Foot dysfunction is a worldwide epidemic and it’s affecting the whole body.
Ashiato is a foot-first method for professionals who know there’s a missing link in their clients’ pain and movement patterns, but haven’t found the solution...Yet. This is where it starts …from the feet up.
Hi, I’m Nikki
I’m a Corrective Exercise and Barefoot Training Specialist, Pilates Instructor, Reflexologist and Sports Massage Therapist.
But more than that, I’m someone who knows what it’s like to feel stuck in your own body. I’ve lived with pain, I’ve tried all the things, and I’ve watched clients do the same. I knew something was missing. I just didn’t know what it was.
Until I found it in the feet.
For years, I managed recurring pain in my feet and lower back. I had plantar fasciitis on and off for 20 years. I lived with sacroiliac joint pain for five years following a car accident. I also suffered with accessory navicular syndrome and ended up on crutches when they thought I’d fractured my foot.
Some days I could barely walk downstairs. Other days I couldn’t even stand up straight.
At the time, I was teaching Pilates. I was doing what I knew, but I still couldn’t explain why some clients weren’t getting better. They came in with knee pain, back issues, pelvic floor problems. I could help them feel stronger for a while, but something always brought the pain back. No one was asking the right questions. And no one was looking at their feet.
In 2019, I took a CPD course on pelvic floor dysfunction. It was focused on pelvic health, but one piece of information stood out, the way the feet influence pelvic floor function.
That was my lighthouse moment. The point where it all came into focus. I realised we were starting too high. The missing link wasn’t in the core, hips or spine. It was in the feet.
From that moment on, everything changed.
After that course, I want back to my Pilates classes with new eyes. I started paying close attention to how my clients were moving, and what I found shocked me. Every single person had signs of foot dysfunction. Some had bunions, hammer toes or collapsed arches. Others showed clear signs of overpronation or gripping. And many had foot pain symptoms, even though not one of them had mentioned it on their PARQ forms.
That’s when it all made sense. The feet were the missing piece. Once I began addressing them first, everything else started to improve, balance, strength, posture, even pelvic floor symptoms.
Once I saw the impact of starting with the feet, I couldn’t unsee it. It changed how I taught, how I moved, how I supported every client.
But I also realised this wasn’t common knowledge. Most professionals were still focused on the site of the pain, or starting at the pelvis, missing the root of the problem completely. That’s when I knew I had to share what I’d learned.
Ashiato was created to help other professionals find what I found. So you can see what’s really going on, create lasting change for your clients, and stop chasing symptoms.
What I Believe
I believe the body makes sense when you start in the right place.
It’s about restoring function, not just managing pain.
Looking deeper, asking better questions, and noticing what others miss.
Combining instinct with anatomy, and real-life results over textbook theory.
Working from the feet up, because that’s where true recovery begins.
I’m here to guide professionals who are ready to change the way they work, for good.
You’re in the Right Place
If you’ve been searching for a better way to help your clients move, recover and feel strong in their own bodies again, welcome.
Ashiato is here to support professionals who want to understand the body differently, work with confidence, and make lasting change… from the feet up.
Ready to take the next step?