A yoga instructor made an appointment to have an Ashiatsu massage with me. After the session, she floated out of the massage room with an ethereal smile on her face and said, “That was amazing… I do not think I can ever be happy with a traditional deep tissue massage after this”. When a client says something like that and I’m not hurting as a result, oh yeah! I’m doing the massage victory dance. Hey, don’t get me wrong, I like Swedish and I can do it all day long. But deep-tissue is another matter. Most clients want medium to deep pressure. And really deep is almost impossible to apply without injurious consequences to the shoulders, elbows, hands and thumbs. Ashiatsu is deeper than Rolfing® without being painful during or afterwards. What is Ashiatsu? It is a form of barefoot nirvana. The therapists use their soft, well-manicured feet to apply deep luxurious compression strokes to the client who is draped and comfortable. Instead of oil, a light cream is used for lubrication. It can be done on the floor using stools for balance or on a massage table with bars hung overhead for the therapist to hold on to. This massage puts clients in a comatose state of relaxation, which lasts all day. Ashiatsu is an Americanized version of the barefoot modality, Chavutti Thirummal from India. I traveled to Thailand to study its origin and application with the master himself, Prabhat Menon. The training was two weeks long. The client is laid out in a Superman pose and doused in heavy oil. Ropes hung from the ceiling are used for balance. The therapist slides their foot, from foot to out-stretched hand of client quickly back and forth. Kind of like: sliding on a human banana peel that is naked. In comparison, Chavutti is applied to unseen energy lines, while moving quickly to with little regard to the comfort of the client. Ashiatsu is muscular specific, which is designed to simultaneously broaden and elongate all the muscles of the body. Training is two days as opposed to 2 weeks for Chavutti. I also studied barefoot techniques in the states. I loved the techniques and taught classes for some of these instructors. But unless you signed a contract, were a certain weight and/or practically a gymnast, it was for the exclusive few. I didn’t agree with these elitists’ concepts. My idea was to construct a complete program for all therapists. This was not well received and I was relieved of my teaching duties promptly with vitriolic fanfare. Not easily thwarted, it spurred me to develop an inclusive training program. Out of thousands of successful graduates of Ashiatsu I would like briefly to mention some of the Hall of Famers. The oldest student was nearly 80, four of them were blind, one deaf, one with MS, and others who did not let height or weight limit their minds. They just did it! The question shouldn’t be, why Ashiatsu, but Why Not?
