Barefoot Massage Therapists need a good amount of strength and flexibility in their hips – which is where mobility exercises that help to create a balance between the two concepts come into play. This week, it’s time to work on those hips! Resistance bands are a great way to strengthen muscles without causing too much stress, so grab your band and get started.
Here we are: 2 weeks into the second annual Barefoot Massage Open, a weekly massage challenge for ashiatsu therapists – this Friday we’ll step into WEEK 3! But lets not get ahead of ourselves…. lets focus on the now! Today is Tuesday, which means it’s #2sdayTOESday & also massage day in our #AshiatsuChallenge…
(It’s also Mardi GrASHIATSU today!!)
This year, for our SECOND ANNUAL ASHI-CHALLENGE (which coincides with the CrossFit Open) we bring you the BAREFOOT MASSAGE OPEN 2.0: with 2x the content!!! On Fridays, our New York Instructor Dawn Dotson will be posting mobility/stability exercises and activities for your body…. And on Tuesdays, Jeni will post challenges to do while you massage!!! Here’s our Week #2 Mobility…
This year, for our SECOND ANNUAL #ASHICHALLENGE (which coincides with the CrossFit Open) we bring you the BAREFOOT MASSAGE OPEN 2.0: with 2x the content!!! On Fridays, our New York Instructor Dawn Dotson will be posting mobility/stability exercises and activities for your body…. And on Tuesdays, Jeni Spring will post an #AshiatsuChallenge for you to do while you massage!!! Want…
This year, for our SECOND ANNUAL ASHI-CHALLENGE (which coincides with the CrossFit Open) we bring you the BAREFOOT MASSAGE OPEN 2.0: with 2x the content!!! On Fridays, our New York Instructor Dawn Dotson will be posting mobility/stability exercises and activities for your body…. And on Tuesdays, Jeni will post challenges to do while you massage!!! Here’s our Week #1 Mobility…

For those of you who know me – you know that I love the ashiatsu portable bars. I was originally trained in ashiatsu on a very old style of the portables, (that were new at the time) and they feel like home to me. Although I honestly couldn’t afford them back then, I put my first set on a credit card and made sure I got my money’s worth out of them ASAP. Ever since, I’ve used them regularly at local Farmers’ Markets, sporting/yoga events and massage conventions. I’ve taught on portable bars across the country and in Germany. I used ashiatsu portable bars daily for 6 months at one point because I wasn’t sure I wanted to stay in that location long enough to justify building permanent bars.
I just spent 3 solid days working on a set of portable bars that I own. Now that *anyone* can go buy a set of portables, I wanted to fill you in on all the things I don’t think anyone will actually tell you about them. HERE WE GO!
At the Center for Barefoot Massage, all of our manuals are designed with space for notes. Note-taking moves you from a passive to an active learner and allows you to better absorb and retain the information you’ll be processing during class. NOTE TAKING + TIPS TO DO IT BETTER. 1. HOW IT WORKS: First off, note-taking requires effort so it…
Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing. – Pelé Why you should continue to take continuing ed ce classes in barefoot massage… This is day 4 of 5- our team of barefoot massage instructors is getting 2 feet deep into learning two of the Center…
On Wednesday, I wrote about the deliciousness of using heat during a massage. Because of the multitude of benefits that the combination of heat and massage can provide, instructor Sara Newberry and I (Mary-Claire Fredette) teamed together to create the world’s first…
Hot Ashi!
It’s a combination of heated Mother Earth Pillows and, you guessed it, barefoot massage! It’s first in our specialty class lineup.
A little history on how this came about…
I’ve been doing barefoot massage since 2002. The trouble is that my hands and feet were always cold after washing them. A heating pad has been my feet’s friend since about Day 1. When I learned “thermal connective tissue release” Pillossage with Mother Earth founder Karen Kowal back in 2011, I knew I had found the answer to my cold hands.
Almost ALL of us love to be warm when we get a massage. There’s something so comforting about even just lying down on a heated massage table. It’s like stepping into a warm bubble bath, knowing you relaxation is going to commence immediately.
Have you ever dabbled with using heat for a massage? Maybe you’ve played around using a heating pad to keep your clients feet warm, or set a small oscillating heater to blow warm air on your clients.
Perhaps you’ve draped warm Mother Earth pillows over an aching joint or shoulders, because you know how good that feels.
(As I write this, I’m alternating a Mother Earth flax pillow between my lap and my shoulders. Ahh…)
