I have been an Ashiatsu instructor for almost ten years, and many types of massage therapists have come through my training studio. A few newbies fresh out of school and some seasoned massage therapists that been in the field for several years. But learning ashiatsu can level the playing field when it comes to length of experience for many massage therapists.
Unlike other massage CEUs massage therapists take to when they get out of school, we’re not only learning massage theory; we’re learning to use different TOOLS altogether: the FEET!
I’ve found three things make a great Ashiatsu therapist. Talent, Practice, and Passion. These are the words of a great visionary and architect, Frank Lloyd Wright,
{Today’s post has been brought to you by our Durham instructor Julie Marciniak, who is under 5′ tall.}
It’s been 15 years since I learned ashiatsu! Learning ashiatsu was a career saver for me. There’s no way I’d be able to maintain a practice of 25+ years without it.
I still remember how excited I was to come back and put up my eyebolts and get my feet on clients. I had a taste of what it was like to be able to REALLY go deep without hurting myself. Nothing could hold me back now! Except…table heights.
Ughhh…. When you’re short, it’s all about height. ?
The first ten years of my massage practice I learned that I needed a low table for me to deliver deep pressure. But when I came back from learning ashiatsu I realized that for me to work at my current table height, my bars had to be low.
The only system of overhead support back then was using eye bolts, only available when you could locate at your local home improvement stores. Eventually, I figured it out and made it work with my current table but I knew an electric table was in my future.
15 years later, I now own four electric tables. I still have my original Oakworks table(she’s ten years old!), and I also have 3 Earthlite Elloras. (Read our post about the Earthlite tables here.)
So I know a little bit about working with electric tables. ?
There’s one thing I recommend to students learning ashiatsu. You NEED an electric massage table. If you are in this for the long haul, then make it a priority. It’s THAT important, and you WILL thank me later. Here are a few tips I recommend for your current or future electric table and these tips are more specific with ashiatsu therapists in mind.
Here’s part 2 for soundproofing massage rooms and studios, written by Julie Marciniak, owner of North Pointe Body Therapies and our Durham, North Carolina FasciAshi Instructor. Part 1 of this post is for those of you who are fortunate enough to build your space from the floor up. That’s the only opportunity you have to address noise reduction because that’s when you can choose certain methods that STOP THE NOISE from getting through the wall. If you are renting or buying a space with walls already intact, however, then the only option for soundproofing your massage studio is to address noise absorption. Read on to learn how Julie manages this “hush-hush” issue!
In 25 years of massage/bodywork, I’ve worked in several spas, a Physical Therapy clinic, two home offices, and four massage therapy offices including my current location, a commercial condo that I own. SO…. you could say I have a little experience with noise in different scenarios. Or should I say TRYING to reduce the effect of noise?!? I’m going to share some of my successes and not-so-much with soundproofing.
Over the years I’ve worked on several projects to help with reducing noise in the massage studio. I love decorating in my spare time, and I’m always looking to create a beautiful and functional space where the massage client’s comfort and experience is at the forefront.
A calm space that clients can appreciate when they walk in the door, encourages them to take a deep breath, RELAX and to focus on their bodywork goals without distractions.
No one wants to hear what’s going on in the treatment room next to them, the UPS man delivering a package, front door slamming or the office phone ringing.
When I purchased my commercial condo three years ago I had the opportunity (a difference of opinion between my husband and me 😉 ) to start from scratch within the four walls of the condo.
I tore down all the “beautiful” temporary office walls, pulled up old carpet, several layers of linoleum and designed my massage studio from the concrete floor, walls to the ceiling. I’m going to share a few material options I lucked out on choosing and some I wish I had known while I was in the planning stage. I’m starting off with the basics~ flooring, walls, and ceilings.
Flooring:
Installing cork flooring to help with soundproofing
While the flooring was actually the last thing to get installed in the building process it was the first and easiest choice that I had to make. As a massage therapist, I discovered that standing just a few hours on concrete floors with basic carpet was torturous on the feet.
