We can’t be in every city. And our instructors teach only the courses they actively practice and specialize in — which means not every class is offered everywhere.

So yes… at some point, you may cross state lines to follow our FasciAshi footprints.

But here’s what we’ve seen over the years:

Our students don’t just travel for class. They build life around it.

• Family vacations
• Coworker retreats
• Solo reset weekends
• Conference add-ons
• Extended road trips
• “While we’re there…” micro-adventures

Returning with evidence-informed barefoot skills and elevated clinical competency that other local therapists haven’t developed positions you distinctly in your market.

BONUS! A sister article to this one has secretly posted simultaneously, sharing the upcoming schedule of classes, highlighting any back-to-back “travel once train twice” opportunities. Find the link at the end of this post!

🧭 Planning a Solo CE Trip? A Few Smart Moves.

If you’re considering traveling alone for training:

Start small if you’re new to solo travel.
Try a nearby overnight first - especially if it’s been a while since you’ve travelled.

Choose intentionally.
Mountains? Coast? Big city stimulation? Quiet reset? Let your nervous system guide you to where you can ground yourself and grow best.

Budget realistically.
Compare hotels, Air BnB’s, camping/glamping, and extended-stay options between different cities early. Need a car? Check your massage association and credit card benefits for any possible travel perks, and ask the instructor to put you in touch with other attendees: maybe you can carpool and expense-share!

ProTip: Check which of our cities are a direct flight from your nearest airport. Nonstop routes are often more affordable, less stressful, and easier to book when flight deals appear. A slightly farther city with a direct flight can cost less — and save hours of travel time — compared to a closer location with connections.

Plan one intentional connection.
Dinner with classmates. A local café ritual. A guided walk. Even solo travel benefits from micro-community.

And remember…

On every CBM Training Location page, we provide logistics support:
• Recommended nearby hotels
• Closest airports
• Transportation notes
• What to bring
• Classroom specifics

We don’t just tell you where to show up.
We help you plan the entire experience.

👉 Explore campuses here:
https://centerforbarefootmassage.com/training-locations/

Not One-Size-Fits-All

The Center for Barefoot Massage is not a one-size-fits-all experience. We are a network of specialists using FasciAshi techniques in practice on our own local clients every week.

Each campus is led by an instructor who actively practices what they teach. Each brings a distinct lens — clinical, somatic, movement-based, business-savvy, structurally focused, pain-science informed, marketing maven.

Same standards.
Same curriculum integrity.
Different mentorship flavor.

That means you can choose a location not just by geography… but by the kind of thinking, energy, and professional growth you want to immerse yourself in. You can read about each instructor from their bio on our website, and get to know them by connecting with their regional Barefoot Massage training and local Barefoot Massage business social media profiles, newsletters, podcasts and blogs. Start to get to know each of us here.

Travel for the view.
Stay for the mentorship.

📍 Our Current Training Campuses

(West Coast → East Coast)

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🌊 San Luis Obispo, California

With Missy @ BareFoot Body Works SLO

Instructor Strength: In her SLO practice, Missy blends Eastern-influenced ashiatsu massage with Western deep tissue and myofascial mobility work to address chronic tension and structural imbalance. In mentorship, she helps LMTs refine fluid transitions, intuitive pressure control, and gravity-based mechanics so they can deliver deep work efficiently while protecting their own longevity.

Classes taught here: FasciAshi Fundamentals, Intermediate (Occasionally Range of Motion when Ashley visits)

Local highlight: Hike Bishop Peak, explore Morro Bay’s waterfront beneath Morro Rock, road trip up to Big Sur, and catch a sunset walk along the piers at Avila or Pismo Beach.

🌴 Tustin, California

With Ashley @ SoleCal Barefoot Massage & Wellness

Instructor Strength: In her Orange County practice, Ashley specializes in myofascial barefoot massage for active professionals and athletes seeking structural restoration and lasting pain relief. She integrates breathwork and corrective principles into sessions. In mentorship, she teaches therapists how to apply performance-oriented barefoot work with efficient mechanics that protect their bodies.

Classes taught here: FasciAshi Fundamentals, Range of Motion (occasionally Intermediate when Missy visits)

Local highlight: Explore Laguna’s coves, bike Huntington Beach, watch sunset in Newport, and end the night with Disneyland fireworks lighting up the sky with dinner in Downtown Disney!

🌲 Hayden, Idaho

With Chancy & Jackie @ Syringa Bodyworks

Instructor Strength: In their Idaho practice, Chancy and Jackie provide deep structural barefoot massage grounded in somatic awareness and nervous system safety. Chancy emphasizes intuitive pressure and full-body engagement, while Jackie integrates extensive clinical and somatic training. Together, they mentor LMTs in delivering confident depth with clarity and sustainable mechanics.

Classes taught here: FasciAshi Fundamentals, Intermediate

Local highlight: Kayak or paddleboard on Hayden Lake, hike Tubbs Hill along Lake Coeur d’Alene, explore the floating boardwalk, and catch live music in downtown Coeur d’Alene.

🏔 Colorado Springs, Colorado

With Erin @ Camino Massage Therapy

Instructor Strength: In her Colorado practice, Erin blends deep tissue ashiatsu barefoot massage with myofascial mobilization, neuromuscular therapy, and corrective movement to improve mobility and function. In mentorship, she helps therapists translate assessment into effective barefoot application while preserving their hands and building sustainable, structurally focused practices.

Classes taught here: FasciAshi Fundamentals, Intermediate, Range of Motion, Barefoot Matwork, Hot Ashi

Local highlight: Hike Garden of the Gods at sunrise, drive or cog-rail your way up Pikes Peak, explore Manitou Springs’ historic downtown, and unwind at a local craft brewery with mountain views.

🤠 San Antonio, Texas

With Jeni @ Heeling Sole Barefoot Massage

Instructor Strength: In her San Antonio practice, Jeni applies a myofascial barefoot approach rooted in pain science, structural change, and tensegral fascia principles. A barefoot massage pioneer and developer of the FasciAshi Strap, she integrates FasciAshi with Myoskeletal Alignment and Structural Integration concepts. In mentorship, she cultivates strong clinical reasoning — helping therapists understand not just how to apply the work, but why it works.

Classes taught here: FasciAshi Intermediate, Range of Motion, FasciAshi Advanced, Clinical Neck

Local highlight: Paddleboard the quieter Southtown stretch of the River Walk, explore Blue Star Arts Complex, turn the kids loose at Seaworld, eat your way through the Pearl’s chef-driven restaurants, and catch live music under Texas night skies.

🌆 Plano (Dallas Area), Texas

With Hillary @ The Heeling Hut

Instructor Strength: In her Dallas-area practice, Hillary delivers deep, science-informed barefoot massage focused on pain relief, stress reduction, and improved movement. She integrates fascia-focused bodywork with nervous system awareness. In mentorship, she guides therapists in applying barefoot techniques with anatomical intention while building client-centered, sustainable practices.

Classes taught here: FasciAshi Fundamentals, Intermediate, Barefoot Matwork

Local highlight: Recharge at Arbor Hills Nature Preserve, explore the arts and food scene in historic Downtown Dallas, visit the Sixth Floor Museum, and unwind at one of the area’s hydrotherapy soaking spas. Don’t miss 6-Flags for a good scream on a rollercoaster!

🌉 St. Louis, Missouri

With Sara @ Somatic Sole

Instructor Strength: In her St. Louis practice, Sara specializes in deep structural barefoot massage that prioritizes connective tissue engagement and functional outcomes. She balances therapeutic depth with somatic awareness and client responsiveness. In training, she helps therapists calibrate pressure precisely while maintaining comfort and long-term practitioner sustainability.

Classes taught here: FasciAshi Fundamentals, Intermediate, FasciAshi Advanced, Hot Ashi, Barefoot Matwork

Local highlight: Walk Forest Park or the Gateway Arch riverfront, visit the nearby Cathedral Basilica, explore the local City Museum (just as fun for adults as kids) and catch a baseball game!

🌙 Decatur, Alabama

With Sharon @ Harvest Moon Massage Therapy

Instructor Strength: In her Alabama practice, Sharon combines ashiatsu barefoot massage with reflexology, lymphatic work, and abdominal bodywork to support pain relief and nervous system regulation. In mentorship, she teaches therapists how to adapt depth safely, expand clinical versatility, and apply barefoot techniques across diverse client presentations.

Classes taught here: FasciAshi Fundamentals, Intermediate, Barefoot Matwork

Local highlight: Explore Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, visit Space Camp and experience outer space at the US Space and Rocket Center, and don’t miss those Tennessee River sunsets.

🌇 Cincinnati, Ohio

With MC @ Affinity Massagesborder

Instructor Strength: In her Cincinnati practice, Mary-Claire specializes in comfortable, deep tissue ashiatsu barefoot massage, using broad, even pressure to relieve chronic tension and improve circulation. As a solo practitioner, she blends therapeutic depth with relaxation applications, and she shares practical marketing insights for independent LMTs.

Classes taught here: FasciAshi Fundamentals, Intermediate, Hot Ashi occasionally Range of Motion

Local highlight: Wander Over-the-Rhine’s historic streets, tour Findlay Market, cross the Roebling Suspension Bridge at sunset, and catch a Reds game along the Ohio River.

🌲 Durham, North Carolina

With Julie @ Bull City Soles

Instructor Strength: In her Durham practice, Julie blends decades of deep tissue work with myofascial ashiatsu barefoot massage and advanced Rolfing structural integration experience to address chronic pain and mobility limitations. She emphasizes practical, results-driven application. In mentorship, she helps therapists refine footprint efficiency, fascia sensing, and client education strategies that translate directly into practice.

Classes taught here: FasciAshi Fundamentals, Intermediate, FasciAshi Advanced, Clinical Neck, occasionally Range of Motion

Local highlight: Walk through Duke Gardens, bike the American Tobacco Trail, tour the Duke Lemur Center (yes, actual lemurs), and explore Durham’s indie coffee, bookstore, and food scene.

🍁 Albany / Glenmont, New York

With Dawn @ Barefoot Space

Instructor Strength: In her New York practice, Dawn specializes in FasciAshi barefoot massage integrated with stretch therapy and movement principles to improve mobility and reduce chronic pain. In mentorship, she guides therapists in purposeful tissue contact, fascia engagement, and incorporating mobility work into barefoot sessions with clarity and confidence.

Classes taught here: FasciAshi Fundamentals, Intermediate, Range of Motion

Local highlight: Explore Hudson Valley hiking trails, tour Revolutionary-era landmarks, drive over the historic Hudson River bridges, and visit nearby Saratoga Springs or farm markets.

📘 Continuing Education Credits You Can Use Anywhere

The Center for Barefoot Massage is an NCBTMB Approved Continuing Education Provider (Provider #1333).

