The ABMP Podcast | Speaking With the Massage & Bodywork Profession
The ABMP Podcast | Speaking With the Massage & Bodywork Profession

The ABMP Podcast | Speaking With the Massage & Bodywork Profession

Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals

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Episodes

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Our goal is to speak with luminaries and experts in and around massage and bodywork to help expound upon and better understand our profession and our practices.

Recent Episodes

Ep 565 – The Anatomy and Physiology of Sports Massage with Dr. Portia Resnick: "I Have a Client Who . . ." Pathology Conversations with Ruth Werner
APR 21, 2026
Ep 565 – The Anatomy and Physiology of Sports Massage with Dr. Portia Resnick: "I Have a Client Who . . ." Pathology Conversations with Ruth Werner
Do you have clients who are athletes? This is something you won't want to miss. Dr. Portia Resnick is an associate professor at Cal State Long Beach, who loves working with athletes, both as a trainer and as a massage therapist. Her new book, The Anatomy and Physiology of Sports Massage is published by Human Kinetics. It looks at manual therapy for high-level athletes, incorporating anatomy, sports-specific knowledge, and clinical decision-making. She uses a great I Have a Client Who story about a college athlete who has an injury and follow-up surgery. She tracks how she was able match bodywork goals, anatomy, and client input to get the best possible outcome. Resources: The Anatomy and Physiology of Sports Massage Host Bio: Ruth Werner is a former massage therapist, a writer, and an NCBTMB-approved continuing education provider. She wrote A Massage Therapist's Guide to Pathology, now in its seventh edition, which is used in massage schools worldwide. Werner is also a long-time Massage & Bodywork columnist, most notably of the Pathology Perspectives column. Werner is also ABMP's partner on Pocket Pathology, a web-based app and quick reference program that puts key information for nearly 200 common pathologies at your fingertips. Werner's books are available at www.booksofdiscovery.com. And more information about her is available at www.ruthwerner.com. Sponsors: Anatomy Trains is a global leader in online anatomy education and also provides in-classroom certification programs for structural integration in the US, Canada, Australia, Europe, Japan, and China, as well as fresh-tissue cadaver dissection labs and weekend courses. The work of Anatomy Trains originated with founder Tom Myers, who mapped the human body into 13 myofascial meridians in his original book, currently in its fourth edition and translated into 12 languages. The principles of Anatomy Trains are used by osteopaths, physical therapists, bodyworkers, massage therapists, personal trainers, yoga, Pilates, Gyrotonics, and other body-minded manual therapists and movement professionals. Anatomy Trains inspires these practitioners to work with holistic anatomy in treating system-wide patterns to provide improved client outcomes in terms of structure and function. Website: anatomytrains.com Email: [email protected] Facebook: facebook.com/AnatomyTrains Instagram: www.instagram.com/anatomytrainsofficial YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2g6TOEFrX4b-CigknssKHA Precision Neuromuscular Therapy seminars (www.pnmt.org) have been teaching high-quality seminars for more than 20 years. Doug Nelson and the PNMT teaching staff help you to practice with the confidence and creativity that comes from deep understanding, rather than the adherence to one treatment approach or technique. Find our seminar schedule at pnmt.org/seminar-schedule with over 60 weekends of seminars across the country. Or meet us online in the PNMT Portal, our online gateway with access to over 500 videos, 37 NCBTMB CEs, our Discovery Series webinars, one-on-one mentoring, and much, much more! All for the low yearly cost of $167.50. Learn more at pnmt.thinkific.com/courses/pnmtportal! Follow us on social media: @precisionnmt on Instagram or at Precision Neuromuscular Therapy Seminars on Facebook. Are you a manual therapist ready to expand your clinical reach, deepen your effectiveness, and work with greater confidence? Upledger CranioSacral Therapy addresses deep restrictions, supports neurological and fascial systems, and enhances