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business, Pro tips by 04/22/2018 0Comments

Do your clients respect your time?

I have discovered recently that lot of massage therapists have problems with running on time in their business. It’s not because they simply can’t keep track of time during a massage (although that does happen sometimes), but rather that the clients seem to not respect the therapist’s time.

When you have a client who continually runs late, how does that affect you? We often try to give them the full time-they’re there to feel better, right? So you don’t want to stress them out by telling them that you’ll have to cut their time short.

You end up getting stressed out during the massage and spend your time thinking about how you won’t have enough time to eat or make notes before your next client. Then you end up rushing after you finish that session and barely have enough time to change out your linens and throw a couple bites of food in your mouth while you just happen to be in the bathroom.

Ashiatsu barefoot massage, Online Vs. In Person, Why FasciAshi? by 04/13/2018 0Comments

What’s the difference between us and other barefoot massage training?

This is a question we’ve been getting a lot lately–not only from people wanting to learn barefoot massage, but also from those who are interested in teaching. What’s the difference between FasciAshi from the Center for Barefoot Massage and Ashiatsu massage from other programs?

Intuitive versus a routine

There are many differences such as how we teach educated, intuitive myofascial work with the feet versus a routine. Through many years of our own busy barefoot massage practices and teaching, we have found that massage therapists find routines to be lackluster and not as effective as intuitive massage. They want to be able to use their skills they already have and translate that into using their feet, and we offer that in our program.

The Center for Barefoot Massage is working to change the caliber of barefoot massage therapists. Our technique differs in that we focus on a myofascial approach to ashiatsu barefoot massage, which is where the “FasciAshi” name comes in – do you see the “fascia” in our name? That was punny, but deliberate.

Anatomy driven

We are challenging our alumni to refine their palpation skills and recognition of anatomical structures, to consider theory into the application of strokes, to understand why each stroke exists, so that they develop critical thinking skills and creativity in their work- rather than applying a prescribed, memorized protocol of luxurious barefoot effleurage strokes.

Each of our classes builds upon the last, progressively moving into more detail as the dexterity, strength and focus of the practitioner deepens. We are developing specialized tracks of classes, to help our alumni funnel their ashiatsu barefoot massage training into a niche within a niche – such as sports and clinical barefoot massage.

No online teaching of ashiatsu

Another huge difference is that we do not offer, support or endorse online/video/e-learning courses in any technique.

We, and a large population of barefoot massage therapists, do not believe that the quality, understanding or safety of the application would be maintained through anything other than live, in person, “feet on” training.

If you ask any of our alumni, they all respond with a vehement, “NO!” on the subject of learning online.  

“1st Time, no way. I need to see it, give it and receive it to understand what the client is experiencing. I also want to have an experienced instructor to make sure I’m not hurting myself or my client with improper technique.”

“I WAS JUST GOING TO MESSAGE YOU ABOUT THIS!!!!! THIS IS THE WORST IDEA EVERRRRR!!!! Grad corner vids~great and helpful idea. I love the idea of having access to a visual reminder of the strokes and the aspects of ABC muscle(s) I’m working on. BUT… An e-learning course for newbs?!? All I can say is that I’m 5 years deep into barefoot massage, about to take my seventh training, and I STILL feel like I need in person guidance and foot refreshers (haha…I’m obsessed…?). Online learning for newbs=injuries. Thumbs down. TWO THUMBS DOWN! Allll the thumbs down!!!”

For Massage Therapists only

Our mission is to teach our courses only to massage therapists, not to people outside the profession. We disagree with training those who do not professionally work within the massage therapy scope of practice (acupuncturists, movement workers, yoga teachers, chiropractors, etc.)

Moving barefoot massage techniques into a respected position within the field of massage therapy, and for the massage industry itself to be recognized for higher standards in live continuing education for massage professionals, is super important to our barefoot massage team.

We disagree with certifying therapists who have never felt or physically demonstrated the work on an instructor. Other providers in the barefoot massage field will provide CE hours, certification, training, and even grant instructor status, to someone who has never stepped foot in an ashiatsu classroom. 

We won’t, because we believe in the gift of learning through hands-on (feet-on!) practice and continually working to improve our skills in not just massage but in teaching as well.

Our post-class support

A lot of massage therapists struggle with marketing their new technique, feeling confused about how to work with someone’s unusual contraindication, and feel like they don’t have anyone to talk to about it-especially if they live in a town or city with no other barefoot therapist.

Our private Facebook group has got you covered–it’s super interactive and has amazing community support with quick responses from instructors. We have a membership site with downloadable forms, marketing tools, and perhaps most importantly, videos to recap what you learned in class. The post-class support is phenomenal.

