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Tag: massage CE

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.

4 ways to be better when learning (and practicing) barefoot massage

When massage therapists are first learning ashiatsu barefoot massage, it can be like starting massage school all over again. It’s especially humbling for therapists that have been doing massage with their hands for many years.

But the same learning concepts for learning traditional massage in massage school can be applied when first learning to massage with your feet.

1. CLOSE YOUR EYES or LOOK UP!

It may feel strange at first but for the sake of proper body mechanics and improving your barefoot skills you have to learn to look up more. When you are first learning, once you get the stroke and go through the movements a couple of times, try closing your eyes or looking up as you massage with your feet. This will help develop the sensory pathways to the brain by taking the visual interpretation out and heightening the sensory awareness of the feet.

The brain can’t rely on what it SEES; it has to rely on what it FEELS. This concept is evident when training students to learn barefoot massage for the first time, and clients give feedback in our LIVE classes. It never fails that the client thinks a stroke feels better when the student isn’t directly looking at their feet. Of course, there’s always going be times when you need to look and make sure you’re in the right spot or avoiding areas that you need to avoid, but that’s where the next point comes into play.

2. KNOW YOUR ANATOMY/LANDMARKS

There are familiar landmarks and bony prominences that are easy to find and we, as massage therapists, frequently use to orient ourselves to where we are and the muscle attachments.

Some examples may be the sacrum, the trochanter, the iliac crest, and the scapula — many of these landmarks we use to begin and end strokes. Being able to palpate and orientate yourself with your feet USING these landmarks will go a long way in developing your barefoot skills and allow you to utilize appropriate body mechanics like looking up more.

3. SLOW DOWN!

When first learning barefoot massage you have to slow down. While your feet have the CAPACITY to feel and palpate knots and tightness they usually aren’t sensitive enough to do it in the beginning.

You want to be able to feel the different textures and muscle layers so you can gauge the appropriate pressure and strokes to use. The neural pathways from your feet to your brain have to develop. It’s a process that comes with time, and there’s a natural progression of adaptability and sensory input from your feet.

4. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

It never fails for a student to say in class, “Wow, you make that look so easy!” Or, “You’re so graceful!” Well, I’ve only been practicing it for 18 years. That’s eight years longer than with my hands! So with practice, it will come. You have to be consistent.

If we made it look hard, why would you want to learn it?

Consistency can be a problem for some Massage Therapists when they get back to their practice, and they feel limited or intimidated by the types of clients they have.

Barefoot massage isn’t always about finding the perfect kind of “body” to work with. There will be clients who have contraindications that may not allow for the use of your feet, but that doesn’t mean you can use them somewhere else.  99% of my client base receives some form of barefoot bodywork.

For that 1%, I may still do barefoot bodywork, but I restrict it to the appropriate areas. So every day that I’m working with clients, I’m using my feet. By using my SOLES every day, they are JUST as sensitive as my hands.

These are just a few of the ways you can increase your sole sensitivity in your barefoot massage sessions.

When your clients start saying, “Wow I didn’t even have to tell you what was going on today and you figured it out!”, That’s a huge accomplishment and a high five moment for barefoot massage. Our soles are just as capable of providing safe, therapeutic and EFFECTIVE pain relief to our clients as our hands. We only have to put in the time and effort to develop them.


Today’s guest post is brought to us by our fantastic Durham, NC instructor, Julie.

You can find her Rolfing with her feet, teaching at and running her multi-therapist barefoot biz, Bull City Soles.

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!

Before you sign up for our barefoot massage training

Jeni and Mary-Claire did a podcast earlier in the year with Allissa of Massage Business Blueprint entitled, “What to Know Before Taking a Massage CE Class” (episode 147). In it, we covered many important things to know before signing up for any massage class.

Today, I’m going to mention some specifically relating to our ashiatsu classes (we can go on and on ad nauseam on the subject in general.)  😉

Before you sign up for our barefoot massage class, understand basic yet important need-to-know items such as:

❀ What are your goals for learning barefoot massage? We don’t want you 2 feet deep into class before you realize that your client base (or target clientele) won’t want deep tissue barefoot massage. If you want to work (or do work already) on athletes or deep tissue clients, then perfect!

❀ Do you have health issues? Can you receive deep tissue compressive massage? You’ll be receiving a lot in our classes- 2 + hours for each of the 1st 2 days.

Topical allergies? Please let us know ahead of time. We don’t want you breaking out due to someone’s detergent or foot cleaner. 

Barefoot massage practice is the vehicle

“In 3 days, we’ll teach you to intuitively use your feet like you do your hands.”  This is true, but there’s more to learning barefoot massage than that.

Sometimes we get therapists who look ridiculously amazing when they are in their barefoot massage training  class for the first time. Sometimes they have a dance or ice skating background, and other times they just look fluid because that’s how they move.

Sadly, I’ve often seen that those who look super graceful on day 1 look pretty much the same when they come back for an advanced class 6 months or a year later.

On the other hand, some therapists really struggle. They get frustrated because their feet don’t cooperate or perhaps because they can’t palpate yet. Or maybe they have a hard time because they can’t regulate their pressure.

If they stop there at day 3 in our student clinic and give up, their class was pretty much pointless (other than at least they got their massage CE’s).

It’s the therapists who sometimes struggle in class but are determined to be amazing who realize that the class is an event, but practicing is a VEHICLE to get them to where they need to go.

We aren’t all beautiful when we learn barefoot massage. I was one of those people who truly wanted to be amazing, who NEEDED to be excellent, because I knew my career was on the line. After 3.5 years of hands on massage, I knew I was hitting the end of my massage lifespan.

And yet, I’m the person who still hits my head while closing the door of the car I’ve had 8 years and missteps on stairs I’ve been treading for almost 18.

So it’s not like I’m graceful in real life.

What makes the difference between those who really want to be good and those who are naturally good is that the former is more invested in being better. It’s easy to become complacent if you’re doing well. And unless your clients have gotten barefoot massage from someone else, they probably think you’re doing ok.

As long as you don’t clock them on the head or step on any bones, they think it’s a nice massage.

But it can be so much better if you take that vehicle, the words of wisdom, and travel a path you’ve not yet been.

If you’ve been following our blog, you know that we’ve been giving Ashi Challenges. Why?

Because sometimes we all need to mix something up. The challenge recently was to massage with your “Goofy Foot” for 20 minutes. (That’s your non-dominant foot.)

Other than when I was using 2 feet, I did an entire 90-minute session with my left foot.

What I learned:

  • I got more creative with my moves
  • some things worked just fine when I tried something new
  • some things were terrible for my body mechanics
  • I discovered new ways to access muscles in a different way
  • it was a good reminder of why we teach body mechanics that work for the therapist

You see, this challenge was an incentive for me to take another ride into creativity. And that’s what we ask of all of you. The more you practice and get inventive / creative, the more your vehicle gets its oil change.

Once you have a good concept of your pressure and the moves, practice getting more fluid.

  • How can you glide off with one foot and on with another?
  • If you start with the “wrong” foot, can you transition it into another stroke?
  • Try something new and check in with your client and see how they like it.
  • Hold and sink (“weight and wait”) and see how that affects the tissue as well as the amount of relaxation the client has.
  • Try moving more gracefully on the table with fewer steps.

Your vehicle can be a Mercedes, which is a comfortable and smooth ride, or it can be a Kia–perfectly fine for the job at hand but not the most comfortable or fun.

Which do you want to be?


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