A place to rest and re-emerge
massage and Wellness
A cocoon is a symbol of what it means to pause, heal, and emerge renewed.
When it came time to name my practice, Cocoon arrived instantly. To me, a massage table wrapped in soft sheets is a cocoon — a sacred space where we can rest, feel held, and allow transformation to unfold.
Meet Shanna
Massage therapist, healer, and artist — here to hold space and invite you back home to yourself
My Story
Life has taken me down several expansive pathways — into yoga teacher training, Ayurveda, and even becoming a certified sommelier. When the pandemic hit, I found myself alone in my apartment, returning to creativity like an old friend. I painted, wrote poetry, sang, took online classes, and even launched an organic skincare company, The Bloom Within. But deep inside, a calling grew louder: to become a massage therapist.
I enrolled at the Swedish Institute, where I dove deep into anatomy, kinesiology, and five-element theory — and fell in love with the body as the most intricate work of art I’d ever studied. While I originally was inspired to support dancers and performers, another path enlightened. Under the mentorship of Kiera Nagle of MaMassage, Lena DeGloma of Red Moon Wellness, and Anne Heckheimer of Prenatal Massage Center of Manhattan, I trained in prenatal, postpartum, and labor massage. When Kiera reminded me, “you have the honor of caring for two souls instead of one,” I felt deeply moved.
This work awakened something in me — a devotion to nurturing parents, honoring the power of touch across generations, and carrying forward the love my mother first taught me.
The more I learn about the body, the more awe I feel. Now, this is my canvas — helping people feel at home in themselves, supporting pregnant clients as they create life, awakening energy through the chakras, enlivening cells, and holding space for the body’s innate capacity to heal and rest.
And so, here I am.
With the greatest work of art:
The medium of my heart and my hands.
Let’s begin
A gentle call
Amidst the chaos of life, I invite you to the table— to be nurtured, to come back home to yourself, and to re-emerge as the most exquisite and expansive version of who you already are.
Wisdom
Education, Trainings, and Certifications
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2021-2023
The Swedish Institute College of Health Sciences, New York City
Massage Therapy Associate Degree
Summa Cum Laude
CPR Certified
2016-2019Introductory and Certified Sommelier: Court of Master Sommeliers
2007-2011University of Miami, Florida
Theatre Arts, Music, Dance, Anthropology, Nutrition
Magna Cum Laude
Bachelor of Arts Degree -
2025
Birthsmarter Pro Childbirth Education: Empowering Perinatal Care
Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and Hypermobility Seminar with Melanie Carminati of Inspira PT
MaMassage Pathology of Breast/Chest Massage
MaMassage Therapeutic Breast and Chest Massage Practical Techniques
Upledger Craniosacral Therapy 1
Thai Massage Course: Bali International Spa Academy
2024MaMassage® Prenatal Massage Therapy
MaMassage Intro to Trauma Informed Communication
2023MaMassage Prenatal Massage Training Intro
MaMassage® for Labor & Postpartum Clients
Advanced Shiatsu and Eastern Studies: The Swedish Institute of Health Sciences
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2020
DoTerra Essential Oil Specialist Training
2019Laughing Lotus 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training
50 Hour Ayurveda Training
PERSONAL SIDE
I am, first and always, an artist.
From a young age I was crafting, telling stories, twirling barefoot in the grass, and singing at the top of my lungs. At age three, my mom finally enrolled me in a dance class. That single step opened a lifelong devotion to movement, expression, and performance.
Dance became my happy place. It taught me discipline, perseverance, artistry, and confidence. It also introduced me to the struggles of competition, perfectionism, disordered eating, and the pressure to push past my limits — sometimes into injury and exhaustion.
At sixteen, I stumbled into a yoga studio with a free week pass, and everything shifted. Yoga showed me how emotions live in the body, and how breath helps release them. It taught me to lean into what felt nourishing, to embrace challenge without judgment, and to value presence over perfection.
College took me to the sun-soaked University of Miami, where I immersed myself in theatre and music, fueled by café con leche and late-night salsa dancing. True to form, I overloaded my schedule and found stability through performance.
After graduation I moved to New York City, auditioning at dawn, waiting tables by night, and living for every dance class, acting workshop, and moment on stage. The hustle pushed me hard — sometimes too hard — and I had to learn about self-love, boundaries, injury recovery, heartbreak, and endless rejection. Along the way, I found a talk therapist and a massage therapist who held space for my healing. Massage, especially, helped me feel safe in my own body again — releasing not only tension from my muscles, but emotions I hadn’t even realized I carried.
The safety and comfort massage provided me during this time remains a large reason I became a massage therapist, with the hope that I could provide that for others.