whole-body function—by working with the body's natural healing processes. For over forty years, Upledger Institute International has led the field of CranioSacral Therapy—setting the global standard for education and clinical application. With trained therapists in more than 120 countries, CST continues to evolve through ongoing clinical experience and alignment with current scientific understanding. CST integrates seamlessly into any manual therapy practice and supports common to complex and chronic conditions—orthopedic, neurological, pediatric, geriatric, and beyond. Learn from our International Teaching Team—experienced clinicians who help you develop your skills, expand your clinical reasoning, and achieve greater clinical outcomes. Begin your training for as little as one hundred dollars a month. Find a class near you at upledger.com/courses or call 800-233-5880, extension 2—and begin your CranioSacral Therapy journey with the leaders who continue to shape the profession. Website: upledger.com/courses Email: [email protected] Phone: 800-233-5880 Ext 2 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/upledger.institute Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upledger_institute_intl/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSIFELbP6Jsp55cb9puZigQ Save your hands for the smaller structures and start getting your clients underfoot! At the Center for Barefoot Massage, we teach you how to enhance your pressure using gravity and physics and help your clients recover from persistent pain through nerd-level anatomical attention to detail—we just happen to use our feet to do it all! From the slow, down-regulating glides of our FasciAshi Fundamentals strokes to the proprioceptive "pattern-interrupts" of our Barefoot Matwork techniques and the resisted movements from our Stretch Therapy class, we offer a complete suite of evidence-based tools for deep, myofascial Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage—we nicknamed our approach "FasciAshi." Worried about your body size in relation to your clients? Our innovation—the suspended Ashi-strap—allows a more diverse population of massage therapists to regulate and vector their weight and pressure distribution with clinical precision, making deep work effortless on a variety of client bodies. At the Center for Barefoot Massage, we believe the future of massage is afoot! Find when and where our CE classes are happening next at centerforbarefootmassage.com.
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25 MIN
Ep 564 – Raising Prices – Part 1: "Fully Booked" with Elicia Crook
APR 17, 2026
Ep 564 – Raising Prices – Part 1: "Fully Booked" with Elicia Crook
In this first episode of a two-part series of Fully Booked, Elicia explores why raising your prices is essential as costs increase, the real fears that hold therapists back, and what can happen when you keep putting it off. Host: Elicia Crook is a business coach and mentor for massage therapists, sharing the tactics she used to create her business success over 16 years. She is a diploma-qualified remedial massage therapist, using modalities such as Bowen and craniosacral therapy, and has a Cert IV in Workplace Training and Assessment, which she used while teaching massage for several years. Through her career and business experience, Crook discovered who she needed to be and what is required to run a deeply satisfying massage business. Now she takes the Fully Booked Without Burnout blueprint to other therapists around the world to create more success and passion. For more information, visit https://healthleaderco.com/ Author links: Website: https://healthleaderco.com/ **Free 50 min Class** The 3 Ways Scars Cause pain and restriction in the body https://go.healthleaderco.com/3ways-scars "Building a Thriving Hands-On Practice", by Elicia Crook, Massage & Bodywork magazine, Spring 2025. ABMP CE Center Sponsor: Jane is a practice management platform for health and wellness clinics, used by more than 245,000 practitioners worldwide. Jane helps practitioners schedule appointments, chart treatments, bill insurers, and get paid all in one secure, beautifully designed platform. Learn more about Jane at jane.app/demo and if you're ready to get started, use the code ABMP1MO for a one-month grace period on your new account. For more details, visit jane.app, jane.app/pricing, and jane.app/features.
