Who we are

Hello, my name is Kya (kee-ah) Mootoo and I’m the owner of Khaya (ky-ah) Bodyworks and Wellness. When I first decided to start my own business as a massage therapist I knew that I wanted to help people heal in some capacity. I myself, personally cannot heal someone, healing requires us to go within, and do the work, but what I can do as a healer is guide people there. A healer is not going to do the work for you, they are meant to show you the way and support you, and sometimes the way is not always pretty. Healing resurfaces old traumas and wounds that we do not always want to face. Most people want to bury their traumas deep down, and never look at it again, but that’s impossible. We feel our trauma all the time, because our mind and body hold on to it. An old trauma stored in our body, can cause havoc on the nervous system, hence causing health problems in the body. But through healing, old traumas can be given the chance to resurface, and with it resurfacing we can learn to accept the past, be at peace with it, and heal from it. It’s only through healing we can make changes for the better.

At Khaya Bodyworks and Wellness, I want to establish a place where people can feel safe to allow healing to occur. A place where people can release the stress of everyday life. We live in a world where many people don’t feel they have a safe space. I want to give people that safe space, even if it’s just for an hour. Free of judgement, to allow true healing from trauma, and everyday stresses of life. Healing requires many different actions that should be taken on your journey towards healing, and massage therapy is one of the best ways to allow healing to occur. Restoring the mind body connection one massage at a time.

Massage therapy should be a part of everyone’s life. It is a true way to reset the nervous system. We all encounter trauma throughout our life, and daily stress, and sometimes we cope with it in unhealthy ways, so we must make sure we are doing what we can to not allow it to get the best of us.

I chose to name my business Khaya Bodyworks and Wellness because people always mistakenly pronounce my name the way it is spelled, which is “Ky-a”, but it is pronounced “Key-a”, like the car. I didn’t want to name my business Kia Bodyworks and Wellness, so I looked into pronouncing it “Ky-a”, and the meaning of it. I came across spelling it KHAYA, and I learned that Khaya is a tree in Africa that symbolizes strength and resilience. We all have had to be strong at some point in our life, and through strength comes resilience.