New practice a dream come true for massage therapist

Unlike many people, Monicka Granger prefers to be on the giving end of a massage. It was always her dream to open her own massage practice, and she succeeded in getting Breath Massage & Bodywork off the ground over the past few months.

“It’s always been my dream to do this on my own,” Granger said.

Granger had been working on opening her own massage practice since her husband first started experiencing chronic back pain years ago. Granger discovered the benefits of massage while searching for ways to alleviate her husband’s suffering. “I was trying to help him any way I could,” she recollected.

At the time, the couple was living in Maryland, and Granger decided she wanted to go to school for massage therapy. But there wasn’t an institution nearby where she could learn the necessary skills.

When her family moved to Montana, Granger found the Massage Training Institute in Kalispell, and the pieces of her long-awaited goal fell into place.

“It was much more convenient,” Granger said.

Once she learned the basics of massage, Granger continued to develop her skills. She offers a variety of massage specialties, including cranial-sacral massage and lymph massage, which target the head and the lymph nodes, respectively. She also practices aromatherapy, reflexology and cupping.

Granger prides herself on her light touch. For the lymph and cranial-sacral massages, she works in a very gentle way to soothe her clients.

“Sometimes people think they want a really deep tissue massage,” Granger observed, but she has found a more delicate approach can sometimes be a better fit for tense muscles.

“It’s all about assessing the person when they come in and seeing what they need,” Granger said.

People who experience a lot of tension and anxiety, as well as those who simply seek a lighter touch, all enjoy Granger’s methods, she reported. Many of her clients have told her she gave them the best massage they had ever experienced, she said.

Passion and intuition are the keys to Granger’s approach.

Granger believes her commitment to her work runs especially deep because of her personal connection through her husband. She has also trained herself to be sensitive to the feelings, energy and desire of her clients. It’s a part of her practice that Granger has honed since opening up her own business.

“People are craving to be touched in a therapeutic way,” she observed.

One element of her business that Granger appreciates is her studio’s location in the same facility as Montana Spine and Neurodevelopment Center in Kalispell. The other practitioners in the building offer chiropractic care and sports medicine. When Granger met them, she said, “it just clicked that this was a good move.”

With Granger’s addition, Montana Spine and Neurodevelopment Center is essentially a one-stop shop for back and general body treatments.

“It’s just been really nice working with them,” said Granger.

The next step for Granger is to learn gua sha, a therapeutic scraping technique that uses a stone tool. She wants to develop her practice with more specialty techniques, but as a mother of seven, she also needs to balance her business with her other obligations.

“It’s slowly building,” she said.

Breathe Massage and Body Work is located at 221 Parkway Drive in Kalispell. Hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Wednesday. To book a massage, call 406-260-6545 or go to monickagrangerbreathe.com.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at 406-758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.