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17 MIN
Ep 563 – The Scapula and Forced Coupling: "The Rebel MT" with Allison Denney
APR 14, 2026
Ep 563 – The Scapula and Forced Coupling: "The Rebel MT" with Allison Denney
The scapula—I mean, look at this thing! It's not only cool in shape, but it is incredible at bringing tissues together. Allison explores the phenomenon known as force coupling, a concept that recruits opposing muscles to create one motion. Kind of like what she is trying to get her heart to do with her emotions. Host Bio: Contact Allison Denney: [email protected] Allison's website: www.rebelmassage.com Allison Denney is a certified massage therapist and certified YouTuber. You can find her massage tutorials at YouTube.com/RebelMassage. She is also passionate about creating products that are kind, simple, and productive for therapists to use in their practices. Her products, along with access to her blog and CE opportunities, can be found at rebelmassage.com. About our Sponsors: Rebel Massage Therapist: My name is Allison. And I am not your typical massage therapist. After 20 years of experience and thousands of clients, I have learned that massage therapy is SO MUCH more than a relaxing experience at a spa. I see soft tissue as more than merely a physical element but a deeply complex, neurologically driven part of who you are. I use this knowledge to work WITH you—not ON you—to create change that works. This is the basis of my approach. As a massage therapist, I have worked in almost every capacity, including massage clinics, physical therapy clinics, chiropractor offices, spas, private practice, and teaching. I have learned incredible techniques and strategies from each of my experiences. In my 20 years as a massage therapist, I have never stopped growing. I currently have a private practice based out of Long Beach, California, where I also teach continuing education classes and occasionally work on my kids. If they're good. website: www.rebelmassage.com FB: facebook.com/RebelMassage IG: instagram.com/rebelmassagetherapist YouTube: youtube.com/c/RebelMassage email: [email protected] Anatomy Trains is a global leader in online anatomy education and also provides in-classroom certification programs for structural integration in the US, Canada, Australia, Europe, Japan, and China, as well as fresh-tissue cadaver dissection labs and weekend courses. The work of Anatomy Trains originated with founder Tom Myers, who mapped the human body into 13 myofascial meridians in his original book, currently in its fourth edition and translated into 12 languages. The principles of Anatomy Trains are used by osteopaths, physical therapists, bodyworkers, massage therapists, personal trainers, yoga, Pilates, Gyrotonics, and other body-minded manual therapists and movement professionals. Anatomy Trains inspires these practitioners to work with holistic anatomy in treating system-wide patterns to provide improved client outcomes in terms of structure and function. Website: anatomytrains.com Email: [email protected] Facebook: facebook.com/AnatomyTrains Instagram: www.instagram.com/anatomytrainsofficial YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2g6TOEFrX4b-CigknssKHA Precision Neuromuscular Therapy seminars (www.pnmt.org) have been teaching high-quality seminars for more than 20 years. Doug Nelson and the PNMT teaching staff help you to practice with the confidence and creativity that comes from deep understanding, rather than the adherence to one treatment approach or technique. Find our seminar schedule at pnmt.org/seminar-schedule with over 60 weekends of seminars across the country. Or meet us online in the PNMT Portal, our online gateway with access to over 500 videos, 37 NCBTMB CEs, our Discovery Series webinars, one-on-one mentoring, and much, much more! All for the low yearly cost of $167.50. Learn more at pnmt.thinkific.com/courses/pnmtportal! Follow us on social media: @precisionnmt on Instagram or at Precision Neuromuscular Therapy Seminars on Facebook. Are you a manual therapist ready to expand your clinical reach, deepen your effectiveness, and work with greater confidence? Upledger CranioSacral Therapy addresses deep restrictions, supports neurological and fascial systems, and enhances whole-body function—by working with the body's natural healing processes. For over forty years, Upledger Institute International has led the field of CranioSacral Therapy—setting the global standard for education and clinical application. With trained therapists in more than 120 countries, CST continues to evolve through ongoing clinical experience and alignment with current scientific understanding. CST integrates seamlessly into any manual therapy practice and supports common to complex and chronic conditions—orthopedic, neurological, pediatric, geriatric, and beyond. Learn from our International Teaching Team—experienced clinicians who help you develop your skills, expand your clinical reasoning, and achieve greater clinical outcomes. Begin your training for as little as one hundred dollars a month. Find a class near you at upledger.com/courses or call 800-233-5880, extension 2—and begin your CranioSacral Therapy journey with the leaders who continue to shape the profession. Website: upledger.com/courses Email: [email protected] Phone: 800-233-5880 Ext 2 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/upledger.institute Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upledger_institute_intl/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSIFELbP6Jsp55cb9puZigQ Save your hands for the smaller structures and start getting your clients underfoot! At the Center for Barefoot Massage, we teach you how to enhance your pressure using gravity and physics and help your clients recover from persistent pain through nerd-level anatomical attention to detail—we just happen to use our feet to do it all! From the slow, down-regulating glides of our FasciAshi Fundamentals strokes to the proprioceptive "pattern-interrupts" of our Barefoot Matwork techniques and the resisted movements from our Stretch Therapy class, we offer a complete suite of evidence-based tools for deep, myofascial Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage—we nicknamed our approach "FasciAshi." Worried about your body size in relation to your clients? Our innovation—the suspended Ashi-strap—allows a more diverse population of massage therapists to regulate and vector their weight and pressure distribution with clinical precision, making deep work effortless on a variety of client bodies. At the Center for Barefoot Massage, we believe the future of massage is afoot! Find when and where our CE classes are happening next at centerforbarefootmassage.com.
