Meet Nikki Connell of Sierra Healing Arts in Louisville

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nikki Connell.

Nikki, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was born right here in Boulder in the early seventies to very liberal, open-minded parents. Because of this, I was exposed to many different ideas and modalities of healing and spirituality. I have always been drawn to the psychology of human behavior and how your story affects who you are. I have always been that person that others have felt comfortable enough sharing details about their lives that may be difficult and uncomfortable. I have been lucky enough to embody the skill of connecting with others, no matter who they are. That made making friends easy for me growing up, but I struggled with depression and low self-esteem from an early age. The outward appearance was a straight-A student, gifted athlete who had many friends, but inside I grappled with my own worthiness. I was a born people-pleaser but lacked any healthy boundaries when it came to conflict. I encountered some painful episodes of bullying. The memories of eating my lunch in a bathroom stall and walking home on the side of the road 6 miles just to avoid riding the bus are sharply vivid. I lived through all of this (thank goodness), and still remember my father pulling me aside one morning and telling me that I needed to stand up for myself or the bullying would never end in my life. A lesson I still needed to learn well into my adult life.

I grew up in East County Boulder, which at the time was the boonies with tons of open space, very little development with horses and farmland. Today is a prime piece of real estate with tiny coal mining houses for sale for 1/2 a million dollars. I live here today because I knew I wanted to live in the community where I grew up, where people say hello and neighbors have strong alliances. I thought of myself as a late bloomer, not really coming into my own until freshman year in high school. I was awkward with braces and crazy hair. Boys didn’t notice me at all until I was 16 or 17 years old. Until then, I was the smart, funny one, who had lots of different friends from different friend groups. The older senior boy I had a crush on in high school noticed me, we fell in love and was engaged at 18. The relationship fell apart in college.

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel to Bali for the summer after graduation with one of my best friends. This opened my eyes to a whole different world and because it was so far away, had to depend on myself in some pretty dicey situations. On the beach, there were women who you could receive a massage from for very cheap. It was amazing and the very first experiences I had with massage. I was devastated to come back to what I now believed to be the tiny town of Boulder and attend the local university, CU, After all of the time and effort I put into my studies, I felt lost and unsure of my path. I was the oldest, and with family and personal turmoil unfolding at the same time, I felt a responsibility to help take care of my 15 years younger sister. I had experienced a sexual assault right before my 17th birthday and my mother’s alcoholism became worse. My studies and grades declined and after getting involved on the wrong path with the wrong people, my Dad stepped in and made me work for the family commercial printing business instead of waitressing at a restaurant in Boulder called The Sink.

This was an especially hard time. All my friends had moved on and out of Boulder. More depression continued and I kept working at the family business doing sales and marketing until we sold the business right after my mom passed away unexpectedly due to her alcohol and drug abuse. This sent shock waves through my life and carved a journey of my own struggles with alcohol and drugs. Through these dark days of struggle, grief and hopelessness grew the tiniest seeds of who I was to become. I was able to overcome my battles, and after losing everything and was pretty much homeless, a soft voice steered me onto a road of recovery and strength. I was stripped to the bare bones of my soul and was able to rebuild myself. During this path of growth, I couldn’t get enough of different mentors, authors, books and information on healing. I could stand in my own power now and met my husband and decided after many, many years of a successful sales career, to quit and start a mid-life switch into the healing arts.

With my husband’s support, I enrolled in what was one of the best massage schools in the country, BCMT, which happened to be 20 min away. Upon entering school, I found out I was pregnant but pushed through school until I had my first beautiful daughter. I worked in a hospital massaging new moms and got pregnant with my second daughter. I had to find some balance, and with a failing marriage and a very painful divorce, found myself back to reconstructing my life again. As a single mom now, I started building my own practice, fostered some friendships with some truly strong and amazing women who supported and loved me unconditionally.

I was lucky enough to use my skills of fostering connection along with my early interest into the psychology of how people hold their stories in their bodies to build a successful practice. I began working with seniors and found a deep love and gratitude for the importance of touch and presence for this population. I love my work and I deeply care for my clients. I really do feel like a conduit to help foster their own personal healing journey. I believe we hold trauma in our tissues, that trauma has a cellular memory. The body can speak sometimes where consciousness cannot. I find it a great honor helping people listen and feel what is happening in their bodies. The awareness itself can sometimes be more powerful than how it is showing up in the body.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My mother had a very painful early childhood and held onto those wounds stubbornly. She wouldn’t seek any outside help and so turned to drugs and alcohol to help cope with those wounds. She never gave herself a chance to heal and so we were witness to years of addictions and what would eventually lead to her untimely death. Anyone who has been around, or grown up in an alcoholic home, knows the deep wounds they cause. She passed away suddenly, so coupled with immense amounts of grief, I also turned to drugs and alcohol to cope. My body was severely affected by alcohol and spent too many visits to the ER and the ICU. At the end, I was in renal and heart failure, had bleeding ulcers and pancreatitis. A strength within myself made me seek another way. I healed and became stronger and wiser because of it.

At 16 years old, I was sexually assaulted which led to a suicide attempt. My psyche became fractured and I was drawn to people and things that were self-destructive in an attempt to numb out the pain. I believe my own struggles with trauma drew me into the healing arts. I was in a very difficult marriage and an extremely painful divorce after ten years of marriage. I was forced to know and be content with who I was and who I wanted to be, which helped me to connect to others in a different way.

Please tell us about Sierra Healing Arts.
I named my practice Sierra Healing Arts after my middle name Sierra. I am a massage therapist who specializes in everything from pre and posts natal, sports, reiki and energy work to deep tissue and elder care, I believe, everything we experience has a cellular memory and I work with each client individually to help in their healing process. I connect, educate and facilitate the healing of the body, mind and soul through mindful, present massage therapy and bodywork.

I am most proud of my clients and how deep, soulful healing unfolds. Witnessing the release of pain on so many levels, and seeing real change after a session makes me love my job even more. I feel I can make a difference in people’s lives. Healing pain from someone’s life, in whatever form that takes, is very powerful and beautiful. I have a sales background and my personality has always naturally been drawn to a deep connection with others and their stories. I remember those tiny details about a persons life that can create a comfortability that helps them to relax during the work. I deeply care about my client’s story, history and personal development. They come as a full embodiment of anything and everything they have experienced.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I feel deeply and greatly and can relate on a level of suffering and trauma because of my own story. I know where I have been and where I am now. Those wounds have become my greatest strength.

Pricing:

• $75 for 60 min
• $90 for 90 minutes
• $110 for 120 min

Contact Info:

• Phone: 3035796045
• Email: sierrahealingarts@yahoo.com

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