Many state boards and all of the professional massage associations (like AMTA & ABMP) accept NCBTMB-approved continuing education through reciprocity. If a state requires an extra step, we’ve likely already got that on lock…you can confirm if your states “extras” are covered here.

That means you do not have to stay in your home state to renew your license.

You renew through your home board. If your state accepts NCBTMB-approved CE hours, then your CBM training counts — even if you traveled out of state to take it.

Every course includes:
• Official CE transcript
• Provider documentation
• Instructor and location details
• Clear CE hour breakdown

We always recommend confirming with your licensing board if you have specific questions, but most states recognize NCBTMB approval.

Why Travel Matters

There is something powerful about:

• Learning outside your normal treatment room
• Being the student again
• Immersing yourself fully
• Bringing home skills most therapists locally don’t yet offer

It’s not just CE hours, it’s professional expansion and technique competency. Leveling these things up sometimes requires leaving your zip code.

Follow the FasciAshi footprints: We’re so excited to meet you in our element!

👣
— Jeni & the CBM Team

DON’T FORGET! Today’s sister newsletter to this deep dive post has secretly posted here, sharing our upcoming schedule of classes, highlighting any back-to-back “travel once train twice” opportunities! No FOMO!

Thank you all for your interactions with our posts on Facebook and Instagram, but also for following us here at Substack where we can nerd out!

If you are stuck on needing to create content but are experiencing writers block, we have a 30‑day social media content plan designed for CBM graduates to promote their barefoot massage services to clients. It includes post prompts and tips for visuals and calls‑to‑action — everything you need to start marketing with confidence in minutes. It’s only available for our current and past students, so log into your profile on our website and buy this guide here for $50. To tell you the truth I’ve been using this for my own local business and as general CBM content as needed, and I stretched it to last MUCH longer than 30 days. It’s easily enough for a full quarter, especially if you don’t need to post daily to your local community!

What’s in this message?

• FEETured Class

• Upcoming March-May class dates & links

• Latest articles & Deep Dives

• Protips and easy resources

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FEETured class:

👣OK so this is a bit of a lead on, but instead of sharing just 1 class, I want to share the pathways available for your training through all classes!

Starting with all classes this year, we are coming out of the gate like a majestic fire horse with a change to every class on our roster! We’ve expanded the course content to reflect where the science (and our feet) have been taking us, which includes looking at the fascia through a tensegrity lens: seeing the interconnectivity and holistic, global impact that the pressure from every stroke has on the body.

Deep massage isn’t defined solely by physical pressure—it’s also about the depth of intention and presence you bring to the work.

To help you with this, our updated classes will include:

• Pain science integration — helping you understand how pressure, sensation, and perception all work together to support nervous system regulation and lasting change for your clients. Think of it as recovery from pain more so than pain management, and we’ll help you get them there!

• Evidence-informed resources that connect fascia research, interoception, and biomechanics with what you feel underfoot in real time. All this is in addition to how we’ve always shared the technique and theory that gives the “why” behind each stroke you give with your foot.

• Modern anatomy through the lens of tensegrity, replacing outdated “stacked bones” models with a dynamic understanding of how the body suspends and supports itself.

• Myth-busting discussions that challenge old massage-school stories and replace them with accurate, science-supported perspectives.

• Refined manual and teaching materials designed to deepen your understanding of how gravity, sustained pressure, and mindful pacing create therapeutic change—for both you and your clients.

This evolution keeps FasciAshi classes aligned with our mission: to help massage therapists trust their feet as intelligent tools, grounded in anatomy, fascia research, and modern pain science.

This year we started the new tradition that everyone has to pass through Fundamentals in order to move forward. This helps us all get in step as we collectively work to raise the standards of what the public can expect from a Barefoot Massage. So if you’ve previously “transferred in” to us from another ashiatsu massage lineage and have never taken our FasciAshi Fundamentals class... or it’s been a while... 2026 is the perfect time to come back and experience how far this work has come.

👉 See when and where we are offering Fundamentals here.

Class Schedule for 2026

No FOMO: Travel once, train twice! Special back-to-back immersion experiences are listed below in ~Italics~

Here’s the plan as of right now - this could change. You can always see the most up to date schedule here

• March

  • Fundamentals: Colorado Springs, CO 3/5-7

  • Barefoot Matwork: Dallas, TX, 3/6-7

  • Intermediate: Cincinnati, OH, 3/20-21

  • Extra time with Jeni in San Antonio:

    • Intermediate Touch-Up: San Antonio TX, 3/20 (Friday night)

    • Range of Motion / Stretch Therapy: San Antonio, TX, 3/21-22

  • BACK TO BACK IN CENTRAL CALI!

    • Fundamentals: San Luis Obispo, CA, 3/25-27

    • Intermediate: San Luis Obispo, CA 3/28-29

  • Fundamentals: Decatur, AL, 3/26-28

  • Fundamentals: Albany, NY, 3/29-31

• April

  • Fundamentals: Hayden, ID 4/3-5

  • Fundamentals: Cincinnati, Ohio 4/16-18

  • Barefoot Matwork: St Luis, MO 4/16-17

  • Range of Motion / Stretch Therapy: Colorado Springs, CO 4/17-18

  • AMTA Texas Chapter Convention! April 23-25 in the Exhibitor Hall

• May

  • Idaho Mid-Level Up!

    • Intermediate: Hayden, ID 5/1-2

    • Extra student clinic for more practice and integration: (just 4 hours!) 5/3

  • Barefoot Matwork: Cincinnati, OH 5/1-2

  • Fundamentals: Dallas, TX 5/1-3

  • Southern Cali Sun & Fun-focus

    • Fundamentals Touch-Up: Tustin, CA 5/14

    • Range of Motion / Stretch Therapy: Tustin, 5/15-16

  • Fundamentals: St Louis, MO 5/14-16

  • Texas Immersion with Jeni!

    • Intermediate + ROM/Stretch Therapy blended seamlessly together into a 4-day experience! San Antonio, TX 5/18-21

  • Fundamentals: Durham, NC 5/28-30

  • Fundamentals: Hayden, ID 5/29-31

  • Intermediate: Colorado Springs, CO 5/29-30

Looking for June and beyond? Click here for 2026 classes planned so far!

If a class is SOLE’d Out, you’ll see a red “Out of Stock” banner OR it may disappear from the list entirely. Keep in mind that classes may be canceled if minimum registration isn’t met 15–30 days before start—please sign up early so we get an accurate count and keep the class in action.

Check out our Frequently Asked Questions (“Footnotes”) and find a Barefoot Massage near you (or get yourself listed) on our Sole Provider Directory.

Latest articles & Deep Dives: a Soleful, mindful feed!

These paid posts are drenched in details on each topic. Click the image to see the full archive.

• In Disassociation On Purpose, Jeni reflects on the emotional fatigue of staying constantly plugged into news, social media, and the demands of running a continuing education company. She explores the idea of intentionally stepping back — not as avoidance, but as a nervous system strategy for clarity and sustainability. By choosing when to engage and when to disconnect, she protects her focus, leadership capacity, and the quality of presence she brings to her work and community.

• In “Class Name Update: Fijian Barefoot Massage is now "Barefoot Matwork" we announce an update to a class name, clarifying that what was previously called “Fijian Barefoot Massage” will now be presented under a new name that better reflects the curriculum and lineage. This change honors respect for cultural origins while aligning the class title with what students will actually learn. The update highlights the organization’s commitment to accuracy, cultural sensitivity, and transparent communication with its community.

• In “Barefoot Massage Belongs in Your Life for Longevity” we reframe barefoot massage from a luxury “treat” into a tool for long-term body literacy and mobility, showing how sustained, broad contact with the feet helps fascia reorganize and movement patterns improve. It explains that fascia and the nervous system respond to slow, mindful pressure, which can calm protective patterns and enhance interoception — your inner sense of how your body feels and moves — leading to greater resilience and functional ease. Ultimately, it positions barefoot massage as a way to support adaptability, stability, and lasting physical capability rather than short-term relief.

• And don’t skip “Skill, Safety & Adaptability in Barefoot Massage!” This article reframes common assumptions about body type and barefoot massage, showing that success isn’t about size or strength but about skill, stability, and adaptability. It emphasizes that with proper mechanics and awareness, therapists of many body types can deliver safe, effective barefoot work by using gravity rather than force. The real key to longevity and safety in barefoot massage is learning to let gravity do the heavy lifting and adapting pressure thoughtfully to each client and therapist’s unique body.

Protips & Easy Resources:

• You can always find our current list of instructors and training campuses (and travel tips for each one) on our website, CenterForBarefootMassage.com.

• Watch & Learn: They’re oldies but goodies: watch our #TuesDayTOESday videos on YouTube for quick tips and tricks.

• Don’t forget to follow us: we are on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram

• Supplies & Equipment: Need that cool foot warmer your instructor had? Check out our recommended supplies on Amazon.

• Check out the FasciAshi store! Available only after you’ve completed a class with us, you can purchase the FasciAshi Strap, T-shirts and more!

• List Your Business: Get found by clients searching for barefoot massage therapists! Add your business to our FREE “Sole-Provider” directory. Are you in a slow season slump? You can pay a lil extra to “Boost” your listing for 6 or 12 months, which will get you listed at the top of any search result you would show up in, + it allows you to post images of your work!

• Explain Your Skills: Need help explaining your new techniques to clients? Read our helpful guide for inspiration on how to better communicate the benefits of barefoot massage.

Our next paid article should drop around April 7th!

Thanks for reading aFoot: the future of massage therapy! Subscribe for free to receive new posts—or go paid to unlock our best stuff.

Share aFoot: the future of massage therapy

And here’s the catch: I can’t just disappear. Posts still have to post. I still have to show up online and in the inbox, say something coherent, and engage. Owning a massage business and a CE company that supports an instructor team and practitioners across the country means staying visible, responsive, and relevant. It means being “present” on the internet even when the internet is the last place you want to be.

If any of this feels familiar, what helped me was finding my center again and then building spaces where others could do the same. Maybe my nerdy process, using work, study, and structure as stabilizing resources, can help you too.

Stepping away from the noise for periods of focus isn’t disengagement. I’m engaged where it matters to me personally, but that isn’t what this article is about. This is about how I stay focused and keep my nervous system regulated for the sake of my work with the Center for Barefoot Massage, especially when overwhelm hits and I’d honestly rather check out and lose myself in something, anything.

What came next was learning how to use intentional disassociation as a tool rather than an escape, and how that choice reshaped my work, my teaching, and the spaces I build for others.

