The History of Western Barefoot Massage: More Than One Story

Why preserving the history of barefoot bodywork matters, and why there isn't just one history to tell. 
​By Hillary Arrieta

​​Over the years, and just this week, I have seen many conversations in massage therapy groups asking, “Who should I train with to learn Ashiatsu?” These discussions often become focused on recommendations, personal experiences, and sometimes what people refer to as “the drama” within the barefoot massage community.
But behind those conversations is a much bigger story.


Many therapists entering barefoot massage today may not realize how much history, cultural influence, innovation, and individual interpretation exists within this field. The different schools, techniques, and teaching styles did not appear overnight. They developed over decades through the work of many practitioners who experimented, adapted, learned, and shared ideas.


My goal with this article is not to tell anyone which school they should choose or declare one approach better than another. Every licensed massage therapist brings their own goals, learning style, professional background, and clinical interests to their education.

The best training is the one that aligns with the practitioner you want to become.
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This article is also not the final word on barefoot massage history. It is a work in progress. As I continue developing the Western Barefoot Massage Archive, I'm collecting interviews, documents, photographs, course materials, and personal stories from practitioners who helped shape this field. There will undoubtedly be important people, dates, and perspectives that are missing from this first version.


If you see something that needs clarification, have primary sources to share, or were part of the evolution of barefoot massage, I would love to hear from you. History becomes stronger when it includes many voices.

What follows is not a story of competition. It is a story of evolution.

How I see it, Western barefoot massage was not created by one person or one technique. It developed through cultural exchange, individual innovation, and generations of practitioners asking similar questions:

​How can we work more effectively with the human body? How can we create deeper, more sustainable touch? How can we protect the therapist while still providing meaningful therapeutic work? 

The history of barefoot massage is a story of influence, adaptation, and continued evolution. The use of the feet as a therapeutic tool is not new. Around the world, many cultures developed forms of barefoot bodywork, each shaped by its own understanding of health, movement, and healing. Japanese Barefoot Shiatsu, Chavutti Thirummal from Kerala, India, Thai back-walking massage, Yam Khang fire foot massage, and Hawaiian Kua Lua all demonstrate that the human foot has long been recognized as a skilled instrument of therapeutic touch.

However, these traditions are not interchangeable. Although they share a common tool, the therapist's foot, their philosophies, cultural contexts, and applications are different. Understanding barefoot bodywork requires more than recognizing similarities. It requires appreciating where these practices came from, why they developed, and the communities that preserved them.
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Traditional Influences Reach Western Practitioners. The modern history of Western barefoot massage began to take shape when these traditions became more accessible to English-speaking practitioners.

In 1990, Shizuko Yamamoto published Barefoot Shiatsu, introducing many Western massage therapists to the idea that the feet could be used with precision, sensitivity, and therapeutic intention. Her work demonstrated that barefoot techniques were not simply about creating more pressure. They required awareness, balance, body mechanics, and skill.
Nearly a decade later, in 1999, Prabhat Menon published One Rope, Two Feet & Healing Oils, sharing the traditional Ayurvedic practice of Chavutti Thirummal from Kerala, India, with a wider Western audience. His work introduced many therapists to a different approach to barefoot bodywork, one involving rope support, flowing movement, and the traditions of Kerala.

These books did not create Western barefoot massage, but they expanded what many Western practitioners believed was possible. They introduced new ideas about the role of the therapist's body, the use of gravity, and the possibilities of working with the feet.
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At the same time, Western practitioners were beginning to explore their own solutions to the challenges of deep therapeutic work.

Western Practitioners Begin Creating New Approaches.
​During the 1990s, many massage therapists were looking for ways to deliver broad, sustained pressure while reducing the physical strain placed on their hands and upper bodies.
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In California, John Harris and Fred Kenyon developed the course Compressive Deep Tissue Massage and published their book  Fix Pain in 2002, exploring how the feet could be used to create consistent compression and improve therapist body mechanics. Their work became an important part of the early Western barefoot massage landscape.
This period was not about one person creating a single method. It was a time of experimentation, when different practitioners adapted barefoot concepts through their own experiences, education, and clinical needs.

The Birth of Western Ashiatsu: One of the most significant developments of this era was the creation of Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy (AOBT) by Ruthie Piper Hardee.
Ruthie's approach was shaped by multiple influences, including her studies with Shizuko Yamamoto, John Harris, and Richard Gold, who influenced her understanding of movement and body mechanics. She also explored additional trainings, including a short course with the Core Institute, which contributed to her development as a practitioner. 

