About

Gaea Wellness and Massage is a Black and woman owned independent massage business serving the Asheville area, offering mobile massage and yoga services to the community. Olivia is a registered nurse with five years of experience and a recently licensed massage therapist (licensed November 2025) and yoga teacher (certified March 2026). Her professional background in nursing spans through settings placed in trauma ICU, behavioral health, home health, geriatric long-term care and rheumatology.

Olivia's path into massage grew from a deep, evolving sense of empathy and a belief that touch can be deeply healing and should be accessible. This belief emerged from her commitment to the people in her community, not only the patients she cared for but everyone, as she began to recognize the systemic effects within the healthcare system. Over the years, nursing began to limit her ability to provide the care she believed patients deserved, as financial and social pressures often overshadowed quality care. With such empathy and the weight of others’ suffering, Olivia developed many debilitating symptoms related to nervous system dysfunction. She explored several healing paths, discovering massage and yoga and the need for balance in life. These experiences guided her toward a practice that honors human touch, autonomy over the body, and the body’s innate capacity to heal—allowing her to sustain a career that values balance.

Olivia trained at Western North Carolina School of Massage in West Asheville, graduating in September 2024, just before Hurricane Helene. Her foundation includes general Swedish techniques along with Neuromuscular Therapy (myofascial and trigger point release), including techniques such as skin rolling, PNF stretching, muscle stripping, and targeted trigger point therapy. Olivia has had continued education in Thai massage and gentle joint mobilization with ongoing studies of Abhyanga massage (Ayurvedic-4 handed massage).