Meet Sara, Founder & FasciAshi Instructor
Sara Newberry, LMT, is a 2008 graduate of the Healing Arts Center. Her passion for creating a healing space and changing the lives of others through massage inspired her to open Sole Shine Barefoot Massage Therapy in Maplewood, a wholesome little burg of St. Louis.
Soon she was hiring other LMTs at her practice, helping them hone their Ashiatsu, or barefoot massage, techniques and thrive. Her natural desire to teach and mentor inspired her to open a comprehensive, fun, leading-edge barefoot massage school that not only teaches Ashiatsu but also how to incorporate it into an LMT's business for optimum growth, as well as business coaching – Midwest Massage Therapy Training Center.
Our Ashiatsu History
When Sara discovered Ashiatsu, she was convinced it was the best massage therapy she had ever experienced! In 2011, she was trained and certified and has continued to hone her technique for years through different schooling, philosophies, modalities, and versions, blending the best from all FasciAshi techniques to give her clients deep tissue massage unlike any other.
Ashiatsu Ballet
In addition to her in-depth Ashiatsu massage training, being a ballet student for many years gave Sara a unique understanding and physical awareness of how to help your body function at its optimal level. Ballet is a beautiful art form that requires connecting with your body to cultivate trust and respect for the space you’re taking up, thereby allowing grace and movement.
In much the same way, learning and performing barefoot massage inspires a deeper awareness of how we move, like a beautiful healing dance. Sara believes that every body has the ability to move with grace and strength, and has witnessed remarkable transformations in herself, her clients, and her LMT students with FasciAshi.
“When you acquire an awareness of every inch of your body, you’re likely to prevent injury and promote overall health as you move through space.”
Easing Chronic Pain
Combining many different massage modalities, Myofascial Release, Stretching, Thai Yoga Massage, traditional Ashiatsu, and FasciAshi, her clients are thrilled with her successes in treating chronic pain issues, including TMJ discomfort. Sara’s personal journey with TMJ pain is one of the many reasons she found herself in the massage therapy profession to begin with.
As she struggled with TMJ discomfort, she searched for the perfect resolution to such a challenging ailment and has acquired exemplary abilities to help her clients find relief from their own TMJ pain and many other chronic issues.
FasciAshi & Emotional Wellness
Most physical discomforts have their roots in injury and/or emotional distress. Injuries can come about through slow, consistent misuse of the body to more obvious, accident-type events. Other pain and discomfort can be linked to emotional trauma, compounding stress, and internal emotional struggles that aren't obvious but manifest in physical pain.
Sara and her team are known for addressing the unique needs of body and mind and witnessing incredible emotional wellness as a result of barefoot massage. The depth of FasciAshi is so much deeper than hands could ever manage that therapists can get to the root of a client's problems and open the body up to start readily healing. As a FasciAshi LMT, there is no greater feeling than knowing you are helping those in need feel so much better physically, find emotional peace, and live a better life.
Teaching Is A Way of Life
All throughout Sara's career, she has been helping her clients and mentoring her peers when it comes to health and wellness and massage therapy. It was a natural progression to want to teach FasciAshi and her specialty massage therapies, like Pillossage™ and Pregnancy Massage, professionally to other LMTs so they and their clients can realize the same phenomenal growth that she has witnessed from those around her.
By co-teaching barefoot massage with her own mentors and teachers from the Center for Barefoot Massage, Sara feels her students get the most well-rounded, thorough experience and gain an Ashiatsu family well beyond the classroom.
Natural Mentor & Coach
Sara has also been a business coach for years, applying her education, real-life experience, and proven strategies to helps LMTs become more profitable. Practice Growth Coaching has evolved as part of Midwest Massage Therapy Training Center, offering invaluable insight and results to ensure LMTs find the success she knows they can enjoy.
"We love teaching barefoot massage and changing the way you feel as an LMT, but our purpose extends beyond the classroom. We want you and your clients to have optimal health and believe in relaxation as a way of life."
Ashiatsu Philosophy
Barefoot massage has its origins in the East, with different styles originating from India, Japan, China, Thailand, and the Philippines, using many techniques, props and positions. Swedish massage, the technique of using long, flowing, deep strokes and oils, originated in Sweden and is most preferred to soothe people prone to injury, aches, pains, and tension.
Ashiatsu combines theories from the East with Swedish massage fundamentals creating a fusion of deep pressure without pain and the opening of "space" within us to heal. When the physical body and the emotional and spiritual parts of ourselves are in balance, there is life balance.
Come See Us
We are honored and humbled to be the premier FasciAshi Barefoot Massage studio and school in the greater St. Louis region and Midwest certified through the one and only FasciAshi program.
If you're ready to change your world, take a look at our class calendar for class dates, times, and CEUs or contact us today to learn more.