Nichola Gaines

I was born and raised in Invercargill, in the deep south of New Zealand. Aside from short stints living in Nelson and Christchurch in my younger years, Southland has always been home. It’s where I’ve grown, raised my children, and shaped the work I now bring into the world.

I am a mother of four incredible humans. Raising them on my own, without family support nearby, shaped so much of who I am. Becoming a teacher was both practical and purposeful. The hours allowed me to be present for my children while building a meaningful career.

Before qualifying as a teacher, I worked as a teacher’s aide supporting children with learning differences, a role that still holds a special place in my heart. Supporting tamariki to feel seen, understood, and capable has always been deeply important to me. I’ve now spent many years within the education system, walking alongside young people and their whānau.

As my children grew, I began my own personal healing journey. I started gently unpacking childhood trauma and experiences of abandonment. Work that required courage, honesty, and deep self-reflection. Like most of us discover, healing isn’t linear and it’s never truly “finished.” It’s a lifelong unfolding.

When two of my children moved overseas within a couple of years of each other, I found myself facing the ache of an empty nest. It was tender. It was confronting. And it was also expansive. That season called me even deeper into my own growth.

One summer, while camping in Omakau something I do every year with dear friends. I sat outside my tent under a sky full of stars and felt a quiet but undeniable knowing. It was time to study again.

That moment led me to train as a Somatic Intimacy Coach through a training organisation in Australia called The Institute of Somatic Sexology. The year of study that followed was transformative. The growth I experienced personally and professionally was profound. I became especially captivated by work around the nervous system. Understanding how our bodies hold our stories, our trauma, our pleasure, and our wisdom changed everything for me.

The nervous system isn’t just theory it’s lived experience. When we learn to listen to our bodies, to regulate, to soften, to trust something powerful happens. We reconnect to ourselves. We reclaim agency. We become empowered from the inside out.

The Body Knows was born from that truth.

I believe our bodies carry immense intelligence. When we learn to trust them, to feel rather than override, to move with rather than against we access a depth of clarity and confidence that cannot be forced from the outside.

This work is needed, and it would be an honour to walk alongside you in it.

Nichola Gaines

Somatic Practitioner