Even with decent padding underneath, it wasn’t the best. And I hate carpet anyway. It’s difficult to keep clean, and the dust and crap it collects are awful for sinus sufferers. But it’s an excellent insulator(concrete floors are COLD) and sound absorber. So what do you do?
I chose cork floors! Cork is a very good insulator(temperature and sound), it’s ideal for standing on and easy to clean! They have been awesome to work on and they still look awesome.
Walls:
Drywall was a given, but I had the choice between wood studs (which were my outer walls) or metal studs. My building is over 30 years old, and there was a history of water damage from the building being empty for a few years. So I chose metal studs and the fact that my brother-in-law was the installer and recommended it for ease of installation.
Using metal studs in massage build out
What I didn’t know then and found out later when doing some more sound proofing research on was that “A steel-stud wall with insulation alone performs about the same as a wood-framed wall with insulation and resilient channel.” A plus for me… On the walls that got insulation… ugh! The budget got blown to smithereens when the city’s code got involved.
A $20,000 bill from the plumbing contractor forced me to pick and choose which inside walls I could insulate. Inside walls weren’t required for code, but the attic/ceiling WAS. So it came down to only putting insulation between kitchen/laundry room, the adjacent massage room and between my treatment room and the Ashiatsu training studio.
Of course, this would come back to bite me in the butt later. There’s a ton of info out there on the internet but here’s an article I found helpful on insulating walls – How to Soundproof a Room. It also has some great tips on caulking outlets that I did NOT do. Sometimes budget and time make the choices for you, and you just have to deal with it.
There is one issue with the metal studs that I didn’t realize until a year or so. They don’t seem to be as strong as wood studs. They seem to flex and creak just a little bit. In Ashiatsu massage there is a seated portion where the therapist sits on a stool with their back against the wall using their feet to massage the client’s upper back and shoulders.
I can hear the walls creak while the therapist in the next room is working against the wall and I think it has to do with the gauge of the studs. I’m not sure what gauge mine is but if I could have done it differently, I would have researched it more and gone with the heavier gauge. But it’s not a safety issue so it’s not a big deal.
Ceilings:
My original ceiling was acoustic tiles. They were utterly destroyed. Did I mention this was a fixer-upper?!? Acoustic tiles are great sound insulators and generally cheaper to install than drywall. But since my family was helping me, I was able to get drywall ceilings for about the same price as acoustic tiles, and this was my preference as all my therapy rooms would have Ashiatsu bars in the ceiling. So this was one choice that I chose to NOT go with the best sound insulator because the bar installation had a higher priority. In a later blog, I’ll show you how I used soundboards on the ceiling and walls to help with sound absorption.
Custom built ashiatsu bars and a drywall ceiling
Remember the walls that I didn’t insulate? After a few months in the space, it was evident which walls had been insulated and which had not. So I came back a year later and tried to fix the problem without taking down the original drywall and insulating the walls. A few sources recommended I just add another layer of drywall.
Well, I did one treatment room. Several hundred $ later, paying a drywall person to put up another layer and repainting the wall… I barely could tell the difference. The more articles I read, the more confused and frustrated I got. Disgusted and frustrated I began looking at other options. Instead of tearing down the other walls I started focusing on controlling the sound within the rooms themselves.
In the next blog post, I’ll show you how I did that with rugs, fabric, soundboards, and other ideas. I’m not a soundproofing expert by any means, but I have tackled a TON of different projects. Some with a little $ and time investment and some more than I wanted to pay. And I’ve had success and failures with both.
Our guest post blog has been written by our Durham, NC instructor, Julie Marciniak. Julie’s a certified Rolfer with a husband who works full time in the NC National Guard, a son serving in the Army, and a daughter in high school.
Oh, and there are 2 adorable Daschunds, too. In her off time, she enjoys cooking, reading, gardening, decorating and creating beautiful and functional spaces.
