Carissa Shima Healing Bodywork

About

Carissa Shima, MA, LMT, CPT NVMT 11040

Health and Wellness Therapeutic Bodywork Specialist

Structural Integration | Craniosacral Therapy | Manual Lymphatic Drainage | Medical Massage | Corrective Exercise

For over two decades, I’ve dedicated my career to one mission: helping active, high-performing adults break free from pain, recover faster, and get back to the vibrant, fully engaged lives they love.

My clients are golfers, tennis and pickleball players, triathletes, runners, and busy professionals. They are also individuals recovering from cosmetic and orthopedic surgeries who want to heal fully—not just get “cleared.” Most have tried the standard paths—massage, chiropractic, physical therapy, stretching routines, sometimes even surgery—yet still feel limited. They’re told it’s “just aging” or “their new normal.” But deep down, they know something is still off. That’s where I come in.

My Approach: Beyond Symptom Management

Pain is never random—it’s your body’s way of signaling that something deeper is out of balance. Whether it’s fascial restriction, nervous system overload, scar tissue from surgery, or years of subtle compensations, these patterns keep pain cycling and mobility limited even when everything “looks fine” on the surface.

Unlike approaches that chase sore spots, my work addresses the root cause. I specialize in blending advanced hands-on therapies with corrective movement to restore structural balance, nervous system regulation, and full-body integration. This isn’t about feeling better for a day. It’s about helping your body function the way it was designed to—so results last.

Core Modalities I Use

• Structural Integration (10-Session Package): A systematic, fascia-based approach to unwind long-held tension patterns, reset posture, and restore efficient movement. Clients often say they feel taller, lighter, and freer—like their body finally belongs to them again.
• Craniosacral Therapy: Gentle, precise work that calms the nervous system, releases deep-seated trauma, and supports conditions like headaches, TMJ dysfunction, and chronic stress. Clients describe it as “quietly transformative,” often experiencing relief they didn’t know was possible.
• Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD): Essential for post-surgical healing, reducing swelling, detoxification, and restoring lymph flow. It accelerates recovery while easing discomfort and supporting immune health.
• Medical Massage: Targeted, therapeutic bodywork that relieves chronic pain, restores mobility, and supports recovery from injury or overuse.
• Corrective Exercise: Strategic movement re-education to strengthen weak areas, improve biomechanics, and make the gains from hands-on work sustainable.

Every treatment plan begins with a Pre-Treatment Assessment Session where I evaluate posture, movement, and compensations, then create a personalized roadmap. This ensures our work is intentional, effective, and results-driven.

Who I Work With

I partner with individuals who refuse to settle for pain or limitations:

• Athletes & Active Adults 40+: Golfers, tennis players, pickleball enthusiasts, triathletes, and runners who want to perform at their best without stiffness or recurring injuries.
• Weekend Warriors & High-Performers: Driven individuals who work hard, travel often, and want their bodies to keep pace with their lifestyle.
• Post-Surgical Clients: Both cosmetic and orthopedic—patients recovering from breast augmentation, liposuction, BBL, mastectomy, reconstruction, joint replacements, or spinal procedures who are “cleared” but don’t feel fully healed.
• Chronic Pain Clients: People who’ve “tried everything” and are still searching for lasting relief from long-standing pain or movement dysfunction.

What Clients Experience

Clients often arrive frustrated and fatigued, wondering if they’ll ever feel normal again. After our work together, they report:

• Chronic pain dissolving—even after years of persistence
• Posture realigning naturally without effort
• Swelling, tightness, or scar tissue releasing after surgery
• Mobility restored in joints they thought were “done”
• A newfound sense of lightness, vitality, and confidence in their own body

The best part? These changes aren’t temporary. By addressing root causes, clients continue to integrate improvements long after sessions end. It’s not just relief—it’s freedom.

My Story & Credentials

My own journey into this work began with chronic back pain in my mid-20s. Despite my athletic background as a runner and triathlete, nothing seemed to help until I discovered Structural Integration. Experiencing the profound change in my own body ignited my lifelong commitment to helping others achieve the same transformation.

• Master’s Degree in Exercise Science
• Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) from NASM
• NASM Corrective Exercise Specialist (in progress)
• Licensed Massage Therapist, NVMT 11040
• 20+ years full-time practice
• 30,000+ client sessions completed

My foundation as a personal trainer, combined with expertise in Pilates, yoga, fitness, and advanced manual therapies, allows me to see the body as a whole, interconnected system—and to design care that truly supports lasting change.

