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Author page: Mary-Claire

Our tuition

With our price change on March 17, 2022, we’ve had to do a LOT of work. (Mostly Jeni. Mary-Claire here is trying to help.)

Because our barefoot massage website, barefoot blog site and membership site are so extensive, there’s a possibility that we’ve missed a price change here or that.

If you happen to notice anything not these current prices:

1 day class = $250
2 day class = $500
3 day class = $750

feel free to email me: mc@barefootmassagecenter.com

so I can change it.

You’re the best! Here’s to a fruitful and productive year!!!

~Mary-Claire

Tuition policy 3/17/22

One thing that’s really important to us at the Center for Barefoot Massage is taking care of our instructors. They work really hard to keep current on massage techniques & constantly perfect their own barefoot moves.

In fact, all of our instructors specialize in barefoot massage. In our 1st price increase in 5 years, raising our rates allows us to pay our instructors more, supporting them in their endeavors to provide YOU with the best education they can!

If you’re curious about the rates, just look at the blog post below this one. Here’s a reminder of our policy for the remainder of 2022 and into the following years.

Due to a tuition increase that takes effect on March 17th, 2022, if you registered for your training prior to that date, that price is only valid for classes completed by December 31st, 2022.

If you happen to reschedule your registration to another set of dates in 2023, the new tuition price will be applied to your training, and the difference in balance will be due before that class begins.   

And thank you to the hundreds and hundreds of students we’ve taught all over the United States in the past 5 years.

We appreciate you allowing us to share our knowledge and love of barefoot massage & to help spread that in our local coummunities.

Thank you!


3 Reasons to Learn Barefoot Massage

1. Lengthen your massage career.

How long did it take you to discover that the average career span of a massage therapist is 3-5 years (or 5-7, depending on the source)?

They certainly didn’t tell me (Mary-Claire) about that in massage school.

I think I found out somewhere along the way. Maybe it was when I started having tendonitis in my right elbow and pain in my left pisiform.

After a while, I would drive home from work and grasp my steering wheel at a traffic stop, stretching my forearm flexors and pounding on my extensors.

Had I not learned barefoot massage in 2002, my career would have been over. I might have lasted until 2003, but I certainly wouldn’t be going for 22+ years.

If you do barefoot massage correctly (yes, you can do it wrong and injure yourself!), you’ll have unlimited years to work in your field

One of Mary-Claire’s classes. (pre-pandemic)

2. Clients love it

I have never had a client ask me to get off the table and switch to hands-on the 1st time I’ve given them barefoot massage.

But you have to have the right client on the table.

First, there are people who hate feet. It’s not your feet, but everyone’s. Don’t try to convince them to try barefoot massage. It’s a lost cause.

Next, you have the client who needs the work, but they’re reluctant, because it’s “weird”. BUT they’re desperate for results and are afraid that surgery will come next. So they’ll try it.

Sara Newberry is using our strap for excellent body mechanics, heat and joint movement.

Lastly, you have the people who think barefoot massage is going to be the most amazing thing ever. They walked on their parent’s back, they have their kids walk on their back, or maybe they’ve gotten another form of barefoot massage somewhere else.

I have found that clients who try ashiatsu barefoot massage NEVER go back to “regular” hands-on massage if they can help it.

(Of course, you need to practice and be good at your barefoot massage craft.)

Most of my clients have also reported that the results of barefoot massage last longer than traditional deep tissue.

PLUS ashiatsu barefoot feels wwwwaaaaayyyy better than pointy thumbs and pokey elbows!

3. You’ll differentiate yourself from other massage therapists

Once you try barefoot massage, you’ll never go back to “regular” massage. Shirt design by Jeni Spring.

✔️How many massage therapists are there in your city?
✔️How many do deep tissue?
✔️What percentage do barefoot massage?

I am one of the few in a large city (Cincinnati) who specializes in barefoot massage. I have trained others, but they have moved or didn’t get comfortable with it or closed their business (or whatever).

Regular clients drive up to 45 minutes to see me.

