Avoided Knee Surgery
Let me start with a couple of quotes from my 25-year-old son: “Shannon is a magician”, “I wish I had a Shannon where I live“ I started coming to Shannon in the summer of 2012. My knees had been bothering me so much I was walking around with those ugly elastic knee braces you buy at Walgreens . The orthopedic surgeon said we could do an MRI and then probably surgery, or I could work on strengthening the muscles around the knee and see what happened. I was so lucky to find Shannon! We went straight to work on my knees. I was at a point where I could not kneel on the floor, and if I sat on the floor I had a ridiculously hard time getting up. It’s hard for me to remember now how bad it was…Needless to say, I didn’t have surgery, and I no longer need or own those ugly braces. Shannon has an incredible knowledge and understanding of the human body. She can “see” things. One day I walked into her studio and she asked me if I had worn heels over the weekend. I had worn a new pair of wedge shoes (that had turned out to be terribly uncomfortable!) and she was seeing the effect they had had on me just by seeing me walk! In addition to working on my knees, Shannon and I embarked on the incredibly hard quest to find my core, and the much much harder goal of achieving mind-body connection (which I didn’t have…I didn’t even know what it meant.) Through years of working with Shannon I have learned and experienced that my brain can tell my muscles what to do. This was possible thanks to Shannon’s gift for original and sometimes hysterically funny queues, and hard and consistent work. Shannon has taught me how to take care of myself and how to “fix myself” whenever I get hurt. I now travel with an elastic band and a rubber ball in case I need some stretching or self-massaging on the road. Whenever I hear someone say that they wake up in pain every morning, that their backs hurt, that they have any kind of body issue, I always refer them to Shannon. Like my son says, everybody should have a Shannon!--M.S.
Flexibility After Spinal Fusion
I have been a client under Shannon's care/instruction for almost four years. When I was a teenager, I broke my back (compression fracture of the third lumbar vertebrae). The rememdy for the injury was a spinal fusion of the 5 lumbar vertebrae and stabilization with permanent metal rods. These have been in place for the last twenty-five years and were starting to truly hinder my ability to live pain-free and perform simple tasks (like standing straight, walking and running). Shannon has helped me immensely in these years to completely turn around the degradation of my posture and health. As far as I can tell, she is a unique healer and coach that has a synthesis of all the techniques she has studied. She is able to combine her training disciplines with her own innate empathy to quickly determine the root causes of unease in a person's body. In my case, my back had been traumatized by the injury and surgery and was not working properly with the rest of my body. She will then work with the person to empower them to explore, confront, and mitigate this issue in themselves (with her help). Ostensibly, these are simple exercises, but they quickly reveal problem areas that need addressing. She is very hands-on and able to immediately provide guidance during an exercise to keep the person in the correct movement pattern. In addition, just her physical ability to provide an example for how each exercise is performed is quite appreciated. There is no substitute for seeing/feeling how a motion should be done. Her ability to read her clients' body is (in my opinion) the most valuable aspect of training with Shannon and something that is not "learned".--J.M.
Processing Grief & Eliminating Lower Back Pain
Shannon was recommended to me by an acupuncturist due to similar life experiences. Before scheduling with her, she gave me a brief description of what she does. I was unfamiliar with biomechanics, Pilates and Ki Hara Stretching. After the first session with Shannon, my body and spirit were improved immensely. I eagerly saw her every week for over a year and now see her once per month. With each session, I became more aware of my body and the muscles that I had, over time, neglected to use. With her help, I realized I was using my lower back for a lot of the things I was doing, (stretching, lifting, etc.) and instead, learned to use my core. She will awaken muscles that have not been used in a while and she will explain in detail why those muscles are important for a balanced body. Without her, I would still be using my back for my daily routine and relying on other sources to ameliorate my back pain. I had lower left back pain for a couple of years and had been to see chiropractors trying to alleviate the pain. With Shannon's help, she showed me stretches that I could do at home. I'm happy to say that I no longer have that irritating back pain. Shannon has a gift in seeing the stresses of the body and working to improve the body for the better. She is patient and knowledgeable in what she does and I would highly recommend making an appointment to see her.--K.W.