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Tag: continuing education massage

Is the Center for Barefoot Massage a Massage School?

Is the Center for Barefoot Massage a Massage School? No, we are a Continuing Education and Professional Development company.

Aspiring massage therapists entering the field looking for their foundational training to become licensed or certified massage therapists will need to look for accredited massage schools that meet your states massage licensure requirements. Programs are often 500-1000+ hours, depending on state licensing requirements, and are usually accredited through COMTA.

The Center for Barefoot Massage is set up as a Continuing Education company, and is for already-licensed massage therapists to maintain their licensure, expand skills, or specialize in advanced techniques. We specifically teach myofascial barefoot massage and barefoot matwork. Our courses range in 4-24 CE’s, or total hours, as approved by the NCBTMB.

Key Differences at a Glance

Feature Massage School CE Class
Purpose Foundational training for licensure Skills enhancement for professionals
Length 500-1000+ hours Few hours to a few days
Accreditation COMTA or similar NCBTMB Approved Provider
Target Audience Aspiring massage therapists Licensed massage therapists
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.  Read more here.

Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage and cultural appropriation

When we talk about what we do, our instructor team at the Center for Barefoot Massage has been working very hard to deepen the use and understanding of the phrase “Barefoot Massage” rather than using the single A-word, ashiatsu. We see that word in play a lot, especially used alone on its own as a massage service across the nation or in casual conversation.

So today we’d like to offer a gentle nudge and reminder on considering how to refer to the massage work we all love to do!

In the mid-90’s when “Westernized ashiatsu” first came on the scene, it went through a long phase of trying to find its voice, name, identity, and place in the profession. In the massage industry the work became more easily recognized as just “ashiatsu” or “ashi,” but in the early days it went through phases of also being known as “ashiatsu oriental bar therapy“, “ashiatsu bar therapy” or “ashiatsu barefootbar therapy” and others. It really is so hard to define our work sometimes, and it’s been a struggle for so many of us to get it worded right.

Although the attempts at changing its name at the time had more to do with branding than anything, the issue surrounding the name overall is the A-word itself: it’s really not ours to use in the first place.

The traditional practice of Ashiatsu has its roots in traditional Asian forms of bodywork, particularly in Japan and China. Over time, it has been adapted and modified in various ways to suit the preferences and needs of Western practitioners and clients. The traditional practice is not on an elevated massage table, and there aren’t overhead bars or straps in play like we use today. It could cause confusion, therefore, to anyone specifically looking for the traditional work only to find the 2023 version. It’s all wonderful, beautiful bodywork, but let’s be careful to call it what it is.


While there may be concerns about cultural appropriation in certain cases, it’s essential to approach the topic with nuance and respect for different perspectives.

Here are a few points to consider:

1. Cultural exchange vs. appropriation: Cultural exchange occurs when two cultures engage in a respectful and mutually beneficial sharing of practices, ideas, and knowledge. Appropriation, on the other hand, involves taking elements of a culture without understanding or respecting their original context. Whether Westernized Ashiatsu falls under cultural exchange or appropriation can depend on how it’s practiced and presented.

2. Modification for local needs: When a practice like traditional Ashiatsu is introduced in a different cultural context, some modifications may occur to accommodate local preferences, regulations, and safety standards. These modifications can range from adjusting techniques, integrating different massage styles, or using specific equipment. However, it’s crucial to acknowledge and respect the origins of the practice and give credit to its traditional roots without calling it what it’s not.

3. Respect for cultural origins: Practitioners of Westernized Ashiatsu should strive to educate themselves about the cultural origins and traditions of the practice. They should honor and acknowledge the historical background and the cultures that developed and nurtured our modern-day approach of Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage. This includes recognizing and crediting the sources of knowledge and techniques, and including “barefoot massage” at the end of the name to show its different approach.

4. Collaboration and inclusivity: Encouraging collaboration between practitioners from different cultural backgrounds can foster a better understanding and appreciation of the original practice. Inclusivity involves creating spaces that embrace diversity and ensure that practitioners from different cultures have a voice and are respected within the traditional Ashiatsu community.

5. Ethical considerations: It’s important to consider the potential commercialization and commodification of cultural practices. Practitioners should be mindful of offering Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage in a way that respects the integrity and sacredness of the original practice. This can involve engaging in fair trade practices, supporting practitioners from the cultural origin, and avoiding misrepresentation or trivialization of the practice.

Ultimately, the issue of appropriation is complex and can vary from case to case. It’s essential to approach the adaptation and practice of traditional Ashiatsu and Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage with cultural sensitivity, respect, and an understanding of its historical and cultural significance.