In fact, I drive 45 minutes to see MY barefoot massage therapist. Why? Because there’s no one else around, and it’s what I want.

What are 3 reasons massage therapists learn barefoot massage?

  1. Lengthen / save your career
  2. Clients love it
  3. You’ll differentiate yourself from other massage therapists

What’s stopping you from learning?

Or if you’ve already learned, do you specialize! Let us know.



Interested in learning more about barefoot massage?

Visit us at www.barefootmassagecenter.com

We have tons of Tip and Tricks on YouTube!

And check out our Facebook page

Don’t forget Instagram!


Mary-Claire Fredette has been licensed as a massage therapist in Ohio since the last century.

Seriously.

She learned barefoot massage in 2002 and hasn’t looked back, beginning teaching in 2004.

You can find her classes in her natural light studio in Cincinnati.

She co-founded the Center for Barefoot Massage with husband Paul and the barefoot massage idea-preneur Jeni Spring in 2017..

Are you working to your detriment?

Most of us went into the field of massage because we wanted to help people.

Maybe we already were giving out shoulder rubs on everyone we could get our hands-on. Perhaps we just knew that we weren’t meant to be a counselor (ahem, Mary-Claire here, speaking from experience).

But we had the heart to serve, to help others, to make them leave our offices happier than they were when they came in.

Into massage school we ran, eager to have the license to practice.

Did they tell you that the average career span of a massage therapist is 3-5 years (or 5-7 years, depending on the source)?

Or did you find out later?

Why do you think that is?

While there are a number of factors in play, one of the big reason is injury, pain, and burnout.

Simply stated, we work to our detriment.

What does that mean, exactly?

Most of us do/did our best to provide the massage experience that the legit client wanted.

More pressure? Sure!

Deeper in that spot! No problem.

Can you hang out here for a while? My pleasure.

In the meantime, our backs started to act up. Or maybe we discovered a little tendonitis or tenosynovitis.

We start cracking our knuckles a little more, pounding on our forearms while we sit at a traffic stop, gripping the steering wheel so we can have the added stretch of a bent wrist.


I have a client who was a massage therapist for many years, longer than I have been (and it’s 22+ years for me).

While she had learned barefoot massage years ago, she never got really comfortable with it, was clunky, and the clients didn’t love it.

So she continued to do what she’d been doing-providing her clients with awesome deep tissue massage via her hands.

Until she couldn’t.

She couldn’t push past the pain anymore. Actually, she had to see a doctor because she couldn’t grip things anymore and was starting to drop the items she held in her hands.

Permanent damage, friends.

Permanent damage was caused by overworking herself to make her clients happy.

This is preventable.

If you’re going to offer deep tissue massage as a career, please get good at barefoot massage.

And it’s not going to happen if you take an online class. It may not happen if you only take 1 live class.

You may need to retake your 1st class (especially if it takes a while to get the bars up).

And you will certainly be better with each continuing ed class you take.

Is there anything preventing you from a long lasting deep tissue massage career?

The ball’s in your court.



Interested in learning more about barefoot massage?

Visit us at www.barefootmassagecenter.com

We have tons of Tip and Tricks on YouTube!

And check out our Facebook page

Don’t forget Instagram!


Mary-Claire Fredette has been licensed as a massage therapist in Ohio since the last century.

Seriously.

She learned barefoot massage in 2002 and hasn’t looked back, beginning teaching in 2004.

You can find her classes in her natural light studio in Cincinnati.

She co-founded the Center for Barefoot Massage with husband Paul and the barefoot massage idea-preneur Jeni Spring in 2017.

Knowing your ideal client

Whether you’ve learned barefoot massage already or are pondering your possibilities, it’s important to decide who your ideal client is for barefoot massage.

Really, you should know this even if you haven’t even considered the possibility of taking our classes!

1st consideration

You can’t serve everyone.

Think of big chains.

While it may seem like they serve everyone, they’ve probably narrowed it down something like this-the person

  1. wants the convenience of a membership
  2. doesn’t mind seeing a wide variety of therapists
  3. wants a less expensive massage
  4. is willing to buy products

2nd thought

In trying to have everyone as your client, you are missing out on those who want to find someone who specializes in XYZ.

