There is no wrong way to have a body.
I am transgender person living with trauma, and I know what it feels like to be uncomfortable accessing body-based therapies. I specialize in queer-centered, gender-affirming, fat-positive, and trauma-informed bodywork. If you have a complex relationship to touch, are looking to explore reconnecting with your body, or need support living more easefully, I welcome you.
I approach bodywork through the body-mind-spirit system. I use an array of physical techniques (described below) to trace patterns of restriction in the body to relieve pain while also using somatic awareness (our relationship to what we feel in our bodies), creative inquiry (using imagination and metaphor to explore what is happening in our bodies) and embodiment coaching (techniques to harness the power of body awareness to heal body, mind, and spirit) to holitically address whatever brings you to my table.
Gender Affirming Care: I am a leading expert in chest binding health and provide binding consultation sessions for people considering binding or looking for help with healthier practices. In my decade and a half of working with gender expansive clients, I have accumulated extensive knowledge of gender affirming treatments and the ways the body is impacted by social and medical transition. I welcome transmasculine, transfeminine, and non-binary clients on my table for managing the bodily changes of medical and non-medical transition. I provide scar tissue release treatments for people recovering from gender-affirming surgeries.
Weight-Neutral Care: I believe strongly that there is no wrong way to have a body. For clients who have felt excluded from bodywork based on their size, this is a fat-positive practice, meaning that I will not judge your body or assume a connection between your weight and your physical pain/injury. Additionally, I have strategies and equipment to ensure your body is comfortable during bodywork.
Techniques I Use:
Structural integration-based myofascial release to address full-body patterns of postural misalignment to relieve chronic pain.
Deep tissue massage, strongly informed by my in-depth knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and kinesiology, to pinpoint the tissue involved in pain, stiffness, or range of motion restriction.
Cupping for myofascial release to loosen and create greater mobility in the layers of fascia that impede movement and cause or exacerbate pain.
Scar tissue release frees up residual scar tissue left over after surgery and often impedes full range of motion or causes pain.
Trauma-informed bodywork to introduce safe touch to the nervous system while being mindful of the ways that trauma is being experienced in the physical, emotional, mental, and energetic bodies.
Creative inquiry for somatic healing uses creative metaphor, imagination, storytelling to explore what is happening in our bodies, especially when the ability to access the body is limited
Somatic awareness techniques help clients access what is felt and known in their body and to use it to relate to sensation, emotion, and healing.
Embodiment coaching teaches ways to manage physical restriction, stress responses, and nervous system activation.