The LMT Refinery

I personally LOVE a good barter 🙌🏼 

Over the years I’ve bartered for bodywork, hair, house cleaning, direct primary care, chiropractic care…probably more things I’m forgetting.

But not all barters are created equal.

I think barter can create an interesting shift in how we perceive a professional relationship. There isn’t that energetic exchange of money. No card gets swiped. No cash changes hands. And because of that, things can sometimes start to feel more casual.

When it comes to massage, though, the person on your table is still your client…and vice versa.

If I’m receiving bodywork through a trade, I want to be treated with the same professionalism, boundaries and standard of care as the client who paid full price. And when I’m the one providing the session, I owe them the same.

The exchange might look different, but the professional relationship doesn’t.

I’m very pro-barter. I just think it’s worth remembering:

Bartering changes how you pay for the session. It doesn’t change the professional relationship.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT | SANDY TROTTER

Sandy is an extra special one for me.

She was part of the very first LMT Refinery class and traveled all the way from Ohio to be there. At the time, The Refinery was brand new, and there were plenty of barefoot massage instructors much closer to her. The fact that she chose to take a chance on me and what I was building meant more than she probably realized.

And she brought a LOT of experience with her.

Sandy has been a massage therapist since 1998 and owns Trotter Massage Therapy & Barefoot Massage in Canton, Ohio, where she takes a clinical, results-oriented approach to helping people move better, feel better, and understand their bodies.

After nearly three decades in the profession, she started exploring barefoot massage for a very practical reason: she wanted a more sustainable way to continue providing the deep work her clients needed.

Her description of learning barefoot massage still makes me laugh:

“It was humbling, to say the least. Learning a new method on an elevated surface was similar to putting a baby deer on an icy pond!” 😂

But she stuck with it.

Since that first class, Sandy has returned for additional Refinery courses, added bars and dual straps to her treatment room, invested in a hydraulic table, and made barefoot massage a real part of how she practices.

She says one of the things she values most about Refinery classes is being able to immediately incorporate what she learns into her work. Coming from someone who has taken A LOT of continuing education over a 28-year career, that means a whole lot to me.

Outside the treatment room, Sandy loves the outdoors, has a black lab who is her certified therapy-dog partner, a bulldog, and apparently an entire wildlife preserve happening in her backyard 🦨 🦌 🌳

And her someday dream? Creating retreats and travel experiences that combine beautiful places, massage therapy, and wellness education.

Sandy, thank you for taking a chance on me and The LMT Refinery before it had a track record to prove itself. Having you in that very first room, and watching you continue to learn and evolve after nearly three decades in this profession, is pretty darn special 💛

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT | Melissa from Hattiesburg, Mississippi 

One year into her massage career, and she’s already built a practice where about 60% of her work is barefoot massage.

But her story with The LMT Refinery actually started before she even had her official license.

Fresh out of massage school, she had already been dealing with tendinitis in her elbow for about nine months and was worried her career might be over before it really began.

Then she found barefoot massage.

She says she chose The LMT Refinery because what she saw looked slow, results-driven, intentional and focused on body mechanics.

In her words: “The work looked…sustainable.”

She stalked the instructors 😂, decided we seemed real and relatable enough to trust, reached out with a few questions…and was on a plane to Florida a few days later.

She went home with BIG enthusiasm for barefoot massage and promptly started putting her feet on everyone who would let her.

A year later, she’s celebrating one full year as an LMT, working part time at a local spa AND has opened a joint practice with her life partner, who is also a massage therapist.

And that elbow and forearm pain that had her questioning the longevity of her career?

She no longer needs daily medication for it.

Her advice for other massage therapists considering barefoot work:

Take the class if chronic upper-body pain has you thinking about the longevity of your career.

Take it if you’re feeling bored or uninspired by your work.

Or maybe take it because you’re an adventurer who likes trying new things…which, coincidentally, Melissa absolutely is 💛

Watching someone come to us before their career had even officially begun and then seeing what they build with the work afterward is pretty freaking cool.

This is why we teach.