about my work and training

“Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn't you - all of the expectations, all of the beliefs - and becoming who you are.”

Rachel Naomi Remer, MD

My name is Martina Skenderova, but everyone calls me Mishe. I am a nationally board certified (NCCAOM) and Colorado licensed acupuncturist and practitioner of Eastern medicine as well as a grief and death doula.

I've spent years working with patients in a variety of settings from the intensive care unit to the oncology infusion room, and I love supporting biomedical treatment with complementary wholistic approaches. Time and again I have had the honor of witnessing how people face adversity as well as how they heal and grow, and have come to understand that healing is more than a cure. It is the process of re-membering ourselves into wholeness and connecting to the intrinsic wisdom of the body and the Earth. Healing is the continuous work of love, acceptance, creativity, and belonging embedded in our worthiness beyond health status, appearance, and productivity.

Through the years, I have encountered many people facing the end of their lives, and despite hospice and palliative care options, I have seen the gaps in how we as healthcare professionals were able to serve people who face life-limiting illness. My death doula work is meant to support people beyond and in complement to what standard healthcare services offer.

In a society intent on miracle cures, agelessness, body hacks, and shortcuts to bliss, I am extending an invitation to honor body-mind-spirit-Earth, and make space for the reality of grief and death, as well as for vibrant courageous authentic living regardless of whether or not a cure is possible.

My work is informed by animist values that honor our connection to Earth, our ancestors, our emotional lives, and the call of the Soul. I value professional collaboration across disciplines, evidence-based practice, and heart-centered holistic care. Drawing on 15 years of experience in healthcare, I approach each person with deep reverence for the sacred in all of us.

my approach

Master of Science in East Asian Medicine

Certified Provider of Hospice and Palliative Care Acupuncture

Level 1 Brainspotting practitioner

Integrative Medicine for Acupuncturists

(Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)

EXSTORE™ Orthopedic Acupuncture

(Anthony Lombardi, DC/ACE Seminars)

End of Life Doula

(Conscious Dying Institute)

Compassionate Inquiry

(Dr. Gabor Mate, MD)

Integrated Somatic Trauma Therapy

(The Embody Lab)

Psychedelic Assisted Therapies and Research

(California Institute of Integral Studies)

Ketamine Assisted Therapy Certificate

(Psychedelic Research and Training Institute)

MDMA Assisted Therapy Trainee

(Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies)

Ancestral Lineage Healing Practitioner in Training

(Dr. Daniel Foor PhD)

professional training