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15 MIN
Ep 562 – Palpation: The Art of Recognizing the Tissues We Touch
APR 7, 2026
Ep 562 – Palpation: The Art of Recognizing the Tissues We Touch
As massage therapists, we use our sense of touch every day, but how do we know what we are feeling with our hands? Nicole Trombley and Rachelle Clauson break down the art of recognizing the tissues we touch by examining what palpation is, exploring how our hands are perfectly equipped for the task, and discussing the "touch dialogue" that starts from the very first contact. Resources: LAB COURSE: Journey into the MATRIX www.anatomyscapes.com/MATRIX for more information about "Journey Into the MATRIX: the Fascial System" dissection lab workshop. LAB COURSE: Dissection Lab Intensive ​​https://www.anatomyscapes.com/DLI for more information about the "Dissection Lab Intensive" lab workshop. Check out the Anatomy for Touch column in the Massage & Bodywork magazine at https://www.anatomyscapes.com/anatomyfortouch Connect with us! website: www.anatomyscapes.com FB: facebook.com/AnatomySCAPES IG: instagram.com/anatomyscapes YouTube: youtube.com/@anatomyscapes email: [email protected] Host: AnatomySCAPES Co-Directors, Rachelle Clauson and Nicole Trombley, are NCBTMB-approved continuing education providers and teach anatomy explorations for hands-on professionals online and in person. They co-author the "Anatomy for Touch" column in Massage & Bodywork magazine and enjoy helping therapists better understand how anatomy relates to what they are feeling through their sense of touch. Nicole Trombley: As a massage educator, Nicole draws on her passion for human biology to help therapists better understand the tissues under their hands. She owns and operates Equilibrio Massage in San Diego, CA, where she has specialized in massage for pregnancy and postpartum since 2004. Rachelle Clauson: Rachelle loves teaching therapists about the structural organization and beauty of the human fascial system. She served as the Director of Creative and Administrative Affairs for the Fascial Net Plastination Project, and owns Flourish Bodywork, her private practice where she has offered hands-on bodywork in San Diego, CA, since 2003. About Our Sponsors: Are you a manual therapist ready to expand your clinical reach, deepen your effectiveness, and work with greater confidence? Upledger CranioSacral Therapy addresses deep restrictions, supports neurological and fascial systems, and enhances whole-body function—by working with the body's natural healing processes. For over forty years, Upledger Institute International has led the field of CranioSacral Therapy—setting the global standard for education and clinical application. With trained therapists in more than 120 countries, CST continues to evolve through ongoing clinical experience and alignment with current scientific understanding. CST integrates seamlessly into any manual therapy practice and supports common to complex and chronic conditions—orthopedic, neurological, pediatric, geriatric, and beyond. Learn from our International Teaching Team—experienced clinicians who help you develop your skills, expand your clinical reasoning, and achieve greater clinical outcomes. Begin your training for as little as one hundred dollars a month. Find a class near you at upledger.com/courses or call 800-233-5880, extension 2—and begin your CranioSacral Therapy journey with the leaders who continue to shape the profession. Website: upledger.com/courses Email: [email protected] Phone: 800-233-5880 Ext 2 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/upledger.institute Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upledger_institute_intl/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSIFELbP6Jsp55cb9puZigQ Anatomy Trains is a global leader in online anatomy education and also provides in-classroom certification programs for structural integration in the US, Canada, Australia, Europe, Japan, and China, as well as fresh-tissue cadaver dissection labs and weekend courses. The work of Anatomy Trains originated with founder Tom Myers, who mapped the human body into 13 myofascial meridians in his original book, currently in its fourth edition and translated into 12 languages. The principles of Anatomy Trains are used by osteopaths, physical therapists, bodyworkers, massage therapists, personal trainers, yoga, Pilates, Gyrotonics, and other body-minded manual therapists and movement professionals. Anatomy Trains inspires these practitioners to work with holistic anatomy in treating system-wide patterns to provide improved client outcomes in terms of structure and