15 Questions for Monica

Name: Monica Giannina Gelpi Bradnan


Birthday: April 13, 1976



1. Where are your family roots from? As I understand, our maternal Grandmother’s side is French & Spanish, maternal Grandfather’s side is French and paternal Grandmother’s side is Spanish, and paternal Grandfather’s side is Spanish & Portuguese (Madiera).


2. How have your parents/guardian influenced you? I feel like having a Mother like our Mom helped me with really listening to others and paying attention to others & eventually my own emotional states & needs. Dad instilled a certain drive for productivity and strong work ethic plus a love of friendship & partying.


3. Can you remember your earliest childhood memory of happiness and that of fear? Happiness was wearing my tall, brown cowboy boots at 3-4 years old. Fear was waking from sleep after hearing tons of breaking glass and not knowing what the sound was or what it meant at a 5-6 years old.


4. Is there something in your life that you feel very passionate about? Friendship. I forever hold dear-to-my-heart, true friendships.


5. If you could be any animal, what animal would that be? plant? and insect? why? Animal: Bird, to fly without the inherent feeling of fear of heights or death from flying. Plant: Grass or Bamboo, grass so that people can lay around looking upwards, kids can run and do somersaults... Bamboo for its strength, beauty and magical music it makes in the wind. Insect:Praying Mantis, I know nothing about these dudes except they look AWESOME and they look even more awesome when they rub their hands together. 


6. What is it about being an acupuncturist that keeps you satisfied for it to be your career? It keeps my mind active, my hands busy and my heart full.


7. What is your process? I really try to listen to what people tell me about their life that creates & contributes to them not feeling well and then listen to what I hear beyond the words they are telling me. It makes for a real, deep & therapeutic conversation which invites healing before the needles go in or herbs are taken. 


8. Can you tell us something that you just learned that intrigued you? Many women are born with a congential blood clotting disorder that worsens with each pregnancy they have. They don’t know they have it unless they test for it but it would explain why some have several continuous miscarriages and can suffer CVAs (strokes) and possible brain hemorrhages just from getting pregnant or after giving birth. This is interesting for our generation when 2 generations ago women were having super large families with much lower incidences of this.


9. What is your perception of how people see you? Lately, others see me much younger than I am & I’m kinda loving that.


10. What are you listening to these days? I recently came out of a period of less music listening and find myself back into music and it’s great. I really like Spotify, so, today I listened to The Kills, Beck, Santigold, Devendra Banhart, Beach House, Beach Fossils, Modest Mouse (xo), Bishop Allen.


11. What's the best and worst decision you ever made? Best decision was to start seeing a psychotherapist and finally getting breaking into the “Monica Safe”. I’ve made more bad decisions than I can list or remember frankly but I’ve learned from each and don’t regret anything enough to say “This was the worst ever”. I mean, I kinda say that everytime I make a bad decision, but I’m learning to love my “human moments” and give up on absolutes.


12. Can you narrate to me your proudest moment? Giving birth at home, naturally with the support of some of the truest people I know. It was a palatable primal experience that pushed me to my edges and I came thru a winner; sweating, flushed, shaking, and (physically) torn but holding my equally strong little baby boy.


13. What do you find most ridiculous about life? Hate. Hating Gays, hating fat people, hating what people wear, hating Obama, hating the poor, hating immigrants, hating the youth, and so on...


14. Can you share a topic that causes your blood to boil? The selfish space some pro-lifers derive their deep necessity to beat pro-choicers emotionally, psychically, spiritually, and physically.    


15. If you could take a peek in your future (say 10 years from now), what would it look like? Happy, Fulfilled, Prosperous and Busy with a 12 year old. What!? 12! Incredible.




Thank you, sister! 

You can find Monica at The Center of Wellness in Maitland, FL. I was able to visit a couple time and just love the vibe going on there. Everyone is so kind and lovely to talk with. Monica fits right in :).