Philosophy of Care

I believe:

• Healing starts with listening. Every body tells a story, and my role is to listen deeply—to symptoms, history, movement, and even silence.
• Aging doesn’t have to mean aching. With the right strategy, strength, mobility, and vitality are possible at any age.
• Quick fixes aren’t enough. Real transformation requires intentional, integrative care that addresses structure, nervous system, and movement together.
• Clients deserve partnership. You’re not just a body on a table—you’re a whole person with goals, challenges, and potential. Our work is collaborative, empowering, and tailored to you.

My Skills

Articles & Books Written

During my Master’s program in Exercise Science, I conducted research on the impact of caffeine and hydration in college-aged females. That experience reinforced my commitment to evidence-based practice and gave me a deeper appreciation for how nutrition, hydration, and lifestyle factors influence performance, recovery, and overall well-being. Today, I bring that same research-driven perspective into my client work—bridging science with hands-on healing.

Professional Associations / Memberships

For more than 20 years, my professional focus has been helping people who have normalized living in pain finally reclaim the freedom and vitality of a body that works the way it was meant to. I specialize in supporting high-performing adults, athletes, and post-surgical clients who have “tried everything” yet still feel limited. My mission is simple: to stop the cycle of chasing symptoms and instead restore balance at the root level—so healing lasts.

At the heart of my work is Craniosacral Therapy (CST) and SomatoEmotional Release (SER), the groundbreaking methods developed by Dr. John E. Upledger. His vision—that the body contains its own inner physician, and that gentle listening can unlock profound self-correction—guides every session I give. CST allows me to address the nervous system with precision and respect, while SER offers clients the opportunity to release unresolved trauma and emotional patterns that often live quietly beneath physical pain.

Beyond the core trainings, I have pursued advanced study with the Upledger Institute to deepen my ability to help complex cases. This includes Touching the Brain, a powerful approach to working with restrictions in brain tissue and cranial membranes; The Brain Speaks, which helps clients access the mind-body connection at a profound level; and the class formerly known as Working with Chronic Depletion, which taught me how to support clients struggling with long-term fatigue and systemic challenges. These advanced courses allow me to meet clients who feel stuck—whether from chronic conditions, post-surgical changes, or trauma patterns—with the precision and compassion their bodies deserve.

My foundation in Structural Integration (SI) expands the scope of my practice. I trained directly with teachers from both the Guild for Structural Integration and the Rolf Institute (now the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute®), ensuring that my work is grounded in the authentic lineage of Dr. Ida Rolf herself. I was also directly mentored by Steven Padgen, whose guidance shaped my ability to see and correct the subtle structural imbalances that often drive persistent pain. SI allows me to reorganize fascia, restore posture, and help clients feel lighter, freer, and more fully at home in their bodies.

I also draw on Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD) to accelerate post-operative recovery, reduce swelling, and restore flow after cosmetic and orthopedic surgeries. My background in Medical Massage and myofascial techniques helps me target specific pain conditions with precision, while my Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) credential from NASM and graduate-level training in Exercise Science allow me to integrate corrective movement strategies that make results sustainable long term.

My professional memberships reflect both a commitment to excellence and to community. As a member of the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA), I uphold the highest ethical standards and stay connected to ongoing education and advocacy in my field. Through LeTip International, I build trusted referral networks that ensure clients have access to the best care beyond my scope. Later this month, I will also be joining Collective Women in Leadership, a Las Vegas–based professional group that fosters collaboration among women leaders in health and business—further extending the reach of my work.

When you bring this together—the craniosacral lineage of Dr. John Upledger, advanced training in CST, SER, Touching the Brain, The Brain Speaks, and Chronic Depletion; the structural lineage of Dr. Ida Rolf through the Guild, the Rolf Institute, and mentorship from Steven Padgen; and the ongoing professional commitment reflected in NASM, AMTA, and LeTip—you see a professional ecosystem designed for one purpose: to help clients heal fully, not just temporarily.

For clients, this means the care they receive is never one-dimensional. It is deeply integrative, rooted in decades of training and mentorship, and guided by the philosophy that healing happens when the body is listened to with respect and precision. My role is to create the conditions where that healing can occur—so people can return to their lives strong, mobile, and pain-free.