The rest of this article unpacks what that looked like in practice, written especially for our paid subscribers

Subscribe now

Read more

• Changing the name of our “Fijian Barefoot Massage” class

• Latest articles & Deep Dives over in the paid subscription area

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If you’ve been around our community for a while, you already know this work has history. And if you know me, you also know I care about telling that history in a way that feels honest, respectful, and true to the people who carried it before we ever touched it.

For years, we taught this class under the name Fijian Barefoot Massage. That name came directly from the lineage we inherited from Lolita Knight. She learned from healers in the South Pacific, adapted what she was taught, and brought those foot-delivered techniques to the United States. When she retired in 2018, she handed that work to us, openly and generously. We have always held that with gratitude.

But over time, something became clear.
Language shapes how people understand what we do. It shapes how they imagine the cultures the work came from. It shapes how they imagine us. When a name stops lining up with the truth of what is actually being taught, it is time to pause and look at it closely.

So after a lot of reflection, conversation, years of “getting ready to do this”, and permission from Lolita herself, we have renamed the class:

Barefoot Matwork

This change comes from respect, clarity and from the understanding that this work has evolved several times across several continents, long before it landed in any of our classrooms.

Lolita always taught only the foot-delivered portions of what she learned. She was very open about the fact that what she brought to the U.S. was already an adaptation. Her version had been shaped by what she was taught, what she chose to pass forward, and what made sense for the students she served.

Once we inherited it, the work continued to evolve organically. That happens any time you pair cool stuff with curiosity and intentional, clinical massage experience. At the Center for Barefoot Massage, we teach it through a modern lens that includes anatomical palpation and tissue recognition, fascial and pain science insights, interoceptive awareness cues, and the kind of grounded movement strategies that support longevity for the therapist. We also added our best friend forever: the suspended support FasciAshi Strap, and, as “kneaded”, the walking staff. (Which is a tool that was directly introduced to us and influenced by our friend and Shiatsu instructor, Randy Cummins.) Those were not cosmetic changes. They were safety choices that help LMTs use their bodies with less effort and more confidence.

So keeping a geographic name no longer felt accurate. The title suggested something frozen in time, when in truth this method has grown in many hands over many years. Barefoot Matwork gives the work a name that matches its reality: a mat-based, foot-delivered method rooted in its lineage and taught with clear respect for where it came from, without claiming cultural ownership we do not have.

A name change doesn’t erase anything. It simply helps the story make more sense.

I hope this opens the door for more honest conversations about how barefoot massage has traveled, changed, and taken root around the world in this day and age. That matters. Massage therapists understand what it feels like to be mislabeled. Most of us have been called a “masseuse” by someone who meant well, but still missed the mark. We all know the importance of naming things clearly so the work can be understood for what it truly is, right?!

Plus, like I love to explain oftenly, Barefoot massage has always been bigger than any single lineage. Barefoot Matwork honors the piece of that story that we were entrusted with, while giving us the language to teach it responsibly today.

Thank you for caring about this work enough to grow with it.
And thank you, always, for trusting us to keep its history safe while we move it forward.

We invite you to come learn this work!

Our 2-day, 16 CE Barefoot Matwork class is a great way to learn more footwork adaptations, challenge and improve your balancing skills through different body mechanics options while working on a floor mat, and experience how to give pressure without the bars overhead. These skills enhance what your feet can do!

See the schedule and training location options here.

…And since this is the one class we can take on the road and travel with, if you’d like us to bring this class to your town, email us at info@CenterForBarefootMassage.com! We’ll need a conveniently located classroom environment that can accommodate 4 massage tables, and it would help if you already have a handful of LMT’s committed to attending.

Latest articles & Deep Dives

1. I had another deep-dive planned for today… but past-Jeni already said it best. Before I risk a Mercury-retrograde foot-in-mouth moment, please go revisit my April 2024 Cultural Appreciation for Barefoot Massage post. It’s all in there.

2. Barefoot Massage Belongs in your Life for Longevity (Share this with your clients. It breaks down why Barefoot Massage helps people feel younger, steadier, and more capable in their bodies.)

3. Skill, Safety & Adaptability in Barefoot Massage (Spoiler: Just because you can give more pressure, doesn’t mean you should. How to adapt Barefoot Massage to fit you and your client.)

4. Our Values in Action (Standing for something: The steps we take as a company toward the future of massage.)

5. October 2025 Newsletter (free) (Discusses the end of the Transfer era)

Over in the paid subscription area of our Substack universe is where you can find more long-reads and insight from our insoles. I am posting a new article about every 6 weeks, and if you are a paid subscriber ($50/year or $8/month) you’ll get them emailed to you and/or you’ll be notified in the app.

Here’s a little insider tip for my super-fans who want to read everything without a subscription. Actually… there are two.

Hack #1:
Every post stays free for the first four days. If you have the Substack app with notifications turned on, you’ll get an alert the second I publish. Read it quickly and you’re in before it slips behind the paywall.

Hack #2:
If you’ve taken a recent class with us at the Center for Barefoot Massage, your CE email includes a giant resource list — tucked inside is a 2-day free pass to all paid posts. Yes, really. If you don’t see it, email us for the code.

The catch?
You’ve got to stay on your toes and read fast. My long-winded Jeni posts don’t wait, and if I’ve got something big to spill, I’m going to post it even if another post isn’t due for a while.

A paid subscription just takes the hustle out of it. You can read at your own pace, revisit posts anytime, and even listen to narrated versions like an audiobook.

Subscribe now

And yes... we teach therapists how to do it with their feet. Barefoot Massage is normal now, and it’s showing up in all different corners of the country: welcome to the future of massage!

If you’ve had a barefoot massage before, you already know it feels different. If you haven’t, imagine pressure that feels deep but not sharp, steady without being heavy, and surprisingly intuitive. That’s what happens when a trained foot uses gravity and awareness to influence fascia and movement patterns.

Let’s explore why this makes such a difference for your long-term mobility and comfort.

Your Fascia Shapes the Way You Age

Fascia links everything inside you. It’s not just “saran-wrapping,” it’s a responsive network that influences your posture, movement, emotions, and even how energized or sluggish you feel throughout the day. When fascial layers lose glide or hydration, your body starts moving like it’s older than it actually is.

Barefoot massage brings slow, sustained, broad contact that helps this tissue reorganize. Your body responds to this kind of input. Layers begin to slide between and against each other again, rather than snagging or sticking. You feel taller, more grounded, or suddenly aware that you’ve previously been moving around stiffness you didn’t even realize you’d been compensating for - and now there’s less of that.

When your fascia moves well, you feel more like yourself again.

Pain Isn’t Always About Damage... Sometimes It’s Your System Asking for Support

A lot of persistent aches show up not because something is “broken” but because your nervous system is being protective. Pain science shows us that discomfort often reflects sensitivity, not structural failure.

Barefoot massage helps calm those protective patterns. Slow, confident pressure gives your body time to interpret the experience as safe. Nothing rushed. Nothing jarring. Just enough input for your brain to reconsider its default settings.

Clients often describe the result as softening, releasing, or feeling mobile in places they forgot could move that way.

This isn’t magic. It’s physiology responding to the right conditions.

Interoception: Feeling Your Body Helps You Heal Your Body

Interoception is your inner sense of what’s happening in your body. Most of us lose touch with it because life pulls our attention outward... or we were never taught to acknowledge this awareness in the first place. Barefoot massage helps shine a light on the blind spots, ease the hyperfocused nagging of areas with seemingly persistent discomfort, and wake up layers of support within yourself.

As your therapist works, you start noticing the direction of pressure, where your breath goes, and when your body invites change instead of resisting it. This awareness helps you move with more confidence and recognize early signs of tension before they snowball into pain or strain.

Being able to feel yourself clearly and notice a variety of sensations rather than disassociating into a nap is a core part of long-term body resilience.

Your Body Is a Tensegrity System

Your body doesn’t operate like a stack of blocks. It behaves like a dynamic structure where tension and compression distribute through an interconnected whole. This means your neck, ribs, pelvis, and hips influence each other continuously.

Barefoot massage works with this interconnected design. A therapist’s foot can deliver three-dimensional pressure without losing contact or forcing an area into a position it can’t handle. The intention is to help your system reorganize, not chase isolated “knots.”

Clients often stand up afterward and say, “Everything feels connected again,” and that’s the point.

Why Mindful Barefoot Massage Feels Different

One of the things people consistently notice during CBM-style barefoot massage is the presence. Your therapist isn’t going through a checklist of strokes. They’re paying attention to how your body responds in real time. This work is built on mindfulness, not memorization.

Throughout your session, your therapist watches for shifts in your breath, subtle bracing, tissue softening, or signs that your system is ready for more movement. Their feet aren’t just applying pressure, they’re listening. They’re adjusting. They’re working with your body instead of on it.

This kind of awareness means the therapist isn’t forcing change. They’re creating the conditions for change. You get to participate simply by noticing and sharing thoughts on the sensations felt as they happen inside you, which helps your body process and integrate the session in a much deeper way. Your awareness allows the healing change to happen from the “heeling” work our feet offer.

The result is work that feels grounded, intelligent, and safe. Clients often describe it as “my whole system finally syncing up again,” and that’s exactly the outcome we aim for.

Ready to Build Barefoot Massage Into Your Longevity Plan?

Your body learns from the input you give it. Barefoot massage offers input that supports adaptability, stability, and ease. You’re not chasing youth or invincibility though force. You’re supporting the things that help your body stay capable across the decades.

If you want to experience this kind of work for your own body, find a therapist trained through the Center for Barefoot Massage. They’ve learned how to create sessions that help you move better, feel safer in your body, and reconnect with the internal cues that keep you resilient. If you are a Licensed Massage Therapist who want’s to learn Barefoot Massage, follow us and get your training started in our next FasciAshi Fundamentals or Barefoot Matwork class!

Your future self benefits from what you practice now. The future of massage is a foot, and Barefoot massage can be part of that practice, whether you are underfoot, or if you ARE the foot giving this great work!

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🕒 Heads up, Ashi friends — the clock’s ticking!

If you’ve already trained in Ashiatsu somewhere else and are eligible to skip Fundamentals, this is your sign to step right up... literally. The transfer policy expires December 31, and after that, everyone who has not attended our FasciAshi Fundamentals class (yep, even experienced folks) will be routed there before continuing their journey to any next level or specialty classes we offer.

So if you’ve been planning to jump straight into Intermediate or ROM/Stretch Therapy, or maybe you’ve finished Intermediate and are aiming to get into the Advanced class, don’t wait — grab your spot before the year’s up and get those feet back in the game.

Otherwise, come 2026, you’ll simply start with Fundamentals before picking up where you left off.

👉 Check your eligibility and class options here.

What’s in this message?

• Protips and easy resources

• FEETured Class

• Upcoming class dates & links showing back-to-back immersion options

• Latest articles & Deep Dives

• New paid subscription articles (And how to get a free pass!)

Share

Protips & Easy Resources:

• You can always find our current list of instructors and training campuses (and travel tips for each one) on our website, CenterForBarefootMassage.com.

• Watch & Learn: They’re oldies but goodies: watch our #TuesDayTOESday videos on YouTube for quick tips and tricks.

• Don’t forget to follow us: we are on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram

• Supplies & Equipment: Need that cool foot warmer your instructor had? Check out our recommended supplies on Amazon.

• Check out the FasciAshi store! Available only after you’ve completed a class with us, you can purchase the FasciAshi Strap, T-shirts and more!

• List Your Business: Get found by clients searching for barefoot massage therapists! Add your business to our FREE “Sole-Provider” directory.

• Explain Your Skills: Need help explaining your new techniques to clients? Read our helpful guide for inspiration on how to better communicate the benefits of barefoot massage.

• Need marketing help? We’ve got a 30-day content strategy in the store available to download that will set your socials up to educate your clients on the benefits of Barefoot Massage! (For alumni only)

FEETured class:

👣 FasciAshi Fundamentals (2026 Edition!)

Big things are coming to FasciAshi Fundamentals next year. This class has always been the foundation of everything we teach—but starting in 2026, we’re expanding it to reflect where the science (and our feet) have been taking us.

Our updated Fundamentals will include:

• Pain science integration — helping you understand how pressure, sensation, and perception all work together to support nervous system regulation and lasting change.

• Evidence-informed resources that connect fascia research, interoception, and biomechanics with what you feel underfoot in real time.

• Modern anatomy through the lens of tensegrity, replacing outdated “stacked bones” models with a dynamic understanding of how the body suspends and supports itself.

• Myth-busting discussions that challenge old massage-school stories and replace them with accurate, science-supported perspectives.

• Refined manual and teaching materials designed to deepen your understanding of how gravity, sustained pressure, and mindful pacing create therapeutic change—for both you and your clients.

This evolution keeps FasciAshi Fundamentals aligned with our mission: to help massage therapists trust their feet as intelligent tools, grounded in anatomy, fascia research, and modern pain science.

If you’ve never taken Fundamentals... or it’s been a while... 2026 is the perfect time to come back and experience how far this work has come.

👉 See when and where we are offering the class here.

Class Schedule for the rest of 2025!

No FOMO: Travel once, train twice! Special back-to-back immersion experiences are listed below in ~Italics~

Here’s the plan as of right now - this could change. You can always see the most up to date schedule here

• October

  • Fundamentals: Dallas, Texas 10/24-26

  • North Carolina Immersion: Stay an extra day for more practice on more clients!

    • ROM/Stretch Therapy: Durham, North Carolina 10/27-28 SOLE’d Out!

    • ROM Stretch Therapy Student Clinic: Durham, North Carolina 10/29

• November

  • Fundamentals: Decatur, Alabama 11/6-8

  • Fundamentals: Cincinnati, Ohio 11/6-8

  • Fundamentals: Hayden, Idaho 11/7-9

  • Intermediate: Colorado Springs, CO 11/7-8

  • Fijian Matwork: Dallas, Texas 11/8-9

  • Fundamentals: St Louis, Missouri 11/13-15

  • Idaho Immersion: Spend 1/2 a day refreshing beginner content with Chancy, then 2 days learning the Intermediate content with Jackie

    • Fundamentals Touch-Up: Hayden, Idaho 11/14

    • Intermediate: Hayden, Idaho, 11/15-16

  • Fundamentals: San Luis Obispo, California 11/19-21

• December

  • Fundamentals: Colorado Springs, Colorado 12/4-6

  • Central Cali Immersion: All the things, PLUS an extra day of Fundamentals practice before leveling up!

    • Fundamentals: San Luis Obispo, California 12/5-7

    • Fundamentals Touch-Up: San Luis Obispo, California 12/8

    • Intermediate: San Luis Obispo, California 12/9-10

  • Fundamentals: Albany, New York 12/5-7

  • St Louis Immersion: Get deep with heat and with more strategy

    • Hot Ashi: St Louis, Missouri 12/7

    • Advanced: St Louis, Missouri 12/8-9

  • Fundamentals: Tustin, California 12/12-14

  • Fundamentals: Dallas, Texas 12/12-14

Click here for 2026 classes planned so far!

Our Advanced and Clinical Neck Classes will be posted ASAP - they may be there by the time you look, but if not, just know they are coming! (We just have to fix a temporary glitch in the system first)

If a class is SOLE’d Out, you’ll see a red “Out of Stock” banner OR it may disappear from the list entirely. Keep in mind that classes may be canceled if minimum registration isn’t met 15–30 days before start—please sign up early so we get an accurate count and keep the class in action.

Check out our Frequently Asked Questions (“Footnotes”) and find a Barefoot Massage near you (or get yourself listed) on our Sole Provider Directory.

Latest articles & Deep Dives: a Soleful, mindful feed!

These paid posts are drenched in details on each topic. Click the image to see the full archive.

How to Access Our Hidden (paid) Articles on Substack

We share two kinds of posts on barefootmassage.substack.com:

• Free posts: Like this one: News, announcements, class schedules and updates about the Center for Barefoot Massage that comes about every 12 weeks.

• Paid subscriber posts: Deep-dive educational content, behind-the-scenes insights, and members-only resources for LMTs. This FEETure started earlier this month and will drop new content every 6 weeks.

How to Subscribe

1. Click here»

Subscribe now

1. Click “Subscribe” and choose the paid option. (You’ll see the current price—right now it’s $8/month or $50/year.)

2. Create an account or sign in with your email.

3. If you recently took a class with us, you’ll get a link to receive a 2-day freebie access pass to catch up on all the paid articles: so be sure to set some time aside after class for a deep dive into the reading.

   1. In fact, let me give that to you now: https://barefootmassage.substack.com/fastpass

Once you’re a paid subscriber, you’ll automatically receive all hidden articles right in your inbox as they publish every 6 weeks, and you’ll also unlock the entire archive of past members-only posts.

Ways to Read

• In your inbox: Every post is emailed to you when it’s published. Just open and read—no extra steps.

• In the Substack app: Download the Substack app, sign in with the same email, and you’ll see both free and paid posts there.

• On the website: Log in to barefootmassage.substack.com any time to read all posts and comment on discussions.

Our next paid article should drop around December 2nd: so have a great Halloween and Thanksgiving, and I’ll have new content on the other side soon!

Thanks for reading aFoot: the future of massage therapy! Subscribe for free to receive new posts—or go paid to unlock our best stuff.

Share aFoot: the future of massage therapy

Like the new Barbies, barefoot massage therapists come in every shape, size, and ability working in a diverse profession, and the best days happen when we’re supported, steady, and doing exactly what we’re built to do.

But Barefoot Massage has long carried stories about who can (and can’t) thrive in this “Barefoot Land” …from assumptions that larger therapists will “crush,” to worries that petite therapists can’t create enough depth without force, to concerns that injured or hypermobile therapists may face instability, strain, or fatigue. In truth, these are oversimplified narratives. With the right skills, support, and awareness, therapists of many body types and abilities can find ways to make barefoot massage safe, effective, sustainable, and of course, fun!

Most barefoot massage therapists will encounter at least one of these challenges at some point — and the reality is far more interesting than any single label:

• When the LMT is larger than the client, they have gravity on their side, but need skill to modulate.

• When the LMT is smaller than the client, they can deliver surprising depth, but risk muscling through instead of sinking in.

• If a technique hurts or exhausts the LMT, there is always another way to achieve the same goal.

The real story isn’t about body size or diagnosis at all. It’s about adaptability, body awareness, and learning how to let gravity (not force) do the heavy lifting.

👉 Keep reading below the paywall to see how different therapist bodies navigate pressure — and what this means for your own barefoot practice.

Not a paid subscriber yet? You can still read this factoid here for free. Our next article coming out in 6 weeks will be a freebie for everyone to enjoy.

Read more

At the Center for Barefoot Massage, we are redefining barefoot massage as a respected, essential part of therapeutic bodywork. Just like hands or elbows, the foot is a powerful tool—capable of delive…

Read more

What’s in this message?

• New paid subscription articles

• Our Fave Books

• Latest articles & Deep Dives

• FEETured class

• Upcoming class dates & links showing back-to-back immersion + Intensive options

Share

How to Access Our Hidden Articles on Substack

We share two kinds of posts on barefootmassage.substack.com:

• Free posts: Like this one: News, announcements, class schedules and updates about the Center for Barefoot Massage that comes about every 12 weeks.

• Paid subscriber posts: Deep-dive educational content, behind-the-scenes insights, and members-only resources for LMTs. This FEETure started earlier this month and will drop new content every 6 weeks.

How to Subscribe

1. Click here»

   Subscribe now

2. Click “Subscribe” and choose the paid option. (You’ll see the current price—right now it’s $8/month or $50/year.)

3. Create an account or sign in with your email.

Once you’re a paid subscriber, you’ll automatically receive all hidden articles right in your inbox as they publish every 6 weeks, and you’ll also unlock the entire archive of past members-only posts.

Ways to Read

• In your inbox: Every post is emailed to you when it’s published. Just open and read—no extra steps.

• In the Substack app: Download the Substack app, sign in with the same email, and you’ll see both free and paid posts there.

• On the website: Log in to barefootmassage.substack.com any time to read all posts and comment on discussions.

Our Fave Book List

A longtime student (and former employee Sasquatch) recently asked me for a recommended reading list. As promised—bonus for all of you—I’m sharing it here instead of hiding it in the paid area. (You’re welcome!)

My full, ever‑growing list of 140+ massage, bodywork, and movement‑related books lives here.

Anything specifically Barefoot Massage/Bodywork related is below

• Harris, John & Kenyon, Fred. "Fix Pain” Press4Health Press, 2002

• Menon, Prabhat. "One Rope, Two Feet and Healing Oils" Chavutti Thirummal, The Ancient Art of Keralite Massage. Duang Kamol, 1999.

• Rossiter, Richard H. "Step out of Pain" The Rossiter Way Bookmasters, 2006.

• Rossiter, Richard H. “Overcoming Repetitive Motion Injuries the Rossiter Way” New Harbinger, 1999

• Calvert, Robert Noah. "The History of Massage." An Illustrated Survey from around the World. Healing Arts Press, 2002

• Yamamoto, Shizuko. "Barefoot Shiatsu" Whole Body Approach to Health Japan Publications, 1978

• Chapman, Judy. "Ultimate Spa" Asia’s Best Spas and Spa Treatments Tuttle Publishing 2006

• Jenni Miller-James. Healing with the Feet: An Introduction to the World of Barefoot Massage. Independently published 2022

Latest articles & Deep Dives: a Soleful, mindful feed!

These posts are seriously UH‑may‑zing—and now they’re exclusively available for our paid subscribers. Click the image above to see the full archive.

FEETured class:

FEETuring: FasciAshi Intermediate Supine + Sidebody

You’ve gotten solid at working the back—now flip your barefoot massage on its side. This class opens up supine and sidebody positions so you can access fascia, calm the nervous system, and meet client needs from new angles.

You’ll learn to:

• Work the quads, psoas, pecs, ribs, and adductors with precision

• Apply the “give it weight and wait” approach for lasting change

• Use grip (not glide) to enhance interoception and control

• Incorporate straps, bolsters, and multidirectional footwork

• Blend fascia and pain science into every stroke

The science:
Research shows slow, sustained pressure improves fascial mobility and down-regulates tension. Combining angled footwork with strap-supported control, you’ll create long-term change—while saving your own body in the process.

Class Schedule for the rest of 2025!

No FOMO: Travel once, train twice! Special back-to-back immersion experiences are listed in ~Italics~

Here’s the plan as of right now - this could change. You can always see the most up to date schedule here

• August:

  • Central Cali Immersion: Take the 1st two levels of training in a row!

    • Fundamentals: San Luis Obispo, California 8/1-3

    • Intermediate: San Luis Obispo, California 8/4-5

  • Fundamentals: Hayden, Idaho 8/8-10

  • Fundamentals: Durham, North Carolina 8/14-16

  • Fundamentals: Tustin, California 8/22-24

  • Intermediate: Albany, New York 8/23-24

  • Intermediate: Hayden, Idaho 8/29-30 «1st time in the state!»

• September:

  • Fundamentals: Cincinnati, Ohio 9/11-13

  • Fijian Matwork: Decatur, Alabama 9/12-13

  • Intermediate: Durham, North Carolina 9/19-20

  • Fundamentals: Hayden, Idaho 9/19-21

  • ROM/Stretch Therapy: Colorado Springs, Colorado 9/19-20

  • St Louis Immersion: Got Fundamentals? Level up AND take a specialty class!

    • Hot Ashi: St Louis, Missouri 9/21

    • Intermediate: St Louis, Missouri 9/22-23

  • San Antonio Immersion: 3 days in class getting nerdy with Jeni

    • ROM/Stretch Therapy: San Antonio, Texas 9/24-25

    • Clinical Neck: San Antonio, Texas 9/26

• October

  • Fijian Matwork: St Louis, Missouri 10/6-7

  • Intermediate: Cincinnati, Ohio 10/6-7

  • Southern California Immersion: 3 classes, 2 instructors, 7 days!

    • »Fundamentals: Tustin, California 10/10-12

    • »Intermediate: Tustin, California 10/13-14

    • »ROM/Stretch Therapy: Tustin, California 10/15-16

  • Intensive training with Jeni Spring: 2 classes blended seamlessly together, not just back-to-back, instead it’s all-in-one!

    • Intermediate + ROM/Stretch Therapy Intensive: San Antonio, Texas 10/10-13

  • ROM/Stretch Therapy: Albany, New York 10/11-12

  • Intermediate: Colorado Springs, Colorado 10/17-18

  • Alabama Immersion: Get a refresher on the beginner work before stepping up

    • Fundamentals Touch-Up: Decatur, Alabama 10/23

    • Intermediate: Decatur, Alabama 10/24-25

  • Fundamentals: Dallas, Texas 10/24-26

  • North Carolina Immersion: Stay an extra day for more practice on more clients!

    • ROM/Stretch Therapy: Durham, North Carolina 10/27-28

    • ROM Stretch Therapy Student Clinic: Durham, North Carolina 10/29

• November

  • Fundamentals: Decatur, Alabama 11/6-8

  • Fundamentals: Cincinnati, Ohio 11/6-8

  • Fundamentals: Hayden, Idaho 11/7-9

  • ROM/Stretch Therapy: Tustin, California 11/8-9

  • Fijian Matwork: Dallas, Texas 11/8-9

  • Fundamentals: St Louis, Missouri 11/13-15

  • Advanced: San Antonio, Texas 11/15-16

  • Fundamentals: San Luis Obispo, California 11/19-21

• December

  • Fundamentals: Colorado Springs, Colorado 12/4-6

  • Central Cali Immersion: An extra day of Fundamentals practice before leveling up!

    • Fundamentals: San Luis Obispo, California 12/5-7

    • Fundamentals Touch-Up: San Luis Obispo, California 12/8

    • Intermediate: San Luis Obispo, California 12/9-10

  • Fundamentals: Albany, New York 12/5-7

  • St Louis Immersion: Get deep with heat and with more strategy

    • Advanced: St Louis, Missouri 12/8-9

    • Hot Ashi: St Louis, Missouri 12/7

  • Fundamentals Touch-Up: Cincinnati, Ohio 12/8

  • Fundamentals: Tustin, California 12/12-14

  • Fundamentals: Dallas, Texas 12/12-14

That’s all for now!

If a class is SOLE’d Out, you’ll see a red “Out of Stock” banner. Classes may be canceled if minimum registration isn’t met 15–30 days before start—so sign up early and let the instructor know you’re interested.

Check out our Frequently Asked Questions (“Footnotes”) and find a Barefoot Massage near you (or get yourself listed) on our Sole Provider Directory.

What should I deep‑dive on next?
Reply to this email or comment below and let me know!

Thanks for reading aFoot: the future of massage therapy! Subscribe for free to receive new posts—or go paid to unlock our best stuff.

Share aFoot: the future of massage therapy

👣 Today’s post comes from our Alabama instructor, Sharon Bryant—who, in a past life before massage, had a math-heavy career and a deep love of physics.

I’ve talked plenty about how stacking your join…

Read more

Let’s be real… there’s a lot of fluff in massage education. We’ve all sat through classes and webinars that repackage old myths and fake news with zero updates from what science has learned in the last 50 years… That’s not what we’re trying to do here at the Center for Barefoot Massage.

Backed by Science, Rooted in Experience: The Research Behind Our Barefoot Massage Classes. My project this year has been to check the FasciAshi strokes, theories and information taught at the Center for Barefoot Massage against any recent (preferably within 15 years) evidence we can find that applies to what we present our students. Science is, has always and will always be evolving, so as new information comes to light the Center for Barefoot Massage will be working to embody and impart that knowledge to our students.

Modern Massage Education Starts with Evidence.

HERE IS OURS.

Take a look at the current research behind our courses, with why it matters for your clients—and your career. This is a l-o-n-g read, so start with the classes you’ve taken or want to take, and see what research I found that applies to them. Enjoy!!!

FasciAshi Fundamentals – Slide & Glide: Where Science Meets Sustainability

This is FasciAshi Fundamentals: where you can feel for yourself how gravity can work for you—delivering deep, therapeutic pressure while protecting your body. Through smart weight distribution and fluid, varied movements, you'll create lasting relief for your clients who are living with persistent pain. This science-backed approach to Barefoot Massage focuses on reducing strain on muscles and promoting myofascial health, making your sessions not only more effective for those underfoot, but also safer for you.

🧠 Client Benefit #1 Highlight

Underfoot your clients will experience lasting relief for persistent pain: FasciAshi’s deep, therapeutic pressure gives weight and waits for tension and nervous system guarding responses to melt, reducing sensations of long held pain for long-lasting results.

📚 Research & Science Resources

1. Pain Science Education:
Pain is more than tissue damage—it's a protective response from the nervous system. Education helps reframe persistent pain in clients.

🔗 Pain Revolution – Pain Facts

2. Fascia & Myofascial Release Study (Full Text):
Fascia responds to slow, sustained pressure—ideal for barefoot techniques. This study explores how fascial layers adapt during manual therapy.
🔗 Fascial Manipulation Article: Somatic dysfunction and fascia's gliding-potential. Chaitow, Leon, Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, Volume 18, Issue 1, 1 - 3

📸 See the Instagram post I made summarizing this research here

Ready to transform your practice and enhance client outcomes? Enroll today!

📍Class details, pricing, CE credits, and schedule:
👉 https://centerforbarefootmassage.com/fasciashi-fundamentals/

Fijian Barefoot Matwork – Stable. Simple. Strong.

Rooted in island tradition but refined with western clinical intent, Fijian Barefoot Matwork is a floor-based bodywork method that uses focused pressure applied with varied parts of the foot while the therapist is seated or standing on the mat. Without the need for oil or draping, this clothed-session approach is ideal for mobile massage, chair massage alternatives, or working in less traditional spaces. This class offers efficient body mechanics and a simple setup—perfect for events, athletic recovery, or environments where time and access are limited.

While the style looks minimal, the neuromuscular effects are anything but. The targeted variations of elastic-barrier movement, chaos wiggles to confuse, complete removal of pressure to reduce stimulation, complimented by deep unmoving pressure encourages the body to respond with improved proprioception, increased circulation, and a reduction in protective muscular bracing.

🧠 Client Benefit Highlight

This style of barefoot massage isn’t passive—it’s powerful. With no sliding or stroking, the variable approaches to pressure helps reduce muscle guarding, activate proprioception, wake up circulation, decompress tight muscles, and bring immediate relief through changes in sensory stimuli. Great for clients who need grounding and fast results with minimal setup.

📚 Research & Science Resources

1. Pain Science Education:
A fast, clothed massage doesn't aim to "fix" tissue but to change the nervous system’s perception of threat. Compression applied quickly and consistently engages pressure-sensitive receptors in skin, fascia, and muscle, providing strong but non-threatening input that can decrease sensitivity over time.
🔗 Pain Revolution – Pain Facts

2. Manual Therapy & Proprioceptive Benefits:
Short, targeted, and deep compression offers novel input to an overstimulated nervous system—helping recalibrate what’s “normal” without overwhelming it. The quick pace can override ruminative thoughts or guarding, giving the brain a fresh, non-threatening sensation to interpret. This is especially useful for clients stuck in a chronic pain loop.
🔗 PainScience – Does Massage Work?

3. Sensorimotor Recalibration Through Pressure Variation: Barefoot Matwork uses short, targeted bursts of pressure—elastic-barrier movement, anchored holds, chaos wiggles, rhythmic shifts, and sudden unloading—to give the nervous system novel, non-threatening sensory input. This kind of pressure variation helps recalibrate proprioception, interrupt protective motor patterns, and decrease sensitivity even without gliding or stretching.

Research from pain science and embodied education shows that graded, meaningful, and surprising sensory input can strengthen interoceptive accuracy, improve joint position sense, and shift the brain’s predictions about threat and tension. The clothed, quick-access format of Barefoot Matwork makes this especially effective for clients who benefit from grounding, immediate relief, and nervous-system pattern interruption.

If hands can guide this recalibration, intentional foot pressure can too—often with more stability, clearer force vectors, and less effort from the therapist.

Stop scrolling and start enrolling: step on your clients on the go after this class!

📍Class details, pricing, CE credits, and schedule:
👉 https://centerforbarefootmassage.com/fijian-barefoot-massage/

Intermediate FasciAshi – Sustained Pressure: Deeper Dive, Smarter Strategy

The Intermediate class deepens your skills in barefoot massage by teaching you how to work on clients in supine and side-lying positions. You’ll learn to navigate the ribcage, neck, hips, and shoulders with precision and sensitivity—bringing both movement and stillness into your sessions in all-new ways. These techniques go beyond relaxation to influence the nervous system and reduce persistent pain, making them ideal for clients with chronic tension, postural issues, or complex pain patterns.

Backed by fascia research and pain science, this training helps you refine your touch and adapt your sessions to a wider range of client needs, all while protecting your own body.

🧠 Client Benefit Highlight

Supine and sidebody positions give you access to some of the most commonly restricted fascial zones—and allow clients to feel grounded while you're working with their nervous system, not against it. These techniques are ideal for decompressing the spine, restoring rib and shoulder movement, and down-regulating protective tension.

📚 Research & Science Resources

1. Pain Science Education:
Helping clients reframe their pain experiences starts with your understanding of how pain works. This class includes strategies for creating safety and awareness through touch.
🔗 Pain Revolution – Pain Facts

2. Fascial Remodeling Study (Ultrasound Imaging):
This study tracks fascial tissue changes after myofascial work and shows how hands-on care can influence mobility, hydration, and function in the tissue.
🔗 Ultrasonographic Changes in Fascial Properties Study (2019) Katsumata Y, Takei H, Sasaki Y, Watanabe K (2019) Ultrasonographic Changes in Fascial Properties over Time after Myofascial Release. Integr J Orthop Traumatol Volume 2 (1): 1–6. DOI: 10.31038/IJOT.2019214

Flip your barefoot massage over and turn it on its side: It’s time to level up!

📍Class details, pricing, CE credits, and schedule:
👉 https://centerforbarefootmassage.com/fasciashi-intermediate/

Range of Motion / Stretch Therapy – Resisted Movement is Medicine

This class blends dynamic and resistance stretching with barefoot massage techniques to enhance mobility, reduce protective tension, and support tissue adaptability. You'll use your feet to guide clients through multidirectional movement, traction, and elongation—while applying deep, consistent pressure. The result? A session that feels like mobility and massage had a baby.

Grounded in current research on neurodynamics, fascia, and stretch tolerance, this approach helps clients build trust in their own movement and gives therapists an effective, body-saving way to improve joint function and reduce sensations of stiffness.

🧠 Client Benefit Highlight

ROM work helps clients who feel “stuck” in their bodies—physically and mentally. By actively engaging tissue and encouraging safe movement at end ranges, this method can reduce movement fear, improve proprioception, plus restore natural fascial and joint glide.

📚 Research & Science Resources

1. Pain Science Education:
Movement is one of the best ways to reduce pain. ROM sessions use pressure and motion to reassure the nervous system and improve tolerance to stretch.
🔗 Pain Revolution – Pain Facts

2. Stretching and Nervous System Response:
This article explores how stretching doesn’t “lengthen” muscle in the way we used to think—it changes the nervous system’s sensitivity. A must-read to understand why ROM sessions feel so transformative.
🔗 PainScience – Neurodynamic Stretching Article

3. Effects of Massage on Range of Motion:
This clinical review supports how massage and stretching combined can improve joint range—especially with repeated treatments over time.
🔗 PMC – Massage Therapy and ROM Study

Make your clients work for their session: resistance is the future!

📍Class details, pricing, CE credits, and schedule:
👉 https://centerforbarefootmassage.com/range-of-motion-rom/

FasciAshi Advanced – Myofascial Efficiency: Pressure with Purpose

The Advanced class expands your barefoot massage practice into deeper territory—literally and figuratively. You'll refine your pressure delivery with precision and control, using one or two feet where appropriate, apply longer holds and slower glides, and explore advanced fascial mobilization techniques across prone, supine, and side-lying positions. This is where the work becomes profoundly individual and tissue-specific.

With a strong emphasis on modifications, body mechanics, endless options on how YOU can comfortably achieve the “why” of each stroke, this class helps you create slow, intentional sessions that support a variety of clients with complex pain patterns, scar tissue, or high stress loads—while preserving your own energy and longevity as a therapist.

🧠 Client Benefit Highlight

By slowing down and staying deep, Advanced-level barefoot massage can unwind longstanding restrictions in the fascia, reduce nervous system hypervigilance, and help reestablish healthy movement patterns. These sessions are ideal for clients with persistent or post-surgical pain, dense tissue, or trauma-informed needs.

📚 Research & Science Resources

1. Pain Science Education:
Clients in persistent pain benefit from consistent, calm, and predictable inputs. The Advanced class teaches how to “listen with your feet” and help reduce sensitization through slow, safe contact.
🔗 Pain Revolution – Pain Facts

2. Deep Tissue Pressure & Myofascial Effects:
This clinical review confirms that slow, sustained, deep-pressure manual therapy can positively affect myofascial structures and reduce perceived pain and stiffness.
🔗 PMC – Systematic Review on Deep Tissue Myofascial Release (2023)

Whether you need to use 1 or 2 feet, this class gets you deeper.

📍Class details, pricing, CE credits, and schedule:
👉 https://centerforbarefootmassage.com/fasciashi-advanced/

Hot Ashi (Sensory Track specialty course)

Hot Ashi is a table-based barefoot massage method that uses weighted, heated pillows placed on the body to deliver deep, calming pressure through the therapist’s feet. There’s no skin gliding or oil—just sustained compression and slow movement through the warm pillows, creating a deeply grounding sensory experience. Adapted with permission and training from Karen Kowal’s Pillossage method, and based in Diane Jacobs DermoNeuroModulation, Hot Ashi channels the therapeutic benefits of heat and pressure while preserving your body mechanics.

This class teaches you how to layer thermal input, fascial decompression, and nervous system regulation—making it a powerful integration into any Myofascial Ashiatsu session. It’s especially suited for clients experiencing stress, trauma-related tension, or chronic pain.

🧠 Client Benefit Highlight

The combination of heat, weight, and stillness speaks directly to the nervous system. Hot Ashi helps melt protective tension, increase tissue hydration, and re-establish sensory safety—without overwhelming the client’s body or mind.

📚 Research & Science Resources

1. Pain Science Education:
Predictable, warm, and non-threatening touch can down-regulate the nervous system and reduce pain. Hot Ashi gives you a structured way to deliver just that.
🔗 Pain Revolution – Pain Facts

2. Effects of Heat on Fascial and Neural Tissue:
Heat increases tissue pliability, boosts circulation, and calms sensory nerves—especially when paired with consistent, non-invasive compression.
🔗 PainScience – Heating and Pain Relief

3. Sensory Integration & Trauma-Informed Bodywork:
This modality supports clients with sensory sensitivities or trauma responses by offering safe, soothing input through indirect touch. Inspired by the original Pillossage method developed by Karen Kowal.
🔗 Pillossage Overview

Hot foot it on over to our class schedule, because your clients “knead” this!

📍Class details, pricing, CE credits, and schedule:
👉 https://centerforbarefootmassage.com/hot-ashi-relax-track/

Vibing on this? Buy Jeni a coffee

Clinical Neck (Clinical Track specialty course)

Clinical Neck is an advanced barefoot massage class designed to bring precision and clarity to one of the most sensitive and complex regions of the body. You’ll blend slow, intentional footwork with thoughtful hands-on work to address the head, neck, jaw, and shoulder girdle. This class focuses on assessment-driven bodywork—combining alignment reading, trigger point theory, and fascial mobilization strategies to support clients dealing with chronic tension, headaches, whiplash recovery, TMJ dysfunction, and more.

Learn how to navigate the cervical region with confidence, using both feet and hands to create safe, effective protocols that meet your clients where they are. Perfect for therapists who want to work smarter, not harder, with a research-informed lens on myofascial dysfunction and referred pain.

🧠 Client Benefit Highlight

Neck work shouldn’t be aggressive or guesswork. This approach gives clients a sense of safety and support through precise, grounded touch that helps reduce hypervigilance, decrease referred pain, and improve postural awareness—especially in complex or chronic conditions.

📚 Research & Science Resources

1. Pain Science Education:
Chronic neck pain is often maintained by protective patterns in the nervous system, not just tissue dysfunction. Clinical Neck helps retrain the system with calm, consistent input.
🔗 Pain Revolution – Pain Facts

2. Referred Pain & Myofascial Dysfunction Research:
This clinical review explains how pain can be projected from trigger points and fascial restrictions—making accurate assessment and appropriate technique essential.
🔗 PMC – Referred Pain, Myofascial Dysfunction, and Assessment (2022)

3. Trigger Points & Muscle Tension Science:
Understanding the nature of trigger points helps therapists distinguish between pain sources and symptoms. This in-depth tutorial challenges outdated views and supports an evidence-based approach to myofascial pain.
🔗 PainScience – Trigger Points Explained

Never stop learning: come down this nerdy rabbit hole with us!

📍Class details, pricing, CE credits, and schedule:
👉 https://centerforbarefootmassage.com/clinical-neck/

Feet First, Evidence Always: Why This Matters

Grounded in Research, Delivered with Sole. The techniques we teach at the Center for Barefoot Massage aren’t guesswork—they’re grounded in the latest research and taught through feet-on, in-person training so that while you get a literal feel from the sole of this work, you will also really feel the SOUL of this work in our theory, intention and integrity.

Deep Pressure, Deeper Thinking: Why Our Classes Are Built on Research, Not Repetition. Historically our strokes are the traditional massage, bodywork and manual therapy techniques past down from generations before, we’ve just figured out how to replace the handwork with footwork. We’re not reinventing the wheel—we’re just making sure our FasciAshi approach rolls with science, sustainability, and a whole lot of skill.

The future of massage is a foot. We plan to be here for a long long time while we continually extend massage careers and disrupt the industry averages: so wherever you are in your LMT journey, you can always “Get Centered” and bring your practice into the future with us at the Center for Barefoot Massage.

Ready to train smarter? Find your class at CenterForBarefootMassage.com

Do you know of any FASCIAnating published research papers, case studies or peer-reviewed journal articles that you think are a no-brainer support of Barefoot Massage? Tell us in the comments below!

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What’s in this message?

• Barefoot Matwork “FEETured” in a popular web series

• Where we stand: Our values & policies

• Latest articles & Deep Dives

• FEETured class & where to take it

• Upcoming class dates & links showing back-to-back, immersion + Intensive options

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Fijian Barefoot Matwork goes viral: and «SPOILER ALERT» it becomes their fave massage!

Our Tustin, California “SoCal” instructor, Ashley Shears, was invited to demonstrate Barefoot Massage on the “Good Mythical Morning” web series recently. She brought her LMT friend Julie who is also trained in the work, and they won over the hosts with their SOLEful samples. I queued up the video above to start right where the Barefoot team strolls onstage like rockstars, but be sure to watch the entire video: it’s fun!

A big shout out to Ashley and Julie who helped take big strides in normalizing Barefoot Massage in the eyes of a new audience! Every step we each take towards professionally representing and introducing the use of feet as massage tools will help grow the public awareness and interest in our work. This in turns helps the public seek out trained Barefoot Massage therapists like you!

If you watch this video, leave a positive comment in their feed about how Barefoot Massage helps your clients!

Where We Stand: Our Values in Action

At the Center for Barefoot Massage, we are redefining barefoot massage as a respected, essential part of therapeutic bodywork. Just like hands or elbows, the foot is a powerful tool capable of delivering precise, effective pressure. Through evidence-based education, we are raising industry standards and challenging outdated perceptions, ensuring that barefoot massage is recognized for its depth, skill, and impact. Our instructors don’t just teach, they each have an active practice with clients, keeping our techniques fresh, evolving, and responsive. We foster a community of lifelong learners, empowering therapists to refine their craft, embrace innovation, and build sustainable careers while advancing the future of barefoot massage together. You can read more about our Mission and Vision here and here.

Transferring in to our next-level classes is going away.

Since launching in 2017, we’ve allowed therapists trained in other Ashiatsu programs to transfer into our courses. However, as our standards have risen, the gap between our training and others has grown. To maintain the highest quality education, we’ll be phasing out this transfer option at the end of 2025. If you’ve been considering transferring in, now is the time.

Massage licensing is the way.

To uphold professional standards, we only train Licensed Massage Therapists legally eligible to provide therapeutic massage. In states without regulation (CA, VT, KS, MN), we now require proof of 500-hour massage training and professional liability insurance. We support licensure and license portability and continue advocating for national standards in our field.

Latest articles & Deep Dives: a Soleful, mindful feed!

I’ve been trying my best to stick to a schedule of making a long-read post once every 6 weeks. This is one of them, so I’m on track! Submerse yourself into the previous 5-10 minute reads full of content that won't fit in an Instagram post. Everything published to Substack is saved like a blogpost, so if you missed any of our recent articles, click the image above and enjoy the read!

Recently on our Instagram profile, Jeni shared the findings from a research paper and how they directly related to barefoot massage. (See the March 11th carousel slideshow “FASCIA DOESN’T NEED TO BE BROKEN UP”) The very next week, Jeni posted a talking head video of herself, challenging you to read the actual article, then follow the rabbit hole of links, citations and sources that spiraled out from there. (See the “STOP DOOMSCROLLING!” video on March 17th!) Then in a 3rd part to this series of evidence-informed posts, Jeni showed you how to use your understanding of those knowledge bombs within conversations with clients to help retrain their pain. (See the “EVIDENCE-BASED CONVERSATIONS” subtitled, narrated video from March 26th-ish.)

Missed these posts? Check them out, leave a comment, and deepen your understanding of what we do underfoot!

FEETured class:

Click here to see when & where this class is offered next!

This month we’d like to “FEETure” the FasciAshi Range of Motion: Stretch Therapy class! People commonly think this class is Thai Massage: but it is definitely NOT! Although every lineage of Thai, Shiatsu or other forms of matwork that has been taken up to the table will blend wonderfully with this work, our expertise is in the fascial focus within each movement we take our clients through underfoot. This class will focus on how to apply full body Active & Resisted Range of Motion work to mobilize your clients💥

The science of it all:

This is amazing work for when you need to stabilize joints. Got hypermobile clients? They don’t need a stretch, they need strength. Got hypomobile clients? They may not be able to be passively stretched very far, they actually need strength, too! Resistance stretching can lead to significant improvements in muscle strength throughout a joints range of motion more so than from static, passive stretching alone. Studies have shown that active stretching contributes to increased flexibility and strength.

Want to read some research relevant to the content presented in this class? Check this out.

Who teaches the ROM/Stretch Therapy class?

• Erin Poovey in Colorado Springs - offering class 2-3x/annually

• Dawn Dotson in Albany, New York - offering class 4-6x annually

• Ashley Shears in California - offering class about 6x/annually

• Jeni Spring in San Antonio, Texas - usually offering it 2x/annually + 1 special Intermediate/ROM Intensive class.

• Julie Marciniak in Durham, North Carolina - now offering it 1x/annually.

• MC Fredette in Cincinnati, Ohio- occasionally offering it, possibly 1x/annually

Upcoming Training Schedule:

Click here to see all upcoming classes available in chronological order.

If you are looking for a certain class, your fave instructor or a specific location, don’t forget that you can use the pull-down-menu filters (located at the bottom of the page for mobile devices, and on the left side for laptops.) If the class is “SOLE’d Out” and full, it will have a red banner on it that says “Out of Stock.”

No FOMO: Travel once, train twice! Special back-to-back immersion experiences:

• March in California:

  • DAAAANG! Y’all just missed an epic series of classes from Missy and Ashley, where they offered Fundamentals, ROM, Intermediate and a Touch-Up class all in a row!

• April in Alabama:

  • Fundamentals Touch-Up 4/24

  • Intermediate 4/25-26

• May in Missouri:

  • Hot Ashi 5/18

  • Advanced 5/19-20

• July in North Carolina:

  • Advanced Touch-up 7/11

  • Clinical Neck 7/12

• September in San Antonio:

  • Range of Motion: Stretch Therapy 9/24-25

  • Clinical Neck 9/26

• October in Southern California:

  • Fundamentals 10/10-12

  • Intermediate 10/13-14

  • Range of Motion: Stretch Therapy 10/15-16

• October in San Antonio:

  • Intermediate + ROM Intensive: 10/10-13

• October in North Carolina:

  • Range of Motion: Stretch Therapy 10/27-28

  • Student Clinic: extra 4-hours to practice ROM 10/29

• December in Missouri:

  • Hot Ashi 12/7

  • Advanced 12/8-9

That’s all for now!

Don’t forget to check out the Frequently Asked Questions (we call them Footnotes) on the website for links to info you need to know. AND, don’t forget to find a Barefoot Massage near you (or get yourself listed) on our Sole Provider Directory here.

We’re thrilled to announce that as of Friday, our brand-new website has officially launched, and as of just now today, PAYMENT PLANS ARE BACK! 🥳 Head over to CenterForBarefootMassage.com on your favorite device to find everything you need before, during, and after your training.

FOR OUR ALUMNI:

✅ We’ve already set up your username! Yes, it’s ready and waiting for you!

📹 Need help logging in for the first time? Watch THIS quick video for step-by-step guidance.

💌 Can’t find your username? Check your inbox for emails from info@centerforbarefootmassage.com and info@barefootmassagecenter.com—if you find an email from us, that’s likely the email we’ve used as your username. It’s where we send your automated registration confirmations and post-class follow-up emails with your CE credits.

🛠 A few things to keep in mind:

• While usernames can’t be changed, you can update your email address anytime in your account settings.

• Please don’t create a new username or a second profile—it causes major delays in transferring account permissions and history.

• Still stuck? No worries—email us at info@CenterForBarefootMassage.com, and we’ll help you out.

  ---

Are you NEW to the Center for Barefoot Massage? Ready to sign up for a class?

🌟 It’s easy! Follow THESE directions and get started today! 🌟

What You’ll Find by Logging In:

🚀 Dashboard:
Your first screen tracks your Massage License Number (set it and forget it!). Enter your height and weight here, so when you arrive, we’ll have the perfect table and bars ready for you.

🛒 Orders:
Review your purchase history. (Note: Some data from our old website is still being sorted out—thanks for your patience!)

📚 My Courses:

• See a list of all classes you’ve attended.

• “Past Classes” will appear as we manually input them.

• Your CE credits will show up as a downloadable PDF here or in “Additional Documents.”

• Archived Courses: Includes your training history from before 2025 that has transferred over.

🎥 My Videos:
Access all your study videos by class. Only completed classes unlock videos!

📂 Downloads:
If you’re listed in our Sole Provider Directory, you’ll find reciprocal link decals for your website here. Stay tuned—this section will grow with future downloads!

🏠 Addresses:
Keep your billing and shipping addresses updated here.

🔒 Account Details:
Update your password, check your name’s spelling, and adjust your email address (while your username remains fixed).

📍 Edit Your Sole Provider Directory Listing:
Log in, navigate to the Sole Provider section, find your listing, and edit away!

💡 Please note: Sign in to your profile before signing up for any class. The system will not allow you to sign up for a class that has prerequisites unless you are signed into your student profile. (Otherwise it doesn’t know that you completed the necessary training to level-up your feet!)

🔒 You are also given automatic access to Archived Blog Posts that are pertinent to the classes you’ve enrolled in. This is great pre-class reading on the content specific to what you’ll be learning in person with us!

What You Can Access Without Logging In:

📖 Sole Provider Directory:
Where future clients can find our alumni!

🗓️ Class Calendar:
Every class we offer, listed by date. Filter by location, instructor, month, or class name. (Sold-out classes will be marked.)

📋 Class Descriptions:
Scroll through all our classes in the “Classes” menu and find detailed information about each one. Plus, a button will take you straight to the national schedule for that class.

📍 Class Locations:
Find addresses, travel suggestions, and lodging tips.

👩‍🏫 Meet the Instructor Team:
Learn how we practice and teach Barefoot Massage!

❓ FAQs:
Our “Footnotes” section answers all your burning questions—and then some!

Need Help?

💡 Missing something from your account? Lost? Not seeing what we see? No problem! Email us at info@CenterForBarefootMassage.com, and we’ll get it sorted for you.

Our regular admin hours are:

• Mondays: 10 AM - 2 PM CST

• Wednesdays: 10 AM -11 AM CST

• Thursdays: 12 PM - 4 PM CST

• Fridays: 3 PM - 4 PM CST

✨ We’re so excited for you to explore the new site—happy browsing! ✨

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(Picture that as FEET clapping, rather than hands!!)

We want to thank everyone who came to The Center and trained with us in 2024, and we also want to thank your clients, family and friends who supported, encouraged and pushed you along the way: we hope they are underfoot getting sessions from you, because the REAL WINNERS are all those who receive an amazing Barefoot Massage.

Here’s a look at what we accomplished together:

• 81 FasciAshi classes offered across the country

• 5,954 Continuing Education Hours distributed

• 10 incredible instructors (plus 2 in training!)

