Range of Motion (ROM) Stretch Therapy

Location: Albany, New York

Instructor: Dawn Dotson

Date: 02/20/2026 - 02/21/2026

Time: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm - both days

Continuing Education Credits: 16 CE's

Stretch Therapy training: Enhancing performance through mobility

With a focus on Active and Resisted Range of Motion techniques, this Stretch Therapy barefoot massage technique allows the Massage Therapist to stand on a massage table and maneuver clients’ limbs using the strong muscles of their legs and hips to steer and control client positioning and motion. We hold onto overhead bars and lean into our suspended support straps for balance and leverage as we lift, bend, and twist clients into assisted stretches while they activate their muscles as cued by the practitioner, adding resistance and dynamic stretch theory into the mix. Our approach to assisted stretching helps a practitioner effortlessly maintain consistent pressure and counterbalance while providing deep point holds, or long fascial stretches.

We also compress or restrict clients compensating body parts down into a neutral alignment while creating various ranges of motion throughout all major joints in the body. The Barefoot Massage Therapist can observe movement patterns and queue the client into resisted actions to help build joint stability, and encourage their interoceptive awareness during passive fascial stretching and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation.

We’ll be reviewing secure draping options while blending ROM into slow gliding, non-lubricated movements along the client’s skin. Can be adapted for more use of creme or provided with the client clothed. A full-body, (supine, side-lying and prone) 3-dimensional stretch sequence is taught.

Resisted Movement is Medicine

This class blends dynamic and resistance stretching with barefoot massage techniques to enhance mobility, reduce protective tension, and support tissue adaptability. You’ll use your feet to guide clients through multidirectional movement, traction, and elongation—while applying deep, consistent pressure. The result? A session that feels like mobility and massage had a baby.

Grounded in current research on neurodynamics, fascia, and stretch tolerance, this approach helps clients build trust in their own movement and gives therapists an effective, body-saving way to improve joint function and reduce sensations of stiffness.

ROM work helps clients who feel “stuck” in their bodies—physically and mentally. By actively engaging tissue and encouraging safe movement at end ranges, this method can reduce movement fear, improve proprioception, plus restore natural fascial and joint glide.

Research & Science Resources

1. Pain Science Education:

Movement is one of the best ways to reduce pain. ROM sessions use pressure and motion to reassure the nervous system and improve tolerance to stretch.
🔗 Pain Revolution – Pain Facts

2. Stretching and Nervous System Response:
This article explores how stretching doesn’t “lengthen” muscle in the way we used to think—it changes the nervous system’s sensitivity. A must-read to understand why ROM sessions feel so transformative.
🔗 PainScience – Neurodynamic Stretching Article

3. Effects of Massage on Range of Motion:
This clinical review supports how massage and stretching combined can improve joint range—especially with repeated treatments over time.
🔗 PMC – Massage Therapy and ROM Study

Make your clients work for their session: resistance is the future!

 Prerequisites: FasciAshi Fundamentals.

Fasci Ashi Fundamentals

Location: Albany, New York

Instructor: Dawn Dotson

Date: 3/29/2026 - 3/31/2026

Time: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm

Continuing Education Credits: 24 CE's

Slide & Glide: Where Science Meets Sustainability

This is FasciAshi Fundamentals: where you can feel for yourself how gravity can work for you—delivering deep, therapeutic pressure while protecting your body. Through smart weight distribution and fluid, varied movements, you’ll create lasting relief for your clients who are living with persistent pain. This science-backed approach to Barefoot Massage focuses on reducing strain on muscles and promoting myofascial health, making your sessions not only more effective for those underfoot, but also safer for you.

Prerequisites: Must currently be a Licensed Massage Therapist legally eligible to provide paid, professional therapeutic massage therapy services to the public in accordance with the laws in their state, and have massage liability insurance. If from an unregulated state, proof of graduation from a 500-hour massage school program.

Tuition: $750

A non-refundable 50% retainer is required to hold your spot in class - the remaining balance is due before class starts. (You can choose to pay the full tuition upfront, or make two payments.)

Class is 3 days, and you’ll earn 24 Continuing Education credits. (NCBTMB and some select states)

Please plan your schedule to allow time to be present and punctual for the entire training experience. Partial attendance is not permitted. Any hours missed in class must be made up with the instructor, and will be charged at their hourly rate. No CE’s or access to Alumni resources are granted until the class is completed in full.

Intermediate

Location: Albany, New York

Instructor: Dawn Dotson

Date: 06/05/2026 - 06/06/2026

Time: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm - both days

2 days, 16 CE's, $500

This intermediate ashiatsu barefoot massage class empowers the experienced barefoot massage therapist to work even slower, maintain long sustained pressure holds on trigger points or adhered layers of tissue, and deliver deep myofascial strokes to the anterior and lateral aspects of your client’s body.

