Don’t miss my latest interview from VoyageSanAntonio: it’s a long one, but they let me write it from my heart – and if you know me, I’m really long-winded when I write!

Read the Q&A they did with me below…. or check it out on their website here!

Conversations with Jeni Spring

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeni Spring, LMT, MTI.

Hi Jeni, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?

Hi, I’m Jeni Spring! I’m a dog mom, double business owner, Massage Therapist and Massage Educator who specializes in massaging with my feet, rather than hands: it’s called Barefoot Massage. I have always wanted to help grow the awareness of what Barefoot Massage is in the public eye, as well as validate its place within the massage industry. My progression of getting from there to here has helped me realize that I am a teacher more than I am a massage therapist, but I can’t be one without the other.

I opened Heeling Sole Barefoot Massage in 2006 when I relocated from Seattle to San Antonio – and quickly realized that if I give too many options on my service menu, people may not choose the one I REALLY love to do. So, at the risk of career suicide, I retired my hands, tossed all of my hot stones out in my garden, and set a goal to ONLY massage with my feet. It worked: Heeling Sole has grown every year since.

Through a lot of community events, appearances, and marketing efforts, I worked to put Ashiatsu and Fijian Barefoot Massage on the map in this town and state, helping San Antonian’s find and experience my approach to a deeper than deep tissue massage and help address their chronic pain. I was invited to be the state instructor for a specific technique of Ashiatsu, and with that opportunity, I trained other massage therapists from across the state and nation.

Heeling Sole became the nation’s 1st multi-therapist barefoot massage specialty clinic, staffed with my students, and we won “Best Massage Therapist” for 7 years in a row straight. I taught the 1st Ashiatsu class in Europe, I trained record numbers of massage therapists in the work, I became an influencer in this niche part of the massage industry and found an evolution in the technique from thousands of hours of “feet-on” experience.

In 2017, my 2nd company was launched, The Center for Barefoot Massage, which is now a nationwide continuing education company with training centers in 12 different states, teaching Massage Therapists the unique Myofascial Ashiatsu approach that was born here at Heeling Sole.

So Heeling Sole Has grown from a “Sole-o” Practitioner beginning, up into a large clinic pumping out hundreds of Barefoot Massages a week, and spawned a national company that trains hundreds of massage therapists annually – who then go back to their towns and provide barefoot to massage thousands more people across the globe!

I’ve always been a student of my clients and their body’s tissue issues, but my job has grown to show me that I’m not a Massage Therapist, I’m an educator for other Massage Therapists, and I just happen to still love massaging people.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

Owning your own business is NEVER easy, and I’ve always been transparent about that with my staff and students. I always had plans to open 2nd and 3rd locations and ultimately achieve global domination through Barefoot Massage (LOL!) but could never get to that tipping point with the right momentum, support, or personal brain space to manage something bigger.

Curveballs come at entrepreneurs constantly, and of course, we all know the biggest, hardest curveball was everything 2020 threw at small businesses like Heeling Sole. It was horribly stressful: but in the end, it was a blessing in disguise. I relocated, downsized, and got back to the root of what Heeling Sole was, making myself the Sole Heeler: Back to a 1-lady show.

Now with fewer schedules and projects to manage daily, I can get back to just focusing on the people I massage, researching the outcome of those massages, while expanding my education company – so that the students that learn this work across the country can go out and open more locations everywhere. (Global domination is still achievable, just through a different approach!).

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?

I see Heeling Sole Barefoot Massage as my experiment that I’m constantly learning from, which inspires The Center for Barefoot Massage to create a future for other massage therapists to grow with.

When I massage, I bodysurf on people with deep tissue, neuromuscular, myofascial & stretch therapy theories that just happen to use my feet as the massage tool, rather than hands or elbows. When I teach, I teach a unique style of barefoot massage to the massage industry that stems from my wide range of personal education and clinical experiences, drenched with a heavy anatomy-geek vibe. I am known for having an obsessive nerd-love for the therapeutic, physical rehabilitation, and healing bodywork that I do with my feet.

I’ve been branded as “Big Foot” for my size 10 feet, and I embraced that image with all kinds of funny/punny yet smart marketing, I started calling my previous staff “the Sasquatches,” and it helped me to desexualize the perception of massage therapy.

If the use of my experienced feet and bodyweight for my massage services doesn’t set me apart enough, then the years of my own advancing education and influence on the national growth of barefoot massage is… and that big footprint is the impression I’m most proud of leaving on this earth.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?

I have been a calculated risk-taker: I tend to see a million different ways how something could possibly go wrong, but I keep focus on the few ways I want it to go right, and will almost force it happen! (Like how I retired my hands entirely and decided to ONLY massage with my feet so many years ago? Yeah, I’d say big risks and determination to make them work definitely factor into my business growth!) Lately, after almost 2 full years of pretty constant risks that wore my mental health thinner than it already was – I’m only considering opportunities that reciprocate my efforts and energy, while aiming to finally finish the projects that I shelved due to a previous lack of time. I want to enjoy my work life with much less stress – make Barefoot Massage therapists more awesome, and give San Antonio the great massages that I love to do!

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