2017 has been a big year for barefoot massage – a lot of changes have hit the scene, all to the benefit of the massage therapy profession, and ultimately, the public! We dropped a lot of knowledge this year when we released the 1st wave of FasciAshi classes, and we can’t wait for the heavy deep myofascial ashiatsu massage training we’ll be footing out in 2018! In light of this, I thought today, the last day of the year, would be a great day to get down with ‘Part 1’ of this weighted blog post… Give weight, then wait. Enjoy! ~Jeni.
If you’re reading this on December 15, you still have time to enter to win our FREE one day of class drawing! We’ll choose the winner tomorrow, December 16, 2017. Click here to enter! You just need to be a massage therapist in order to redeem your one day of free class, and it’s not transferable. So don’t enter your…
Since it’s Thanksgiving, it seems apropos to share with everyone out there what we’re thankful for. While lives and business can be a challenge and a lot of work sometimes, our instructor team has a few people in our lives we’d like to give a shout out to the people we’re thankful for.
Firstly, we’d like to say a big fat thanks to all of our students and those who believe in us and our work. Without you, we wouldn’t be where we are.
A big thanks goes out to Dianna from Pure Pro and to Allissa and Michael from Massage Business Blueprint!
And now, personal thanks from our instructors:
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.
It wasn’t until after I had become a massage therapist that I began to understand the benefits of stretching in a massage session. My friend Dave had gotten a massage internship of sorts with a semi-pro hockey team, and he specialized in stretching and sports massage to keep the guys limber and injury free.
Up until that point, I had thought that most clients primarily wanted to lie there like a pancake, flip over, and be pried up off the table when “done”.
Most of us can figure out that ashiatsu barefoot massage is going to be deeper than hands-on massage simply by seeing that gravity does a lot of work for the massage therapist. How much pressure can you get with barefoot massage versus hands and forearms?
Today we have an easy-to-do cool little trick is for you. All it takes is your massage table (you can use your dining room table to check your hand/forearm pressure if you’re at home), a scale, and a board. The board simply gives a solid surface for the scale. I used a cutting board. (You can skip the board if you’re checking this out on your eating table.)
Put the scale on the floor to see how deep you can go with your foot if you don’t have ashiatsu bars!
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!
Many of us niche down pretty well after we’ve been doing massage for a long time. All of our instructors specialize in Ashiatsu barefoot massage. Some add in a little this or that in addition (like Pillossage or cupping), but we are, in essence, barefoot therapists. Who’s your ideal client for your massage?
When we first start out, our answer is usually, “EVERYONE!”
Massage therapists have a tendency to massage the way they’d like to be worked on. Love cranial? That’s probably your jam. NMT? You’ve likely taken a lot of classes.
What clients do you want to have?
You can’t determine who your ideal client is if you don’t have a firm handle on what your business is and what it does best. -Stephen Sheinbaum, Founder, Bizfi
My ideal client when I started massage is not the same as it is now.
My flannel massage sheets are the bomb. They are perfect for ashiatsu for several reasons. The fitted sheets are nice and snug, so my toes don’t get stuck in them when I move around, and they’re super comfy. Other massage sheets work well also (some of our instructors love Comfy Co.), but I’ve worked mostly with the flannel. Twin sheets…