Warmest of welcomes!
My name is Monicka (she/they) and I am a Licensed Massage Therapist through the Oregon Board of Massage Therapy.
I have been in practice for over 11 years, and graduated from East West College of the Healing Arts in Portland, OR in 2010. I am a life-long student of movement and the human body, and have always been involved in activities that allow me to deepen my experiential understanding through athletics, dance, somatics, yoga, walking, play, etc. Basically, I’m a total movement nerd and it’s always centered in my life. I completed my undergraduate degree in Dance and Movement Studies at William Smith College in Geneva, NY in 2003. From there I dove deep into the world of yoga asana and philosophy upon moving to Portland in 2005. I have been studying and teaching yoga, anatomy & kinesiology, somatic movement, and functional strength with The Bhakti Yoga Movement Center since its founding in 2007. In 2018 I attended my first immersive training in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy with Todd Jackson, and it felt like coming home. I have always known that I am meant to be working with the body, to help others on their healing journeys, and to provide space where deep healing may be accessed, and craniosacral therapy has allowed for all of these possibilities to unfold within myself and my practice. I am very grateful to be able to say that the work that I do is my calling, and I continue to dedicate myself to regular self-study and studentship with my teachers, mentors, and peers.
I am committed to offering bodywork, massage, and movement therapy that is both client-centered and trauma-informed, and that moves from a place of compassion and deep listening. While I am gentle in nature, I have the capacity to work on a broad spectrum from physically and sensorially deep to the very light and subtle. In each session I will strive to meet you where you are in the moment, attuning to your nervous system and honoring any verbal requests. I never use a formulaic approach to treatment, but lean into the fluid and adaptive nature of the modalities that I am proficient in. I see us as a team working together in an effort to support your healing as it unfolds.
“Monicka is hands down the best massage therapist I’ve ever seen.
She is a magical and rare combination of strength and gentleness, intuition and deep knowledge of the body. When I have been injured, I have so appreciated her ability to draw from her anatomical expertise to do targeted tissue work and teach me about functional movement for my body. She has also left me floating away when what I needed was a whole-body settling of my nervous system after a difficult week. This year in particular, her prioritization of Covid-safety in the office has beenunmatched by practitioners I’ve seen elsewhere.”
— Julie S.
"As a healthcare provider who largely sees folks struggling with pain and disorganized body patterns,
Monicka is one of the most important providers in my referral catalogue.
They have a deeply intuitive sense of the ways the body can move in freedom and joy, and how those patterns can be interrupted by injury, repetitive stress and trauma. Monicka's work is unparalleled in its sensitivity to exactly what you need in the moment, and is deeply informed by practices that center patient care, trauma and the role the nervous system plays in healing. I trust her utterly with my own patients, as well as my own personal care in tending to the needs of the nervous system and the myofascial constrictions that many of us struggle with."
— Lisa Mae Osborn LAc