What is Barefoot Massage?
Barefoot Massage is massage: we just happen to use our feet instead of hands.
A trained Barefoot Massage Therapist can use different aspects of their feet to recreate similar sensations that a “Hands-on” massage would deliver. Heels, arches, toes, calves, shins, and knees are employed in various Barefoot Massage techniques, just as fists, palms, fingers, forearms, and elbows are in your average massage from someones hands. Similar goals are achieved from each element, but the larger surface area of these tools allows for a diffused, yet distinct pressure that can be less triggering to a person’s pain tolerance.
How do you explain it?
The Center for Barefoot Massage wants to normalize the terminology of “barefoot massage” in our industry and in the public - let’s help the world understand what we REALLY do by better explaining the work.
If you are a Barefoot Massage Therapist looking to define the idea of what your FasciAshi and Fijian massages are all about - be aware that not all Barefoot Massage is “Ashiatsu”.. and even Ashiatsu isn’t true Ashiatsu. That term has been overused and can easily misrepresent a long-standing field of professionals with varying specialties across a wide spectrum of Barefoot Bodywork lineages.
Read on and follow the resourced links to modernize your definition, and represent your services in line with the growing wave of Barefoot Massage Therapists trained here at the Center for Barefoot Massage.
In any deep pressured massage, professionals are trained in specific “body mechanics” to ergonomically apply weight to any massage stroke. When using massage techniques delivered from arm's/hands, only a portion of the Massage Therapists body weight can be applied and is usually amplified with their own strength, force and leverage - or even through use of tools like Gua Sha blades, wooden knobs, hot stones, etc. When using Barefoot Massage techniques, the practitioner has the opportunity to use more, or all, of their body weight - in addition to strength, force, and leverage - au naturale.
The end goal for using this “tool” (…or “TOE-L” should we say?!) is ultimately to provide a massage with consistent, sustainable pressure without causing injury to the client or repetitive strain on the practitioner.
Just like there are many different styles of massages provided by the upper extremities, there are many different styles of Barefoot Massages.
A footnote from Jeni:
When marketing your Barefoot Massage services, you have a responsibility to represent it truthfully to the public, & also to stay true to the work & scope of practice that you are trained in. To find your own unique service definitions, really research the techniques you studied, & bring it to life in your own words.
Stop copy-pasting other peoples cool $#!+... just be you.
We teach two different styles of Barefoot Massage: Myofascial Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage - lovingly nicknamed “FasciAshi” (that’s more of an industry term, though. We don’t expect, or really want the public to use that hard-to-pronounce name!) AND we also teach Fijian Barefoot Massage.
Give it weight, then wait is a pretty heavy theory that we’ve found to be important throughout our entire barefoot massage approach to impact the Neuromyofascial web. Working with fascial integration, navigating the contours of muscle and bone while applying broad, consistent pressure on varying angles, the techniques we teach aim to address the body as a functional whole. The further you get into our courses and specialty track classes, the more you’ll see the importance of sustained pressure and anatomical specificity to best impact your client’s interoception.
Myofascial Ashiatsu “FasciAshi” Barefoot Massage: This style of work is a modern massage approach to barefoot massage where the Licensed Massage Therapist is specifically using their feet to slowly glide along the skin, addressing muscles and interconnected layers of fascia throughout the body. Additional focused tracks of training help the practitioner to specialize in different niches - offering theories and protocols that use a myofascial massage approach but also add in a deep relaxation vibe, a sports massage vibe, or even a more clinical style for pain/injury rehabilitation.
In order to apply variable angles of weighted pressure through different techniques taught in our series of classes, a Barefoot Massage Therapist trained at the Center for Barefoot Massage will just happen to need overhead bars to hold onto, and a suspended strap to lean back into… in addition to their feet. A portion of the working therapist’s body weight up to their entire body weight can be applied in this technique, based on need, safety, the ratio of weight between the client and therapist, and the professionals level of FasciAshi training.
Fijian Barefoot Massage: We also teach a neuromuscular sports barefoot matwork massage. Fijian Barefoot Massage gets it’s name from it’s country of origin - and when it was first brought to the US, it was not taught with a Neuromuscular, Trigger Point or a Sports Massage intent - but those are the theories that we layer on top of the technique to give insight into each stroke. It’s a faster-paced form of bodywork where the receiving person wears comfortable clothes and lays in various bolstered positions on a floor cushion or Thai/Shiatsu mat.
The working Barefoot Massage Therapist can sit on a chair, sit on the floor, or stand while applying this technique, and the same suspended strap used in our FasciAshi technique is employed to help offer more confidence in balance and leverage. No overhead bars, no lubricant, and no “back walking” are a part of Fijian Massage - it is an aggressive technique but does not ever utilize the therapist’s full bodyweight.
Want to see actual Barefoot Massage businesses with their services clearly defined?
CHECK OUT OUR INSTRUCTOR’S BIZ’S: HEELING SOLE & GAIA BODYWORK
You can read more about the many different styles of Barefoot Massage here.
Not all Barefoot Massage is “Ashiatsu”. Read this to get an idea about how even Ashiatsu isn’t Ashiatsu.
Learn about the subtle differences between Ashiatsu lineages here.
Share this video with your clients to show the differences between a Barefoot Massage and a Foot Massage.
Now get out there and rewrite your Barefoot Massage service description!
“The future of massage is afoot…”