Nestled amongst trees and goats in Delmar, near Albany, NY, is our barefoot massage training instructor Dawn. Yoga (including Goat Yoga!) and mobility training are her jam, along with barefoot massage for athletes. And she likes to TYPE IN ALL CAPS. 😆

Your name

Dawn Rochelle Dotson

Pets?

Doggie: Lola,
Goats: Benni & Joon

Tell us about your family!

I have a large family mostly in the greater Seattle area of Washington state.

My immediate family is:

✓ Son: KC /25yr/ CrossFit coach, cf affiliate owner, Olympic lifter. He takes after mom. Loves to watch people move & their mechanics.

✓ Hubs/Corey/old dude/ environmentalist / musician /  working on the compound & playing disc golf now days

What did you want to be when you grew up and why?

Police officer (specifically working with troubled youth) & nutritionist.  I knew that I always wanted to help people. I grew up in an abusive household, so working with youth with similar situations seemed the right path.   

Though I grew up w abuse, I was very fortunate to have a mother who loved to garden. Nutrition was a necessity and growing our food was cheap. I knew many families who lived off of food stamps and did not choose to put healthy in their bodies.

I wanted to add nutrition into my life to again give back to those same youth.

Where do you teach?

Good ole upstate NY. Capital Region. Delmar NY. My biz is Barefoot Space.

What’s cool about your city (or fun things to do)?

Uhm….. This is a very active community.  I am surrounded by people who give a shit about their health and their family’s health.

Which classes do you teach?

Fundamentals, ROM, yoga, mobility. Soon to come – sports track

How has doing barefoot massage changed your career? 

A beautiful, strong-willed & minded community of like-minded professionals who give a crap about human anatomy & movement!  I love this job.

What do you love about teaching barefoot massage?

Giving back and constantly learning myself.  My practice evolves with every class I teach.

Other than doing barefoot massage until you die, what would you do when it comes time to retire?

Drink margaritas, coffee & live in a small home on one of many islands in Washington state. I imagine someday I will have grandchildren, just hopefully not too soon. I want to travel more of the world and the USA in an Airstream.

Hobbies?

Crossfit, getting back into climbing and I love to hike.  Spending time with those I love.

Can you drive a stick shift, scooter, motorcycle, boat? 

I can drive a stick of course! I love to ride my Veronica (’72 Italian passported Vespa !!!)

Any tips to keep yourself healthy as a massage therapist?

Move….Mobility…Do squats every damn day.  

What’s a random thing that most people don’t know about you?

I love beer, CrossFit, Sasquatch lover, Jeni was my first massage roommate, and I have worked on a shark boat in South Africa.

Where can people find you online?

🌎 My CBM barefoot instructor training page

🌎 Barefoot Space: Insta

🌎 NY Barefoot Massage (training): Insta

🌎 Barefoot Space: FB

Dawn’s official bio

LMT & owner of Barefoot Space

NCBTMB, AMTA, NY state license – 028903-1

Barefoot space is the creation of Dawn R Dotson, a certified FasciAshi (Ashiatsu) barefoot massage therapist and yoga teacher. Originally from the pacific northwest, dawn is a sophisticated career therapist dedicated to offering the best of barefoot massage therapy.

Dawn is part of a dedicated team of barefoot massage instructors through the Center for Barefoot Massage (CBM).  

While dawn is fun-loving and totally down to earth, she is completely professional in her client/practitioner relationships. Dawn believes massage and bodywork to be both an art and a science and she has a great love of anatomy & movement. Obviously, after extensive fasciashi barefoot massage training, the focus of barefoot space and the treatments offered there are barefoot massage therapy.

However, if you prefer a relaxing deep tissue (feet will still be used), specific injury treatment (feet will still be used), or if you are an athlete training for that special event… Barefoot space would love to be that support for you.

Barefoot Space believes that our bodies’ have a powerful ability to heal and Dawn would like to support you and your body through that healing process.