function. Website: anatomytrains.com Email: [email protected] Facebook: facebook.com/AnatomyTrains Instagram: www.instagram.com/anatomytrainsofficial YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2g6TOEFrX4b-CigknssKHA Precision Neuromuscular Therapy seminars (www.pnmt.org) have been teaching high-quality seminars for more than 20 years. Doug Nelson and the PNMT teaching staff help you to practice with the confidence and creativity that comes from deep understanding, rather than the adherence to one treatment approach or technique. Find our seminar schedule at pnmt.org/seminar-schedule with over 60 weekends of seminars across the country. Or meet us online in the PNMT Portal, our online gateway with access to over 500 videos, 37 NCBTMB CEs, our Discovery Series webinars, one-on-one mentoring, and much, much more! All for the low yearly cost of $167.50. Learn more at pnmt.thinkific.com/courses/pnmtportal! Follow us on social media: @precisionnmt on Instagram or at Precision Neuromuscular Therapy Seminars on Facebook. Heights Wellness Retreat is redefining whole-body wellness through an innovative, integrated approach to physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Built on more than two decades of Massage Heights expertise in massage and skin therapy, this next-generation wellness destination represents the evolution of our mission to transform lives through wellness. At Heights Wellness Retreat, we believe every person is an unstoppable force, whether navigating daily demands, pursuing goals, or striving to be their best. This drives everything we do. We go beyond traditional spa services by creating a purpose-driven environment where wellness professionals are empowered, valued, and positioned to grow. With steady clientele, support, and a wellness-forward culture, Heights Wellness Retreat is where therapists build meaningful, sustainable careers while shaping the future of the wellness industry. www.massageheightscareers.careerplug.com/jobs www.heightswellnessretreats.com https://www.instagram.com/heightswellnessretreat/ https://www.facebook.com/heightswellnessretreat/
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28 MIN
Ep 561 – Levels of Awareness: "Fully Booked" with Elicia Crook
APR 3, 2026
Ep 561 – Levels of Awareness: "Fully Booked" with Elicia Crook
In this episode of Fully Booked, Elicia breaks down how understanding your audience can completely transform the way you market your clinic, attract clients, and fill your schedule with less effort. When you know exactly who you're speaking to, your messaging becomes clearer, your content resonates, and booking starts to feel natural instead of forced. Elicia explores the four levels of client awareness, from those who don't even realize they need help to those actively searching for solutions. Host: Elicia Crook is a business coach and mentor for massage therapists, sharing the tactics she used to create her business success over 16 years. She is a diploma-qualified remedial massage therapist, using modalities such as Bowen and craniosacral therapy, and has a Cert IV in Workplace Training and Assessment, which she used while teaching massage for several years. Through her career and business experience, Crook discovered who she needed to be and what is required to run a deeply satisfying massage business. Now she takes the Fully Booked Without Burnout blueprint to other therapists around the world to create more success and passion. For more information, visit https://healthleaderco.com/ Author links: Website: https://healthleaderco.com/ Want more engagement in your social media in 2026? Download your marketing calendar here! Fast Five is a mini course from The Health Leader Co with simple, fast strategies to bring in clients right now. Watch it, do it, and see bookings flow. Normally $347, but ABMP listeners get 50% off with code ABMPPOD. You'll also earn 4 CE credits in the US. Check it out here: https://go.healthleaderco.com/fastfive "Building a Thriving Hands-On Practice", by Elicia Crook, Massage & Bodywork magazine, Spring 2025. ABMP CE Center Sponsor: Jane is a practice management platform for health and wellness clinics, used by more than 245,000 practitioners worldwide. Jane helps practitioners schedule appointments, chart treatments, bill insurers, and get paid all in one secure, beautifully designed platform. Learn more about Jane at jane.app/demo and if you're ready to get started, use the code ABMP1MO for a one-month grace period on your new account. For more details, visit jane.app, jane.app/pricing, and jane.app/features.
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13 MIN