Because our goal is to enrich the massage community as a whole, we blog and post videos on a regular basis. This takes a lot of time and effort on our part.

But we do it because we are here to help therapists grow to have long and profitable careers. We know that people need your skills.

Our past experience

Mary-Claire and Jeni have both been not only instructors, but also instructor trainers, loyal supporters, and practitioners of another brand’s technique for many years. Along with MC’s husband Paul, the three of us have worked in positions ranging from upper management, social media directors, ad design and implementation, graduate services and assistants to the founder of that other company over the years. 

We know the other company’s strokes from every class inside and out – Mary-Claire and Jeni were the instructor trainers – we used to teach other skilled ashiatsu therapists how to teach that work. Although that founder has a wonderful legacy and is the founding lineage of westernized barefoot massage, it was developed and has always been presented with the intention that it is a deep luxurious massage, a barefoot effleurage routine aimed at the spa industry, marketed as “the deepest most luxurious massage on the planet”.

We left that company due to many of the reasons stated above and formed the Center for Barefoot Massage to move forward with our passion to maintain a safe, strong and progressive form of modernized, researched and educated technique.

We feel that the FasciAshi technique offered through the Center for Barefoot Massage is a strong new addition to the barefoot massage education.

Our team specializes in barefoot massage

We are proud to have formed a collective consciousness of barefoot massage specialists. Our instructor team is full of entrepreneurs who have used ashiatsu and other barefoot massage techniques in their own businesses, and have seen success with it through their clients, through their staff, and through themselves. In fact, on our blog and YouTube channel, we post weekly at a minimum with helpful tips we’ve learned through our years of practice so that new barefoot therapists can excel even faster.

The strokes we teach have been tried and tested and are continually put into practice by the FasciAshi instructors and their staff of massage therapists. This isn’t the same material developed 20 something years ago. We’ve come together and combined our experience, knowledge and research into something that we’ve seen to adapt to a variety of practitioners in all shapes and sizes, while showing excellent outcomes with our clients – and it’s still evolving! 

We invite you to follow our social media pages (YouTube, Twitter, Facebookand Insta) and read our blog posts to catch up on the point of views, tips, and bits of knowledge we’ve been sharing.

We’d LOVE for you to see and feel the difference in our approach, our technique, our support and our educational materials by attending a live course.

Ashiatsu barefoot massage, Pro tips by 04/10/2018 0Comments

How to make more room for your feet during barefoot massage

Have you ever gotten really excited to see a new client walk into your massage office because they’re so big that they are going to be an AWESOME barefoot massage client? But then you have a moment of dismay because they are so big that you don’t have room for your feet on the table?

I’ve tried hanging on for dear life with little space for my toes. Why not do this?

  1. Because my gastrocs were screaming at me
  2. my feet were more prone to cramping (try working out a cramp with one foot while massaging with the other. I don’t recommend it.)
  3. and my hands, forearms, shoulders said an unpleasant hello to me the following day.

Today, we’re going to show you a super quick fix for how to make more room for your feet during barefoot massage when your client takes up most of the table.

Best of all, you already have the equipment you need: your short stool.

Your table is usually around 23″-24″ high, and your short stool is 24″. This is a perfect height to shimmy right up flush to your massage table.

I like to place it somewhere around my client’s hip / waist area so that I can easily access the legs, hips, and torso. Sometimes it takes a little finagling to figure out what’s the best place.

Do NOT compromise your body mechanics! If something feels “off” then change positions.

Because your pressure will be shifted into your client, your stool should be stable and not be wobbly at all.

Make sure you put your strap behind your back for safety, and if your stool feels unstable, get down and put it in a more stable position.

Remember that safety and good body mechanics are priorities.

Once you finish working on one side, simply step down, pick up your stool and replace it on the other side to rinse and repeat.

Sliding your feet into flip flops or stepping on a clean towel / yoga mat will keep your feet clean and free of debris so you don’t have to reclean them.

While all this rigamarole may feel like a huge gap in your massage, remember that your client hasn’t any other ashiatsu experience from you, so it will seem completely normal. And it really only takes a few moments to move you and your stool from one side of the table to the other.

Just make sure you smoothly get up and down off the stool and don’t jostle it about or, heaven forbid, whack him on the body with it. 😉

Let us know if you have any other scenarios you need help with by leaving a comment below!

And if you know of someone who could use this tip, make sure you pass it along.

Until next time, keep those toenails short and your feet nice and soft. 😀
And as usual, our class schedule can be found here.

