Shannon Smith, LMT, RYT specializes in pain & stress reduction through Myofascial Release Therapy
11/20/2024
Ernest Hemingway once said: In our darkest moments, we don’t need solutions or advice. What we yearn for is simply human connection—a quiet presence, a gentle touch. These small gestures are the anchors that hold us steady when life feels like too much.
Please don’t try to fix me. Don’t take on my pain or push away my shadows. Just sit beside me as I work through my own inner storms. Be the steady hand I can reach for as I find my way.
My pain is mine to carry, my battles mine to face. But your presence reminds me I’m not alone in this vast, sometimes frightening world. It’s a quiet reminder that I am worthy of love, even when I feel broken.
So, in those dark hours when I lose my way, will you just be here? Not as a rescuer, but as a companion. Hold my hand until the dawn arrives, helping me remember my strength.
Your silent support is the most precious gift you can give. It’s a love that helps me remember who I am, even when I forget.
08/13/2024
We’re 7 days away from our re-opening of the Community Clinic! We’re so excited!!!
07/01/2024
Though fairy tales end after ten pages, our lives do not. We are multi-volume sets. In our lives, even though one episode amounts to a crash and burn, there is always another episode awaiting us and then another. There are always more opportunities to get it right, to fashion our lives in the ways we deserve to have them. Don’t waste your time hating a failure. Failure is a greater teacher than success.
~Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Art by Daniela Prezioso Einwaller
06/29/2024
"soft light".
06/19/2024
06/17/2024
"There comes a day when you realize that the fear never really goes away,
that if you really want something,
you have to be willing to do it afraid.
And maybe this is the only way you ever get to discover your fullest potential.
Maybe you just have to dive right in and face the thing that scares you the most.
Because in the end,
it's not the rejections and so-called failures that will haunt you.
It will be your own potential left unexplored.
So maybe you don't need to wait until you overcome your fears to take the first step forward.
Maybe you just need to know there's something more important than fear. Something greater.
Something worth fighting for.
And maybe overcoming your fears is the least important part of your story anyway.
Maybe what matters is that you're scared but still determined.
Shaky but still standing.
Afraid but still willing to try."~
~Zanna Keithley
art: Myai Korf
06/13/2024
The fact that you’re struggling doesn’t make you a burden. It doesn’t make you unlovable or undesirable or undeserving of care. It doesn’t make you too much or too sensitive or too needy. It makes you human. Everyone struggles. Everyone has a difficult time coping, and at times, we all fall apart. During these times, we aren’t always easy to be around – and that’s okay. No one is easy to be around one hundred percent of the time. Yes, you may sometimes be unpleasant or difficult. And yes, you may sometimes do or say things that make the people around you feel helpless or sad. But those things aren’t all of who you are, and they certainly don’t discount your worth as a human being. The truth is that you can be struggling and still be loved. You can be difficult and still be cared for. You can be less than perfect, and still be deserving of compassion and kindness.
~ Daniell Koepke
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Shannon’s healing journey began in 2007 when injuries from a racquetball game resulted in knee and shoulder surgeries and life-threatening complications. Once the situations were no longer critical, physical therapy restored function but not full range of motion, and widespread pain persisted throughout her body long after being discharged from her sessions. Frustrated by this invisible “straight jacket”, the side effects of prescription pain medication, and the inability of the pain management approach to provide lasting relief, she sought out complementary therapies that viewed the body as a whole instead of a collection of parts.
It was at this time that Shannon was introduced to the John F. Barnes method of myofascial release therapy. From the first visit, she knew this was the missing link. Her therapist explained that physical therapy had produced incomplete results because “you can’t strengthen what you can’t stretch, and you can’t stretch if you have restrictions in the connective tissue (fascia).” She also discovered something very unexpected during her myofascial release treatments. While some of the restrictions were caused by the injuries and the resulting scar tissue and adhesions from the surgeries, other restrictions seemed to be related to intense stress she had experienced following the loss of several family members in a very short period of time. Amazingly, she found that myofascial release treatments were healing her emotions at the same time they were healing her body. She regained full range of motion and felt more emotionally balanced by the end of her myofascial release treatment program. Shannon experienced additional injuries a few years later in her heel, pelvic floor, and lower back. Each time, myofascial release treatments resolved the issues, returning her to a pain-free lifestyle. A testimonial video of Shannon’s experience as a patient can be viewed by Clicking Here.
After experiencing such dramatic results in her own personal healing journey, Shannon began to explore a career shift in 2013, transitioning her focus from restoration ecology to energetic healing, applied kinesiology, aromatherapy, and bodywork. In 2016, she graduated from the clinical massage therapy program at Midlands Technical College in Columbia, South Carolina, where she has been the essential oils instructor for the last 3 years. Since 2017, Shannon has received extensive training in Myofascial Release Therapy by John F. Barnes, who has trained over 100,000 therapists and doctors over the last 40 years. She now intuitively uses a wide spectrum of integrated holistic therapies to help facilitate the healing process for others during her transformational bodywork sessions, treating hundreds of people over the course of just a few years.
Shannon enjoys reading, yoga, gardening, nature walks, spending time with her husband of nearly 30 years, and marveling at the amazing adults her children have become. Her grandchildren fill her heart with love beyond measure.
