Hello, hello.

Unfortunately, 2025 started off with the bang I wasn't interested in experiencing. I was sick for a month. Only took a few days off of massaging clients, but taking care of the others pretty much maxxed me out. Luckily, I gave up on day 30 and went to the doc. It was nothing a bunch of steriods and antibiotics couldn't knock out. 

So here we are in the beginning of February, 2025, and I have a Fundamentals class coming up at the end of the month.

Who Fundamantals barefoot massage is for:
the massage therapist who wants to work deeply without hurting herself.
the massage therapist who looks forward to discovering the key to a long career.

What you'll learn:

The massage therapist student will learn to give a 90 minute massage with his or her feet. Mostly, we work on the back with some beautiful exploration of the posterior and side of neck (hello, scalenes!) while the client is supine. I teach Anterior and Side-lying in Intermediate.

Why do we not teach anterior work in the 1st level of classe:

Because it's too much mental work for massage therapists who are just learning to use their feet for the first time. They don't remember anything. 

Out of all the people I used to teach anterior work to the day after level 1, they didn't do it in real life.

Practice what you've learned. Maybe even take a Fundamentals barefoot massage class for a 2nd time.

Reach out with any questions: mc@centerforbarefootmassage.com

And join our class if you're a massage therapist wanting to give your clients awesome, comfortable deep tissue barefoot massage. Next class is Feb 27-March 1, 2025.

QR codes made an appearance-what-10 years ago? Then they ghosted like a no-show massage client.

Recently, there's been a resurgence of QR codes for everything from restaurant menus to Venmo accounts, massage therapist scheduling and Google reviews.

Discover how you can use them in your business. (link)

Head on over to my Massage Momentum blog! 

[CLICK HERE]

Massage Momentum's blog is for massage therapists who need killer business skills to match their ah-maz-ing massage stills.

Oy. Ever want to throw your computer across the room?

Even when it's not aforementioned laptop's fault?

I used to have an old Blogspot blog, mostly about massage. I also wrote sometimes about P90X, photography assignments and cooking.

This is neither here nor there, other than I have spend almost 2 hours in the last week attempting to login to my old Blogger account. Why bother? Let's just say it's a new project.

For who am I to NOT have new projects on the regular?

Anyway...

As you may know, I love cupping. I have a machine at my office, which saves my hands and forearms from overuse.  As I'm now (stands tall and proudly) an "influencer", I will share with you the cupping machine that's in my Amazon Store. 

It's a bit loud, but that doesn't bother me at all. No client has ever mentioned it, but I have seen others write about it's volume. So that's that.

I like it because the cups are easy to clean-I just soak them for a few minutes in soapy water, wipe and rinse. Just don't drop them on the concrete floor, because the glass cups will break. Ask me how I know.

Sometimes I use the massage cups "parked" on the client while I do barefoot massage somewhere else on same client's body. Mostly, I just glide them. What's cool is that their body tells the massage cups where to stop and hang out.

You can also leave the glass massage cups in place while you create Range of Motion moves in a pin and stretch type of situation.

At home, I use silicone massage cups. I've tried a few styles. My favorite right now, because they stick well, are Lure ionic massage cups. You can't glide with them, but they just stay put. If you're not jacked up, the silicone massage cups don't stick. Sometimes I get marked up, but othertimes not. So don't do massage cupping on exposed skin if you're going to be a swimsuit model that week.

Each Lure "2” cup is embedded with 6 negative ion beads. Negative ions are said to boost circulation and promote healing and overall physical well-being. Just suction one or as many cups as needed to the treatment area, apply pressure and keep in place for 3-5 minutes. For static ‘parked’ cupping or active cupping (pin & stretch) use only."

Again, these Lure massage cups DO NOT GLIDE.

If you want silicone massage cups that DO glide, check out these. What's nice about these massage cups is that they come in a variety of sizes for larger body parts. You can use the small silicone cups on, for instance, your forearms.

The medium cups might go on your shoulders, where the large silicone massage cups work well for larger surface areas, like the back or hips.

While I use the cupping machine at work on both myself and my clients, I use the Lure ones on my shoulders, low back and forearms. My adult kids use the other kinds weekly.

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If you've made it this far, you should know that the links are affiliate links. I get a few pennies for each purchase. It doesn't affect your price.
Discover cool stuff in my Amazon store!

Also, visit Massage Momentum for massage therapist business advice. Coaching, mentoring, business tips for massage therapists.

