In downtown Asheville, on 17 Zilcoa Street, is a little cottage home to a quaint massage studio. This is where Katrina Chappell, 59, fosters healing of the mind, body and soul.
Stepping into Chappell’s space feels like entering a home away from home. It smells faintly of palo santo and various essential oils. Everything is clean, simplistic and warm. Natural light seeping through the curtains adds to the homey, healing ambiance.
By the large windows sits the massage table, a stool, a plant and a big piece of cleansing selenite. Near the door is a small dresser, two chairs and another window that houses more plants, crystals and some spiritual symbols. Chappell’s studio feels like a breath of fresh air. The passion she has for her work – the years of labor and love she has poured into the space – is so palpable.
Chappell grew up in central Frankfurt, Germany, with her parents and younger sister. She describes her home and childhood as beautiful, but far from quiet.
Both of Chappell’s parents were products of Nazi Germany, but her father was the most affected. He was born in Berlin the year World War II started and he carried that trauma through the rest of his life. He became an addict and alcoholic and was abusive towards his family. Chappell’s parents eventually divorced and from then on she spent very little time with her father.
“Everything that happened with my father was very traumatic for me and for a while I was very angry with him. However, as I have gotten older, I have recognized how destructive generational trauma can be,” Chappell said. “Knowing this helps me rationalize what happened and heal from it.”
Along with the abuse from her father, Chappell endured a lot of bullying. Her most traumatic experience came when she was invited to a sleepover. She was very excited, as she knew these girls to be her friends, but was very quickly disappointed.
“After I fell asleep in my sleeping bag I was woken up to being shot at with water guns. I was totally drenched. I was so stunned and had no idea what to do. I didn’t know where any of the parents were, so I just stayed there and stayed silent,” Chappell said.
She said for the rest of the night the girls performed crude skits. They took turns pretending to be her and listing all the reasons they didn’t like her or want to be her friend.
Chappell said the loss of those friendships was her first true heartbreak. After that night, she began isolating herself and in her junior year of high school she transferred schools. At her new school, her only friends were boys and she rarely spent time with them outside of the classroom. It was lonely for her, as much of her youth was.
When she was 20 years old, Chappell decided to move to the United States.
“I’ve always had a need to travel and explore,” she said. “Growing up, my dad would take us on lots of trips. From that, I developed a love for seeing the world and when I was around 20, I decided I wanted to go somewhere new.”
Chappell settled just outside San Francisco, California, and soon found her footing. She found a sense of community for one of the first times in her life.
Some time later, Chappell was married to her first husband, who had chronic pain from an accident in his youth. He frequently asked her for massages and doing so inspired her to take a massage class to develop her skills.
Chappell was hooked after her first course. The year-long class turned into three years of schooling and then she received her massage licensure.
“My whole world opened up at school. Learning about body work helped to transform my own body and my relationship with it,” Chappell said. “I made all of these friends who were studying different fields, but we all learned from each other and studied for the national exam together.”
After getting her license, Chappell had no clientele. She worked part-time under a chiropractor, offering massages to his patients after their appointments. Many asked to see her outside of the chiropractor’s office and would refer others to her. Chappell was quickly able to acquire enough demand to open her own practice.
While her practice was centered around healing others, Chappell was on a healing journey of her own. She had divorced her husband and was working through some childhood traumas from her past.
She attended a few wellness retreats in the Asheville, NC, area and it was there that she met her second husband, Theo Chappell. The couple went on a few more retreats together and fell more deeply in love with each other and the area.
The Chappells began planning their future together and were trying for a baby but found themselves unsuccessful. They went on another retreat together and it was there that everything changed for Katrina Chappell.
“I don’t know if it was God or spirit – call it what you will – but I felt as though there was this undeniable force that came over me and told me, ‘If you move here, you will be able to have a baby,’” Chappell said.
Following that spiritual nudge, the Chappells left California, but leaving was bittersweet. Katrina Chappell was leaving everything she had built for herself – her beloved practice – but at the end of the day she reminded herself that she could only get what she hoped for if she moved.
The pros of moving outweighed the cons. The cost of living was lower in Asheville, the school districts were more favorable and Chappell was closer to her family in Germany.
After the Chappells moved, Katrina Chappell was unable to work because her massage license from California was void in North Carolina. As difficult as it was to step away from her job, she now views this hiccup as a blessing in disguise, since taking time for herself removed a lot of the stress inhibiting her ability to get pregnant.
Within a year of their move to Asheville, NC, the Chappells had a baby. A beautiful child named Thalia.
For a while after Thalia Chappell was born, the Chappells were a happy family. Unfortunately, their bliss did not last and when Thalia Chappell was just about a year old, Katrina and Theo Chappell divorced.
Despite the difficulty of a postpartum separation, Katrina Chappell was dedicated to giving her child a more stable life than the one she had, breaking the chain of generational trauma. She became relentless in her pursuit to rebuild her massage practice.
“She was always really adamant about me having a safe environment and people to grow up around, especially since I had divorced parents,” said Thalia Chappell, now 20 years old. “Growing up I had similar struggles to her own, but at a much lesser extreme and she was always there to support me.”
Thalia Chappell says their mother is one of their biggest motivators. They have always been inspired by their mom’s strength, independence, work ethic and outlook on life.
Katrina Chappell went back to school when Thalia Chappell was 5 years old and was forced to repeat the process she had previously completed in California. After three years, she received her North Carolina certification and once again built up her clientele under a chiropractor.
Her networking paid off and Chappell was soon able to start her own practice, but it took some time for business to truly start booming. This meant she had to save lots of money to make sure she and her child were stable. She wanted Thalia Chappell to experience the world the way that she was able to in her youth.
One of Thalia Chappell’s favorite memories with their mother is the annual trips they would take to Germany. It was always just the two of them, and when they boarded the plane, Katrina Chappell would begin speaking exclusively in German. This language shift would make the upcoming trip real to Chappell and they would get very excited.
“Despite her own complicated family relationships, she saved up every year to take me to Germany to visit our family. She thought it was really important that I got to bond with them and it became something I looked forward to all year long,” Chappell said.
Another memory Thalia Chappell cherishes is every time they would receive a massage from their mom. They have a chronic pain condition called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, so their mom’s healing hands would give them a much needed reprieve and allow the two time to bond.
“It was so helpful having a mom that was skilled in massage, especially once I started having worse chronic pain as a teenager,” said Chappell. “I knew she was always there to help me feel better.”
