Exploring Healing Among Genderqueer Individuals: The Role of Mind-Body Techniques
IRB Protocol #25-041
This qualitative, phenomenological study explores how genderqueer individuals experience healing through the use of mind-body techniques—such as mindfulness, yoga, breathwork, and somatic therapies—within therapeutic contexts. Grounded in queer theory (Butler, 1990; Halberstam, 2011; Ahmed, 2006) and phenomenology (van Manen, 2014; Moustakas, 1994), the research attends to lived, embodied experiences that RESIST binary frameworks and expand understandings of therapeutic practice. The study positions healing not only as symptom reduction, but as an embodied, affective, and relational process that can foster deeper self-connection, emotional liberation, and resilience.
Drawing on scholars such as Gloria Anzaldúa (1987), whose “borderlands” framework illuminates the fluid spaces between identities, and bell hooks (1990), whose intersectional lens highlights the role of race, class, and gender in shaping lived realities, the study interrogates how power, oppression, and affirmation are navigated in healing spaces. Somatic and body-based healing frameworks (Ogden et al., 2006; Emerson & Hopper, 2011) inform the inquiry into how participants describe and locate their experiences of transformation within the body.
Through in-depth interviews with adults currently engaged in therapy integrating mind-body techniques, thematic analysis identifies patterns in how genderqueer individuals articulate embodied healing, negotiate bodily awareness, and find—or resist—therapeutic connection. This work contributes to the growing body of literature at the intersection of LGBTQIA+ mental health, embodiment studies, and liberatory healing practices, offering insight into how therapeutic spaces can more fully honor gender diversity and lived bodily realities.
Primary Research Question:
How do genderqueer individuals experience healing when engaging in mind-body techniques within therapeutic settings?
What’s The Point?
I come to this research with the belief that healing is not a straight path, nor a tidy set of steps—it is something alive, shifting, and deeply felt in the body. As a therapist, a scholar, and a queer person, I have seen how mind-body practices can open doors to self-connection, release, and transformation. Yet, for genderqueer individuals, these experiences often happen in spaces that were never built with us in mind. My purpose is to listen—to gather the stories of those living beyond the binary, to honor how healing takes shape in their bodies, and to hold those moments up to the light.
This work is not only about understanding what helps, but about challenging what harms. It is about imagining therapy as a place of liberation, where identity is not questioned or reduced, but celebrated; where the body is not an afterthought, but a source of wisdom. In carrying out this study, I am guided by the conviction that healing belongs to all of us—and that when we center the truths of those most often pushed to the margins, we create space for deeper, more expansive forms of care to emerge.
How?
This study uses a phenomenological approach, a qualitative research method focused on understanding the meaning of lived experiences (Moustakas, 1994; van Manen, 2014). Rather than starting with fixed hypotheses, phenomenology invites the researcher to enter with curiosity and openness, listening closely to participants’ stories and descriptions. In this case, the aim is to capture how genderqueer individuals experience healing when mind-body practices are part of their therapy—not just what happens, but how it feels in their bodies, emotions, and relationships.
To do this, I will conduct in-depth, one-on-one interviews with adults currently in therapy that integrates practices like mindfulness, yoga, breathwork, or other somatic approaches. These conversations will be recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for patterns and themes that emerge across experiences. Guided by the work of queer theorists (Butler, 1990; Ahmed, 2006; Anzaldúa, 1987; hooks, 1990) and somatic practitioners (Ogden et al., 2006; Emerson & Hopper, 2011), the process blends rigorous analysis with a deep respect for personal narrative. The goal is to reflect participants’ voices with accuracy, nuance, and care—ensuring that their lived realities inform both scholarly understanding and practical changes in therapeutic practice.