If you're a massage therapist who struggles with business, it's not really your fault.

Massage schools teach you to be an awesome massage therapist but not a business person, capable of running your own massage therapy practice.

What happens if you accidentally run your massage practice into the ground?

You'll have to either get part time work somewhere, or you'll need to stop massaging and get the dreaded JOB.

That thing that's a soul-sucking, unfulfilling 8-5. You might even have to wear dress clothes and makeup, Heaven forbid.

What to do, what to do?

Well, follow me on Tikety Tok  or the 'gram for massage therapist business tips, and health advice (I'm a nutritional therapy practitioner too!).

Oh yeah, you can also take a gander at my beautiful website, www.MassageMomentum.com, where I have oodles of freebies to help you grow your massage therapy practice.

Or check out the 10 marketing hacks for massage therapists [HERE.]

It's a good idea for any massage therapist going back to work to start providing a new intake form that the client fills out within a day of their deep tissue massage appointment. Deep tissue barefoot massage will be back in action at Affinity Massage Studio in Cincinnati VERY SOON!

2024...SCREW THE RONA. The world's gone to hell in a handbasket in the last 4 years. Oy. 

I've moved on. But I go bonkers mentally when I see dorks in the Costco parking lot or in their cars still wearing ineffective face diapers. 

I sold my ownership in CBM, the barefoot massage business I worked hard to build. Created a new model, Massage Momentum.

 

I'm getting a lot of work done on my new website, Massage Momentum.

Honestly, I need to thank my husband, Paul, for putting together the site and dealing with the idiosyncratic functioning of Wordpress.

While I miss doing massage-a lot (it turns out that giving barefoot massage is great for my abs), being able to provide free content with Massage Momentum's "lead magnet" (free download) fulfills part of my mission.

And what is this mission, pray tell?

As you know, giving barefoot massage lights me up. Part 1 of my mission is to help clients feel better through awesome, comfortable deep tissue massage.

Part 2 of my mission is to help massage therapists soar in long-lasting careers.

Yes, teaching barefoot massage is a great way to be able to provide deep tissue massage long term, but it's more than that. Many massage therapists don't have great business skills (it's not their fault-they haven't been taught) but become overwhelmed with tech, writing emails, and knowing how to provide consistent income. 

This is where I come in. 😊

And that's what I'm working on in my "free" COVID-19 time.

How's your self-care been this month?

I don't know about you, but I've had a hard time taking care of myself since the state of Ohio went on Stay-at-Home. 

Eating the wrong things (sugar much? Oy.), not giving massage (turns out that giving barefoot massage is good for my abs), not getting enough exercise...You know how it goes.

Sometimes, we need a little self-care help.

Just for fun, are you interested in Self-Care bingo?

Take the download-feel free to print!- and see how many ways you can take care of yourself in a day.

When you get a line, reward yourself with something that makes you happy.

Enjoy!

Massage therapists...

have you heard about my new website, Massage Momentum?

It's a bit different from what I've done before. I'll be focusing on providing ways to help ALL massage therapist in business create recurring income by learning how to discover Massage Memberships.

In the meantime, if you are interested in my 17-page guide on 9 Ways to Make Online Income When You Can't Massage, head on over to Massage Momentum. 

Just pop in your name and email, and the Guide will zip on over to your inbox.

Let me know how else I can serve you as a massage therapist at this time!

And yes, I'll still be massaging barefoot and teaching massage therapists deep tissue barefoot massage!

The psoas, which are actually called "iliopsoas" as they include the ilacus + psoas, lie deep beneath your abdominal muscles and intestines.

They attach to the sides of your lumbar vertebrae (low back spine), starting at your last (12th) rib and continuing down to the pelvis.

Psoas combines with iliacus in the groin and follows down into the top of the femur. If you imagine that your hip bone on the front of your pelvis is a bowl, you can envision how the muscles also attach to the underside of the bowl (I like to think of it as how you would grease up a bowl-the grease would stick to the sides of the bowl. That's what iliacus does, in essence).

Trigger points in the psoas muscles can contribute to both low back pain and the groin. 

Causes are often:
✔️sitting
✔️overuses (athletes)
✔️physical and emotional trauma
✔️may be caused by tension or fear

Here's a video I did to show you how to help loosen them up.

All you need is a foam roller. 

I can also work them during your deep tissue barefoot massage. I will say that it tends to be unpleasant, but if that's the source of low back pain, you'll feel better right away.