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. discitis3.…
Want to get under our Alumni’s feet? Did you do a google search for “ashiatsu massage near me” but wish the results had myofascial ashiatsu barefoot massage therapists singled out? Let us help you find where they are at! We know the feeling – once you try Myfoascial Ashiatsu, (AKA FasciAshi) you won’t go back to normal massage – and…
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.
What is Barefoot Massage? It’s not a foot massage – this is when the massage therapist massages YOU with their feet! Barefoot Massage is simply the act of using feet as tools to professionally massage with. Part of our mission here at the Center for Barefoot Massage is not only to cultivate a tribe of smart, educated and informed barefoot…
Do you need to be a Licensed Massage Therapist to learn FasciAshi? Yes. Attendees in our courses MUST be Licensed Massage Therapists who are legally eligible to provide paid, professional therapeutic massage therapy services to the public in accordance with the laws in their state. Since we are massage therapy educators, we are here to “solely” teach massage therapists. The…
Our FasciAshi Range of Motion (ROM) class is where stretch therapy meets ashiatsu massage. There is a growing presence of ‘stretch providers’ in the massage therapy, yoga and personal trainer industries, possibly due to the evolving understanding of the properties of fascia. The public is noticing more and more that a movement practice of some kind is essential to a healthy body – and some are turning to their massage therapists for help.
The human population is becoming more and more sedentary.
The leading cause of disability is musculoskeletal pain, and over 80% of acute and chronic injuries are caused by the body not moving properly. (I should know, I just spent a day on the couch writing this blog post!!) One goal of stretch therapy and movement re-education is to make the client more aware of their habits of movement and more comfortable in his or her body with less compensation.
We all need varying movement to maintain healthy tissue hydration, regeneration, and repair. Motion is lotion, no matter what lifestyle you live. The smooth moves we teach in the FasciAshi ROM class could be just the thing that your clients are ACHING to try!
When Jeni, Paul, and I started this little business in 2017, and we spent a lot of time visioning and planning how we could make our barefoot massage company different from others. Not only in the strokes and how we teach, but in our post-class support. A barefoot massage membership site made sense.
It would be a place for our community to review strokes, download marketing and business materials, ideas on how to better run their massage studio and more.
I’ve been doing barefoot massage since 2002, and Jeni was shortly behind me in 2003.
Together with our instructors, we’ve learned so much about what helps barefoot therapists.
By the same token we’ve also discovered what also prevents other skilled therapists who have learned ashiatsu from actually doing it in their studio and growing a business.
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:: <
Just laugh it off and show them this video:
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.