Somatic Partner Acro +
Trauma-Informed
Weightlifting
for cultivating embodied power,
relational healing
and skills towards
collective liberation
for Queer, Nonbinary & Trans Folks
one-one-one, pairs or group sessions and series online on zoom
and in person for locals and visitors to Asheville, North Carolina
Presence. Play. Power.
Are you ready to take your healing to another embodied realm?
Talking and thinking can only get us so far.
When healing work is embodied, you can experience a new level of
presence, play and power in your life. Everyday.
Our unique elixir of somatic practice, trauma-release bodywork, partner acrobatics, and trauma-informed weightlifting are combined just for you and your healing, relationship and political organizing goals.
These times are asking too much of us. To trust when we’re afraid, to connect when we feel alienated. What do we need to embody to build healthier communities and create new worlds?
What is it like to lift each other up? Literally?
Hold, be held, lift, be lifted.
Trauma and marginalization can leave protective patterns of fear and disconnection from ourselves and others.
Somatic Acro and Trauma-informed Weightlifting supports us in becoming softer and stronger, as well as more powerful, tender, present, and playful!
Anyone who has lifted weights or balanced with other people has felt how partner acrobatics and weightlifting can heal our nervous systems, restore our agency, and build our confidence when experienced in a safe-enough space.
The purpose of this work is to support your healing path however you define it.
This could include working in the realms of
cultivating embodied trust in ourselves and others
increasing flexibility and adaptability
finding internal strength to meet acute and ongoing stressors
exploring presence and dissociation
nervous system recalibration
expanding our window of tolerance
working through trauma and triggers with certain movements or movement spaces
grief and/or celebration of body and health changes
moving in ways that are gender exploring and affirming
leadership strength for collective liberation
allyship or co-conspiritorship
allowing yourself support
fighting systemic oppression
power to win campaigns
resisting capitalism and colonialism
the transformative power of play and creativity
Feedback
“Phillippe is intentional, their care is felt ”
“Phillippe offers a confidence that is soft enough to be inviting but strong enough to feel unequivocally and unwaveringly secure”
“Ze is wise, grounded and anchored and sees others with depth”
“Your work feels magical because you feel so connected to your inherent worth and everyone else’s”
About Phillippe
Phillippe Citrine is a generative somatics practitioner, progressive partner acrobatics educator, trauma-informed weightlifting coach, and holds a masters in counseling psychology in expressive arts therapy.
Ze uniquely blends these modalities to offer embodied healing sessions for individuals, pairs and small groups in the trans and queer community in Asheville, NC and anywhere online.
As a co-founder of trans acro, Phillippe also offers collaborative political power building workshops towards collective liberation with an emphasis on communication, consent and subverting social power dynamics.
Phillippe brings a loving, playful, grounded, and nurturing spirit to zir work. Ze is inspired to facilitate this elixir of presence, play and power in these political times because these practices creatively transform our sense of possibility for our bodies, our spirits and each other.
Qualifications
Acro Educators Training, 60 hours with Christine Moonbeam and Blox Emslie, Asheville, NC, 2006
Trauma Informed Weightlifting Certificate, 60 hours, Candace Liger and Mariah Rooney, 2026
Generative Somatics Coaching for Social Justice: Somatics, Trauma & Resilience Level 1, 2 & Advanced, Somatic Bodywork 1, 2 & Advanced with Staci Haines, Jennifer Ianniello, Mawulisa Thomas Adeyemo, Lui Hoi Man, Elizabeth Ross, and Richard Strozzi– 15 years of training with ongoing professional consultation, 2009-present
Masters in Counseling Psychology and Expressive Arts Therapy- California Institute of Integral Studies, 2011
Restorative Yoga Training, 16 hours with Kimberly Puryear, Asheville Yoga Center, 2020
Yoga, Psychology, & Trauma Training, 14 hours with Janelle Railey, LPC, RYT, Asheville, 2018; covering addiction, attachment theory, somatic experiencing, trauma-informed yoga, affective neuroscience, and mindfulness meditation
More about Phillippe’s training and lineage here.
Reach out for more information and to get started.
Lift up, hold in, let go!
What is embodied metaphor?
Embodied metaphor is an opportunity to deepen our presence, energy and healing through movement practices that are new or that we are already engaging with in our lives. Through acro and lifting we can express our power to become internally and spiritually more engaged to be able to support each other and receive support to change our lives and conditions for our communities. We can externalize anger, pain and stress, start to let go of intergenerational burdens, push forward what we want, and lift up what we care about!
How do our movement practices change when we are present with and inspired by what we’re fighting for and against? How does how we are fighting for and against change when we practice how we want to show up in our organizing, cultural and care work in our physical movement practices?
FAQ’s
What are sessions like?
All 50 minute virtual or 70 minute in-person sessions are progressive and tailored to you and your aspirations. We collaborate to blend somatic practice, trauma-release bodywork, partner acrobatics, and trauma-informed weightlifting over the course of our work together working with one or more of these modalities each session. I offer a somatic practice invitation or training plan for between sessions as desired.
