We structured our FasciAshi classes to incorporate a Mindfulness practice – so I’d like to challenge you to bring an element of mindfulness and attention to your massage practice this week.
Do you have a “Signature” stroke? That one stroke that, for some reason, you feel that you absolutely MUST find a way to sneak into every single session because you love it so much? I think we all have one. This week’s #AshiatsuChallenge is to help you find WHY you are doing what you are doing.
If you are already massaging with your feet, you’ve probably spoken with clients who perceive “Barefoot Massage” to be some kind of foot massage, like reflexology.
“Oh I LOVVVE to get my feet rubbed” is one of the top responses I get when I introduce myself as a Barefoot Massage Therapist.
::eyeroll:: <
Is Ashiatsu the same as Barefoot Massage? What is the difference between a Barefoot Massage and a Foot Massage?
WOW! So many questions, and we get them often from our clients as well as from massage therapists. I’m sure you’ve either asked, or have been asked these questions, too. So lets break it down!
Barefoot Massage is a growing specialty in the massage therapy industry where the massage professional utilizes their FEET as tools to give the massage rather than hands. A foot massage is where the clients feet are being massaged through techniques such as Reflexology, Acupressure, Thai Foot Massage, or a general foot rub – like what you may receive from a Nail Technician during a pedicure. A Bear Foot massage is another thing entirely, ha!
“Give it weight, then wait” to impact the fascia (but really, the nervous system) is a pretty heavy theory that we’ve found to be important to our FasciAshi technique. Addressing the deep fascial bands, navigating the contours of muscle and bone, and applying a great amount of pressure directly to specific tissues creates a form of myofascial release that your hands only WISH they could achieve with such consistency and accuracy. The broad pressure from a Barefoot Massage is a no brainer for deep bodywork. Moving slower, OR NOT AT ALL, helps you get to that “deeper than deep tissue” feeling so many clients are looking for.
Mindfulness in massage is all about being present, focusing on the experiences happening in the current moment. In FasciAshi, even though you are “using your feet to massage,” you are honestly utilizing your whole body. Experienced ashiatsu therapists will start to dance across their clients bodies, focusing on where the clients fascia and their own intuition leads them within a session. The mindfulness of their massage becomes a sort of movement meditation.
We know learning how to massage “from scratch” all over again is a huge change. It can be humbling to your ego when your ease and natural hands-on massage skills don’t immediately translate all the way down to your feet.
Confidence and competence while applying FasciAshi techniques starts in class. A mindfulness approach that flows into your practice bridges the gap between classroom and clinical knowledge.
We are proud of the strokes and theories presented in the Intermediate FasciAshi course, and we get so excited at the potential this particular workshop offers for your growth in the technique! It’s a class favorited by our instructors, and an important step towards bringing the skill level of your feet up to par with your hands.
Our Intermediate course, where you’ll learn the supine and sidebody FasciAshi material, has been a 12 CE hour course since it’s release early this year. Feedback from our students and faculty has shown that the amount of information provided within this 12 hour long class is too much for the time span allowed. The Center for Barefoot Massage is listening to you! We are extending the class to allow more time to allow you to experience the class without feeling rushed.
Starting in March, 2022, you’ll see the FasciAshi Intermediate: Supine & Sidebody course listed for $500, which is our standard price for all two day, 16 CE classes. You’ll see this change reflected soon on our website – it is already in place for any 2018 Intermediate class listed.
The Center for Barefoot Massage currently offers four different FasciAshi classes- and if you haven’t had a chance to read about them on our website, or experience them first FOOT in class, then here’s a quick overview – and a visual teaser to get you excited!
What’s the difference between the AshiatsuBarefoot Massage that you’ve heard of for years and our new FasciAshi?! ↫ Do you see the word “Fascia” in there? That’s the key to our work.
We teach anatomy based, Fascia-focused strokes that have been developed by a team of experienced and highly trained barefoot massage specialists. FasciAshi (our nickname for MyoFascial Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage) started in San Antonio at Heeling Sole, but quickly found a collective movement of barefoot massage therapists across the country who wanted MORE out of their cookie-cutter feeling sessions, and it grew into its place as part of the myofascial barefoot massage movement you see today.
Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage is a growing niche in the massage industry – and just like there are many different styles of sports massage or hot stone courses in the Continuing Education market, we are presenting a drastically different new style of Ashiatsu.
Where do your start your massage? At the feet? Perhaps at the client’s initial complaint area? At their upper back or in their neck? With their breath?
There’s not a wrong answer here, it all has to do with the theory you choose to approach the massage with.
Having procedures and protocols can produce results – but every client and every condition is different. Learning a routine massage and always sticking to it is like being on autopilot: it might always produce the same results, but you may be bored, uninspired… and your clients progress may plateau.
Read a few of the ideas below, and see if changing up the sequencing of your next massage helps you and your client get the results you are looking for!
Our faculty and alumni all have their own ways of adding their creme, lotion or oil during sessions. One massage lotion application is to squirt the lubricant onto your foot, then do some smearing strokes to work it along the area you’ll be focusing on… then DO YOUR THANG! (You’ll need to have a holster on your hip to hold that lube tube!) This version definitely helps to avoid getting your hands slippery, which alters your grasp on the bars.
We love to teach you tricks like this in our FasciAshi Fundamentals classes!
Read more below: