Hi y’all - I unintentionally missed a scheduled article that was supposed to post in early April. Time flies when the overwhelm stacks up! I took a slight slow-down with my writing and social content to keep my own life balanced. To make up for missing one deep dive, I’ve included a short (in Jeni-speak, “short” is still pretty wordy) dive into a hot topic that has just completely infiltrated my social media feeds and has had me feeling all kinds of ways.
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!
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Hot Topic: Does Fascia even matter?
Upcoming May-Early August class dates & links
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Hot Topic: Fascia doesn’t matter anymore?
If your algorithm is like mine, you’ve seen a lot of “fascia is a scam” drama lately. Critics are calling out old and new myths, and while some of the statements being thrown around feel right, others feel entitled …and some are just pure cringe. I felt defensive at first, so let me share some insight and nuance that I’ve been sitting with.
Here's an example: “You can’t treat fascia without treating everything else, so why call it a ‘fascial’ treatment at all?” This kind of clapback isn’t wrong, but if you think FasciAshi and myofascial bodywork in general only works on fascia, then you’ve taken the words way too literally all these years! At the Center for Barefoot Massage, we aren’t trying to gimmick fascia or fight the science with woo; we’re leading with evidence-informed resources so that you can offer a clinically-backed, deep, fascial-neuro-sensory, anatomically detailed, pain reducing intervention for your clients underfoot. All of our classes and instruction manuals have been refreshed with citations and insights into the tensegral network of the neuromyofascial web of tissue that we step on daily to help you feel how FasciAshi uses fascia’s rich sensory capabilities to influence nervous system output.
Clinical research reminds us that fascia is one of the body's primary sensory communication networks, a direct message link that massage therapists can use to talk to the brain. (Hit them up in their DM’s) This is from Schleip’s work which validates that the ‘melt’ your clients feel isn't the tissue changing just from external force, or fascia ‘releasing’ independent of other structures, but and entire nervous system shift from an internal noticing, which allows their brain and to let go of unnecessary held tension in the body It’s a Neuro-Plastic response. We can change the nervous systems habits related to the tissue underfoot.
The shift moving through corners of the industry right now feels like a neat transition from a Biomechanical model (viewing the body as a machine with broken parts) to a more integrative Neuro-Centric model (viewing the body as a sensitive and responsive system). It’s less about forcing structure, more about influencing system output. This kind of convo is another great chance to be less vague and lean into verbiage that explains “changing the brain’s output” rather than any left-over outdated assumptions about “fixing” anything. People are using new words to describe things, which can be confusing, but it’s also deeply validating and helpful to better explain what we’ve been trying to say.
The modern pain science we cite from Lorimer Moseley and the Pain Revolution group helps us realize that, amount other things, pain is often nociplastic, meaning the nervous system’s alarm can be turned up too high. In this context, awareness of sensation through the interoceptive and proprioceptive properties in fascia/joints/tendons/tissue isn’t the “problem” to be fixed; it’s just a method we use to talk to the brain. Because they are finding that fascia is packed with WAAAY more sensory nerve endings than muscle alone, and because fascia is everywhere, it is a very effective medium for sending the “safe” signals required to lower that alarm.
Understanding the “why” behind every stroke and the evidence that supports the approach as a whole is a huge benefit for your clients. Traditional “deep tissue” often relies on pointy pressure from thumbs or elbows, which a sensitized nervous system can perceive as a threat, causing the client to tighten up further or increase perception of pain. We can use deep, sustained yet gliding pressure to down regulate a sensitized system. We can use the broad, warm surface of the foot to provide maximum sensory input with minimum threat It’s like using depth as an exploratory distraction.
The way we can use the bones as a floor so that pressure is sensed on mutiple aspects of the tissue, and how we can use bones as levers to interact with hard to reach intrinsic muscles, tensegral tendons and position-aware joint capsules, and our “give weight and wait” mindsets PLUS our shifting vector of pressure from our bodies angle supported by the strap are all things that create a “novel” unique and different experience that catches your clients brain’s attention (despite its trained patterns and blind spots) and convinces it to release protective guarding, increase glide and shear between layers, and all the things I love to quote from this post. We are increasing sensory clarity underfoot through a new 3D map for the brain to process during a FasciAshi session. What they sense in session is the magic that makes the changes happen, so keep drawing their attention to what they notice in the moment while you massage. Myofascial Barefoot Massage is a mindful meditative exercise for your clients.
We don’t need to claim we are mechanically reshaping fascia for this work to be effective, which I think is part of what the drama is all about lately. One of our goals in Barefoot Massage can be to create a growing awareness of reduced guarding, decreased pain sensitivity, and greater ease of movement so (even if it's just temporary) our clients can move and function with less resistance. (That goes for us too, while working. Pain-free effortlessness begets more pain-free effortlessness as you mind-meld your nervous system to theirs while in session.) Rather than forcing change into their tissue, we use the client’s own sensory system to support new patterns of comfort, awareness, and movement. Rinse, lather and repeat that over your timeline of sessions with each client, and new internal awareness emerges, old patterns fade.
The future of massage is a foot. Even if we don’t understand fascia fully, for us nerdy barefoot massage therapists trying to keep up and understand each new explanation, these sensory shifts aren’t the “end” of myofascial work as we know it, it can be a more nuanced and effective way to work ten toes down, holistically along with everything else in there... And more importantly, work with our clients experiences underfoot. Fascia TOEtally matters 😉
Classes available May-early August
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. If the class is already SOLE’d OUT and full, it is not listed below. You can always see the most up to date schedule here
May
Fundamentals: Hayden, ID 5/29-31
Intermediate: Colorado Springs, CO 5/29-30
June
Advanced FasciAshi: St Louis, MO 6/8-9
Intermediate: Dallas, TX 6/13-14
Barefoot Matwork: Colorado Springs, CO 6/19-20
Back to Back Immersion in New York!
FasciAshi Fundamentals: Albany, NY 6/22-24
Intermediate: Albany, NY 6/25-26
Barefoot Matwork: Decatur, AL 6/26-27
July
FasciAshi Fundamentals: Tustin, CA 7/9-11
Barefoot Matwork: Dallas, TX 7/10-11
Clinical Neck: Durham, NC 7/13
FasciAshi Fundamentals: Decatur, AL 7/16-18
Back to Back Immersion in California!
FasciAshi Fundamentals: San Luis Obispo, CA 7/30-8/1
Range of Motion/Stretch Therapy: San Luis Obispo, CA 8/3-4
Intermediate: San Luis Obispo, CA 8/5-6
Back to Back Immersion in New York!
FasciAshi Fundamentals: Albany, NY 7/30-8/1
Intermediate: Albany, NY 8/2-3
Looking for August 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.
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Nice! 👏🏼 “We are increasing sensory clarity…” Exactly!
There is so much of this article that should be highlighted I don’t even know where to start. I haven’t seen much of the fascia discussion you referenced but it doesn’t surprise me that we, as an industry, simply cannot agree and want to sit around arguing Semantics and forgetting about nuance.
I’m going back to read it again because I need to install some of the words and phrases into my vernacular.
Jeni, this is a hugely enlightening explanation - thanks for educating me! I know the results of your expert practice speak for themselves as far as my own health is concerned, but this gets to the "why." Thanks!