Moving Body Massage — Local services in Asheville

I have visited Asheville every August for 3 years now. On my first trip I was looking for a deep tissue or medical massage therapist to help with my various lifelong problems with connective tissue diseases, RA, Lupus, and scleroderma. I’m a complex case with a lot of scar tissue, joint damage, fascia tightness and knots. I truly feel that Joel is gifted by a higher power or a deep connection, tapping into energies. I was diagnosed with RA at age 6 and started with various PTs until venturing into massage at age 19. I’m 47 now. I have been to so many bodywork practitioners, and he is only the 2nd one who has been able to instinctively find the areas that need to be worked on and what pressure they need without me saying much. I have left each session feeling more aligned, less restricted and able to keep a healthy posture without pain. This last visit I was intrigued to find out that he started Triple Vagal Method work. I asked to try it, and I was amazed. My experiences were very helpful in my recent journey with grief and medical trauma, but they would have been helpful even if I wasn’t dealing with any of that. I experienced a sense of calm, ability to let go of all tension, worries, able to examine what thoughts I had from a detached place of observation, and felt a reconnection to a child-like blank slate. I was reminded of the state I’m supposed to be in and had forgotten could exist for me. There was a warmth and a feeling that I was loved and worthy. This came from inside me. A memory. A core I had lost touch with. Facilitated by the technique Joel was practicing. Sound, touch, stimulation of vagus nerve, regulation. I carried it through with me. I struggle with being quick to worry, or become agitated, or shut down. This practice...

I started with Joel in 2022 after a car accident and have remained under his singular care since. My first session, Joel spent time really listening to where I was feeling pain and tightness and I walked away from my first session feeling relief I wasn’t even aware I could experience. Beyond the car accident, I have chronic back, hip, and shoulder pain and Joel has continued to provide me with deep and long-lasting relief.

Unlike others, both in the medical massage realm and the large realm of bodywork, Joel has a deep and intricate knowledge of the body and is acutely capable of addressing concerns and pains beyond where I think they’re emanating from, making expert assessments and locating the areas that are the roots of muscular malfunction and tension.

When Joel moved to his own private practice, I followed him without a second thought. I know that after every session, I will feel relieved and fully at home in my body again.

I’ve mentioned him and his work so frequently I had folks considering traveling from out of state to experience it for themselves.

Medical massage is a true craft with Joel, and he has mastered it. Beyond his skill, he has a comforting presence and a professional demeanor that assuaged any anxieties of deep tissue and full body massage from my very first session.

I could not recommend him more highly. Not only in the region, but in the field of medical massage at large, Joel...

I was looking for my forever massage therapist and Joel was recommended to me by a friend. There is a reason why he has five stars in every review. He is that good! Joel is a next level healer using his massage skills, knowledge of the body and uncanny intuition. He knows exactly how to address whatever is brought to him for healing. I have had two sessions with him so far and he is now my forever massage therapist. He has already improved my SI joint issues by 70%. He even made my very troublesome trigger finger disappear! No one else, including my chiropractor, has been able to do that. As a runner, I especially appreciate how he knows exactly how to work with the muscles I use for running. He doesn't just do what he does. He listens and tailors the session for each person's needs. He is also very respectful and communicates what he is doing with an ease and knowing that builds confidence. I...