Rob Crampton, LMT, MFR Specialist

Witnessing my clients getting better is WHY I practice Barnes MFR.

I started out practicing massage therapy back in 2012 with the desire to help people out of pain. I saw many clients that had various aches and pains they’d ask for help with. They’d leave off the massage table feeling great, but when they came back their pain same aches and pains would have returned. We’d try different ways of addressing their pain but nothing would last longer than a few days at most. I felt as if I was only putting a band-aid on their issue and not really addressing the root cause.

I had heard about Barnes MFR originally back in massage school and it, at the time, intrigued me because of how gentle it was. So I kept it on my radar and surprisingly, a year later a beginner Barnes MFR seminar came to Richmond. After taking just my MFR first class my clients began to see long, lasting change. Their pain became less and less. They could move better, sleep better, and function in their life more easily. I noticed too, how each client’s mind-body was wrapped up in their tightness and/or pain. What I mean by this is how their stresses, current and past, were interlinked to their physical pain. This work opened the door for them to see themselves on a much deeper level. Since that first class, I knew Barnes MFR was what I wanted to specialize in and use help people get pain-free.

Barnes MFR has helped me become aware of how I am tied up in my own body, from scars to poor posture to old injuries. It has opened me up to a deeper mind-body awareness: stuck emotions I hadn’t felt or was afraid too, areas in my body I was bracing from old traumas, belief systems that limited how I lived or saw the world. As my body became more open and fluid, I was able to move and function better in every possible way, both physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I am still living this journey diving deeper and deeper into myself.

I have been practicing John F. Barnes Myofascial Release since 2013. A tenant of Barnes MFR is I can only take my clients as far as I have gone myself. That being said, I make it a priority to take classes every year, delving further into my MFR education. I also receive treatment MFR treatment from other therapists and the occasional visit to one of John F. Barnes MFR treatment centers, The Myofascial Sanctuary in Malvern, PA or Therapy on the Rocks in Sedona, AZ. 

I was also a registered yoga instructor; teaching yoga since 2003 till 2012. I love yoga and still practice occasionally, but MFR has been the ticket to a much deeper awareness of self, joy, and life.

My business name pays homage to the James River. I have been a whitewater raft guide on it since 2001. The James has been both a very generous and humbling teacher I continue to learn from. I currently guide with Riverside Outfitters, an outstanding company that has a fun and safe time on the James!

More recently, since 2020, I have taken up interest in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at Upstream BJJ. It’s an outstanding place with Seph, an outstanding teacher, to learn this amazing martial art!