Since stepping on the scene in 2017, our mission has been to teach research-backed techniques through feet-on, in-person training. Our roots go back to 2003, when Jeni Spring began evolving the typical deep Swedish style Ashiatsu into the modern, myofascial FasciAshi approach we teach today. We even popularized the term ‘Barefoot Massage’ over these years as a way to intentionally step away from cultural appropriation and make a conscious effort to normalize and elevate the way the world understands any style of massage given from feet.

We believe touch can’t be taught online. Since that’s exactly where every other company was headed, the Center for Barefoot Massage was born to offer only in-person training. We believe the nuance of pressure and the ‘feel’ of the work are a physical conversation too important to be left to the interpretations of a laggy, pixelated video call. We feel strongly that the evolution of Barefoot Massage needs to stay relevant to the public and grounded in current science, not stuck in the massage myths of the past.<<insert video of Jeni saying all this stuff here instead of those paragraphs>>

While you get a literal feel from the sole of this work while underfoot other students and instructors in our classrooms, you will also really feel the SOUL of this work in our theory, intention, and integrity.

We want you to massage intuitively with your feet, just like you do your hands, building the pattern recognition in your psyche to know exactly why, how, and when to use every stroke.

Expect a classroom that is as playful as it is precise. While some think scientific credibility requires a boring tone, we stand on the idea that “punny” and “professional” are the perfect pair for mastering barefoot massage! Each instructor’s own style and specialty combines with our vibe of humor and hard facts, because you learn touch best when you’re actually enjoying the process.

We are on a mission to redefine barefoot massage as a respected, essential part of therapeutic bodywork. This starts by raising the standard for the massage classroom experience itself. To maintain the highest level of professional integrity and depth, we stay in our own lane: we ONLY teach Licensed Massage Therapists.

Our requirements are clear: we expect you to have at least 500 hours of entry-level education and maintain active professional liability insurance. While a lot of classes skip the paperwork, we actually check, because when everyone in the room meets national professional standards, we can dive deeper into the work together. We even have you fill out a health intake form before class so we can be fully prepared to support you the moment you step into the room.

We’ve built the tools and the environment to set you up for success before, during, and after each training. We expect you to bring a growth mindset and a professional spark to actually put these resources into practice. We’re here to help you own your expertise and move beyond “chasing pain” strategies and “no pain no gain” style pressure. We want to empower you to deliver the kind of results that prove barefoot massage isn’t a cute gimmick or performance art …it’s a sophisticated, detailed therapeutic intervention.

Inspired by decades of clinical practice at Heeling Sole, as well as the local businesses behind every instructor on our team, we teach you the theories and applications to stop treating the body as a collection of isolated parts and start addressing it as a single, interconnected system. Through the FasciAshi lens, you’ll learn to target the nervous system and fascia to help clients find relief from persistent pain that “spot-treating” simply hasn’t solved.

We provide the depth and structure to work with your client’s nervous system to address the chronic high-tone and dense tension that seemingly only heavy-duty deep tissue can reach—but we do it all without wrecking your own body in the process. Because at the end of the day, it’s about happy clients that fill your appointment schedules and your own happy, healthy body.

You can read more about our company mission and vision here.

1. Save your hands for other things!

Stop straining your hands and start getting your clients underfoot. We focus on career longevity by teaching you to use the dexterity of your feet, the Ashi-Strap as a fulcrum for effortless body mechanics, and gravity as your main form of pressure, leaving you feeling like you’ve had a movement practice with the energy to actually tackle life after work, rather than a week of intense manual labor that leaves you with a busted, exhausted body, laid up on the couch!

2. Fill your books with clients who trust the “Why”

If your clients are looking for deep pressure that stays consistent over the years without the “ouch” factor, we got you covered. You’ll gain the clinical authority to stop relying on marketing that convinces them to book because “it feels good” and instead state with confidence exactly why the work is effective, building a level of trust in your local community that keeps people coming back. (But it also DOES really feel good!) Whether your clients want to “heel” a specific tissue issue or they need someone who finally knows a new way to work on their restrictions, you’ll have the “ten-toes-down” confidence to deliver Myofascial Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage work day after day, with the control and consistency in pressure to keep everyone underfoot safe and feeling like they’ve finally found the specialized solution they’ve been searching for.

3. Specialize in Barefoot Massage

Our FasciAshi approach (which, BTW, is our made-up word combining “myofascial” and “ashiatsu”, pronounced Fah-shee-ahh-shee) is adaptive so you can keep what you already know while meeting the “kneads” of each client individually. We don’t teach a routine; instead, we help you integrate fascial research and therapeutic strategies into the niche you already love… Relaxation/Sensory? Sports/Recovery? Clinical/Orthopedic? Fascia is everywhere, so a fascia-focused approach works on everything. Whatever the goal, we’ll help you do it with SOLE!  It’s about massaging better in general, with the pattern recognition and technical integrity that comes from being a true Barefoot Massage Specialist.