 

Ashiatsu barefoot massage, Pro tips, The Barefoot Massage Open Ashi-Challenges, Tuesday Toesday, Why FasciAshi? by 03/22/2018 0Comments

Barefoot Massage Open: Ashi-Challenge 1.5

It’s finally WEEK 5 of the Barefoot Massage Open ashi-challenge!  You’ve started a massage at the clients feet. You’ve used your non-dominant foot for 20 minutes straight. You’ve began a massage with them face up. You’ve done an ENTIRE MASSAGE APPOINTMENT in the side-lying position.  What now? What game changing difference can you POSSIBLY add to your barefoot massages?

Patience, Padawan. Read on to find out.

I think you’ve shown yourself to be tough enough to challenge the way you massage over the last 4 weeks. I’m sure asking yourself “but why?” in every move you make is becoming more second nature.  Just you wait…. there’s SO.MUCH.MORE.

The goal all along has been for you to get out of your little shell and try something NEW. Our main focus with FasciAshi is for you to make this ashiatsu intuitive, but also educated. Your inner wisdom shines through when you are able to contemplate WHY or HOW your massage strokes work, and then put that $#!+ into action!

Ashiatsu barefoot massage by 03/16/2018 0Comments

Barefoot massage practice is the vehicle

“In 3 days, we’ll teach you to intuitively use your feet like you do your hands.”  This is true, but there’s more to learning barefoot massage than that.

Sometimes we get therapists who look ridiculously amazing when they are in their barefoot massage training  class for the first time. Sometimes they have a dance or ice skating background, and other times they just look fluid because that’s how they move.

Sadly, I’ve often seen that those who look super graceful on day 1 look pretty much the same when they come back for an advanced class 6 months or a year later.

On the other hand, some therapists really struggle. They get frustrated because their feet don’t cooperate or perhaps because they can’t palpate yet. Or maybe they have a hard time because they can’t regulate their pressure.

If they stop there at day 3 in our student clinic and give up, their class was pretty much pointless (other than at least they got their massage CE’s).

It’s the therapists who sometimes struggle in class but are determined to be amazing who realize that the class is an event, but practicing is a VEHICLE to get them to where they need to go.

We aren’t all beautiful when we learn barefoot massage. I was one of those people who truly wanted to be amazing, who NEEDED to be excellent, because I knew my career was on the line. After 3.5 years of hands on massage, I knew I was hitting the end of my massage lifespan.

And yet, I’m the person who still hits my head while closing the door of the car I’ve had 8 years and missteps on stairs I’ve been treading for almost 18.

So it’s not like I’m graceful in real life.

What makes the difference between those who really want to be good and those who are naturally good is that the former is more invested in being better. It’s easy to become complacent if you’re doing well. And unless your clients have gotten barefoot massage from someone else, they probably think you’re doing ok.

As long as you don’t clock them on the head or step on any bones, they think it’s a nice massage.

But it can be so much better if you take that vehicle, the words of wisdom, and travel a path you’ve not yet been.

If you’ve been following our blog, you know that we’ve been giving Ashi Challenges. Why?

Because sometimes we all need to mix something up. The challenge recently was to massage with your “Goofy Foot” for 20 minutes. (That’s your non-dominant foot.)

Other than when I was using 2 feet, I did an entire 90-minute session with my left foot.

What I learned:

  • I got more creative with my moves
  • some things worked just fine when I tried something new
  • some things were terrible for my body mechanics
  • I discovered new ways to access muscles in a different way
  • it was a good reminder of why we teach body mechanics that work for the therapist

You see, this challenge was an incentive for me to take another ride into creativity. And that’s what we ask of all of you. The more you practice and get inventive / creative, the more your vehicle gets its oil change.

Once you have a good concept of your pressure and the moves, practice getting more fluid.

  • How can you glide off with one foot and on with another?
  • If you start with the “wrong” foot, can you transition it into another stroke?
  • Try something new and check in with your client and see how they like it.
  • Hold and sink (“weight and wait”) and see how that affects the tissue as well as the amount of relaxation the client has.
  • Try moving more gracefully on the table with fewer steps.

Your vehicle can be a Mercedes, which is a comfortable and smooth ride, or it can be a Kia–perfectly fine for the job at hand but not the most comfortable or fun.

Which do you want to be?

Know anyone who may find this useful? Share away!

 

 

 

Pro tips, The Barefoot Massage Open Ashi-Challenges, Tuesday Toesday, Why FasciAshi? by 03/15/2018 0Comments

Barefoot Massage Open: Ashi-Challenge 1.4

Massage Challenge, WEEK 4. Have you been keeping up with our first annual Barefoot Massage Open, a weekly massage challenge for ashiatsu therapists?! You got this, we’re over half way through. This week WILL make or break you, though. Are you still tough enough to continue to challenge the way you massage!? Are you questioning WHY you do what you do during each massage?  Do or do not, there is no try: and this time there is no crying back to your mom, either – cuz the Week #4 challenge ain’t your momma’s ashiatsu!!!