Ruthie created a new Western adaptation designed specifically for licensed massage therapists. By incorporating the massage table and overhead support bars, she developed a system that allowed therapists to use their feet with greater control, balance, and accessibility.

In 1998, Ruthie's Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy (now Deep Feet) course became the first nationally approved continuing education curriculum for a Western barefoot bar technique. By 1999, Ashiatsu had entered the mainstream U.S. spa industry, introducing thousands of massage therapists to barefoot massage. This was a major turning point. Barefoot massage was no longer only a specialized practice known by a small group of practitioners. It became a recognized part of Western massage education.

Multiple Paths Develop at the Same Time.
As barefoot massage grew, it did not follow one single path. Different educators continued developing different approaches based on their own backgrounds and philosophies.

Lolita Knight brought another important perspective through Fijian Barefoot Massage. Her work preserved influences from Fiji and adapted them into a format accessible to Western massage therapists. Unlike table-based Ashiatsu, Fijian Barefoot Massage emphasized mat-based work, clothed clients, and rhythmic compression.

Within the Asian Bodywork Therapy community, Randy Cummins developed Barefoot Shiatsu, continuing the evolution of shiatsu-based work through the use of feet, knees, and other body mechanics. His work reflects the influence of the Chicago-area shiatsu community and demonstrates another pathway through which barefoot techniques developed in the West.
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These approaches were not competing versions of the same idea. They were different responses to different questions.
What should barefoot work feel like?
How should the therapist move?
What traditions should guide the technique?
How can the work be taught responsibly?

The Myofascial Shift:
As barefoot massage entered the 21st century, another evolution began.
The early focus was often on pressure: How can we create deeper, broader, more sustainable contact?
Over time, practitioners began asking different questions.
How does the body respond to force?
How do direction and movement influence the experience of touch?
How can we understand fascia, load, and movement patterns?
How can we continue improving therapist sustainability?

Everything is Bigger in Texas

In Texas, Jeni Spring and the Center for Barefoot Massage became part of the next major chapter in barefoot massage innovation. After years of teaching and training hundreds of licensed massage therapists, as well as refining the original Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy techniques with her students and the practitioners at Heeling Sole, Jeni began to recognize that some of the original body mechanics needed to evolve.
Through years of clinical observation and continuing her own education in clinical massage work,  she saw that certain movement patterns and applications could contribute to therapist strain and injury over time. This led her to rethink how barefoot massage could be done more sustainably, not only to protect the therapist but also to create a more nuanced understanding of how the work could influence the body.
Officially approved in early 2017, FasciAshi represented this next stage of development. The approach expanded the conversation beyond pressure alone and toward myofascial concepts, better biomechanics, movement, and a deeper exploration of how barefoot techniques could be applied. Rather than replacing the traditions that came before it, this evolution built upon decades of experience while asking new questions about efficiency, sustainability, and the therapeutic potential of barefoot work. Her current evidence-based evolution introduces therapists to even more modern pain and fascia science. 
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Around the same period, Jivatma Massaguer and Daniel Tsukayama developed Sarga Bodywork in 2016, introducing a nylon strap suspension system that created new possibilities for therapist support, directional force, and movement-based application.
These approaches represented more than new techniques. They represented a change in the questions being asked. Barefoot massage was continuing to evolve from a method of delivering deep pressure into a broader exploration of movement, tissue response, and therapeutic relationship.

Innovation does not happen in isolation.

Every technique carries the influence of the people who taught it, the cultures that shaped it, the problems practitioners were trying to solve, and the knowledge available at that time.
As barefoot massage continues to develop, it is important that innovation happens with curiosity, respect, and cultural appreciation. Understanding the origins of a practice allows us to honor the traditions that influenced it while also recognizing the creativity of those who continue to evolve it.

This is why I began the Western Barefoot Massage Archive project.
Much of this history still lives in personal memories, course manuals, photographs, advertisements, old websites, and teaching materials. Some stories are well documented. Others exist only through the memories of the people who were there.
The goal of the Archive is not to create one official version of history or decide who was first. The goal is to preserve the many voices, traditions, and innovations that shaped Western barefoot massage.
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The Archive is currently collecting interviews, documents, photographs, and historical materials to create a resource for practitioners, educators, and students by the end of this year.
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History is not just a timeline of events. It is an opportunity to understand why ideas emerge, how they change, and how each generation contributes something new.
The story of barefoot massage is still being written.