I was super excited to finally have Steven Goldstein on my show, and not only to get those who have been asking me to interview him off my back.  Talking with Steven about his origin story is like exploring the history of massage; this guy’s worked with some of our industry’s biggest influencers while becoming one himself.
Shamelessly stealing this paragraph from the ‘About’ page on his website, Steven describes himself as an innovative massage educator instructing his unique blend of direct myofascial, indirect osteopathic releasing methods and somatic approaches known as Integrative Fascial Release internationally since 1995.   Steven teaches and practices his unique blend of Myofascial Releasing Techniques known as Integrative Soft-Tissue Release.
Steven has numerous qualifications, chaired committees for the AAMT and Endeavour College of Natural Health, been a regular contributor to journals and a frequent presenter at conferences.  First and foremost, though, he’s a teacher.  His website states that ‘Dynamic, playful, profound and informative is his trademark as an educator’, and he sure delivered on that as my guest.  A busy man with great energy and a limitless thirst for knowledge, Steven was fascinating and inspiring to speak with about his passion for his art, learning and sharing his knowledge with the world.
In this episode we chat about: 

* What it was like in the early 1980’s being part of the shift towards massage/ touch becoming a serious profession, including working with some of the biggest names in our field.
* Becoming a teacher early in his career: ‘I better go do this because it frightened the hell out of me’.
* Developing his knowledge and not being afraid to try things out on clients: ‘’Do no harm’ was ‘So long as you didn’t kill your client on the table’.
* His endless curiosity and desire to learn; how teaching helped fill the holes in his education, and going from teaching other people’s material to delivering his own.
* Taking ten years to write his book (Next year. No really, next year…).
* How delivering workshops around the world (including being called a ‘w*nker’) influenced his teaching style.
* Neurofascial mobilisation, teaching neural anatomy and finding another niche: ‘Physios understand nerves, osteopaths understand nerves, but massage therapists don’t.  That’s like teaching the psoas without teaching the viscera.’
* Steven’s passionate opinions on evidence-based practice versus practice-based evidence, philosophical systems, perception, pseudoscience and finding your own biases (this is riveting and simply GOLD, people!).
* Why elitism rubs Steven the wrong way.
* What methods of touch Steven would love to receive.
* Recommended reading:

* Steven’s article ‘The Grey Area of Massage Emotionality and Expression’ on his website.
* Josephine Key’s Back Pain: A Movement Problem  ‘Her book is underrated and undersold when it should be a best-seller’.

What we didn’t talk about:  magic school.  Damn, ran out of time for that story. Next time.
Where you’ll find Steven Goldstein:
www.fascialrelease.com
Facebook group:  Friends of IFR/ISTR Integrative Fascial & Soft-Tissue Release Release https://www.facebook.com/groups/45276125843/?fref=nf