Supine and Side-body strokes will give you the tools to provide a comprehensive feet-on practice in the often forgotten, hard to reach areas of the body. We share how to work along the topography of our clients bones, and manipulate the length of each muscle and fascial chain.

Intricate use of the FasciAshi support strap is a big focus in this class. This unique addition to the overhead ashiatsu bars allows us to work on variable angles and vectors with consistent, controllable pressure that prevents fatigue for the barefoot massage therapist.

You can choose to pay in full upfront, or make two payments. A non-refundable retainer of 50% of tuition is required to hold your spot in class - the remaining balance is due before class starts.

Class is 2 days, and you’ll earn 16 Continuing Education credits. (NCBTMB and some select states)

Sustained Pressure: Deeper Dive, Smarter Strategy

The Intermediate class deepens your skills in barefoot massage by teaching you how to work on clients in supine and side-lying positions. You’ll learn to navigate the ribcage, neck, hips, and shoulders with precision and sensitivity—bringing both movement and stillness into your sessions in all-new ways. These techniques go beyond relaxation to influence the nervous system and reduce persistent pain, making them ideal for clients with chronic tension, postural issues, or complex pain patterns.

Backed by fascia research and pain science, this training helps you refine your touch and adapt your sessions to a wider range of client needs, all while protecting your own body.

 Research & Science Resources

 1. Pain Science Education:
Helping clients reframe their pain experiences starts with your understanding of how pain works. This class includes strategies for creating safety and awareness through touch.
🔗 Pain Revolution – Pain Facts

2. Fascial Remodeling Study (Ultrasound Imaging):
This study tracks fascial tissue changes after myofascial work and shows how hands-on care can influence mobility, hydration, and function in the tissue.
🔗 Ultrasonographic Changes in Fascial Properties Study (2019) Katsumata Y, Takei H, Sasaki Y, Watanabe K (2019) Ultrasonographic Changes in Fascial Properties over Time after Myofascial Release. Integr J Orthop Traumatol Volume 2 (1): 1–6. DOI: 10.31038/IJOT.2019214

Flip your barefoot massage over and turn it on its side: It’s time to level up!

Prerequisites: Fundamentals

Fasci Ashi Fundamentals

Location: Albany, New York

Instructor: Dawn Dotson

Date: 9/24/2026 - 9/26/2026

Time: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm

Continuing Education Credits: 24 CE's

Slide & Glide: Where Science Meets Sustainability

This is FasciAshi Fundamentals: where you can feel for yourself how gravity can work for you—delivering deep, therapeutic pressure while protecting your body. Through smart weight distribution and fluid, varied movements, you’ll create lasting relief for your clients who are living with persistent pain. This science-backed approach to Barefoot Massage focuses on reducing strain on muscles and promoting myofascial health, making your sessions not only more effective for those underfoot, but also safer for you.

Prerequisites: Must currently be a Licensed Massage Therapist legally eligible to provide paid, professional therapeutic massage therapy services to the public in accordance with the laws in their state, and have massage liability insurance. If from an unregulated state, proof of graduation from a 500-hour massage school program.

Tuition: $750

A non-refundable 50% retainer is required to hold your spot in class - the remaining balance is due before class starts. (You can choose to pay the full tuition upfront, or make two payments.)

Class is 3 days, and you’ll earn 24 Continuing Education credits. (NCBTMB and some select states)

Please plan your schedule to allow time to be present and punctual for the entire training experience. Partial attendance is not permitted. Any hours missed in class must be made up with the instructor, and will be charged at their hourly rate. No CE’s or access to Alumni resources are granted until the class is completed in full.

Intermediate

Location: Albany, New York

Instructor: Dawn Dotson

Date: 11/06/2026 - 11/07/2026

Time: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm - both days

2 days, 16 CE's, $500

This intermediate ashiatsu barefoot massage class empowers the experienced barefoot massage therapist to work even slower, maintain long sustained pressure holds on trigger points or adhered layers of tissue, and deliver deep myofascial strokes to the anterior and lateral aspects of your client’s body.

Supine and Side-body strokes will give you the tools to provide a comprehensive feet-on practice in the often forgotten, hard to reach areas of the body. We share how to work along the topography of our clients bones, and manipulate the length of each muscle and fascial chain.

Intricate use of the FasciAshi support strap is a big focus in this class. This unique addition to the overhead ashiatsu bars allows us to work on variable angles and vectors with consistent, controllable pressure that prevents fatigue for the barefoot massage therapist.