This brings us to specializing in a modality.

You don’t have to be a barefoot nerd like we are. Some massage therapists love taking a wide variety of CE classes, and we’re into that as well.

But when you offer 37 items on your massage menu, it:

  • creates confusion with your potential clients
  • it makes it harder for them to make a decision
  • ultimately, they’ll probably leave your site
  • you aren’t seen as an expert in any one field-you look more like a dabbler in modalities.
  • Just pick a couple of things and get really good at them.

Be known for something specific.

3rd idea

Now that you’ve chosen a thing or 2 to specialize in, who do you want to work with?

My ideal client used to be someone like me (Mary-Claire)-a parent who didn’t have a whole lot of money but wanted to take care of themselves. As a result, I didn’t charge a whole lot.

While noble, that’s not a great idea if you actually want to make a living doing massage therapy.

When deciding your ideal client (also known as an “avatar”), get super specific.

Do you want to work with:

  • men or women
  • athletes or wanna be’s
  • someone who’s working from home and is stressed out
  • car accident rehab patients
  • oncology patients (not for barefoot massage, though)
  • etc. (you catch my drift, right?)

What’s their name?
Do they have kids? How many? Ages?
Pets?
What are their hobbies?
What kind of work do they do?

Be specific as you can. For instance, mine looks something like this:

Bob is a 54-year-old married dad of 2 whose kids are out of the house. He has a Labradoodle named Sals who he takes on walks twice a day. He is an upper-level executive of marketing with Procter and Gamble and likes to hike on his days off. He loves deep tissue massage and is a foodie.

What 3 important facts does this tell me?
1. He has a reasonable amount of disposable income with his job and his kids being out of the house.
2. Bob likes being outdoors and getting exercise.
3. Being a foodie, he is open to new experiences.

Therefore:
1. He would probably like stretching added into his barefoot massages (which I want to do)
2. Bob has enough money and time to take care of himself with regular massage.
3. As a matter of fact, Bob is an ideal client who can afford to come 2x a month to receive massage.
4. He is willing to try new-to-him techniques such as side-lying,

Knowing your ideal client will help you target your social media and marketing to the right potential client.


Interested in learning more about barefoot massage?

Visit us at www.barefootmassagecenter.com

We have tons of Tip and Tricks on YouTube!

And check out our Facebook page

Don’t forget Instagram!

Barbicide, Lysol, Beach, oh my!

The world is going through the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

It’s typically spread by people who come in close contact (within 6′) of an infected person or through respiratory droplets from sneezing or coughing.

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention):

It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.

To protect yourself, (at the time of this blogs posting) the CDC recommends:
1. To clean your hands often-wash with soap and water for at least 20 seconds (especially after you’ve been in a public place, have blown your nose, coughed or sneezed).
2. Use at least 60% alcohol hand sanitizer if soap and water aren’t available.
3. Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unclean hands.

And now, onto our GUEST POST, written by a past Center for Barefoot Massage instructor who taught with us for a very short time, but is no longer with the company.


So, this photo is probably my most least Instagram/Facebook worthy.   It may, however, be one of my most important posts to date.
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My sanitation practices have not changed since the outbreak. I leave an hour in between each guest so I can clean and disinfect.

I do this *FOR EVERY* client.

I wash my hands
✔︎for 20 seconds before I know you’re arriving
✔︎ for 20 seconds before I begin your treatment
✔︎ again if I need to step away and
✔︎ post-treatment.

Between every client
✔︎I clean the bathroom with disinfectant
✔︎I wipe down my computer, cell phone, iPad, hot towel caddies with Barbicide wipes
✔︎ I spray soft surfaces and door knobs with Lysol
✔︎ I use a fresh Ashi strap for each client and soak them at night

✔︎ I wash my feet and sanitize them with wintergreen alcohol for barefoot massage

✔︎I wear rubber flip flops that are sanitized if I step off the table
✔︎I wash with soap and soak all coffee mugs in bleach water
✔︎I wipe my bars with disinfectant
✔︎ I wash and disinfect any and all tools used during facials and body rituals
✔︎I clean the floor (even though y’all wear slippers to move around in the space)

I have an air purifier to clean the air of viruses, bacteria and impurities.

All linens are washed on a sanitary cycle every night. All whites are bleached. (Pro tip, splashless bleach is not a disinfectant!!! Read the label!)

All blankets, towels and sheets are fresh and are used only on you. I have fresh towels, blankets and sheets for my other guests, there’s no cooties passing around here. 
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I’m also asking each client to wash their hands before their treatment begins.
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I know many of you are afraid and many are not.

I will tell you that I do have geriatric clients, I have clients with autoimmune disease, diabetes and some clients who are smokers. People falling in this particular demographic are being hit the hardest, just because you don’t fall in those categories doesn’t mean you’re not susceptible to spread the disease.

Please, I beg you…if you are ill, if a family member or someone in your inner circle is sick…please stay home. I will turn you away if I feel you’re contagious.
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All this being said, the biggest thing you can do to make an impact is by practicing good hygiene by washing your hands.

Also, please be kind  ♥️✨ to others while in public spaces. I’ve been reading article after article about rampant xenophobia. We are in this mess together y’all. A little kindness, compassion for others and plain old common decency goes a long, long way.
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I also want to encourage other Massage Therapists, Estheticians, Stylists & Nail Artists to share their sanitation practices here on social media so we can all put our clients’ minds at ease.

We are, have and always will be doing our part to protect you and your health.



The author of this guest post was K r i s t y P o u x

Using a small pillow for Sidelying barefoot massage bolstering

The benefits of side-lying barefoot massage are plentiful. Once you get past the “my client only wants to lie face down to receive the massage” mentality, you’ll find that you can access a number of muscles more easily when they lie on their side.

Why side-lying barefoot massage?

Providing side-lying barefoot massage allows you as a therapist to have better access and angles to work on shoulders, hips, quadratus lumborum, IT band, adductors, and abductors, to name but a few.

(You can learn side-body barefoot massage in our Intermediate class. We also teach side-lying barefoot work in our Fijian barefoot mat class.)

Sometimes you’ll find that your client (typically women, who are more curvy than men) may have trouble lying on their side as their 11th or 12th rib feels like it’s close to or hitting their iliac crest.

This makes it tricky for even the most skilled barefoot therapist to find the QL, as there’s often not enough space for even the heel. Resorting to the lateral edge of the foot may be a solution, but there’s something super simple you can try instead.

Bolstering with a small pillow

It’s easy fix- small toddler or travel pillow placed under their waist in between their body and the table.

Watch the video to see how Mary-Claire uses the pillow and how it flattens out the client’s torso. This makes barefoot side-lying massage much easier (and more comfortable for both the LMT and the client).

The client simply rolls over when you’re ready to work the 2nd side-the pillow should stay pretty well in place.

If you’re going to use the pillow under their stomach for prone work, they simply roll onto their stomach and adjust as needed. (See this video on how to do that.)

Are they rolling on their back next? Just have them lift up a little, grab the pillow and hand it to you or toss it onto the floor-whatever’s easiest.

Let us know what other bolstering techniques are in your grab bag (or you’d like to see!) in the comments.


Where you can find more info…

Visit our main website to find out more about all our classes at the Center for Barefoot Massage.

Or visit us on Facebook and Instagram!

Using a small pillow for bolstering the stomach

Have you ever had a client who has back pain while lying on their stomach to receive barefoot massage or even hand-on deep tissue massage?

This is often caused by hyperlordosis. An excessive curve in the lumbar (it’s sometimes seen in the cervical dish as well) can be caused by structural issues such as:

1. kyphosis AKA “dowager’s hump”
2. discitis
3. obesity (especially with a large stomach)
4. spondylolisthesis

Muscular imbalances:
1. weak glutes, hamstrings, and abdominal muscles
2. tight erector spinae, quadratus lumborum (QL), and hip flexors (especially iliopsoas)

If your client is not comfortable lying on their stomach, try using a small pillow between their pelvis and rib cage.

