Effective my last class in December, I will no longer be teaching Bamboo-fusion massage classes. It's not because I don't want to--I actually love teaching the classes. It's fun, casual, the massage therapists get a ton of work (and therefore are generally quite happy and pleasant).

Sadly, there are a lot of imitators of Bamboo-fusion massage. One of my students decided to teach not 40 minutes from here, using tools she bought somewhere else. For some reason, she was granted approval to teach "her" style of bamboo and is allowed to give credit hours. She had no instructor training. Indeed, she had only taken a 2 day class from me.

It is unfortunate in this world of massage therapy, where we are supposed to be ethical and caring, that there is indeed a lot of pettiness and downright unethical behavior. These days, a lot of people feel as if they are entitled for some reason. What happened to the days when we all knew we had to work hard to achieve something?

There are a number of imitators for Ashiastu as well. Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy, designed by Ruthie Hardee, was first approved by the NCBTMB in 1995. Since then, others have hopped on to the bandwagon. One fellow believes it is his right to teach anyone who can simply breathe (license? Why have a license to touch?). Another has blatantly stolen the work and allows others to become instructors by simply paying a fee and getting a training manual. Maybe there's a DVD and some cream included. 

Why apprentice with a hard working and ethical company when you can learn from YouTube? Why pay your dues when you can make money way more quickly by paying someone to give you license to teach? Why pay commission to the founder of the company, who worked hard for many years developing and researching a program when you can copy and keep all the money?

Yes, I long for the "good old days"--the days of ethics and integrity and hard work.

Update- I originally wrote this in 2014. In 2017, half of the instructor team of the barefoot massage company left due to philosophical differences. I co-founded the Center for Barefoot Massage. This spring (2024),  I sold my ownership so I can focus on Massage Momentum.

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