Hi, I am Nichole, and I am excited to be here with you.
I am honored to support your exploration of mindfulness, to witness you through a process of self discovery and inner cultivation. I look forward to guiding you through a personal journey of learning how to live with awareness, wisdom and beautiful, embodied presence... how to become an emotionally intelligent steward of the heart and mind!
Through the disciplines of mindfulness, coaching, Somatic Experiencing and other expressive practices, I help women (and men*) awaken their natural qualities of wisdom, presence and engagement with life. I help service-focused organizations and institutions cultivate an easeful, awake and compassionate community for learning and service.
In a nutshell, I am passionate about waking up and living with wisdom and full expression of our heart and mind. To that end I have spent the last 20 years of my life studying meditation in Buddhist and secular settings all over the world. I have studied with world renowned teachers in lay Buddhist, Monastic and secular traditions. I have taken a road less traveled and dared to take chances. At a time in my own life when I struggled with debilitating grief, fear and uncertainty, I dropped out of college (and later went back), moved to a hippie community in the woods and began practicing meditation and other spiritual practices. In the basic teachings of mindfulness I found a profound refuge of self acceptance, patience and an ability to be present with even the deepest suffering. Meditation practice opened my heart and lit a fire in me that continues to burn.
Personally, I have been called to support women on their healing journeys because I too have walked this path... mindfulness, creative practices and trauma informed somatic work have saved my life a million times. My life has been impacted by various physical, emotional and relational traumas, from which I have spent many years of my life recovering. For years of my life I was overcome by deep fear and insecurity, the belief I would never be safe physically and emotionally, and that I was destined to never have enough. I lived in a very contracted state, in which my world felt very small and opportunity felt very far out of reach. It has been a slow and patient path, but through years of meditation and other alternative healing practices, I found my way toward the kind of wisdom, self compassion and faith in my capacities, that is ultimately healing and life changing. But like you, I too needed mentors, teachers and people to hold this higher vision of myself, while I sat down in the painful middle of my life and made peace with and learned to love the very deep suffering I had known for so long. I am forever grateful to the people I have called teacher, counselor, friend and mentor... there have been many. And I consider it a great honor that you might call me the same.
Whether I am working with a client one on one, or facilitating a group, I see my clients and students find this same refuge every day in their own mindfulness, expressive and creative practices. By getting to know their direct experience, just as it is, with kindness and acceptance, with patience and wisdom, my clients begin to feel more spaciousness, compassion, and ease in their lives. By opening their hearts, taking chances, and naming and claiming their truth, I see the people I work with become bolder, and brighter beacons of wisdom and love.
Like, I said, it is an honor, truly an HONOR, to work with you. I can't tell you how often I am moved to tears when working with a client who is boldly opening, taking chances and courageously exploring some new part of themselves. I feel the impact of your expansion because I allow myself to be impacted. I allow myself to care about and be affected by the people I work with, because you deserve nothing less than my present, loving attention, that is entirely invested in nothing less than your full awakening and wellbeing. As Hafiz, the ancient Persian poet once wrote, "If only you could see yourself through my eyes, you would realize how beautiful you are."
I am a graduate of the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, with a certification in mindfulness facilitation (CMF), and I am a Certified Mindfulness Teacher- Professional (CMT-P) through the International Mindfulness Teachers Association. I hold interdisciplinary degrees in psychology, education and the arts. I have also trained as a counselor, coach and dance teacher. And, I have advanced level training in Somatic Experiencing (a nervous system based trauma healing modality) through the Trauma Healing Institute/Somatic Experiencing Training Institute. My work is informed by 20 years of meditation practice and a lifetime as an artist. More than 20 uears ago I led my first workshop at the hippie community in the woods where I lived, and I have been leading rituals, ceremonies, retreats, programs, workshops and other adventures ever since. My educational and professional path has taken me as far away as India where I worked with an organization supporting women living with HIV and AIDS, to the San Juan Islands where I lived and worked as a dance and art teacher in the schools. In addition to years studying meditation, I have also studied and practiced various other wisdom traditions. I moved to the Bay Area following a year and a half long meditation sabbatical during which time I focused on intensive meditation practice with various teachers and mentors at Buddhist monasteries and retreat centers. As an artist I have choreographed and performed in numerous dance and theater works, published my writing and photography, and collaborated with many other musical, visual and movement artists over the years. I value love, passion, awakening, creativity, expression and living courageously!
