Gentle chiropractic in Santa Cruz. No cracking, no force.
Network Spinal care with Dr. Melanie Hernand Shine. Quiet, precise work that unwinds the spine, releases held tension and defense patterns in your body and nervous system, grounded in more than 28 years of practice.
For almost three decades, Dr. Melanie has helped people release chronic tension and defense patterns, recover from injury, and feel at home in their bodies again.
She came to this work through science. A Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley, then a Doctorate in Chiropractic. What she found in Network Spinal care was something the mechanical model of the body could not fully explain: people were not only getting out of pain, they were creating new strategies for healing with real sustainable change.
Her work is grounded in years of study, thousands of hours of hands on practice, and a deep understanding of how the nervous system holds and lets go of stress. She joined Healing Waves Wellness in 2015 and has cared for the same families for years since.
She sees the body as intelligent, always working toward balance. Her role is to create the safety and precision that let it do so. Real healing and reorganization happen from the inside out. The work is gentle on the surface and profound underneath, which is why so many clients stay with her for the long run.
Network Spinal is a gentle form of chiropractic that works with your nervous system rather than against it. There is no forceful adjustment and no cracking. Using light, precise contacts along the spine, the work helps your body find new ways to release tension and defense, settle, and adapt to stress. We work with your body's natural intelligence and inborn strategies for release and unwinding.
Light contacts, never force. Most people describe it as deeply calming from the first visit.
The work helps your body shift out of tension and into rest, recovery, and repair.
Over time your body learns to hold less and recover faster on its own. Your body becomes smarter as it gains new strategies and uses them out in the world.
People arrive for many reasons. Underneath them all is a nervous system asking for rest, recovery and regulation.
Every symptom or pattern is a call for change. The painful signal is your body's way of redirecting you into a new strategy for growth and evolution. If we silence the signal, we silence the growth, and here at Healing Waves we are all about your growth and real change.
Real change does not come from chasing or managing symptoms. It comes from helping the body feel safe enough to reorganize itself. Every session is built on presence, precision, and respect for the wisdom already at work inside you.
This is quiet, patient work. It honors where you are and moves at the pace your body trusts. The result is not only less pain, but a deeper peace and ease that stays with you between visits.
Your body is not broken. It is waiting to be heard.
Dr. Mel is the real thing. She combined somatic bodywork with deep psychological insight in a way that moved things for me at a nervous system level, not just a conceptual one. Dr. Mel is extraordinary. Guidance grounded in wisdom, she showed and allowed me to be with the root of patterns I'd been carrying for decades. She was precise, direct, and genuinely loving. She went exactly as deep as I was willing to go and tracked the threads session by session with skill. The integration I experienced is lasting. A notable increase of peace in my system. More in the present. And what feels like an actual embodiment of letting things be easy.
C.C.Dr. Mel is the bomb.com and I love our time together. Thank you!
D.F.Working with Dr. Melanie has been one of the most wonderfully profound experiences of my life. She is a sensitive, supportive mentor that gets you straight to the heart of your issues. Highly recommend! 5 stars.
K.F.
Gentle spinal sessions that release held defense and tension and return your body to its own rhythm.
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Skilled bodywork to ease pain, improve circulation, and bring your whole system into deeper rest.
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A welcoming first visit designed to introduce you to the work and answer every question. Ask about the current new client offer.
Start here →Andrea helps people reconnect with their bodies through skilled, compassionate touch.
Andrea studied at the Lotus Palm School of Thai Yoga Massage and Cypress Health Institute, and completed a 550-hour certification in Community Herbalism. An integrative massage therapist with many years of experience, she draws on a lifetime of study in the healing arts to create sessions thoughtfully tailored to each individual.
Andrea believes great bodywork requires the discernment to know what each body needs in the moment. More than any modality she has learned, massage has taught her how to truly hold space for another person: to listen with her hands, create a sense of safety, and support each client's own healing process.
If your question is not here, call or text. We are happy to talk it through before you book.
No. There is no cracking, no popping, and no force. Network Spinal uses light, precise contacts along the spine, about the pressure you would use to check a pulse. Most people are surprised by how gentle it is, and how much happens anyway. If the idea of being twisted or adjusted has kept you away from chiropractic, this is a different experience entirely.
Your first visit with one of our Doctors of Chiropractic is private, and your second visit is in our group room. The first is a consultation, evaluation, spinal exam, and first adjustment: what your body is holding, where, and why, along with a full history of what brought you in. After your second visit with adjustment, you and Dr. Melanie decide together whether a care plan makes sense for you. Nobody is asked to commit to anything before they have felt what the work does.
It is, and it is particularly well suited to it. Because nothing is forced and nothing is manipulated, the work adapts easily to a body that is already changing quickly. Prenatal chiropractic is one of Dr. Melanie's specialties, and she has cared for many women through pregnancy, birth preparation, and the postpartum months.
It depends on what you are carrying and how long you have carried it. This is not a one visit fix, and we would not want to promise you that it is. What most people notice is that somewhere around the fourth or fifth visit, something shifts. They feel it. That is usually when the work stops being an experiment and starts being care.
Because the spine is where the nervous system lives, and the nervous system is what decides whether your body is in defense or at rest. When it is stuck in defense, that shows up in more places than your back. It shows up in sleep, in digestion, in anxiety, in how much you can handle before you snap. People come in for their neck pain and find that other symptoms and patterns resolve too. That is not a bonus. That is the work.
It does not hurt. Most people describe it as deeply calming, and many can feel the body unwinding and releasing on the first visit with a great sense of relief. What you will feel varies depending on how connected you already are to your body. The deeper your connection, the more you will feel shifting and reorganizing. Some people notice their breath change on its own. Some feel warmth or a wave moving through them. Some feel emotion surface without any story attached to it. All of that is your body doing something, and none of it is something you have to make happen.
Healing Waves is a private pay practice. That is a deliberate choice: it means Dr. Melanie decides how much time your care needs rather than an insurance company deciding for her. We can provide a superbill for you to submit to your insurance company for reimbursement. Just let our front desk know if you need one. Ask about the current new client offer, which includes your first chiropractic visits and a full hour of therapeutic massage.
We are at 303 Potrero Street, Suite 16, in Santa Cruz, right off River Street and close to downtown. New patient visits are either scheduled online or through our front desk. You can call or text us at (831) 466-3900 to set up your first chiropractic visit or massage. Our regular weekly adjusting hours are Monday and Wednesday, 3:30 to 7:00pm, and Tuesday and Thursday, 10:30am to 2:00pm. When you enter our business complex, The Old Sash Mill, follow the signs to Healing Waves to find us easily.
We like to schedule your chiropractic visit first, so Dr. Melanie can discuss your body with our massage therapist and make specific recommendations if needed. Choose a time that works for you. You'll receive an email confirmation once you are booked.
Prefer to speak with someone first? Call (831) 466-3900.
303 Potrero Street, Suite 16
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Monday and Wednesday, 3:30pm to 7:00pm
Tuesday and Thursday, 10:30am to 2:00pm
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, closed
