Integrative Bodywork & Somatic Therapy
Relational mind/body therapy to restore, transform, and liberate your whole-self
“Bodywork: a therapeutic ritual; a radical act of self-love; holistic; facilitating healing in the individual & collective; an acknowledgement of the ways that systematic oppression causes pain; centering those on the margins; body-affirming; gender-affirming; a political act of love”
GO DEEP
FIND STILLNESS
EMBODY LIBERATION
Transformative sessions blending somatic therapy & innovative bodywork practice
For health, healing, and joy.
This space holds an invitation for your whole-self to arrive. We are more than machines to be fixed, but by honoring our full experience physical, mental, emotional, spiritual we can break free from the patterns that restrict us in our muscles and tissues, our emotional states, or in our relationships. You can choose how you want to engage with your somatic experience.
Integrative Bodywork is a mechanical engagement with your tissues. We find your edges, release tension, and balance your system. Biodynamic CranioSacral is a meditative experience for deep nourishment and inner resonance. Somatic Therapy is a mind/body approach that can help to integrate trauma experiences and reset the nervous system with Somatic Experiencing and experiential practices that interrupt stress cycles and generate a new felt sense.
The Offerings
Queer & Trans Centered Care
Meet the practitioner
Overflowing with curiosity, Lee has been driven to discover the secrets to working with pain & trauma, how to feel whole again, and to expand capacity to feel joy and connection and what does it mean to embody liberation.
Hi friends!
My name is Lee (ze/zir) and I am a white queer trans nonbinary and neurodivergent somatic bodyworker and coach and my practice is centered on queer and trans people. Throughout the past 13 years in practice I have been searching for the best methods for supporting my community to decrease their pain, reset stress patterns, heal old injuries, prevent new injuries, and tend to the health of the tissues. With a somatic approach we are able to deepen into conversation with the body to work with past experiences, boundaries, preferences, and build a container for deeper transformation.
My approach
At the core this work is relational. It begins with you and me and we enter into relationship with one another. We practice consent and we discover your preferences. Finding safety is key to helping your body to arrive and settle in, & you are invited to feel at home here. The office is filled with plants, and the air is filtered and temperature controlled. The massage table is heated, the sheets are soft cotton. The music is usually slow and hypnotic. A comfortable place to orient to as you invite your system to unfurl.
Through my years as a bodyworker one thing is clear, everyone experiences the world differently and often many layers are involved with deactivating pain patterns and feeling better in body mind and spirit. The key is finding out what helps YOU get there. More is not always better, even if it feels like it should be. If you are tensing or worried it’s too much then it probably is. Many folks crave a deep pressure, something that feels like a big squishy hug or imagine getting ironed out. Sarga Bodywork is just that and is central to the practice as it effortlessly takes the tangle of myofascial tension, holding, and bracing and just melts it away with sheering pressure. This is a foot pressure technique that uses tensegrity to apply myofascial decompression with a slow, gentle, yet deep quality unlike any other.
For more potency, adding cupping or scrapping to any session will give you a deeper experience. These techniques are dynamic in the way that they can engage the tissue and find and release tension patterns. The physical sensation can be intense but shouldn’t be painful. For those who experience regular pain, the intensity is often felt as relief and has been one of the most powerful techniques for interrupting pain signals and treating old or reoccurring injury. This therapy is also a good fit for athletes as it can both treat and prevent injury.
For other folks a light touch technique is more their desire. With Biodynamic CranioSacral and Somatic Experiencing Touchwork we can drop into the inner world and unlock the felt sense. These sessions are meditative, restorative, and can bring clarity and amplify healing. These techniques can also be combined with Somatic Therapy or Coaching.
Having a bodywork practice means that you get to rely on this space that we co-create to have the time to check back in and nourish your system. Come as you are, leave anything behind that you don’t need to hold right now, and let yourself return to your self. Each session is customized to what might be the most supportive for you.
Community Centered Care
This space is centered on queer and trans people. I celebrate bodies of all shapes sizes and expressions. I refrain from using scented products and try to keep the physical space accessible to those with sensitivities to chemicals and fragrances. I am sex positive and poly & kink informed. I will not judge you by your job or lifestyle. Many folks in my community experience chronic illness so do what I can to prevent the spread of covid at the office and I mask for every session . I also try to continue growing awareness about conditions that face my community such as healing from surgery, supporting chronic illness, scar massage, how to work with hypermobility, massage for binding, or treating long covid .
Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression Statement
I am pro-Palestine and call for an end to the genocide and occupation and return of the land to the Palestinian people. I am aligned with all indigenous and BIPOC struggles. I denounce white supremacy and colonialism and recognise the ways that I am inherently benefiting from them by having a white body and having been born into this system. I recognize that as a practitioner this puts me in a position of power and privilge and that I can cause harm to others especially BIPOC & Indigenous folks. I am committed to engaging with intention and consent, to be accountable to how I show up in space. I am also committed to repair process if a rupture has occurred. As a commitment to anti-oppression work with politicized somatics, I remain active in noticing my edges and the ways that they might prevent me from showing up for others. This space is a haven to all outcasts, radicals, misfits, those who are discriminated against, those whose bodies are othered. I support sex workers and folks who survive despite legal discrimination. This space is centered in queer and trans people. This space is neuro-diverse and welcomes all neurotypes and sensory needs. This space is sex-positive, BDSM & Kink aware, poly-supportive, and non-judgemental of your dynamic lifestyle.
What people are saying
K.
“My session with Lee was transformative in helping me become aware of the ways my body has learned to tense up in protection from various traumas. Lee set conditions of slowness, awareness, and consent to retrain some of these responses and guide my body into softening – we began with talk, moved into very light touch, and progressed into some cranial and more deep tissue massage. As a chronically ill trans person, feeling this kind of safety and healing feels both rare and deeply necessary. I look forward to continuing to work with Lee in future visits to Asheville and highly recommend Resilient Roots Bodywork.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
— K.
H.
Honestly Lee does such a great job. Ze has helped me a lot with my top surgery healing and I love the cupping ze adds in. I’m very stiff in my shoulders and the cupping adds a whole dimension. Most recently I went in with plantar fascitis on my feet and ze used cups on my feet and they hurt so much less today! I’m so grateful. Plus when ze walks on my back side it feels amazing! I’m a big guy and it feels like that’s the best way to get into my bulky muscles — otherwise folks don’t really get in there enough. Highly recommend for queer & trans affirming care & anyone looking for relief & quality!
Definitely five stars!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
— H.
M
Lee is truly a gifted bodyworker – deeply compassionate, with a highly skilled touch delivered in a way that supports healing not only for the physical body, but also the nervous system and psyche. Highly recommend if you are looking for a nurturing treatment. I drive over an hour to receive Lee’s work because it’s simply the BEST!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
— M.
I
Lee is talented, compassionate and magical and will change your life if you go regularly. A calming safe place for queer and trans people and a worthwhile investment for anyone with a body.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
— I.
T
Lee is a miracle worker! Hands down the best massage that I have ever had. I have been getting massage from Lee for the past two years and I will not go anywhere else for massage in Asheville. Lee is very passionate about bodywork and somatic healing. Ze is committed to learning and adding to zir’s repertoire of skills. Ze provides trauma-informed, queer and gender affirming body work. Lee is wonderful about checking in, gathering consent at every stage of the process, and finding the best pressure for me.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
— T.
A.
Bodywork by Lee is transformative. Ze puts so much intention into zirs practice and it shows in movement, technique, active listening and connection. This is truly a customized healing experience. I will be going back on a more consistent basis. This is hands down the best massage I have ever received.
Truly exceptional.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
— A.
A.
Bodywork by Lee is transformative. Ze puts so much intention into zirs practice and it shows in movement, technique, active listening and connection. This is truly a customized healing experience. I will be going back on a more consistent basis. This is hands down the best massage I have ever received.
Truly exceptional.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
— A.
R
Lee is a wonderful bodywork practitioner. The work is very intuitive and Lee does a great job of incorporating multiple complimentary modalities. I always feel seen, relaxed and rejuvenated after a session.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
— R
M
Lee is truly a gifted bodyworker – deeply compassionate, with a highly skilled touch delivered in a way that supports healing not only for the physical body, but also the nervous system and psyche. Highly recommend if you are looking for a nurturing treatment. I drive over an hour to receive Lee’s work because it’s simply the BEST!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
— M.
Find out more
If you are interested but not sure what option would be the best fit for you, feel free to schedule an exploratory call and chat with Lee about making a plan that will work for you.
Checkout the links to learn more or head over to the online scheduler and book your first session.