Where do we meet?
We have the option to meet virtually or in-person. We can meet indoors in a movement studio in the Oakley neighborhood on Friday afternoons or outdoors in a quiet park in Asheville on weekday mornings depending on your preference and the weather.
What is the cost of sessions?
This work is offered on a sliding scale based on balancing a sustainable wage for the practitioner with each client’s unique relationship to class and access to resources.
Contact me for the 2026 scale. I reserve 2 spots below the scales for those who are struggling to meet basic needs and do not have savings, inheritance, assets, or other financial resources. I prioritize the intersections of trans/nonbinary, parenting, caregiving, disabled, chronically ill, BIPOC, and immigrant identified folks for these spaces.
Is this therapy?
As most of us have experienced, many healing modalities are therapeutic without being mental health therapy. While I have a masters degree in counseling psychology that informs my approach to somatics, this work is exclusively somatic coaching not psychotherapy. With your permission, I can collaborate with your mental health therapist, personal trainer, psychiatrist, physical therapist, or doctor (if you are working with any of these providers) as needed or desired to best meet your needs.
How is this different than gym weightlifting, personal training or recreational acro?
Though we may use foundational partner acrobatics skills and weightlifting movements, we are not focusing on aesthetics, athletic performance or “fitness” training in the typical sense. We are utilizing these practices to develop our embodiment, somatic awareness, bodily autonomy, trauma healing, and relational skills. We focus on how the way you are moving feels internally and how it impacts you in orienting in your external environment including relating to others. However, you may choose to take your experience in your sessions into how you choose to move, train or workout outside of these sessions.
Is touch required?
No, any or all touch is consensual, optional and is not necessary for somatic awareness, weightlifting and preparing for partner acrobatics.
Do I need to bring a partner?
No, you do not need to bring a partner but you are welcome to bring a practice partner to some or all sessions as we design your healing trajectory. This work offers powerful insight and practice for people in any type of relationship.
What if I am disabled?
Let’s chat about what your healing intentions are and what types of acro and lifting interest you. There are many variations and progressions within both of these practices.
What are you politics around size, ability, health, and “fitness”?
I strive to embody a weight-neutral, bodily autonomy and harm reduction stance towards movement practices. I am in a life-long process of transforming the impact of my own indoctrination into this fatphobic, ableist, healthist, ageist, white supremacist, and anti-black society and how this shows up in movement spaces. I am grateful to have trained with Trauma-Informed Weightlifting, a queer multi-racial teaching team and an international learning community, who frame this work through an intersectional and decolonizing fitness lens.
Do you work with couples, friends and families?
Yes, I work with all configurations of friends, siblings, partners, chosen family, housemates, collectives, co-workers, colleagues, and community members.
Do you work with teens and kids?
Sometimes, depending on their age, desires and goals. Let’s chat.
What if I have never lifted weights before?
That is 100% ok. I work with all levels from I have never touched a weight to “I lift regularly”. Our focus is somatic embodiment, healing and practicing in a way that translates to who and how you want to be in the rest of your life.
What if I am new to acro?
You are welcome! I love working with people new to this practice. We will start where you are, when you are ready with progressions to build body awareness, nervous system regulation skills, and confidence.
What if I am recovering from an injury?
I am sorry to hear you are dealing with injury; it’s hard. I have been there! I am here to discuss your needs with you as well as consult with your other providers to come up with a plan and timeline that is safe for you. Let’s chat.
What if I am a current or former competitive weightlifter or advanced level acrobat?
While practicing advanced acrobatics and being at a competitive level of weighlifting can feel empowering, some athletes are seeking new ways of relating to their bodies beyond performance and the rigor of high skill level training. Somatics offers a journey into balancing our relationship to being embodied. This can be especially valuable for some of us especially living in a perfectionistic culture that values doing over being. This process can include making space for and accepting our more tender, emotional and non-productive parts especially as we get older, experience injuries or live with new disabilities. We can connect even more deeply with our value in just being alive and loving ourselves and others as we engage with movement practices. We can carve out new paths of how we relate to ourselves in new movements and with very familiar movements.
image description: two people in the acro pose called chair with two other people on each side spotting the flyer by holding their forearms and hands
image description: a person looking focused holding a kettlebell at their chest in a squat position surrounded by trees and grass at dusk
image description: a person smiling and watching two people in the partner acro pose called front plank or bird surrounded by grass with trees in the background at dusk
image description: a person with long hair in a ponytail holding a barbell over their head while gazing upward in a gym with large windows and trees outside
image description: two people laying down with their side bodies touching with their arms outstretched smiling on a mat in green grass with tiny white flowers
image description: a person doing a handstand with their legs against a large tree surrounded by grass at dusk
image description: a close up of two people with tattoos with their hands intertwined in an acro pose with green grass with tiny white flowers
image description: two people in the acro pose “star” being spotted by two people on each side in the grass at dusk