with a tropical fruit orchard and her mother’s family was involved in rice farming.

“Thai people have very long first names,” she told me. Her father nicknamed her Gig when she was still in the womb and it stuck.

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Starting a career in eastern Iowa

Britt studied computer science in college in Thailand, came to the United States while in her 20s and ended up managing Thai restaurants and performing massage in Davenport, Dubuque, Muscatine, and Galena.

Her interest in both of those two careers emerged during a trip back to her hometown in Thailand when her father was recovering from a stroke.

Exposed to the value of massage therapy through his illness, she learned the basics on her own, cared for her father for a period and was then encouraged by her parents to pursue that career.

“I loved doing massage because it worked – and it helped my dad,” she said.

But she was still attracted to the food industry, so Britt enrolled simultaneously in a cuisine school in Bangkok and a massage school in Udon. It was an ambitious undertaking that made for an intense six months of 500-mile travel between the two locations – by overnight bus.

“I’d go to massage classes five days a week in Udon, then on Friday night, I slept on the bus all the way to Bangkok for the weekend food courses,” she said. “I guess I am a determined person. It wasn’t easy, but when I was done, I had two choices for a career.”

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Ready for the big-time

Back in the States, Britt completed course work at the Institute of Therapeutic Massage in Davenport and ended up teaching massage classes and practicing her profession there and in Galena, Illinois. She came to North Liberty because of its high-growth market potential and the availability of what she calls a “nice, prime location” in Liberty Plaza.

“I was ready to have my own business,” Britt said, “I am so proud of it.”

Her cultural heritage from Thailand and her extensive massage training in this country have greatly influenced what she now offers her clients.

Britt says she combines yoga stretching and her feet to massage acupuncture pressure points, applying as little or as much of her body weight as necessary according to the needs of each client. This deep tissue form of massage is often referred to as ashiatsu massage.

She also uses her thumbs, hands, elbows, and legs to apply pressure.

“The priority is not just to focus on muscle,” she says. She follows the ancient Chinese medicine belief that traditional life force energy runs along meridians or channels in the body which can be activated through pressure points.

“I’m now offering Thai traditional reflexology and Thai herbal therapy,” she said. “The presses and stretches can help alleviate pain, stimulate blood flow and stimulate the production of elastic fibers.”

Britt is happy with the continuing success of her business and says she may hire another massage therapist in the future.

“I like it better than the restaurant business,” she said. “I can not only take care of my clients, but I can take care of myself, too, mentally, and physically. I have to be very meditative when I work. It helps me focus and empty my mind.”

The open house on July 20 is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Britt will show off her new office at Liberty Plaza, which is adjacent to her previous quarters there. She hopes to offer a Thai lunch to visitors, to help expose them to the cultural roots of which she is proud.

Richard Hakes is a freelance columnist for the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Hakes: Thai native celebrates new location for massage therapy