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July 4, 2025 16 mins

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   



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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Skip Monty.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
So we've got a couple of veryspecial guests in our studios
today and we're thrilled to havethem and excited to learn all
about what they do.
And so I'm sure you'll be justas excited, because today I have
the pleasure of introducingyour good neighbor, ms Kelly
Zarconi, who is the owneroperator of Wild Rose Body Works

(00:33):
.
Kelly, welcome to the show.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
Thank you, thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
And for those listeners who can't see the
video Kelly has her youngdaughter strapped to her chest
and she's passed out.
What's your daughter's name?
Again, I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
Her name's Rowan.
Yeah, she's fast asleep.
Strapped against my body, it'sher favorite place to nap.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
There you go, and how old is she?

Speaker 3 (00:58):
She's five months now .

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Five months old.
Okay, guys.
So first time we've had a fivemonth 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, whydon't you kick us off by telling
us about your business?

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah, I'd be happy to .
So I am a licensed massagetherapist in the state of North
Carolina and I do various bodywork techniques and specialized
care for folks.
One of the primary areas that Ifocus on is somatic trauma

(01:35):
therapy, and somatic refers tolike body-based interventions
for trauma.
So I do manual labor, likemyofascial work, working with
the fascial system, craniosacralsystem, which comes from
osteopathy, and I also amstarting to transition much more

(01:59):
towards just solely workingwith trauma-based care for folks
.
So collaborating withcounselors but doing table work
or touch the touch portion ofhelping folks move through
dysregulation in their nervoussystems and overcome both
physical and emotional traumapatterns.

(02:21):
So that's my, that's my primaryfocus with with folks at this
point.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Very good.
Well, obviously, a service thatis well needed in today's
society, a lot of trauma goingon.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
It is.
Yeah, there's a lot going on.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Absolutely so very interesting.
How did, how did you getstarted in this business, Kelly?

Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yeah, I got started 10 years ago after college and I
started because I was focusingon my own healing.
I had chronic asthma since Iwas a little kid and I kept
revisiting it with differentpractitioners.

(03:04):
And I kept revisiting it withdifferent practitioners and
everyone kind of was like we'renot quite sure what the source
is behind this, because it keepscropping up when I'd be under
high levels of stress and Ieventually went to see a body
worker whose primary focus wason myofascial release and
craniosacral therapy, which iswhat inspired me to get into

(03:26):
this work.
And through multiple sessionswith them I came to find out
that a lot of my disorganizationI was having in my body with
these asthma spells had to dowith really chronically tight
tension patterns along my upper,back and chest and also deep
trauma wounds from when I was alittle kid that kind of surfaced

(03:49):
right at the same time.
So I was having, you know,emotional breakdowns on his
table and not really sure whatwas going on.
And I got more and more intolooking at how, like the nervous
system overlays with thephysical body and what folks
were exploring within this realmduring that time.

(04:12):
So folks like Bessel van derKolk, which most people know,
like his book the Body Keeps theScore, which is very popular
right now, or Peter Levine'swork, which is Somatic
Experiencing like Waking theTiger work, which is somatic
experiencing like waking thetiger those folks which
primarily come from counselingpsychology world they overlap

(04:33):
really well with body-basedinterventions and body workers
who do fascial work onconnective tissue, because what
they're starting to learn ishealing trauma doesn't just have
to do with your psyche, it hasto do with your whole physiology
and how your nervous system isresponding to an event during a

(04:56):
difficult time.
So basically I had some sessionswith this person and stopped
having asthma attacks, whichfelt really miraculous to me at
the time, and I was like I wantto be able to do this for folks.
So that kind of took me into adeep dive with all these
different modalities and pullingfrom different backgrounds.
So I feel like I've been reallyfortunate to kind of fall into

(05:23):
this unique path and way ofhelping helping people move
through trauma in a way thatmaybe they wouldn't get the full
picture if they were just doingtraditional talk therapy.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Well, what?
What are some myths ormisconceptions in your industry?

Speaker 3 (05:42):
Well, definitely for, like massage therapists, it's
the idea that you know if youare licensed under this one
thing like I'm an LMT, solicensed massage therapist, that
you only do massage.
So a lot of practitioners,they'll get their licensure and

(06:03):
then they'll start to specializein different fields and
different modalities thatinspire them or they've found
helpful to them.
So, like all these othertrainings that folks get within
massage therapy can be very,very different.
So, like, when you are findinga practitioner, they might be

(06:25):
licensed as, like, a massagetherapist or a body worker, but
they most likely will have very,very different trainings or
very different styles.
So sometimes it's a littletricky to figure out like, what
is best suited for you.
You're going to have to do likea little bit of research.
Um, cause sometimes people startto come in and they're just

(06:45):
like my, my back is killing me,this and this is going on, and
it ends up being like oh, Iactually got hit by a car when I
was 16 and I've had thischronic issue, and so there's
like a trauma overlay withsomething like that.
So situations can get, you know, fairly complicated for
practitioners.
So it's nice to go see someonewho has an array of different

(07:10):
modalities that they can pullfrom, instead of just going to
see, like, a massage therapistwho you know works at a spa or
something.
Not to say that there'sanything wrong with that.
Those folks are usually reallyskilled too, but they're kind of
confined to doing their work ina particular way for their
clientele.
So I would just say, lookinginto seeing what, what trainings

(07:36):
and and additional modalitiessomeone's been drawn to, and see
what they felt inspired by intheir work.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Very good, very good.
Well, who are you know?
Marketing is key to just aboutany business.
Who are your target customersand how do you attract them?
Who are your target?

