Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1509769
A B M P m e m b e r s ea r n F R E E C E h o u r s by rea d i n g t h i s i s s u e ! 69 Escondido, California, which was near his home. The course they were offering? Holistic Health Practitioner. "I was very intrigued! I was already a National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) certified personal trainer, I'm passionate about health and nutrition, and my fiancé is a naturopathic doctor. I immediately reached out to the school and got started." Still, massage was not an immediate marriage for Shimkets. "I think it took a while for me to embrace it. I felt very out of my element in the first class doing basic circulatory massage. I always got positive feedback, but I felt like I was just following a recipe and not really connected." He says he started to get a better grasp of the content while learning deep-tissue massage. "I like to say that all the beginning modalities were like math for me: I could do it and pass the class, but when I took physics, math made sense. Structural integration was my physics of the massage world. Being able to see someone get off the table with noticeably better posture, feel taller, have better alignment, etc., I was really sold after learning the technique." The experience of being a "giver" was also transformational for Shimkets. "I didn't come from much as a kid. There was always food on the table and clothes on our backs, and there was a lot of love from my parents, which is all I can really ask for. and began to go from video to video trying different versions of meditation." He says the results came quickly. "I felt so much more relaxed, and my brain seemed to be working better. Meditation opened the door to the next chapter in my healing journey." That journey had Shimkets finding a home with massage, in a serendipitous sort of way. After the service, Shimkets was still doing contract aircraft maintenance for the military. The contracts were designed to keep the personnel employed without lapses in their tenure, but due to COVID-19— and someone within the contract-writing industry retiring—the workers were left without jobs. At the same time, he heard about the VA's Veteran Rapid Retraining Assistance Program (VRRAP) that sent veterans to a "tech school" and offered job placement in the end. The program would pay a school 75 percent of the tuition; the remaining 25 percent would be dispersed when the veteran was employed. Shimkets jumped on the list of schools to see what was available. "I was scrolling through the list and it was mostly computer programming, cyber security, etc.—things I really didn't have much interest in." When he started looking at the location of the schools included in the program, he saw But we didn't have many of the luxuries of those around us." He uses that history to inform his work moving forward. "I want to ensure that no matter what I do in life, I don't leave any barriers to those who are less fortunate. Everyone can use a massage, but most don't get them because they can be quite expensive. Anytime I can volunteer my services somewhere, I jump on it, and anytime someone complains about pain, I make them get on my table to see what I can do." SHARING THE WORK The path Shimkets has traversed makes him a safe space for others who have seen the impact of war. Through him, other veterans have found comfort and a healing touch. Shimkets has done some recent work with Veterans Walk and Talk (V WAT), a therapeutic program for veterans based in Southern California. He reached out to get involved with the program and has been offering bodywork at various veteran-centric events ever since. Because of the shared military experience, Shimkets says there is a layer of trust that's unique in the work he does with those veterans. "At a Guardian Grange event that I volunteered at, a good chunk of the veterans that showed up were special operators (Navy Seals, Green Berets, etc.). In the cases where they knew the veterans were really struggling, they would often come get me to work on them. I haven't experienced the level of trauma that many of these guys have, but I can certainly relate, and that camaraderie, I think, allows people to truly be able to relax and let go." And Shimkets, fueled by his own journey through pain and recovery, is there for them in that process. Karrie Osborn is senior editor at Massage & Bodywork magazine. "I haven't experienced nearly the level of trauma that many of these guys have been through, but I can certainly relate, and that camaraderie I think allows people to truly be able to relax and let go." —Shawn Shimkets, on volunteering his hands-on work to other veterans