San Diego Myofascial Release Therapists

Shannon Whitall, owner and founder of San Diego Myofascial Release, is a Licensed Massage Therapist/ Expert MFR Therapist who practices in  La Mesa, CA.  She graduated in 1999 from the Academy of Health Professions and has also studied extensively and directly under John F. Barnes, founder of the John F. Barnes' Myofascial Release Approach®.  She is licensed to practice bodywork by the California Massage Therapy Council.
Having practiced bodywork for 25 years now, she is highly experienced. However, she believes that one can never fully master something.  So, she continues to educate herself, always challenging herself to grow in knowledge, expertise and ever improving her therapy skills.

Finding the John F. Barnes' Myofascial Release Approach®  to be a superior therapy that consistently produces positive, long lasting results, she founded San Diego Myofascial Release as a specialized therapy center that exclusively provides this spcialized form of myofascial release, for the treatment of chronic pain, scar release and trauma release, to the city of San Diego.

Shannon has the honor of being a respected leader in the John Barnes' MFR community, as well as in the local San Diego MFR community:

• Myofascial Release Seminar Assistant Instructor
  
• ​Myofascial Release Study Group Leader for the San Diego Area

Trained in the following John Barnes courses:

• Myofascial Release I  (4X)
• Myofascial Unwinding (2X)
• Myofascial Release II (2X)
• Myofascial Release  Fascial Pelvis  (2X)
• Myofascial Release: Cervical/Thoracic (2X)
• Myofascial Mobilization (2X)
• Women's Health MFR (2X)
• Rebounding
• Advanced Unwinding
• Fascial Cranium
• Quantum Leap
• Equine MFR 
• ​Subtle Energy 1
• Peds

Owner of Quantum Balance, Rebecca is an Occupational Therapist Registered and Licensed in the state of California. 
Rebecca has been a Registered Occupational Therapist for 30 years in San Diego since she graduated from San Jose State University in 1993 and has been using Myofascial Release (MFR) during treatments since 2007. 
Rebecca is trained under John Barnes in Myofascial Release and is considered an Advanced Practitioner.
Rebecca has completed the following MFR Courses:

• Myofascial Release I
• Myofascial Release II
• Myofascial Unwinding 
• Advanced Unwinding
• Myofascial 
• Rebounding
• Fascial Pelvis 
• Cervical Thoracic 
• Myofascial Mobilization
• Subtle Energy Therapy Level 1
• Pediatric Myofascial Release
• Fascial Cranium
• Skill Enhancement with John Barnes
  

Rebecca enjoys assisting clients on their path of healing and recovery.  She finds  "connecting to nature", via the mountains and the sea, to be restorative.

Owner of Vital Therapy, Shannon is a 20+ year California board-licensed Occupational Therapist who has earned a post graduate degree from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. Her OT career has included working with adults in hospitals, skilled nursing and home health care settings, treating chronic injuries, acute injuries and rehabilitation program planning.   Shannon was introduced to the renowned John Barnes Myofascial Release (MFR) technique in 2017 and immediately began to incorporate it with her Occupational Therapy practice. Shannon continues be a student of the MFR practice, taking and repeating seminars each year.    

Trained in the following MFR courses:

• MFR I (X3)
• Unwinding (X2)
• MFR II (X2)
• Fascial- Pelvis (X3)
• Cervical – Thoracic
• Rebounding
• Fascial Cranium
• Subtle Energy 1
• Peds
• Myofascial Mobilization (x2)
• Skill Enhancement w/ John Barnes
• Equine MFR 1, 2 & 3

DBA: Karen Nishimura, Myofascial Therapist, Karen is a 30+ California board-licensed therapist who graduated from University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. She has been utilizing Myofascial Release in her practice since 2021. Originally, Karen began her MFR journey as a patient of Shannon Whitall. She was suffering from a good deal of pain from neck and spine injuries, due to a motor vehicle accident. Chiropractic and acupuncture treatment were only minimally helpful. However, after giving Myofascial Release a try, Karen experienced a significant decrease in her pain level! MFR worked so spectacularly for her, she decided to study it for herself. It wasn't long before she began incorporating it with her own OT patients. Pretty soon Karen was providing pain relief with MFR for patients in San Diego, and as far as Africa! Helping people in this way was life-changing for her! 

Karen has trained under John Barnes in the following Myofascial Release courses:

• MFR I 
• Fascial Pelvis 
• Myofascial Mobilization 
• Unwinding 
• MFR II

In addition: Karen has worked closely alongside Shannon Whitall, as Shannon's apprentice, fine-tuning her Myofascial skills for the last 18 months.