Ben @ the Mend Collective

I’m devoted to supporting individuals discover and cultivate an embodied well-being they can carry forward with joyful confidence into their lives. With a background in nervous-system centered, trauma-informed, and somatic movement modalities, I bring an integrative and presence-centered approach to my sessions. I believe relationship is the key medium for healing and transformation in any process of therapeutic change, grounding and guiding the path of restoring a meaningful connection with the body. 

Massage therapy can be a profound opportunity for the body-mind to unwind patterns of physical and emotional stress. I’m committed to creating a safe, connective, and spacious container for you to experience restorative calm, rest, and well-being. Prior to your session, we’ll explore your treatment goals through a pre-session phone conversation and intake form. Drawing from several modalities - Swedish, Deep Tissue, Neuromuscular, Myofascial, and Table Thai - I will apply an integrated approach that optimally addresses your specific needs and situation. If preferred, you’re welcome to request a specific style of massage. 

Therapeutic bodywork/somatic movement therapy can be effective for individuals who would like to work through challenges that negatively impact their felt sense of embodied self. This may include physical injury/rehabilitation, chronic pain, OCD, eating disorders, body image issues, anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other issues that impact the health of the nervous system. The process applies therapeutic touch, dialogue, breathwork, mindful movement, and embodied imagery, as well as practices to take home and explore. In general, though we welcome personal narratives and include therapeutic dialogue as an important aspect of the process, somatic movement is oriented toward engaging our embodiment through direct experience and practice. Through exploration and learning, this can facilitate new patterns of body-mind connection that can assist in the gradual transformation of chronic issues. I look forward to supporting your process and to learning with you! 

ISMETA-Certification: Somatic Movement Educator/Therapist (2023)
Pacific Center for Awareness and Bodywork, HI (2020)
Moving On Center for Participatory Arts and Somatic Research, CA (2019)
Master’s in Theological Studies, Harvard Divinity School, MA (2017)
Tanzfabrik School of Contemporary Dance and Performance, DE (2016)
Pastoral Counseling/Chaplaincy, New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, NYC (2014) Dharma/Meditation Student - Open Source Zen School, (2009 - Present) 

Beginning with a first encounter with meditation as a college student, I’ve been devoted to different forms of body-mind practice for the past 15 years. My journey with somatic movement practice was sparked shortly afterward, when I discovered Contact Improvisation - a partner dance form that involves open-ended exploration of kinaesthetic awareness through dynamic movement, contact, and playful experimentation - at an artist’s residency in snowy rural western Massachusetts. I was immediately taken by the way the practice enlivened my sensory experience, creating a more vivid relationship to myself, others, and the world. It was as though someone had turned on a light switch and I could, all at once, perceive more colors than I knew previously existed! Inspired, I decided to pursue study with as many teachers as possible in the fields of somatics, dance, and bodywork therapy.

This journey took me to many farflung and wonderful places, but more importantly it helped me, over time, to work through significant challenges with OCD, anxiety, depression, and trauma-related attachment patterns. This personal growth is a core reason why I’m inspired to offer this work to others. In addition to somatic movement, my engagement with dharma/meditation practice, archetypal psychology, mindful communication, and hospice/death doula training have also been important to me and inform my practice. Over the last few years, I’ve co-facilitated a number of online workshops related to topics in bodywork and somatic psychology, and am currently involved in research collaborations on somatic neuroscience and embodiment. When not being a body-mind nerd, I’m inching toward completing an album of music/video art in collaboration with my partner, and enjoying the natural beauty of the mountains, woods, and streams here in Asheville.