Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of the Tri-Cities region. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around The Tri-Cities.
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Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
EP# 249: Healing Through Touch: A Conversation with Kelly Zarcone and Wild Rose Bodyworks
What makes Kelly Zarcone with Wild Rose Bodyworks a good neighbor?
Ever wondered why your body holds onto pain long after an injury heals, or why talk therapy sometimes hits a wall? The answers might lie in understanding how trauma physically manifests in our bodies.
Kelly Zarcone, licensed massage therapist and owner of Wild Rose Body Works, joins us with her five-month-old daughter Rowan to explore the fascinating world of somatic trauma therapy. Kelly shares how her own healing journey from chronic asthma led her to discover the profound connection between physical symptoms and emotional wounds. Drawing from advanced techniques like myofascial release and craniosacral therapy, she explains how these body-based interventions help clients release trauma patterns stored within their nervous systems.
What makes this conversation particularly compelling is Kelly's ability to bridge multiple worlds—blending insights from renowned trauma experts like Bessel van der Kolk with hands-on therapeutic techniques. She dispels common misconceptions about massage therapy, revealing how practitioners often specialize in diverse modalities to address complex healing needs. Kelly also candidly discusses her recent childbirth experience, sharing how it deepened her appreciation for the body's innate wisdom and sparked interest in expanding her practice to support pregnant women.
Whether you've struggled with unresolved trauma, chronic pain, or simply feel stuck in your healing journey, this episode offers fresh perspective on how our bodies hold our stories. Kelly's compassionate approach reminds us that true healing often requires addressing both mind and body. Ready to explore beyond traditional talk therapy? Listen now and discover how somatic interventions might be the missing piece in your wellness puzzle.
To learn more about Wild Rose Bodyworks go to:
https://www.wildrosebodywork.com/
Wild Rose Bodyworks
(980) 785-3917
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monty.
Speaker 2:Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. So we've got a couple of very special guests in our studios today and we're thrilled to have them and excited to learn all about what they do. And so I'm sure you'll be just as excited, because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, ms Kelly Zarconi, who is the owner operator of Wild Rose Body Works. Kelly, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:And for those listeners who can't see the video Kelly has her young daughter strapped to her chest and she's passed out. What's your daughter's name? Again, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:Her name's Rowan. Yeah, she's fast asleep. Strapped against my body, it's her favorite place to nap.
Speaker 2:There you go, and how old is she?
Speaker 3:She's five months now.
Speaker 2:Five months old. Okay, guys. So first time we've had a five month old in the studio, so I'm super excited. So, speaking of being excited, like I said, we're excited to learn all about what you do, kelly. So, if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about your business?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'd be happy to. So I am a licensed massage therapist in the state of North Carolina and I do various body work techniques and specialized care for folks. One of the primary areas that I focus on is somatic trauma therapy, and somatic refers to like body-based interventions for trauma. So I do manual labor, like myofascial work, working with the fascial system, craniosacral system, which comes from osteopathy, and I also am starting to transition much more towards just solely working with trauma-based care for folks. So collaborating with counselors but doing table work or touch the touch portion of helping folks move through dysregulation in their nervous systems and overcome both physical and emotional trauma patterns. So that's my, that's my primary focus with with folks at this point.
Speaker 2:Very good. Well, obviously, a service that is well needed in today's society, a lot of trauma going on.
Speaker 3:It is. Yeah, there's a lot going on.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so very interesting. How did, how did you get started in this business, Kelly?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I got started 10 years ago after college and I started because I was focusing on my own healing. I had chronic asthma since I was a little kid and I kept revisiting it with different practitioners. And I kept revisiting it with different practitioners and everyone kind of was like we're not quite sure what the source is behind this, because it keeps cropping up when I'd be under high levels of stress and I eventually went to see a body worker whose primary focus was on myofascial release and craniosacral therapy, which is what inspired me to get into this work. And through multiple sessions with them I came to find out that a lot of my disorganization I was having in my body with these asthma spells had to do with really chronically tight tension patterns along my upper, back and chest and also deep trauma wounds from when I was a little kid that kind of surfaced right at the same time. So I was having, you know, emotional breakdowns on his table and not really sure what was going on. And I got more and more into looking at how, like the nervous system overlays with the physical body and what folks were exploring within this realm during that time.
Speaker 3:So folks like Bessel van der Kolk, which most people know, like his book the Body Keeps the Score, which is very popular right now, or Peter Levine's work, which is Somatic Experiencing like Waking the Tiger work, which is somatic experiencing like waking the tiger those folks which primarily come from counseling psychology world they overlap really well with body-based interventions and body workers who do fascial work on connective tissue, because what they're starting to learn is healing trauma doesn't just have to do with your psyche, it has to do with your whole physiology and how your nervous system is responding to an event during a difficult time.
Speaker 3:So basically I had some sessions with this person and stopped having asthma attacks, which felt really miraculous to me at the time, and I was like I want to be able to do this for folks. So that kind of took me into a deep dive with all these different modalities and pulling from different backgrounds. So I feel like I've been really fortunate to kind of fall into this unique path and way of helping helping people move through trauma in a way that maybe they wouldn't get the full picture if they were just doing traditional talk therapy.
Speaker 2:Well, what? What are some myths or misconceptions in your industry?
Speaker 3:Well, definitely for, like massage therapists, it's the idea that you know if you are licensed under this one thing like I'm an LMT, so licensed massage therapist, that you only do massage. So a lot of practitioners, they'll get their licensure and then they'll start to specialize in different fields and different modalities that inspire them or they've found helpful to them. So, like all these other trainings that folks get within massage therapy can be very, very different. So, like, when you are finding a practitioner, they might be licensed as, like, a massage therapist or a body worker, but they most likely will have very, very different trainings or very different styles. So sometimes it's a little tricky to figure out like, what is best suited for you. You're going to have to do like a little bit of research.
