Is Sarga Bodywork Training Right for You? A Massage Therapist’s Guide to Barefoot Massage
If you’re a massage therapist who loves doing deep, therapeutic work but sometimes wonders how long your hands, wrists, thumbs, and shoulders are going to keep doing all of it, you’re definitely not alone.
One of the reasons I was drawn to Sarga Bodywork was that it gave me another way to work.
Sarga isn’t about replacing everything you already know as a massage therapist. It gives you another tool—and, quite literally, another part of your body—to use when working with clients.
Instead of relying entirely on muscular effort through your hands and upper body, Sarga Bodywork uses your feet, body weight, leverage, and the support of the Sarga Silk to create slow, broad, targeted myofascial work.
For massage therapists thinking about learning barefoot bodywork, here’s what I think is helpful to know before deciding whether Sarga is right for you.
What is Sarga Bodywork?
Sarga Bodywork® combines barefoot massage with modern approaches to fascial treatment and therapist biomechanics.
Practitioners work with their feet while using a length of supportive fabric called the Sarga Silk. Rather than relying on overhead bars, the fabric provides support and leverage while the practitioner uses body weight to deliver pressure through the feet.
One of the things I love about Sarga is the quality of pressure I can create without asking my hands to do everything.
Feet provide a much larger surface area than thumbs, fingers, or elbows, while still allowing us to become surprisingly specific with our work. The Sarga Silk also creates opportunities for leaning, anchoring, and working with the tissue in ways that feel very different from traditional table massage.
Why do massage therapists learn Sarga?
Every therapist comes to class for a slightly different reason.
Some are thinking about career longevity and want to reduce the amount of repetitive work they're asking their hands and wrists to perform.
Some already love deep tissue or myofascial work and are looking for a way to deliver depth using body weight and leverage rather than muscular effort.
Others have been practicing massage for years and simply want to learn something completely different.
And sometimes that last reason is enough. 👣
Learning an entirely new modality can make bodywork exciting again. Sarga challenges your balance, coordination, proprioception, biomechanics, and your understanding of how you interact with another person's body.
You don't have to abandon the work you already love. Sarga can simply become another option in your toolbox.
Is Sarga the same as Ashiatsu?
This is probably one of the questions I hear most often.
Both Sarga Bodywork and Ashiatsu are barefoot massage modalities, but they're not interchangeable.
Ashiatsu traditionally uses overhead bars for support and is often associated with long, flowing strokes and deep pressure.
Sarga uses fabric support rather than an overhead bar system. The Sarga Silk gives the practitioner the ability to create leverage and support while working with slow, targeted myofascial techniques.
Therapists who already practice Ashiatsu may find some aspects of working with their feet familiar, but Sarga introduces a different support system, biomechanics, and treatment approach.
You don't need previous barefoot massage experience to take Sarga 101.
What happens in Sarga 101?
Sarga 101 is the foundational training.
The course begins with an online prerequisite, which allows you to preview the concepts, mechanics, safety considerations, and techniques before arriving for the hands-on portion of class.
I really appreciate this format because your first exposure to the material doesn't have to happen while you're standing in the classroom trying to absorb everything at once.
The in-person Sarga 101 training is four days and focuses on foundational body mechanics, Sarga Silk alignment and wrapping, anterior and posterior applications, and developing a full-body Sarga treatment.
Depending on the class format, students may learn using a raised massage table, a floor-based setup, or both in a Hybrid class.
Sarga 101 currently includes 24 hours of in-person continuing education plus 11 hours online, for 35 total CE hours.
And I'll tell prospective students something that I think is important: You do not have to be good at Sarga before you come to class. That's what class is for.
It is new. It can feel awkward. Your feet suddenly have jobs they've never had before. 😂
That's part of learning it.
What about Sarga 102?
Sarga 102 builds upon the in-person foundations learned in Sarga 101.
It's a two-day course that introduces additional techniques while giving students an opportunity to refine their existing skills and deepen their understanding of the modality.
It also moves faster.
By the time you arrive at Sarga 102, you're no longer being introduced to the basic concepts for the first time, so there is an assumption that you have familiarity with the foundational material from Sarga 101.
Sarga 102 currently includes 12 in-person CE hours plus 4.5 online hours, for 16.5 total CE hours.
