Today we’d like to introduce you to Danika Tkacik.
Danika, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I went to massage school to get cheap massages on the GI Bill. That was the plan. Then three months in, something happened — I had a significant fascial release and felt pain leave my body that I’d been carrying so long I thought it was just… being alive. I didn’t know that wasn’t normal. I didn’t know every human wasn’t walking around feeling exactly like that. That moment wrecked my whole plan in the best way. It stopped being a career path and became a calling.
From there, I knew I wasn’t going to work for other people long-term. I have no interest in waiting around to see if my name makes the next layoff list. So I built it the slow way — saw clients privately while working full-time, saved enough to rent space, got credentialed with insurance, built a caseload, and eventually walked away from clinic work to run my own practice exclusively. Then I brought staff in. Then I started teaching. Now I’m building continuing education for licensed massage therapists through Soully Educated, and a body literacy program for anyone who wants to actually understand what their body has been trying to tell them
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The clinical side has never been the hard part — that comes naturally. Where I’ve had to work is the administrative infrastructure. Bookkeeping, systems, the unglamorous back-end of running a business. It’s not that I can’t do it, it’s that my brain doesn’t light up for it the way it does for the work itself. That’s an ongoing negotiation.
Beyond that? Things have been surprisingly smooth. I’ve learned that when I stop fighting the current and just move with what’s presenting itself, the path tends to open up. That’s not passive — it’s actually a very intentional way to operate. I’m not white-knuckling a five-year plan. I’m paying attention and responding to what’s in front of me, and that approach has served me well
As you know, we’re big fans of Soully Aware. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Massage isn’t something I clock in and out of — it’s genuinely how my brain works. I’m thinking about bodies constantly. I dream about client problems. I’ll wake up with a solution to something I’ve been untangling for weeks. That level of obsession sounds intense, but I think it’s exactly what makes the work effective.
My approach is informed by — and I’ll say this humbly — a very amateur but sincere fascination with quantum physics. The way energy behaves, the way systems interact, the non-linearity of how things change. That framework shapes how I think about tissue, about pain, about the body as something far more dynamic than a machine with broken parts.
What I’m known for clinically is getting results with the things people have given up on. The knot that’s been there for two years. The hip that stopped moving and you just quietly accepted as your new normal. The numbness in your fingers you’ve been told to manage, not resolve. Those cases are where I tend to do my best work — not because I have a protocol for them, but because I stay curious until something shifts.
On the business side, I run Soully Aware out of Gresham, and what I’m most energized about right now is the expansion into education. I’ve been building continuing education for licensed massage therapists through Soully Educated, but the thing I really want people to know about is the Body Literacy program I’m currently putting together — because that one isn’t just for practitioners. It’s for anyone who lives in a body and has stopped understanding what it’s trying to tell them. Which is most of us.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Books:
Fascia, What it does and why it matters by David Lesondak
Fascia, Function, and Medical Applications by Davis Lesondak
Clinical Neurodynamics, a new system of musculoskeletal treatment, by Michael Shacklock
Podcasts:
The Thinking Practitioner with Til Luchau & Whitney Lowe
I have client who,,, with Ruth Werner
Daniel & Kelly’s extrordinary universe with Daniel & Kelly
YouTube:
Rehab Science
Seattle Science Foundation
Rebel Massage
Most of all, being in a room with students and sharing ideas has really helped me be the best I can
Contact Info:
- Website: https://SoullyAware.com
- Instagram: @soullyaware
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/SoullyAware
- Other: https://skool.com/soully-educated
