Carissa Shima Healing Bodywork

Living with real pain — back, neck, wherever it shows up — and telling yourself it’s just normal now?
One of my clients is a professional MMA fighter who trains every single day. Before we started working together, she was often in pain and had simply learned to accept it.
She said, “Nobody wants to feel pain all the time. I would just think to myself — this is normal. And it’s not normal.”
If someone who demands everything from her body said that out loud, it’s worth asking yourself the same question.

Couldn’t walk more than a mile before your back starts seizing up — that burning, almost unbearable tightness? One client lived that for years. Now he walks five or six miles pain free. “I’m back to not missing out on things I was missing out on before.”

Pain or tension that eases up for a bit, then comes right back — same spot, every few weeks?
This work looks at your whole body to find what’s actually creating that pattern, so relief has a real chance to hold.
One client, going through knee surgery and a hip replacement, has done physical therapy and this work together — and said the two work hand in hand very well. But this work is what gave her something more lasting: “a permanent solution rather than a temporary one.”

Notice your jaw feels worse after a flight?
Cabin pressure changes, travel stress, and clenching during takeoff and landing without realizing it — it adds up more than you’d expect. Dehydration plays a role too, and your jaw is no exception.
If your jaw feels tight or sore after traveling, you’re not imagining it.

Can being active actually cause TMJ pain? 👇
When you’re bracing hard during a lift or a tough workout, your jaw is often part of that tension pattern without you realizing it.
If your jaw feels more tense on training days, this might be exactly why.
Tag someone who needs to hear this. 👇

A lot of people think TMJ pain only happens if you clench or grind your teeth at night.
TMJ pain can come from a lot of different places — old injuries, how your bite sits, or tension carried from somewhere else in the body.
If you’ve been told “you must be a grinding or clenching your teeth” check this out!

Your jaw clicks. Or catches. Or feels stuck for a second before it releases again.
It’s confusing because it seems to come and go without any clear pattern. Here’s something worth knowing: the jaw is more connected to the rest of your body than most people realize.
If this sounds familiar, it might be worth having someone look at more than just your jaw.

Ever notice how a headache sometimes seems connected to tension in your low back? Or how brain fog seems to show up alongside poor sleep?
There’s a tube of tissue that runs from the base of your skull all the way down to your tailbone, surrounding your spinal cord. It can hold tension too — part of why head tension and low back tension can be more connected than people realize.
When that tension releases, it’s common to feel it show up in more than one place at once.

This is why you feel wired even when you’re exhausted. 👇
If your jaw, neck, or shoulders never fully relax, the issue may not just be muscular — your body may simply be stuck in a state of holding. Precise work helps it finally register that it’s safe to let go.
Tag someone who needs this. 👇

Recurring headaches. TMJ discomfort and jaw clenching. Tension at the base of your skull that just won’t let go.
A lot of people assume this is just something they live with. But this kind of tension often responds really well to precise, hands-on work that helps your nervous system stop bracing.
If headaches and jaw tension have become part of your normal, it doesn’t have to stay that way.