I've also found that returning to Sarga material after you've had some experience with it can be incredibly valuable. You're no longer trying to absorb every single piece of information at once. You start noticing subtleties that were nearly impossible to notice when everything was new.
Raised table, floor or Hybrid: which Sarga class should I take?
Sarga can be practiced in different setups, including raised-table and floor-based applications.
I now teach many of my Sarga 101 classes in a Hybrid format, which allows students to experience both floor and raised-table work.
I especially like this because bodies are different.
Height, body proportions, balance, mobility, strength, previous injuries, table dimensions, and the type of practice you want to create can all influence what feels most sustainable.
Having more than one way to approach the modality gives us more opportunities to troubleshoot and adapt.
If you're unsure which format is appropriate for you, I recommend looking carefully at the physical preparation and equipment information for the particular class you're considering and reaching out with questions before registering.
“But I'm not sure my body can do that.”
I hear versions of this one a lot.
Sarga is physical. Balance, coordination, mobility, strength, and body awareness all matter.
AND...there's a big difference between being physically prepared to learn something and already knowing how to do it.
Students don't arrive in my classroom expected to look polished.
My job as an instructor is to watch how you're working, help you troubleshoot, make appropriate adjustments, and help you understand what you're feeling in your own body as you learn.
That's also one of the reasons I intentionally keep my classes small.
I would much rather actually see what you're doing than stand at the front of a large room and hope everyone is figuring it out.
What are Sarga classes with me actually like?
My teaching style is structured, hands-on and highly interactive.
I demonstrate. You practice. I watch. We troubleshoot. You ask questions. We make adjustments. You try again.
And yes, we usually laugh quite a bit along the way. 😂
Students have described my classes as welcoming, personalized, safe, supportive, and engaging. One student told me:
“This was one of the best CE courses I’ve taken! I really appreciated the small class size and personalized instruction.”
Another described what could have been an overwhelming learning experience as “fun, safe, and enjoyable to keep coming back.”
That matters to me.
Sarga can be challenging, and I don't think challenging and supportive are opposites. You can be asked to work hard while also being given permission to be a beginner.
Who is Sarga training a good fit for?
Sarga may be worth exploring if you're a massage therapist who wants to reduce some of the repetitive demand on your hands and wrists, develop more options for delivering deep therapeutic work, explore barefoot myofascial techniques, improve your own biomechanics, or simply add something new and interesting to a practice you already love.
It may also appeal to therapists who are thinking seriously about how they want their bodies to feel after another 5, 10, or 20 years of massage.
That question matters.
I've been a massage therapist for a long time, and therapist longevity isn't an abstract marketing concept to me. The way we use our bodies while we work matters.
No modality can guarantee a pain-free career, but having more movement choices and more ways to accomplish the work gives us options.
Where can I take Sarga Bodywork training?
I teach small-group Sarga Bodywork continuing education classes in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington.
I'm Linda Caravia, LMT #6600, owner of Vitality Therapeutic Massage & Yoga, LLC and a Sarga Bodywork instructor. My classes draw massage therapists from around the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
Current course dates, tuition, prerequisites, travel information, class formats and registration details are kept on my Sarga training page so that information stays current as new classes are added.
If the current dates don't work for you, you can also join my Sarga class interest list and let me know whether you're interested in Portland, Seattle, or either location. I send Sarga updates occasionally when new training opportunities are added—no constant emails. ❤️
So…is Sarga right for you?
Maybe.
I actually think that's a much better answer than pretending every massage modality is right for every massage therapist.
Look at the work. Learn about the physical requirements. Think about what you want to change or expand in your own practice. Consider how you want to use your body while doing this work for years to come.
And if Sarga makes you think: “Wait. I want to know what THAT feels like.”
That's usually a pretty good place to start. 👣 I'd love to help!
About the Instructor
Linda Caravia, LMT #6600 is the owner of Vitality Therapeutic Massage & Yoga, LLC in Portland, Oregon and teaches Sarga Bodywork continuing education in Portland and Seattle. Her small-group classes emphasize therapist biomechanics, career longevity, individualized instruction, strong foundational skills, and a supportive environment for learning challenging new work.
Ready to explore Sarga? View current Portland + Seattle Sarga 101 and Sarga 102 training dates, or join the interest list to hear about future classes.
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