Speaker 3 (07:58):
customers and how do you attract them?
Yeah, great question.
I primarily work with women atthis point and, almost
unintentionally, my backgroundas a sexual assault survivor
kind of, has drawn that group offolks to me because

(08:19):
unfortunately, more women havebeen sexually assaulted, just
statistically, and so I thinkalso women tend to seek out care
faster than men do.
So my group of folks that Itypically work with are women,

(08:40):
usually over 18, although I haveworked with some younger kids
and folks who are interested inexploring the somatic piece, the
body-based intervention, of howto help heal trauma in their

(09:02):
lives, whether it's emotional,physical and do touch-based body
therapy.
So those are my, those are myclients 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

(09:22):
through your journey.
Um, but that's kind of one ofmy.
One of my specialties isworking with folks who've had
any kind of sexual trauma.

Speaker 2 (09:31):
Good to know.
Good to know.

Speaker 3 (09:33):
Yeah, well, outside of work.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
Uh, kelly, what do you like to do for fun?

Speaker 3 (09:38):
Also such a fun question.
Well, I have my five-month-oldand we're just starting to like
get back out into hiking.
One of my favorite things isbeing outside in nature.
Me and my husband both loverock climbing, so we have been
going out to different areasaround here, like Rumbling Bald,

(09:59):
which is close by Just someareas that we love exploring,
being outside all day and rockclimbing.
So, yeah, mostly nature-basedthings, we're very much about
that.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
Well, you live in a perfect place for that, actually
.

Speaker 3 (10:16):
We do.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, thankful for that.
So let's switch gears for justa second.
Can you describe a hardship ora life challenge that you've
overcome, either professionallyor personally, and how it made
you stronger on the other side?

Speaker 3 (10:29):
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 withwith my asthma, and so that kind
of brought me into my work andI feel like I'm moving into a

(10:50):
little bit of a new directionand being curious about what it
would be like to work withpregnant women, getting into
doula work and stuff, becausethere'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 oneof my deeper fears was giving

(11:16):
birth and we obviously did it,we made it through, so, Um, and
we obviously did it.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
We made it through.

Speaker 3 (11:22):
So, and I had you know, thank you and I had a
really um, what I would say Idon't know empowering or just a
really beautiful experience, umwith her bringing her into the
world, which I'm so grateful forand um, so grateful to all the
practitioners who supported methrough that, because there was

(11:44):
parts of my pregnancy andeverything that were really
difficult and it required a newlevel of self-care and
attunement to my own nervoussystem, my own body, and really
getting into that more innatewisdom that we all have within

(12:07):
us in our own systems.
That kind of gets us throughhard times, so it really made me
have to lean on that in a newway and not be so in my head
about collecting data orcollecting knowledge.
It's like, at the end of theday, you really have to sit with

(12:28):
the wisdom of your ownphysiology as it gets you
through this really intensemoment.
So, yeah, I'm just really proudof her for being able to to
move through such a momentousthing with me.
Um, and yeah, I just have somuch admiration for, for all

(12:50):
mothers at this point abouthowever they brought their
little one into the world.
Um, yeah, it's just such amonumentous, monumentous thing.
And um, yeah, just having adeep appreciation for that whole
experience.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
Awesome, awesome.
Well, mom and baby obviouslydoing well, so good job.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
We are, yeah, thank you.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
Awesome, awesome.
So, kelly, if you could thinkof one thing you'd like our
listeners to remember about WildRose Body Works, what would
that be?

Speaker 3 (13:22):
about Wild Rose Body Works?
What would that be?
I would love folks to rememberthat somatic-based interventions
exist.
So if you've been strugglingwith talk therapy and just feel
like you're hitting a wall, Iwould really highly recommend
doing a little research aboutwhere you can find a

(13:45):
practitioner in your area whodoes somatic experiencing or
body-based trauma work, becausenot to say that you shouldn't
stop going to see a counselor orsomeone, but it can be a really
, really supportive adjunct for,um, the type of healing that
people are often searching forand needing to kind of get them

(14:05):
through some of the some of themore difficult pieces within
their healing journey thattypically get overlooked.
So, um, yeah, and I'm availableas well.
I'm in the Asheville area,black Mountain area, but there's
amazing practitionerseverywhere who are trained in
this work.

(14:25):
They're out there and there'sdifferent ways that you can heal
your nervous system, your body,and overcome some of these
difficult circumstances thatpeople typically face, without
it solely being more psych basedor mental.

Speaker 2 (14:45):
So if any of our listeners sound like you're
hitting the nail on the head andthey need your services and
would like to learn more, howcan they do that?

Speaker 3 (14:54):
Yeah, you can go to my website, wildrosebodyworkcom,
and you'll see all the variousmodalities that I do and you'll
be able to schedule a sessionthere.
I'm starting my work up in thenext month or two cause I've
been on mom duty maternity leaveso I'll be back full time real

(15:18):
soon.
So I'd love to love to see you.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
All right, very good.
Well, kelly, I can't tell youhow much I appreciate you and
your daughter being on our ourshow today and telling us all
about what you do, hi there.
And uh wish you and her andyour husband, your family and
your practice all the best,moving forward.

Speaker 3 (15:38):
Oh, thank you so much , really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
Well, we appreciate you and maybe we can have you
back sometime.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
That'd be wonderful, thank you.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
All right, thanks.
Thank you for listening to theGood Neighbor Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the, that's GNPtry-Citiescom, orcall 423-719-5873.
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