Back in the summer of 2002, I had read an article about Ruthie Hardee and Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy. I was intrigued and very interested in taking her massage class. I had already began to suffer from high volume work in a day spa and knew that I couldn't continue to keep working like that. As fate would have it, I met a chiropractor, Dr. Eric Dieffenbaugher (call him Dr. Eric!) just a couple of weeks later. He had an AOBT therapist working for him, and it was proving so popular that he wanted another massage therapist to do it there also. Heck yes! I was definitely going to take the class.

My husband and I decided that I should take the next class available, which happened to be in Denver. My brother had just moved there, so it was perfect. Alas, the class had no space available. So I ended up taking the class in Houston, and it was money well spent!

After practicing a bit, giving the massage treatment to Dr. Eric, I was good to go. I loved Ashiatsu the first minute I put my foot on my training partner's back, and I couldn't wait to work on "real" clients!

About a month after taking the class, I got pregnant. Yikes! I already had four children, and I had barely lost the baby weight. About 5 months into the pregnancy, I had serious trouble doing any hands on massage. I just couldn't breathe-my stomach compressed my diaphragm too much. With my midwives' permission, I could continue to do Ashiatsu though! I promised I would quit if I ever felt like I was going to lose my balance. What a fabulous modality! It enabled me to work when I couldn't otherwise, and I got in great shape. I was even reprimanded by my midwives for doing abdominal exercises (she noticed muscle definition), but I wasn't-it was strictly barefoot massage!

Well, it turns out that I was expecting twins, which is why I couldn't breathe when I bent over. The clients loved my extra weight, and I was able to work until 32+ weeks. I actually could have worked longer, but I was convinced the babies would arrive at 36 weeks. That's another story (they were 38.5 weeks).

I took about 6 months off after they were born, because I didn't know how it was going to be to take care of new twins. Plus, my 4th child was only 15 months old when they were born, and he couldn't walk yet. Oy vey!

At any rate, I went back to Ashi right away when I got back into the swing of things. I was able to work until a couple of days before my due date with baby #7 (yes, the twins were #s 5 and 6). I actually taught Barefoot Basics (see my website http://www.ashiatsuworkshops.com/ for class descriptions) when I was 36 weeks pregant. I'm sure that was a pretty sight!

I even taught again when #7 was 8 weeks old, Barefoot Basics followed 2 weeks later by Deepfeet 2, Anterior/Side-lying and the Fusion Blend. After that, off to Denver for another Basics class and straight to Urban Oasis in Chicago for advanced classes.

Looking back at it, I'm not really sure how I managed, but I can tell you my husband is fabulous.
Anyway, I love, love, love to teach. I'm off to Denver tomorrow to teach Barefoot Basics and Barefoot Anterior/ Side-Lying and to visit with by brother, wife and their brand new baby.

So that's my story. Hope to see you in class someday!