Last week you started your massages with the client face up. How was it?! Are you feeling more confident in your work?

Just wait till you do a week of what we are about to put you up to. You will be hard-core after this. If you aren’t yet trained in ashiatsu strokes that pertain to this weeks challenge – then use your hands. (And go take the Intermediate FasciAshi class already! You are missing out!)

BAREFOOT MASSAGE OPEN: FIVE WEEKS – FEB. 22-MARCH 26

1.1- Feb. 22-26 Start the massage at the clients feet #FeetFirst #AshiChallenge1point1

1.2- March 1-5 Use your Non-Dominant Foot for 20 consecutive minutes #GoofyFoot #AshiChallenge1point2

1.3- March 8-12 Start with your client FACE UP! #GameFace #AshiChallenge1point3

1.4- March 15-19 Scroll down to see this weeks challenge! #NotYourMommasAshi #AshiChallenge1point4

1.5- March 22-26

Ashiatsu barefoot massage, business by 03/15/2018 0Comments

Podcast and Mad Ninja Skills

Jeni and I have been featured on Massage Business Blueprint’s podcast with the subject being “What you need to know before you take a CE class.” In the interview, we discuss our history into how we became massage therapists and forayed into the careers we have now.

We also go over various points of our experience in having taught for so many years and what therapists should expect before even signing up for a class.

Sadly, because the podcast is only 34 minutes and not a lot longer, we had a lot of points that we wanted to cover but weren’t able to get to. That’s ok, though, because we’ll save those for another blog post.

We’ve got the podcast link below the video. Oh, and feel free to make fun of my ninja skills. ?


Listen to the podcast.

More information on our barefoot massage training CE classes can be found here.

Sharing is caring!

business by 03/09/2018 0Comments

10 ridiculously easy ways to be more successful

Sometimes when we want to have more clients or improve our income, we spend lots of time thinking of ways to get people into the office. How can you be more successful? Maybe you run sales or send clever email campaigns. Perhaps you offer packages and VIP incentives.

These are all fantastic ways to bring clients back.

But have you ever examined what’s going on “in house” with YOU?

Sadly, massage therapists often have the bad rap of being unreliable. We know plenty of the LMT flakes-they don’t show up for work because the wrong president won or they need to commune with nature on short notice or it’s 70 and sunny. Maybe it’s simply because they can’t be bothered with coming in to work for “only one client”.

You may do great at ALL of these intuitively. We hope so!

All of these 10 tips are common sense. But take a few moments to read them and see if there’s something you can tweak in YOU.

Ashiatsu barefoot massage, Pro tips, The Barefoot Massage Open Ashi-Challenges, Tuesday Toesday, Why FasciAshi? by 03/08/2018 0Comments

Barefoot Massage Open: Ashi-Challenge 1.3

We are already 2 weeks into the first annual Barefoot Massage Open, a weekly massage challenge for ashiatsu therapists – and we’re about to step into WEEK 3! Are you feeling tough enough continue to challenge the way you massage!? Are you questioning WHY you do what you do during each massage? Put your game face on, cuz your massage game is about to get REAL up in week 3!

Last week we pushed you to use your non-dominant foot continuously for 20 minutes. How did it go?! Are you feeling a little more ambidextrous?

This week we do what your massage instructors have been telling you to do ALL. ALONG. The thing you’ve been afraid to do ALL. THIS. TIME.

Be like Nike: Just Do it.

If you aren’t yet trained in ashiatsu strokes that pertain to this weeks challenge – then use your hands.

BAREFOOT MASSAGE OPEN: FIVE WEEKS – FEB. 22-MARCH 26

1.1- Feb. 22-26 Start the massage at the clients feet #FeetFirst #AshiChallenge1point1

1.2- March 1-5 Use your Non-Dominant Foot for 20 consecutive minutes #GoofyFoot #AshiChallenge1point2

1.3- March 8-12 Scroll down to see this weeks challenge! #GameFace #AshiChallenge1point3

1.4- March 15-19

1.5- March 22-26

 

Ashiatsu barefoot massage by 03/02/2018 0Comments

Don’t take our barefoot massage certification training

Strange title, right? Why would we tell you to not take our ashiatsu certification training when we obviously want people to take our classes? While this may come across as a little snarky, it’s not meant to be–it’s honest insight on if you’ll be a good fit for our barefoot massage workshops.

We are not for everyone. Craniosacral is not the best massage for the client who wants deep tissue and barefoot massage is over the top for clients who are petite or want a feather touch.

There’s a fair amount of competition for barefoot massage certification training.

You can learn online with some companies. Maybe you think you can figure it out from YouTube videos with no formal training at all. Or find an old DVD on the topic.

We are not your people.