You can use a travel pillow (mine has feathers, which makes it squishy and moveable) or a toddler pillow (with cotton/polyester fill). The toddler pillow is a little smaller.

Check out our Tuesday Toesday Tip video to see how Mary-Claire uses a small pillow to make her clients more comfortable. (It’s just 3 minutes, 35 seconds.)

Next week will be another tip for when you need to bolster women for side-body massage (you do work on clients on your side, don’t you? )

If you haven’t learned sidelying massage, definitely look into our Intermediate class, where we’ll teach you amazing anterior barefoot massage (mmm..quads! pecs!) and super effective side-lying barefoot massage-you’ll reach muscles your clients may never knew they had.

Massage Creeper article on Bored Panda

As massage therapists, we’ve got a pretty good thing going on in general. Clients come in tight or sore, and we make them feel better by the time they walk out the door. Barefoot massage is deep but comfortable and can put muscles back in place where they belong. Hands-on massage therapists provide pain relief as well, and relaxation.

For that, people are grateful.

But sometimes we get “Creepers”- typically men (not always, I’m sure) who ask things like if they can inspect our feet to make sure they are pretty enough for ashiatsu. In the 20 years that I’ve been doing massage, no one has asked to inspect my hands.

Or perhaps they ask what we are wearing or if we are the person in the photo on our website or ad. Once someone asked me in person how much I weighed.

Most massage therapists have dealt with this in one way or another, unfortunately. I was fortunate that our instructors talked about this in massage school. In our FasciAshi Fundamentals class, our instructors talk about what’s legit and what’s too creepy in regards to our massage with feet.

Some inquiries are no doubt legitimate or have been asked out of curiosity, but there are ridiculously blatant ones as well.

Head on over to Bored Panda, where we’ve got our “Dear Massage Creeper” article live. It’s a letter many massage therapists are currently rejoicing over and are wanting to share with others.

What kind of weird or creepy things have happened to you in regards to massage? Also, if you have tips to share in how to handle weirdos, please do!

Leave a comment below then share this with a friend.

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Stools-which is the best for barefoot massage?

All of our instructors have a preference for the type of stools they use in their own personal practice. Today I’m talking about the one that stays at the head of your table by the headrest. (If you want to learn more about the different step stools we use, you can read about that here.)

You have plenty of options, but I’ll go over some of the stools our instructors have been using in the last 17+ years, what we like and don’t like about them.

There are many choices available. In large, what we get tends to be based on 3 things:

1. what we can afford
2. how it looks
3. its sturdiness

Typically, we prefer to use a standard height 24″ stool for both the standing and seated work. Old school barefoot therapists often needed 2 stools-1 for standing and the other for seated work.

However, it’s ridiculously easy to add a bolster to increase height for seated work if you don’t have an electric table but you want to be higher.

Stability is your #1 priority.

How it looks should be secondary to that. With that being said, you need to get what you can afford.

As with setting up your bars, the use of the stool may be individual to each barefoot therapist and room setting.

Affordability, surface area, tipability factor

Many walls have baseboards at the floor, which affects the stability of stools, the “tipability factor”. Baseboards may be thin rubber, relatively thin wood or custom thicker wood (which is what I have in my office).

You are more likely to have a problem with the stool tipping if you don’t stand in the center of it, and the edge of the stool is not by the wall.

I’ve been on the receiving end of a stool tilt. I don’t recommend it.

You can always add a bumper (pool noodle or pipe foam) for stability.

Classic round bar stool
The least expensive is a classic round stool. I used to get them from Bed Bath and Beyond with a 20% off or $5 off coupon. They are currently retailed at $39.99. Legs that are square are more stable than those that are round.