The future of massage is afoot…

One of our pursuits is to help define Barefoot Massage as an umbrella term for any massage therapy technique that uses feet as tools, rather than hands. If “Barefoot Massage” is the overall approach, then “Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage” signifies one style under that umbrella term, and our specific lineage of “Myofascial Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage” just further specifies the style we teach. It really is so much easier to just say ~ashiatsu~, we completely understand and we occasionally find ourselves slipping back into the ease of that word, too. What we are doing with our feet is not a true representation of that traditional work anymore. So to best represent the truth in advertising and respect for our collective roots, you could generalize and call your westernized work “Barefoot Massage”… but if you’ve just gotta use the word Ashiatsu, be sure to put the extra qualifying descriptive words in when defining and referring to your massage services. 😉

We are currently working on transitioning away from using the phrase “Fijian Massage” for our courses continued on from Lolita Knights lineage. Although she did originally learn and develop the technique directly from her experiences while living in Fiji, continuing to call the work itself Fijian after all the evolutions it’s come through is not true to its traditional form, and we’d like to respect that. You’ll start seeing us refer to this class and body of work as Barefoot Matwork as we step forward.

What’s in a name? For a dive as deep as you can massage with your feet on this topic, we have blog posts discussing “Is Ashiatsu The Same As Barefoot Massage?” and another diving into the differences between “Myofascial Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage vrs Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage” Check those out!!! Also be sure to read Types of barefoot massage throughout the world, including Chavutti, Thai, Lomilomi, barefoot shiatsu, and more. (barefootmassagecenter.com) to get a quick overview on many different styles and approaches to barefoot massage (many are not referred to by the “A-word” BTW!)

(Which, sidenote, by the way, if you are an old-school practitioner trained prior to 2017 still using the full phrase "ashiatsu oriental bar therapy": please consider working to transition away from that! Check with the company/school that trained you in the work to see what your specific lineage is now referred to as, because they have been calling it something else for quite a few years! Consider adapting to that new name. The "O" word in AOBT is outdated, and its continued use is perceived as being politically incorrect, derogatory, and even insulting. Representation matters, and a recognized name change is a step to take that shows respect.)

Tuition policy 3/17/22

One thing that’s really important to us at the Center for Barefoot Massage is taking care of our instructors. They work really hard to keep current on massage techniques & constantly perfect their own barefoot moves.

In fact, all of our instructors specialize in barefoot massage. In our 1st price increase in 5 years, raising our rates allows us to pay our instructors more, supporting them in their endeavors to provide YOU with the best education they can!

If you’re curious about the rates, just look at the blog post below this one. Here’s a reminder of our policy for the remainder of 2022 and into the following years.

Due to a tuition increase that takes effect on March 17th, 2022, if you registered for your training prior to that date, that price is only valid for classes completed by December 31st, 2022.

If you happen to reschedule your registration to another set of dates in 2023, the new tuition price will be applied to your training, and the difference in balance will be due before that class begins.   

And thank you to the hundreds and hundreds of students we’ve taught all over the United States in the past 5 years.

We appreciate you allowing us to share our knowledge and love of barefoot massage & to help spread that in our local coummunities.

Thank you!


Tuition Class Prices Increasing

On March 17th, 2022, the Center for Barefoot Massage turns 5 years old!

Happy Birthday to us!

The size of the footprint that our Myofascial Ashiatsu and Fijian Barefoot Massage classes have left on the massage industry since we stepped on the scene back in 2017 is growing – and so are the life-changing foot-shaped impressions that our alumni are leaving on their clients across the nation.

We’ve come a long way in a short period of time, and we have our instructor team, our students, our amazing business sponsors/buddies like NCBTMB, AFMTE, Pure Pro Massage, Books of Discovery, Mother Earth Pillows, Bodywork Buddy, Lolita Knight, Ruth Werner, and Massage Blueprint, as well as our fans to thank. (Thank you all!!!)

As our birthday gift to YOU, we are now including more detailed, narrated study videos in the Alumni video vaults, with new “Footage” recorded throughout the year.

If you’ve trained with us already, go log in and watch! 

After reassessing where we’ve been and where we’re going, this 5-year mark brings the need for us to raise tuition prices. Just like we encourage our alumni to price their specialty barefoot massage sessions to fit their business needs and market, we want to lead by example and do the same.

5-year birthday class prices will be increasing for the Center for Barefoot Massage

An 11% increase in our class prices will help us to:

  • continue bringing the best live-class environments to the adult learners in our classes 
  • allow the company to push forward with new opportunities for growth
  • support our amazing team of instructors!

All the while still keeping tuition costs at a comparable rate for the massage industry.

Our new prices go into effect on our birthday, March 17th, 2022:

…but if you sign up for a 2022 class by March 16, 2022, you’ll be locked into the original class prices, good towards classes completed by 12/31/2022!

Fundamentals is now $750

Fijian will be $500  

Intermediate goes to $500  

ROM is also $500

Advanced will be $500  

Hot Ashi is now $250

Any travel class held offsite from our training campuses will be +$100

As a young 5-year-old company that survived and thrived through so much in such a condensed period of time, we are so happy to continue to spread the love of Barefoot Massage, and help to flex or extend the careers of so many Massage Therapists out there! (It feels as good as a nice toe-spread foot stretch!)