Speaker 3:Um, cause sometimes people start to come in and they're just like my, my back is killing me, this and this is going on, and it ends up being like oh, I actually got hit by a car when I was 16 and I've had this chronic issue, and so there's like a trauma overlay with something like that. So situations can get, you know, fairly complicated for practitioners. So it's nice to go see someone who has an array of different modalities that they can pull from, instead of just going to see, like, a massage therapist who you know works at a spa or something. Not to say that there's anything wrong with that. Those folks are usually really skilled too, but they're kind of confined to doing their work in a particular way for their clientele. So I would just say, looking into seeing what, what trainings and and additional modalities someone's been drawn to, and see what they felt inspired by in their work.
Speaker 2:Very good, very good. Well, who are you know? Marketing is key to just about any business. Who are your target customers and how do you attract them? Who are your target?
Speaker 3:customers and how do you attract them? Yeah, great question. I primarily work with women at this point and, almost unintentionally, my background as a sexual assault survivor kind of, has drawn that group of folks to me because unfortunately, more women have been sexually assaulted, just statistically, and so I think also women tend to seek out care faster than men do. So my group of folks that I typically work with are women, usually over 18, although I have worked with some younger kids and folks who are interested in exploring the somatic piece, the body-based intervention, of how to help heal trauma in their lives, whether it's emotional, physical and do touch-based body therapy. So those are my, those are my clients that I typically work with and I love to work with. And for any men out there too, I'd also love to support you through your journey. Um, but that's kind of one of my. One of my specialties is working with folks who've had any kind of sexual trauma.
Speaker 2:Good to know. Good to know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, outside of work.
Speaker 2:Uh, kelly, what do you like to do for fun?
Speaker 3:Also such a fun question. Well, I have my five-month-old and we're just starting to like get back out into hiking. One of my favorite things is being outside in nature. Me and my husband both love rock climbing, so we have been going out to different areas around here, like Rumbling Bald, which is close by Just some areas that we love exploring, being outside all day and rock climbing. So, yeah, mostly nature-based things, we're very much about that.
Speaker 2:Well, you live in a perfect place for that, actually.
Speaker 3:We do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thankful for that. So let's switch gears for just a second. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you've overcome, either professionally or personally, and how it made you stronger on the other side?
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, I kind of touched on this like about what got me into my my work initially, which was just having this long-term health concern with with my asthma, and so that kind of brought me into my work and I feel like I'm moving into a little bit of a new direction and being curious about what it would be like to work with pregnant women, getting into doula work and stuff, because there's so much support that's needed there and I had, you know, I just had my daughter not too long ago and that was like one of my deeper fears was giving birth and we obviously did it, we made it through, so, Um, and we obviously did it.
Speaker 1:We made it through.
Speaker 3:So, and I had you know, thank you and I had a really um, what I would say I don't know empowering or just a really beautiful experience, um with her bringing her into the world, which I'm so grateful for and um, so grateful to all the practitioners who supported me through that, because there was parts of my pregnancy and everything that were really difficult and it required a new level of self-care and attunement to my own nervous system, my own body, and really getting into that more innate wisdom that we all have within us in our own systems.
Speaker 3:That kind of gets us through hard times, so it really made me have to lean on that in a new way and not be so in my head about collecting data or collecting knowledge. It's like, at the end of the day, you really have to sit with the wisdom of your own physiology as it gets you through this really intense moment. So, yeah, I'm just really proud of her for being able to to move through such a momentous thing with me. Um, and yeah, I just have so much admiration for, for all mothers at this point about however they brought their little one into the world. Um, yeah, it's just such a monumentous, monumentous thing. And um, yeah, just having a deep appreciation for that whole experience.
Speaker 2:Awesome, awesome. Well, mom and baby obviously doing well, so good job.
Speaker 3:We are, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2:Awesome, awesome. So, kelly, if you could think of one thing you'd like our listeners to remember about Wild Rose Body Works, what would that be?
Speaker 3:about Wild Rose Body Works? What would that be? I would love folks to remember that somatic-based interventions exist. So if you've been struggling with talk therapy and just feel like you're hitting a wall, I would really highly recommend doing a little research about where you can find a practitioner in your area who does somatic experiencing or body-based trauma work, because not to say that you shouldn't stop going to see a counselor or someone, but it can be a really, really supportive adjunct for, um, the type of healing that people are often searching for and needing to kind of get them through some of the some of the more difficult pieces within their healing journey that typically get overlooked. So, um, yeah, and I'm available as well. I'm in the Asheville area, black Mountain area, but there's amazing practitioners everywhere who are trained in this work. They're out there and there's different ways that you can heal your nervous system, your body, and overcome some of these difficult circumstances that people typically face, without it solely being more psych based or mental.
Speaker 2:So if any of our listeners sound like you're hitting the nail on the head and they need your services and would like to learn more, how can they do that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you can go to my website, wildrosebodyworkcom, and you'll see all the various modalities that I do and you'll be able to schedule a session there. I'm starting my work up in the next month or two cause I've been on mom duty maternity leave so I'll be back full time real soon. So I'd love to love to see you.
Speaker 2:All right, very good. Well, kelly, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you and your daughter being on our our show today and telling us all about what you do, hi there. And uh wish you and her and your husband, your family and your practice all the best, moving forward.
Speaker 3:Oh, thank you so much, really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Well, we appreciate you and maybe we can have you back sometime.
Speaker 3:That'd be wonderful, thank you.
Speaker 1:All right, thanks. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the, that's GNPtry-Citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.