• 331 LMTs joined us in classrooms across the nation

  • 72% were returning students from previous years

  • 36% of this year's students took a 2nd class within the same year

• We spent a total of 1,489 days in class together

• We taught in 12 cities across 9 states

We are so grateful for this growing community of dedicated learners who continue to deepen their practices through continued professional development training. This is clearly something you are all doing to better yourself and your work, not just to grab some quick CE hours for renewals.

The world of Barefoot Massage is bigger than ever, and I am very proud, excited and thrilled to see the enormous, big-footed impression that the FasciAshi approach, our suspended support strap, and the general sasquatchy influence that the Center for Barefoot Massage really has on the massage, movement, bodywork and wellness communities.

I hope that everything the Center for Barefoot Massage stands for continues to grow roots and help to hold up the standard of our profession in years to come.

The future of massage is a foot, and we hope to see you in 2025 to train up YOUR foot (and feets) even more.

-Jeni Spring, LMT, BCSI & the Center for Barefoot Massage team

Update on our new system & website:

I know that I keep saying it’s ~almost~ here, but it really is actually almost here this time: our new registration system and alumni website (all in one!) will launch any day now: stay tuned for more information on the changes and how to navigate the newness!

My goal all along has been to create a place where you can connect with the Center for Barefoot Massage before, during and after your training and have everything you need at your toe tips: registration for classes, videos to study, provider listings to get found.. everything all in one place under 1 single log-in: and it’s almost here!

During this very brief ~less than a week~ transition period, all registrations for classes will be temporarily paused: this is just to help me make sure that no one or their payments slip through the cracks. If you want to sign up for a January class between today and the new system launch early next week, please just send us a message below (or reply to this email if you are reading this in your inbox!) or just wait till next week to sign up if you can. Thank you: we are super excited for this long-awaited release!

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What’s in this message?

• Update from the AFMTE Congress in July

• Latest blog posts

• FEETured class & where to take it

• New instructors & training locations

• Reminder of new classes available

• Upcoming class dates & links showing back-to-back, immersion + Intensive options

Share aFoot: the future of massage therapy

2024 AFMTE Educator Congress Update

Last month, four of our instructors (Jeni, Sara, Hillary and Dawn) represented the Barefoot Massage community at the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education national massage educators convention in Kansas City, Missouri. We had our own kind of dorky fun dressed up as Swifties, but we were really there to enhance how we show up while teaching you.

This conference gave us insights to the industry as it pertains to the education realm, plus we learned great teaching tips and best practices for helping learners in our classes thrive. We had idea-inspiring convos with other CE Instructors, school owners and teachers about the future. A few of us will be volunteering with the AFMTE and COMTA to help make sure that the perspectives and interests of Barefoot Massage Therapists are involved in shaping what they are doing for the future of massage.

The best resource we were reminded of that we’d like to share with you is this: Joe Muscolino’s library of almost 3,000 anatomical videos!

Latest blog posts

Long reads for deeper feets: here’s what you may have missed:

• 7/29: Certification is not real in massage continuing education

• 6/11: Can You Feel "Knots" During Barefoot Massage?

• 5/21: Barefoot Massage versus Foot Massage: What’s the diff?

FEETured class:

This month we’d like to “FEETure” the FasciAshi Advanced class! Have you made it past our Intermediate class and this deep into your Barefoot Massage training? This is where your massage skills transform from great to absolutely amazing! 💥

If you are looking for ways to get deeper without trying so hard, (whether that means with 1 foot or 2), if you are looking to find multitasking strokes that help you get the job done more efficiently, or if you are looking for more variety in movements to keep your sessions and your body healthy, fresh and effortlessly useful, THEN AIM TO TAKE THIS CLASS!

WHAT WILL YOU LEARN?!

• Single & Double-Footed Strokes: Understand the difference between using one foot vs. two with different uses of sustained compression, along fascial pathways

• Benefits of Two Feet: Discover when and why to use two feet and who benefits the most as you learn to vary pressure from medium to full body weight.

• Full-Body Experience: Deliver massages in supine, prone, and side-lying positions.

• Advanced Biomechanics: Get deeper without overusing your upper body or gripping bars, with structural modifications for every move

• Strap Length Adjustments: Achieve effortless, powerful strokes with proper strap settings, hacks and new ideas.

• Diverse Techniques: Apply gliding, broad deep tissue, sustained compression, friction, and specific fascial techniques from all angles.

• Bony Landmark Recognition & Palpation: Perfect your foot placement and anchor points.

• Efficient Use of Lubrication: Use less lubrication (or none!) without overworking yourself or overwhelming your client’s skin.

Pro-Tip To Prepare: Although this next suggestion is not ~currently~ required, it really benefits you to have also attended our Fundamentals class, or even attended it a second time as a refresher, before attending Advanced. (If you are a transfer student from another beginner Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage lineage, the Advanced FasciAshi material will blend backwards to what you’ve learned elsewhere, but there are gaps of information missing due to the big differences in techniques. Because we don’t have enough hours in the class to teach you our Fundamentals strokes during this 2-day Advanced class, we highly recommend that you consider learning our foundational strokes for the best possible understanding and application of our more advanced work.)

Who teaches the Advanced class?

• Jeni Spring in San Antonio, Texas - usually offering it 2x/annually + 1 Intermediate/Advanced Intensive class. (1 spot open in the October class!)

• Julie Marciniak in Durham, North Carolina - usually offering it 2-3x/annually - coming up later this month, 8/22-23 with Clinical Neck back to back!

• Sara Newberry in St Louis, Missouri - offering 2x/annually, the next class is November 14-15, 2024

We will occasionally take this class on the road and travel teach at another instructors location: we’ve done this special event in Dallas and Colorado Springs - honestly it’s easier for us to teach this at our local studios because we have the clients for you to practice on, so don’t wait until we come to your town. Take a trip and learn from our Advanced FasciAshi specialists!

New Instructors & Training Location!

We would like to welcome two Instructors-in-Training to our team, both from northern Idaho: Chancy Gill and Jaclyn Cosper!

These accomplished women will soon be offering the Fundamentals and Intermediate courses out of their studio in Hayden, Idaho, not far from Coeur d'Alene.

You’ll be able to meet Chancy at these classes:

1. She’ll be co-teaching with Sara Newberry in St Louis on September 21-23,

2. Chancy is co-teaching with Mary-Claire Fredette in Cincinnati September 26-28.

3. Don’t miss Chancy’s 1st Fundamentals class at the new Idaho studio, scheduled for November 7-9th!

Jaclyn will be co-teaching Intermediate with Jeni Spring and Julie Marciniak early next year, then will bringing the next level Intermediate classes back to Idaho ASAP in 2025!

Stay tuned to our Instagram account, as soon as we launch their Idaho profile it will be shared there for you to friend and follow for funsies!

»Do YOU want to be an instructor on our team? Fill out this form

Reminder of new classes available: Touch-Ups & Clinical Neck!

These new classes were announced and outlined in our last newsletter - if you want to know more about them, please read this!

Classes scheduled for the rest of 2024

These dates may change based on real life circumstances, so sign up early! Our Instructors assess 30-days before classes if they are going to keep or cancel the event as planned, so if you know you want to attend, don’t wait till the last minute! Sign up ASAP, or at least let the instructor know of your interest and plans for attending.

See a list of all classes coming up across the nation here!

Specialty Classes

• Clinical Neck: Durham, NC: 8/24 (Back to back with Advanced)

• Hot Ashi: St Louis, MO: 9/28 (Back to back with Intermediate)

• Fundamentals Touch-Up: Decatur, AL: 10/7 (Back to back with Intermediate & ROM)

• Fundamentals Touch-Up: Dallas, TX: 11/15 (Back to back with Intermediate)

• Hot Ashi: St Louis, MO: 11/16 (Back to back with Advanced)

• Hot Ashi: Dallas, TX: 12/8 (Back to back with Fijian)

Fijian

• Decatur, AL: 9/6-7

• San Diego, CA: 9/30-10/1

• St Louis, MO: 10/17-18

• Dallas, TX: 12/6-7 (Back to back with Hot Ashi)

ROM

• Colorado Springs, CO: 9/13-14

• San Antonio, TX: 9/25-28 (part of a 4-day Intensive mixed with Intermediate)

• Durham, NC: 9/27-28

• Decatur, AL: 10/10-11 (Immersion week with Fundamentals Touch-Up & Intermediate)

• Tustin, CA: 10/12-13

• Albany, NY: 11/1-2

• Tustin, CA: 12/7-8

Intermediate

• Albany, NY: 8/16-17

• San Antonio, TX: 9/25-28 (part of a 4-day Intensive mixed with ROM)

• St Louis, MO: 9/26-27 (Immersion week with Fundamentals & Hot Ashi)

• Cincinnati, OH: 10/7-8

• Decatur, AL: 10/8-9 (Immersion week with Fundamentals Touch-Up & ROM)

• Colorado Springs, CO: 10/18-19

• San Antonio, TX: 10/18-22 (part of a 5-day Intensive mixed with Advanced)

• San Luis Obispo, CA: 10/21-22 (Back to back with Fundamentals)

• Albany, NY: 11/3-4

• Dallas, TX: 11/16-17 (Back to back with a 4-hour Fundamentals Touch-Up)

• Durham, NC: 12/6-7

• San Luis Obispo, CA: 12/13-14 (Back to back with Fundamentals)

• San Antonio, TX: 1/24-25/2025

Advanced

• Durham, NC: 8/22-23 (Back to back with Clinical Neck)

• San Antonio, TX: 10/18-22 (part of a 5-day Intensive mixed with Intermediate)

• St Louis, MO: 11/14-15 (Back to back with Hot Ashi)

Fundamentals:

• Colorado Springs, CO: 8/15-17

• Dallas, TX: 8/22-24

• Tustin, CA: 9/6-8

• St Louis, MO: 9/21-23 (Immersion week with Intermediate & Hot Ashi)

• Cincinnati, OH: 9/26-28

• San Luis Obispo, CA: 10/18-20 (Back to back with Intermediate)

• St Louis, MO: 10/23-25

• Dallas, TX: 10/24-26

• Durham, NC: 10/31-11/2

• Decatur, AL: 11/7-9

• Hayden, ID: 11/7-9

• Tustin, CA: 11/8-10

• Cincinnati, OH: 11/14-16

• Colorado Springs, CO: 12/5-7

• Albany, NY: 12/6-8

• San Luis Obispo, CA: 12/10-12 (Back to back with Intermediate)

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  That’s all for now!

Don’t forget to check out the Frequently Asked Questions (we call them Footnotes) on the website for links to info you need to know. AND, don’t forget to find a Barefoot Massage near you (or get yourself listed) on our Sole Provider Directory here.

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Yes, we can! OF COURSE we can feel things through our fe…

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