I’ve been getting bodywork from Lillee for the past 20 years. Last year, I came out as nonbinary and told Lillee I would be having top surgery. I was very scared of being put under anesthesia, and that’s when Lillee introduced me to Somatic Experiencing (SE). SE helped prepare me for surgery by allowing me to connect with my body on a deeper level. I was able to go into and come out of surgery with a calmness I’ve never experienced before. This, in turn, allowed me to embrace my healing both emotionally and physically. The work we do helps me to continue to grow and know myself better. What keeps me coming back to Lillee is her unwavering support, expertise, and genuine care. I can’t imagine navigating my wellness journey without Lillee’s guidance.
-Ash Estep (they/them)
What people are saying
Lillee’s work is sure-footed, delicate, and expansive. Over the years, Lillee’s space has been a sanctuary where I have developed a sturdier and more compassionate relationship with my body and spirit.
- Susan N.
What people are saying
Thanks for another amazing [online] class. Your verbiage, the clear, creative way you move us through the practice is so profound. I’ve written out the physical practice, but the way you interpret and describe things, allows everyone to move deeper with a true personal understanding. I can’t write all that down.
- Darcy Bowman
What people are saying
As a student in Lillee's movement classes for over ten years, I learned to hear what my body was telling me in loud tones—aches, stiffness, limitations—and respond in innovative, soothing and transformational ways. But I was still trying to fix my body and corral it into serving my overfull life. Working with Lillee privately in the one-on-one SE framework is helping me, at long last, be a true friend to my body—a good and steady listener, a curious and patient companion, who compassionately remembers the many storms she has weathered. Each session I understand a bit more of the quiet, subtle, easily missed wisdom my body has been trying to offer me my whole life, and to await her guidance about the most spacious and grateful life I can lead.
- JP, North Haven CT
What people are saying
Lillee has been able to keep me active and functional despite my best efforts to over-train and injure myself! She has a gift for finding the source of an issue, and providing excellent treatment, both hands on as well as by way of advice on targeted exercises. I recommend her to friends and family at every possible opportunity.
- Bill B
What people are saying
Your body is your own best teacher.
I work with people privately in my North Haven office. Zoom sessions are also available for Somatic Experiencing® and movement practices.
Sessions are not one-size-fits all, but instead are designed around the needs of the person I am working with, and are influenced by my decades in practice and the 3 main modalities which I integrate: massage therapy, Somatic Experiencing®, and movement & self-care. Read more about each modality below.
Chandra Bodyworks is committed to bringing financially accessible care to underrepresented communities. Please inquire about sliding scale availability.
MASSAGE
THERAPY
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Since 2005, I have been a licensed massage therapist and owner of ChandraBodyworks, LLC a private massage and movement therapy practice in CT. I have over 100 hours of certified advanced clinical training in orthopedic massage therapy and have completed multiple programs in Thai yoga massage both in the US and southeast Asia where I lived and studied with osteopathic physicians and Thai master teachers. In 2017, I began a three year certificate program in Somatic Experiencing® to further my understanding of the nervous system and how trauma lands and lives in the tissues of the body. My hands-on work is a dynamic combination of all of the above. As a teacher at heart, I equip people with the skills and know-how to care for their body
at home, work, & play.
SOMATIC EXPERIENCING®
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Somatic Experiencing® (SE) aims to resolve symptoms of stress, shock, and trauma that accumulate in our bodies. SE gives your body a way to be heard… by accompanying what you feel with essential nervous system support. When we are stuck in survival patterns of fight, flight, or freeze, the SE approach helps us to release, recover, and become more resilient. This is helpful for managing a wide range of challenges that arise from chronic stress like: tightness / pain in the body, illness, relational difficulties, sleep disorders and for uniquely
addressing developmental trauma.
Somatic Experiencing® builds our capacity and awareness and gives us the ability to begin reaching for what feels steadier, more soothing and sustainable to our bodies and lives.
Learn more at traumahealing.org.
MOVEMENT &
SELF CARE
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I completed my first yoga teacher training in 2001 and studied multiple methods before becoming the lead anatomy trainer for Yoga Tune Up® and the Roll Model Method®. I have instructed hundreds of students, trainers, teachers and clinicians in embodied anatomy and trauma - informed yoga. My teaching often incorporates soothing self-massage methods to tactilely inform exactly how your anatomical parts are “all connected.” My classes invite you to empower yourself about what you feel in your tissues and compel you to want to know more. Asking better questions and experimenting with your creativity are far more important than right and wrong answers or mimicry. Although I no longer teach traditional yoga classes, I love leading groups and individuals in trauma-sensitive self-care movement explorations.