Shelly began her study of Pilates in 1989 with Marie José Blom-Lawrence at Long Beach Dance Conditioning after completing her BFA in dance at California Institute of the Arts. She became a Certified Pilates Instructor through the PhysicalMind Institute in 1997.

Before opening Bodies in Balance (1998-2010), Shelly spent two years teaching Pilates-based rehabilitative exercises to patients at a physical therapy clinic. Her experience includes athletic conditioning and rehabilitation with post-operative and fibromyalgia patients, people with obesity, and osteo and rheumatoid arthritis. She has also worked with ballet and modern dancers, and was the Pilates teacher for the artists of Cirque du Soleil's Corteo in Portland.

In 2001 Shelly became Certified Teacher Trainer through the PhysicalMind Institute and has provided certification requirements to over fifty Pilates instructors in the Pacific Northwest.

Shelly is certified by the Pilates Method Alliance and now offers teacher certification as a faculty member of Balanced Body University.

In 2007 Shelly undertook training to become a KMI certified practitioner of Structural Integration in order to further aid her clients in the transformation of their bodies.

In 2008 she became an Anatomy in Clay instructor, and was honored to assist the KMI faculty at the BodyLanguage workshops in New York city throughout 2008. She is certified by the Pilates Method Alliance and is an associate instructor of Anatomy Trains.