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…
Having an electric massage table solves a lot of problems for barefoot massage therapists, one of which is the ability to use only one stool instead of two. You simply raise or lower the table according to your needs. When using a portable massage table, ashiatsu therapists typically need 2 stools–that is, until now, for we’ve got a meditation pillow to…
Learning Ashiatsu was, by far, the best choice I’ve made in learning how to extend my massage career. However, after making a big financial and time commitment is when most massage therapists discover that their career may only last 3-5 years. Massage burnout and injury are the 2 biggest reasons.
Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals has reported that the burn out rate within the industry has been estimated at 50% to 88% within the first 3 to 5 years after graduation.
Massage Therapy Schools Information reports that “enrollment statistics seem to support this with over 50,000 students enrolling per year with 45,000 that leave the field annually.”
How can existing Ashiatsu therapists learn FasciAshi?
If you are a massage therapist who already has formal Ashiatsu training, the Center for Barefoot Massage wants you and your Ashiatsu skill level to continue to grow. We have FOUR ways for you to support your advancement in this style of massage, and blend the new strokes in with the old. These retraining opportunities allow you to revisit your Ashiatsu technique and body mechanics, while infusing it with FasciAshi’s innovative myofascial approaches to how you apply pressure through your feet.
- Converge (No longer available since 2018)
- Revitalize
- Retrain
- Push forward with next-level classes
Today we’ll discuss the Converge classes and what they entail – in the following weeks we’ll cover all options to step up your Ashiatsu game!
Just when you think that you’ve got a grip on your ashiatsu barefoot massage session, your body tilts just a teensy bit the wrong way, and CLUNK! Your stool at the head of the table slams into the wall. Today we’ll show you how to eliminate that issue so your client’s not terrified you’re about to fall on his head, and you feel a little more stable.
Problem: caused by your baseboard that juts out from the wall, and the top of your stool often comes several inches from the wall itself. When you’re not quite centered on your stool as your using your other foot to massage, the stool tilts backwards.
Solution: costs under $1 and takes less than one minute.
One of the key factors that can make or break your ashiatsu massage is the softness of your feet. Now that the sun’s out and the temperatures have gotten warm, we all want to go barefoot. Unfortunately, that will make your tootsies unpleasant for barefoot massage. After all, our clients are not coming in for an exfoliation, right?
Whether you are getting ready to take your first ashiatsu class or you’re a seasoned barefoot massage therapist, you’ve got to keep those feet baby butt smooth.
Sure, you can pay for a pedicure. Some accountants say it’s even tax deductible. (Check with your own to see if she thinks the IRS will allow that.)
But you can make your own foot scrub to get your feet super soft with just a couple of ingredients and it will cost next to nothing!
To give your client a safe, comfortable and effective barefoot massage, it’s important to support them with specific bolstering for Ashiatsu where needed. We do this in many unique ways, from how we use a flat pillow for ankle and knee support while prone or supine, to what tools we use to position their body to best absorb and distribute gravitational forces and our weight.
Bolster #1: The Boob Pillow.
The purpose of a breast support pillow, when it comes to Ashiatsu, is to position “the girls” while supporting the sternum, clavicle, ribs and cervical spine when under pressure. Keep in mind that the table below the client is resisting your weight, and pushes back into the client’s body.
This “Oreo” of pressure coming from above and below your female client’s torso can translate into suffocating force in the chest, or a position of their head and neck that adds compression to the throat. Having a cushion helps your client maintain thoracic, cervical and shoulder alignment so that she may comfortably absorb the pressure applied by your feet. Keep in mind that the breast recesses built into massage tables don’t always work well with Ashiatsu because the table is still there to push back on the throat – so give the girls some lift, and put an added level of padding underneath!
One of the great things about our ashiatsu barefoot massage class is that we bring in outside clients for the students in a class to work on. These are not random people picked up off the street, but rather ashi-experienced men and women who give excellent feedback on technique, approach, dismounts, pressure, etc.
Other than improving pressure and consistency, which definitely takes practice, I universally hear these things from the class clients after having received a full body barefoot massage session in ashiatsu class:
Some people ask us if there is a certain ashiatsu massage table they should be using to do barefoot massage. While you can probably still use the table you already have, there are tables we definitely prefer. Our favorites are the Earthlite Ellora and Spirit.
Will other tables work?
The short answer is: it depends on the brand and model. We’ve worked on many different models with different results. Many tables cost less due to less solid materials and only 2″ of foam.
If you want your clients to come back, make sure your table has 3″ of foam.
Once I had a student working on me when I heard cracking coming from the table.
When I first learned Ashiatsu barefoot massage, my instructor told our class that we should definitely charge more for the modality. The theory behind it was that people would pay more for a specialty massage.
I had been working at a day spa, and we were supposed to charge more for deep tissue and hot stone. “Supposed to” being the key words, as no one ever booked the pricier massage but simply asked for more pressure.
Paying more for hot stone massage–I get it! There’s a lot of prep time and clean up time, so there’s the massage time plus a good additional 15-20 minutes of extra work. Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to include the time spent trying to fix my frizz ball hair I had after sticking my head over a hot pot of steaming water. 😉
Bringing ashiatsu to paying clients, the problem I first encountered was that I worked for a chiropractor who did insurance billing. Massage is massage is massage in the land of billing. No upccharge for craniosacral, trigger point, ashiatsu, etc.
On my own–let’s charge more!
So when I started to take my own ashiatsu clients, I decided to charge just $5 more. At the time, my fee was $50/hour, so an extra 5 bucks seemed reasonable. But then my first client, who is 6’3″ and 240 lbs, said he’d love to try it but couldn’t afford $55. He could barely squeeze out the $50.
“Nevermind!” I answered. “I’ll do ashi anyway because it’ll be easier on me and I know you’ll love it!”