Carissa Shima Healing Bodywork

That spot you keep stretching that never actually lets go? It’s not going to fix it — and stretching does help, just maybe not the way you’d expect.
If it’s tight because it’s covering for something else in your body, stretching gives real relief for a while, then it’s right back. You could stretch it every day for five years and still feel just as tight.
That’s not a discipline problem. Stretching, on its own, was never going to solve what’s actually driving it. #

Try this — most people are shocked how different their two sides are. 👇
Turn your head over one shoulder, like checking your blind spot backing out of the driveway. Come back to center, then turn the other way. Compare.
Which side was tighter for you? Tag someone to compare with. 👇
stiffness

One massage, one adjustment, one session — helps for a few days, then it’s right back like nothing happened?
A single session works within whatever pattern your body’s already stuck in. It can loosen things up, calm things down — but the underlying pattern hasn’t changed.
Real, lasting change happens when each session builds on the last, shifting the pattern a little further each time, so your body actually holds the change.

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.