Presenter

Malabika is tri cultural woman, with American roots and Nepali and Bengali heritage. She lived in Asia for the past 15 years and recently transitioned to Portugal with her family. Malabika is an integrative social worker and wellness practitioner, who blends psychospiritual counseling, education and research using a body mind spirit approach. Her unique approach blends Eastern and Western modalities of healing and wellness, aiming to create holistic and transformative experiences for her clients. Her journey to social service and wellness began in Nepal as a child visiting her familial homes. This led her to complete her BA in Community Development-Urban Planning. In 1999, back in Nepal, she took her first yoga training and trekked half of the Annapurna circuit. This enabled a deeper connection with spirituality, universal energies, synchronicities and the multi-dimensional world. Following that life changing experience, she moved to New York, and continued work with several nonprofits and also completed her Masters in Social Work and worked with families in crisis. 

In 2012, she moved to Hong Kong, where she completed her PhD in Social Work and worked as a practitioner researcher providing holistic trauma therapy and mental and behavioral health services to refugees, asylum seekers, and survivors torture. She also published several chapters in social work textbooks. The next decade in Asia (Hong Kong, Thailand, Bali, Nepal and Taiwan) was pivotal as she began trainings into Eastern healing traditions such as Yoga (Yin Yang, Yin, Yoga Nidra), Advanced Reiki, Zen Thai Shiatsu Bodywork and Sound Therapy (Himalayan Singing Bowls and Fushin Monochord). In 2020, she created and taught The Science of Joyful Living at National Taiwan University in Taipei. The course combined social work, positive psychology and yoga and mindfulness to offer more than 2,000 students an often-pivotal self-development experience. She received the Teaching Excellence Award for the Course. She also provided individual and group yoga and wellness workshops in a variety of settings such as her own shala, schools, community centers and festivals. In Portugal, she is working to launch her wellness company and nonprofit, which combines her life’s work and commitment to service and wellbeing. She aims to focus her energy on Nepal. She honors the journey of learning and evolving, and the importance of spirituality in wellbeing. She aims to joyfully weave her passions to create magical, transformative experiences for all.