Thank y’all!

Get the most out of your FasciAshi class with Note Taking

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 feels like something we just don’t want to do, but the very act of taking the notes helps to form new pathways in your brain which increases the likely hood it will be stored in your long-term memory.

Notes taken via words or pictures or even better, both, will be super beneficial for your long term memory of the material as well as giving you something in your own words to look back on after class.

2. DON’T SKIMP.

Don’t be tempted to shorthand your notes or get lazy with them. It’s better for your retention if you write as much as possible. Take it all in and write it all down. You never know what little tid-bit will stir your memory when you get back to your office ready to practice.

3. TAKING NOTES TAKES PRACTICE.

Note taking is a skill and I know you are pressed for time, so I will leave you with a video to check out, as well as a link to a frequently used system called Cornell Notes . I’ve also added a video that explains a technique called sketchnoting that includes adding images to your notes. Which brings us to our 4th and final tip:

4.DOODLE!

Adding images to your words helps to increase your retention.

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I hope this helps you to better retain all the info you learn in class to help you become the best barefoot massage therapist you can be!

See you in class!


Today’s guest post is brought to us by a past instructor on our team.

Success is no accident

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 for Barefoot Massage’s new courses.

We began with instructor training with a FasciAshified version of Fijian (with permission from Fijian founder Lolita Knight) and are completing our barefoot training with our new class, Hot Ashi. 

(Not all instructors will teach both modalities-you’ll get to travel to learn from and meet other instructors!)

Our instructors all specialize in barefoot massage.

But there’s always room to grow and to learn.

We instructors all are considered experts in our field, and yet we all continue to tweak our moves and discover new barefoot modalities. We work with other instructors to find how we can do better, how we can problem solve more efficiently.

Some therapists think that if they learn something once, they can “figure the other stuff out” on their own. Maybe, and maybe not.

Did you know that all of our instructors have been in a Fundamentals class at least 3-4 times? We have our own instructor certification process just like you do for the Center for Barefoot Massage’s certification.

And we retake classes. As the co-founder, I drove to St. Louis from Cincinnati to take Intermediate with Jeni and Sara even though I’d already been teaching it.

Why? Because we learn tips and tricks and hear new questions in every class.

We receive barefoot massages (it’s a great way to learn what you like and what you don’t about someone else’s barefoot massage technique), we take massage courses, ask questions and continue our quest for knowledge.

Some massage therapists think if they’ve taken a class once, there’s no need to take it again. Or maybe they believe they should get a “pass” for having done barefoot massage for a few years (or even a lot) and don’t want to start at the beginner level.

Newsflash!

You always learn something new. If you don’t know the intention behind the strokes you’ve memorized, don’t know which muscles you’re working on, then it’s time to study.

This may be by simply diving into your manual again or it might mean taking a 1-day Revitalize refresher. For those who take a long time to put up their bars or don’t do much barefoot massage, we recommend retaking a course.

Want to just get better?

Retake a course. It doesn’t matter if you learn from the same barefoot massage instructor or you go to another barefoot massage training location. Every class is an opportunity for you to be the best you can be.

Here at the Center for Barefoot Massage, our team of Sole Sisters continues to learn and train so we can be the best in our personal practices.

We also want to share our love and knowledge of barefoot massage with other massage therapists.

Our team of instructors is phenomenal. We’ve laughed, worked, brainstorm, and have given feedback on what will make our courses more successful for you.

Top row, L to R: Sara, Hillary, Sharon, Julie, Dawn, Erin, Bottom row: Mary-Claire & Jeni 

Because in turn, we can help you become more successful in your barefoot massage biz. And you can help the public.

How many lives can be positively influenced by your taking more classes?

We’re guessing a lot.

Our class schedule is HERE. We’d love to see you in another class again!

Mindfulness in Massage starts with Mindful Education

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.

Update to our Intermediate FasciAshi class!

Center-for-Barefoot-Massage-Intermediate-barefoot-massage-CE-courseWe 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.

Think you have to live with pain? Not if my foot has anything to say about it! (Part 2)

In 2006, at a massage convention, I ran into the author of the article that saved my back from pain, Richard Rossiter. I told him that I had been studying his work through his online website, DVDs, and books since discovering the powerful effect Rossiter had on my back. Since my wife, Mickey, was the only person who had worked on me thus far, I asked if I could sample the foot of the master. 

Eager to grant my request, he invited me to hit the floor and proceeded to apply weight with much more authority. It was definitely more difficult to move through the stretches, but the effect was much more profound.

My back felt even better!

A year later, I was a Certified Rossiter Coach, and through continued advanced work on my legs, I experienced the ultimate back pain relief that continues to the writing of this article.

The crazy thing is, nobody ever touched my back.

All Rossiter work (for my situation) was done on the inside of my thighs (adductors). The work was done in less than thirty minutes, and my reward was a back that felt like it did when I was in the prime of my dance career.