Pros: price, classic and simple 1990’s look, easily able to find at local stores or thrift shops, a round meditation bolster fits on it well
Cons: easy to tip, tends to get wobbly over time (I’ve seen some wobble within a day)

Saddle stool 
These stools usually start at $69 and go up substantially from there. Less expensive ones are more likely to wobble and fall apart quickly while spendier versions will be around for years.

They can be found at many stores in your area.

Because they are rectangular, you have more stable footing than with the round stool.

Most often found in painted black or natural wood tone, I have seen these in periodically in vibrant colors such as red also.

Jeni’s tip: short therapists can turn the stool perpendicular to the wall and add a bolster behind his/her back to get themselves closer to the client if needed.

Pros: look nice, can be purchased in a variety of colors, easily able to find at local stores, can be used perpendicularly with bolster
Cons:  inexpensive ones are often poorly made and can fall apart quickly, can tip easily if you’re not standing correctly & have a baseboard

Padded saddle stool
For about a week, I used a rectangular stool with built-in padding but didn’t care for it. I found it unwieldy to swing my leg over it when seated. Because the stool wasn’t meant for standing on, my foot quickly imprinted on the foam padding, making it uneven within a week of using it.

Pros: you don’t need an additional bolster
Cons: the seat’s not meant for standing, can wobble if built poorly, probably has buttons on the top of the cushion

Tolix style stool
Why are they called “Tolix”?  They were first designed in 1934 by Xavier Pauchard for the French Company Tolix.

These square stools can be found both in metal and metal with a wooden seat and are often seen at restaurants and bars with outdoor seating.

They are sturdy, can be found in a huge variety of colors ranging from white or aqua to red or black.

If you order online, you may have to put them together, or you can find them at places like Target (which is where this particular one came from).

They’re often $69+, and sometimes you can only find them in sets of 4.

The square seat gives you oodles of room for your feet, and there’s plenty of space for a classic round meditation bolster.

Pros: very sturdy and stable, solidly built, available in a wide variety of colors
Cons: feels cold on your feet (even through a towel) as the stool is made of metal

Tolix style stool with back
I purchased the Tolix style stools with the backs to help students prevent tipping while standing during barefoot massage .

Like the others, these are metal with the seat made from bamboo. These came as a 4 pack from Amazon.

Having the back may be overkill, but they look nice (and they’re my favorite so far.) The round meditation bolster stays on well-it kind of snuggles into the back and doesn’t slip around.

The other Tolix style stools are just as stable if you stand correctly, though.

Pros: very sturdy and stable, solidly built, looks nice
Cons: feels cold on your feet (even through a towel) as the stool is made of metal, pricier than others without back

Custom stools
The beauty of having a custom-made stool is that you can have it designed exactly how you want it. Whether you want at a different height or a broader base, it will be perfect for you and your space.

This welded stool has a slightly padded top and wide platform for both sitting and standing.

A past instructor who owns this stool says:

It is 25”, has a wide sturdy base and a lightly padded cleanable top. It also sits more flush with the wall since there isn’t an angle to the legs. It tips far less than other stools I’ve used.

Pros: it’s perfect for you, should be very stable
Cons:
cost can be prohibitive (this particular stool was over $200), won’t have right away, is heavy if made with metal.

At Bull City Soles in NC, our instructor Julie has had 3 stools made in a couple of different styles. They are wooden and super sturdy.

Julie’s stools at Bull City Soles in NC

Pros: they’re built to exactly your specifications, less expensive than welded stools, broad & stable base, can paint/decorate/put your logo on them
Cons: more expensive than many ready-made stools (these were about $120 each)

As you can tell, there are a lot of options for stools. Prices can range from very inexpensive (round stool at thrift store) to very pricey (custom stools) and everything in between.

Remember that stability is your priority and go from there!

What stool do you love in your barefoot massage office?


Ashiatsu Barefoot massage classes in Ohio and MichiganMary-Claire Fredette is a co-founder for the Center for Barefoot Massage and doesn’t want you to tip your stool over onto your client’s head or bang it into the wall.

Ain’t nobody got time for dat.

Find out more or take her classes (usually in Cincinnati) ranging from Fijian to Advanced and everything in between.