Category Archives: Pro tips

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Bolstering for Ashiatsu

To give your client a safe, comfortable and effective barefoot massage, it’s important to support them with specific bolstering for Ashiatsu where needed. We do this in many unique ways, from how we use a flat pillow for ankle and knee support while prone or supine, to what tools we use to position their body to best absorb and distribute gravitational forces and our weight.

ashiatsu-bolsters-pillows-support

Bolster #1: The Boob Pillow.

The purpose of a breast support pillow, when it comes to Ashiatsu, is to position “the girls” while supporting the sternum, clavicle, ribs and cervical spine when under pressure. Keep in mind that the table below the client is resisting your weight, and pushes back into the client’s body.

This “Oreo” of pressure coming from above and below your female client’s torso can translate into suffocating force in the chest, or a position of their head and neck that adds compression to the throat.  Having a cushion helps your client maintain thoracic, cervical and shoulder alignment so that she may comfortably absorb the pressure applied by your feet. Keep in mind that the breast recesses built into massage tables don’t always work well with Ashiatsu because the table is still there to push back on the throat – so give the girls some lift, and put an added level of padding underneath!

 

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7 reasons why your barefoot massage approach matters

One of the great things about our ashiatsu barefoot massage class is that we bring in outside clients for the students in a class to work on. These are not random people picked up off the street, but rather ashi-experienced men and women who give excellent feedback on technique, approach, dismounts, pressure, etc.

Other than improving pressure and consistency, which definitely takes practice, I universally hear these things from the class clients after having received a full body barefoot massage session in ashiatsu class:

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Ashiatsu massage tables

Some people ask us if there is a certain ashiatsu massage table they should be using to do barefoot massage. While you can probably still use the table you already have, there are tables we definitely prefer. Our favorites are the Earthlite Ellora and Spirit.

Will other tables work?

The short answer is: it depends on the brand and model. We’ve worked on many different models with different results. Many tables cost less due to less solid materials and only 2″ of foam.

If you want your clients to come back, make sure your table has 3″ of foam.

Once I had a student working on me when I heard cracking coming from the table.

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Specialty massage–should you charge more?

When I first learned Ashiatsu barefoot massage, my instructor told our class that we should definitely charge more for the modality. The theory behind it was that people would pay more for a specialty massage.

I had been working at a day spa, and we were supposed to charge more for deep tissue and hot stone. “Supposed to” being the key words, as no one ever booked the pricier massage but simply asked for more pressure.

Paying more for hot stone massage–I get it! There’s a lot of prep time and clean up time, so there’s the massage time plus a good additional 15-20 minutes of extra work. Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to include the time spent trying to fix my frizz ball hair I had after sticking my head over a hot pot of steaming water. 😉

Bringing ashiatsu to paying clients, the problem I first encountered was that I worked for a chiropractor who did insurance billing. Massage is massage is massage in the land of billing. No upccharge for craniosacral, trigger point, ashiatsu, etc.

On my own–let’s charge more!

So when I started to take my own ashiatsu clients, I decided to charge just $5 more. At the time, my fee was $50/hour, so an extra 5 bucks seemed reasonable. But then my first client, who is 6’3″ and 240 lbs, said he’d love to try it but couldn’t afford $55.  He could barely squeeze out the $50.

“Nevermind!” I answered. “I’ll do ashi anyway because it’ll be easier on me and I know you’ll love it!”