Our Specialties

Revolutions Bodywork is a queer-owned business providing affirming and conscientious bodywork to the LGBTQIA+ community. We bring awareness and knowledge of queer bodywork to every session and always operate from an empowered consent model. Interacting with our clients and clients’ bodies in ways that honor the fact bodies often hold so many different emotions and experiences is a key way we work. Our goal is to be a practice where you can feel safe bringing your queer body to our table in every stage of your journey.

Bringing in experience from community organizing, activism work, and bodywork, we operate through a trauma—informed care lens. We follow the the research-based “Four Rs of Trauma-Informed Care,” which include:
1. “Realize the widespread impact of trauma and understand potential paths for recovery
2. Recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma in clients
3. Respond by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, practices, and seeks to actively
4. Resist re-traumatization”

To enact these principles, we use the following tools:
● Only working from empowered consent, including discussing treatment plans ahead of the bodywork session. If there is an unexpected reaction or finding within the bodywork session, it is brought up at the time of the session and/or discussed openly after the session. This reduces the risk of re-traumatization by keeping communication open and building a therapeutic alliance where both the massage therapist and client can contribute to treatment planning and care.
● We recognize the physical signs of trauma in the body, as well as psychological stress responses. Rather than pushing through muscle guarding or try to force muscle tension release, we recognize that different areas of the body often need different levels of pressure or engagement and work with you to meet goals we co-create.
● We know that bodywork does not only have one goal, which is often assumed to be “to relax.” We want to work with you to establish your goals for bodywork, which might include but are not limited to: building positive experiences with touch, practicing saying “no” to touch in a safe space, practicing communication around touch, and having affirming experiences follow, allowing emotions stored in the body to be embodied (whatever the emotions may be), and many other possibilities.

Please note: our relationship to working with trauma is through how trauma affects the body. We are not licensed mental health professionals, and it is not within our scope of practice to discuss or psychoanalyze traumatic experiences in the manner as a mental health professional.

Scars often affect multiple layers and systems of the body. In addition to impacts on mobility and posture, scars can have an emotional component and can “store” or be strongly related to specific memories, experiences, or feelings. At Revolutions Bodywork, we have developed an integrated approach for working with scar tissue that is mindful of both physical and emotional aspects. Our primary experience around scar tissue treatment is with clients who have received gender-affirming surgeries, but we also work with clients whose scars originate from other surgeries, traumatic injuries, burns, or other accidents.

Our treatment approach works with techniques from myofascial release and trigger point therapy/deep tissue massage. Myofascial release techniques require a light, slow touch to unwind the restrictions in the fascial system, which is a fine, web-like tissue that surrounds every muscle, cell, and organ. This helps to release any restrictions that may be directly and indirectly caused by the scarred area, which can affect posture, movement ability, and the ability of muscles to relax. Trigger point techniques are used to help directly break up the fibrous scar tissue and can potentially change the texture of the scar.

While minor changes in the appearance of the scar can be possible, they are not guaranteed. A scar work session may include a number of techniques, depending on how the body has been affected by the scar(s) and the state of the scar(s). The primary goals of scar tissue work are to release physical restrictions within the body that are a result of the injury/surgery, improve blood circulation to the scarred area (which assists in healing), as well as to aid the body in processing the emotional components of the experience that led to them. Scar tissue work can be performed on scars of any age.

Through experience with clients and collaboration with practitioners familiar with hypermobility, we have developed standards of practice to use with hypermobile clients including:
● avoiding techniques that rely on joint stability (such as limb traction)
● working away from affected joints and more with the middle of the muscles rather than the ends closer to joints
● being mindful that muscle tension in certain areas is often supporting the compromised joints and that working one area too deeply can lead to further joint instability
● working to provide relief through addressing compensatory tension in the body that is not directly linked to the compromised joint(s) but is still affected by the hypermobility

If you have hypermobility and are looking for bodywork on the deep tissue spectrum, we recommend booking a session toward the end of your day as your body will most likely need to adjust to the new variations in muscle tension after the session, and this could temporarily affect your stability while your body finds a new balance.

We have standard practices informed by experiences with our neurodivergent clients, as well as accommodations that can be made upon request. Our standard practices related to the sensory environment include:

● using 100% natural cotton sheets on the massage table, as opposed to synthetic fibers
● using unscented organic sunflower seed oil as our default base massage oil.
● offering a treatment room that is a low-scent space. It is not a no-scent space as the treatment room is used by other therapists, so occasionally, there are some lingering scents, such as lemongrass
● checking in with our clients about their comfort with temperature and making adjustments for cooling or warming (we have a table warmer and can use an additional blanket if clients are cold, or use fewer layers and/or a fan if clients are hot). Temperature adjustments can also be made during the session.

We always discuss an overview of the session plan before beginning and are also happy to provide a more in-depth explanation of anything before and/or during the session if it is helpful. Just let us know if this is desired.

We recognize that there are various health conditions requiring people to be more cautious about close-contact interactions. For this reason, we are happy to wear a face mask with no questions asked (just make a note in the comments section when booking). We also notify all clients 24 hours in advance if we are ill and need to reschedule and communicate if there has been a recent illness that has not been 100% cleared up. In the case of the therapist having a recent illness, clients are contacted 24 hours in advance of their appointment and given the option of keeping the appointment with the therapist wearing a face mask or rescheduling the appointment to a later date.

If you are highly cautious, we recommend booking a session toward the beginning of a shift so fewer people have been in the treatment room. We can also ventilate the room prior to your session upon request.

Through our training, which includes anatomy, physiology, and pathology, we are able to provide injury assessment and help you create a care plan for your injury, whether it is recent, chronic, or an old injury that intermittently returns. We do not provide diagnosis, but our knowledge of the muscular system and how it interplays with other systems in the body can be a helpful viewpoint when treating an injury. We can also suggest other specialists who may be able to assist you based on your symptoms and will work directly with the injury when possible. Because some injuries cannot be directly worked with, when appropriate we will design massage sessions that aim to provide relief to areas of your body that are indirectly affected by the injury.

If you are looking for bodywork to aid in injury treatment, please comment when booking the appointment with the type of injury as well as other practitioners that you have seen regarding the injury and diagnosis given, if any. We may reach out to you ahead of the appointment to discuss the best way to proceed.

Please note that no injury can be directly worked with in the first 24-48 hours following the injury, as working directly in the area can interrupt and hinder the body’s natural healing process.