Lean: On Healing, Home, and Taking Up Space

Sometimes healing happens in the body. Sometimes it happens in the heart. And sometimes, if you're lucky, you find a place where both can happen at once. For Lean, that place was Kaname Chiropractic.

When Lean first walked through the doors of Kaname Chiropractic, it was more than curiosity that brought them in. Friends had shared stories of how the space helped not just with pain and posture, but with something harder to describe—something that felt like coming home to yourself.

Lean had followed Kaname’s journey for a while, especially the unapologetic activism of Dr. Marisa Sum. Seeing a wellness clinic take a public stand on issues like Palestine, while continuing to care deeply for community members in the Bay Area, made an impression. It wasn’t performative. It was rooted. It was real.

“It was just bound to happen that our planets were going to come together,” Lean shared. “I’m so thankful to be part of this ecosystem because it’s only expanded since then.”

Lean, Cultural Worker & Community Organizer

But it wasn’t until their own alignment began to shift that Lean truly understood the depth of Kaname’s care.

Growing up fat in a culture obsessed with shrinking, Lean had long carried the tension of being both hyper-visible and unseen. The physical toll was one thing with chronic tension, compromised posture, constant exhaustion but the emotional cost ran deeper: a learned instinct to compress their body and their voice.

“Since coming here, I’ve learned to take up my space and not shrink my spine and not shrink myself,” they said. “Now I’m like, girl, let me stand up—because I also belong in this space.”

At Kaname, that instinct began to unravel. Through consistent care, Lean’s spine started to open, but so did something less tangible: a sense of belonging in their own body. Instead of concaving inwards, they started to rise literally and metaphorically. Each session reinforced that they didn’t have to shrink to be safe. They had every right to take up space.

That transformation went beyond the chiropractic table. As a queer and trans person, Lean moves through the world with the knowledge that simply existing can be dangerous. From gas stations to government buildings, the risk is real. But Kaname became a place to recharge, a steady reminder that healing is not only possible, but necessary.

“It’s so important that we find spaces like Kaname and amazing doctors that accommodate different body types and identities,” Lean emphasized. “Not just helping our bodies, but affirming us and making sure we feel safe.”

The clinic didn’t just accommodate difference, it celebrated it. From body diversity to family structures to the flow of children and conversation in the waiting room, Kaname felt like an ecosystem. A microcosm of what community care could look like when intention meets action.

Lean found more than flexibility and range of motion. They found safety. Confidence. Energy. They breathed deeper. Walked taller. And began to invite others into the space, weaving friends and chosen family into the community. It became clear that the healing wasn’t just for them—it was collective.

“Coming here helps reset me. It’s one of those places—like home—where I can let my guard down and feel re-energized,” Lean said. “So when I go into other spaces, I feel charged until I come back again.”

At a time when systems feel heavy with injustice, Lean’s story is a reminder that healing is an act of resistance. That care isn’t a luxury—it’s a lifeline. And that when we find places that see us fully, we can start to see ourselves that way too.

If you’re ready to stand taller, breathe deeper, and feel more at home in your body—come through. Kaname is waiting.

🌀 Shed pain. Embrace wellness.
🌿 Move with purpose. Heal with wisdom.
✨ Find your flow.