*While the primary focus of my private practice is working with women, I welcome working with men. I currently have several male clients whom I am honored to support.
For women... (men are welcome too)
I have worked with Women as a teacher, a one-on-one mentor and facilitator of artistic, therapeutic and creative groups for almost 20 years. Many of my current Presence clients include mature and emerging women from of all walks life: moms, international tech leaders, philanthropists, web developers, nurses, lawyers, film makers, doctors, educators, healers, therapists, designers, corporate leaders and artists… Women who want to ask deeper questions of their lives, and who are open to their own deeper answers. I have been told by clients and colleagues that I bring wit, clear wisdom, eloquent articulation, compassion and unwavering presence to our work together.
I have worked with Women as a teacher, a one-on-one mentor and facilitator of artistic, therapeutic and creative groups for almost 20 years. Many of my current Presence clients include mature and emerging women from of all walks life: moms, international tech leaders, philanthropists, web developers, nurses, lawyers, film makers, doctors, educators, healers, therapists, designers, corporate leaders and artists… Women who want to ask deeper questions of their lives, and who are open to their own deeper answers. I have been told by clients and colleagues that I bring wit, clear wisdom, eloquent articulation, compassion and unwavering presence to our work together.
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I help women explore and cultivate wisdom in the following areas:
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For individuals and organizations...
In more than a decade working with organizations, in the areas of of teaching, group facilitation, and program development, I have collaborated and worked with therapists, psychologists, leaders in higher education, artists, nonprofit leaders and entrepreneurs. I help people and organizations thrive and live well by cultivating the kind of awareness and wisdom that results in resourced individuals and easeful team collaboration. I have been told by clients and colleagues that I bring humor, eloquence, accessible instruction and useful insight to my work with teams and groups.
My areas of focus with service-focused organizations include:
Some of my recent Bay Area clients and collaborations include:
UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine
UCSF DELISH Study
UCSF Department of Environmental Health and Safety
UCSF Department of Emergency Medicine
UCSF Associated Students of Cell Biology
UC Irvine Department of Environmental Health and Safety
10,000 Degrees
Larkin Street Youth Services/Wise Up
Muir Wood Family Services
The Greenwood School
Elsewhere:
The Oregon Country Fair Community Village, Eugene OR
WINS Women's Initiatives, Andra Pradesh India
Pragya Vihar School, Bodh Gaya India
Allied Arts Education Project, Bellingham WA
Orcas Arts Education Project, Orcas Island WA
In more than a decade working with organizations, in the areas of of teaching, group facilitation, and program development, I have collaborated and worked with therapists, psychologists, leaders in higher education, artists, nonprofit leaders and entrepreneurs. I help people and organizations thrive and live well by cultivating the kind of awareness and wisdom that results in resourced individuals and easeful team collaboration. I have been told by clients and colleagues that I bring humor, eloquence, accessible instruction and useful insight to my work with teams and groups.
My areas of focus with service-focused organizations include:
- Weekly or monthly mindfulness instruction
- Mindfulness-based mediation and conflict resolution
- Mindfulness-based communication fundamentals
- Mindfulness-based work place wellness and personal development programs
Some of my recent Bay Area clients and collaborations include:
UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine
UCSF DELISH Study
UCSF Department of Environmental Health and Safety
UCSF Department of Emergency Medicine
UCSF Associated Students of Cell Biology
UC Irvine Department of Environmental Health and Safety
10,000 Degrees
Larkin Street Youth Services/Wise Up
Muir Wood Family Services
The Greenwood School
Elsewhere:
The Oregon Country Fair Community Village, Eugene OR
WINS Women's Initiatives, Andra Pradesh India
Pragya Vihar School, Bodh Gaya India
Allied Arts Education Project, Bellingham WA
Orcas Arts Education Project, Orcas Island WA