You can choose to pay in full upfront, or make two payments. A non-refundable retainer of 50% of tuition is required to hold your spot in class - the remaining balance is due before class starts.

Class is 2 days, and you’ll earn 16 Continuing Education credits. (NCBTMB and some select states)

Sustained Pressure: Deeper Dive, Smarter Strategy

The Intermediate class deepens your skills in barefoot massage by teaching you how to work on clients in supine and side-lying positions. You’ll learn to navigate the ribcage, neck, hips, and shoulders with precision and sensitivity—bringing both movement and stillness into your sessions in all-new ways. These techniques go beyond relaxation to influence the nervous system and reduce persistent pain, making them ideal for clients with chronic tension, postural issues, or complex pain patterns.

Backed by fascia research and pain science, this training helps you refine your touch and adapt your sessions to a wider range of client needs, all while protecting your own body.

 Research & Science Resources

 1. Pain Science Education:
Helping clients reframe their pain experiences starts with your understanding of how pain works. This class includes strategies for creating safety and awareness through touch.
🔗 Pain Revolution – Pain Facts

2. Fascial Remodeling Study (Ultrasound Imaging):
This study tracks fascial tissue changes after myofascial work and shows how hands-on care can influence mobility, hydration, and function in the tissue.
🔗 Ultrasonographic Changes in Fascial Properties Study (2019) Katsumata Y, Takei H, Sasaki Y, Watanabe K (2019) Ultrasonographic Changes in Fascial Properties over Time after Myofascial Release. Integr J Orthop Traumatol Volume 2 (1): 1–6. DOI: 10.31038/IJOT.2019214

Flip your barefoot massage over and turn it on its side: It’s time to level up!

Prerequisites: Fundamentals

Range of Motion (ROM) Stretch Therapy

Location: Albany, New York

Instructor: Dawn Dotson

Date: 12/04/2026 - 12/05/2026

Time: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm - both days

Continuing Education Credits: 16 CE's

Stretch Therapy training: Enhancing performance through mobility

With a focus on Active and Resisted Range of Motion techniques, this Stretch Therapy barefoot massage technique allows the Massage Therapist to stand on a massage table and maneuver clients’ limbs using the strong muscles of their legs and hips to steer and control client positioning and motion. We hold onto overhead bars and lean into our suspended support straps for balance and leverage as we lift, bend, and twist clients into assisted stretches while they activate their muscles as cued by the practitioner, adding resistance and dynamic stretch theory into the mix. Our approach to assisted stretching helps a practitioner effortlessly maintain consistent pressure and counterbalance while providing deep point holds, or long fascial stretches.

We also compress or restrict clients compensating body parts down into a neutral alignment while creating various ranges of motion throughout all major joints in the body. The Barefoot Massage Therapist can observe movement patterns and queue the client into resisted actions to help build joint stability, and encourage their interoceptive awareness during passive fascial stretching and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation.

We’ll be reviewing secure draping options while blending ROM into slow gliding, non-lubricated movements along the client’s skin. Can be adapted for more use of creme or provided with the client clothed. A full-body, (supine, side-lying and prone) 3-dimensional stretch sequence is taught.

Resisted Movement is Medicine

This class blends dynamic and resistance stretching with barefoot massage techniques to enhance mobility, reduce protective tension, and support tissue adaptability. You’ll use your feet to guide clients through multidirectional movement, traction, and elongation—while applying deep, consistent pressure. The result? A session that feels like mobility and massage had a baby.

Grounded in current research on neurodynamics, fascia, and stretch tolerance, this approach helps clients build trust in their own movement and gives therapists an effective, body-saving way to improve joint function and reduce sensations of stiffness.

ROM work helps clients who feel “stuck” in their bodies—physically and mentally. By actively engaging tissue and encouraging safe movement at end ranges, this method can reduce movement fear, improve proprioception, plus restore natural fascial and joint glide.

Research & Science Resources

1. Pain Science Education:

Movement is one of the best ways to reduce pain. ROM sessions use pressure and motion to reassure the nervous system and improve tolerance to stretch.
🔗 Pain Revolution – Pain Facts

2. Stretching and Nervous System Response:
This article explores how stretching doesn’t “lengthen” muscle in the way we used to think—it changes the nervous system’s sensitivity. A must-read to understand why ROM sessions feel so transformative.
🔗 PainScience – Neurodynamic Stretching Article

3. Effects of Massage on Range of Motion:
This clinical review supports how massage and stretching combined can improve joint range—especially with repeated treatments over time.
🔗 PMC – Massage Therapy and ROM Study

Make your clients work for their session: resistance is the future!

 Prerequisites: FasciAshi Fundamentals.