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Tag: continuing education massage

Think you have to live with pain? Not if my foot has anything to say about it! (Part 1)

When people meet me and find out that I’m a manual therapist with a reputation for getting people out of pain very quickly, they want to know what it is I do and how do I do it. To keep it simple, I tell them that my work is nothing more than power stretching and that they should visit my website (DontFearTheFoot.com) to get the full picture on how it works.

This is Chuck. He does not fear the foot.

Here’s where the fun starts. They immediately want to know what does fearing a foot has to do with massage, stretching or getting out of pain?

I spent 20 years of my life professionally stretching, for  I was a professional Broadway dancer for twenty years. And during my professional career, I probably stretched more in a day than most people stretch in a year (or a lifetime for that matter).

My flexibility served me well throughout my dance years and now, with the addition of mobility and stability training, it continues to be my preferred weapon in maintaining a relatively” pain-free body. now help others in their quest to getting out of pain.

I now help others in their quest to getting out of pain.

FASCIAnate your Ashiatsu Massage: Part 3

Ashiatsu therapists want to learn more Ashiatsu.

If you are already an experienced Ashiatsu barefoot massage therapist and you share our passion for giving the best massage from your feet possible, then we already know that you know (deep down) that you want to know more!!!

(Did that make sense?!) It makes sense to us. We’ve felt the craving for more information, just like you are now.  We want you to continue to improve your effectiveness and mindfulness in barefoot massage to help give your clients the healing (and heeling) that they are looking for. #NeverStopLearning is one of our favorite hashtags, and we have FOUR ways for you to do just that!

Today we’ll discuss your opportunity to RETRAIN by attending courses in their entirety.

Deeper barefoot massage using one foot

If you use your feet like your hands to massage, with intention, then your ashiatsu massage will not only be more therapeutic, but you’ll find your session time fly by faster. Getting specific in your barefoot massage and paying attention to details will make your ashiatsu session stand out from others’.

When I worked at a chiropractor’s office years ago, there were 2 other ashiatsu barefoot therapists there.  Doc told me once that my barefoot massage was way deeper than the others’ – and it had nothing to do with our strength or size.

How could that be?

Tuesday Toesday – are your heels soft for barefoot massage?

Up until 2002, I was one of those people who walked around barefoot whenever possible. While my feet were prettier looking than Frodo’s, no one would have wanted for me to use them to massage them. My entire life I had struggled with dry, cracked heels that were painful in the winter time and were mildly better in the summer.

That changed when I decided to learn barefoot massage. I got my first pedicure ever. There’s only so much you can do with Hobbit feet, though, I guess. I started wearing shoes instead of sandals and regularly scrubbed my feet with a foot file, testing the softness with my hands.

Miracle of miracles, this all helped to make my feet soft enough for barefoot massage, or so I thought.

FASCIAnate your Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage: Part 2

How can existing Ashiatsu therapists learn FasciAshi?

If you are a Myofascial Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage therapist, the Center for Barefoot Massage wants you and your Ashiatsu skill level to continue to grow.  We want you to continually be self-aware and conscious of how you are applying barefoot massage daily. We want you to question and expand your approach, but check back into the foundations of its body mechanics and intentions. We want you to grow to understand the aspects of the work that you didn’t quite “get” during class – and we want you to continually discover new aspects of the material that you never noticed before. We have FOUR ways for you to support your advancement in this style of massage, and blend the new strokes in with the old, to dive deeper into the material we present, to know it inside and out. These retraining opportunities allow you to revisit your Ashiatsu technique and biomechanics, while infusing it with FasciAshi’s innovative myofascial approaches to how you apply pressure through your feet.

Today we’ll discuss the REVITALIZE classes and what they entail – in the following weeks we’ll cover all options to step up your Ashiatsu game!

If you want to be a Jedi Master at Ashiatsu, training and retraining is key.

ashiatsu-refresher-classes

Simple homemade scrub for ashiatsu feet

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!

Specialty massage–should you charge more?

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!”