Nicole Ford, therapy

11/04/2024

I took this photo of my beautiful friend Elodie O'brien when she came to visit me in Costa Rica. We were driving on a dirt road and caught a glimpse of the golden pink sunset setting over the ocean. We quickly made a detour toward the ocean and made our way to the beach to see this beautiful sunset.

It started to rain and we were fully clothed, but couldn’t resist the ocean so her, Gracie and I ended up jumping in the water in our clothes to experience the sunset.

Elodie put together this video today about the retreat that we are holding together in December. It is truly an honor to work with a soul sister on this retreat. We had another woman sign up today and we are so excited to welcome her to this transformative experience.

If you are feeling called to join us, there is still time! Reach out and we can chat.

Sending you all love.

🩵

🌿🌹Return to Love Retreat🌹🌿A Journey Back to Your Heart in Costa RicaDecember 3rd-9th, 2024Imagine yourself surrounded by the lush embrace of Costa Rica’s...

10/01/2024

Sending you all so much love as we navigate these times.

May we rest in beauty and peace
May we come to know and honor ourselves deeply
May we remember our true nature
May we trust

08/10/2024

Facing Fear - Part 2

I knew when I moved to Costa Rica that I wanted to develop a relationship with the ocean. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I longed for the bathwater temps of the more Southern parts of the Pacific Ocean.

As I began to acclimate here and learn about the land, I kept feeling a deep desire to learn to surf. And I was scared. So intimidated. The ocean is such a vast and powerful energy and I wasn’t sure if I could even try to contend with her.

I began taking surfing lessons recently. During my first lesson while facing the waves crashing in front on me, there came a voice from inside that said “I can’t.” Almost immediately following that voice was a feeling of collapse in my body.

This showed up again a few days later when I was singing. I have been working through a deep shame around singing and my voice. And a previously held belief (that was dispelled by a voice coach) that I was not able to sing in tune.

As I was working my way up the scale during a voice exercise I felt the familiar voice... “I can’t” and immediately I began to feel dizzy and felt the collapse.

This is how trauma shows up in our body. We get imprinted with these beliefs so early in life that they simply feel like reality. And we can’t just “positive think” our way out of these beliefs because many times they are unconscious and also stored in the nervous system. I believe I can’t and immediately my body collapses and feels like I actually can’t.

Likewise, it isn’t helpful to stronghold, bully, or criticize ourselves out of these feelings. These are parts of us that are most often from childhood. We want to treat ourselves with the tender loving care and patience that we would treat any child.

Of course, I am dedicated to the path of working through my own trauma and limitations (which is why I feel so passionate about helping others to do the same). I questioned my “I can’t.” I stayed with the feelings and sensations in my body. And as I kept my conscious awareness on this piece, the feelings moved through. And there was another side to the “I can’t” and the collapse.

And because I moved through the initial automatic response, I was able to have an embodied experience of I CAN.

And I just did.

I can work with the ocean and paddle out further into the ocean than I have ever been. I can sing notes higher than I have ever thought possible. And the feeling of a complete paradigm shift into who I understand myself to be occurred. I felt and saw the limited unconscious box I had myself in since the beginning of time.

It felt exhilarating.

If I can do these things... what else can I do? Who actually am I?

What an exciting question.

08/04/2024

Facing Fear - Part 1

About three months ago I was stung 4 times by a scorpion. I had been very hypervigilant about the scorpions here, and especially paying attention because some months prior 3 had shown up in my path within 24 hours, and I hadn't seen any before or after.

I knew it was a sign and when I had my first encounter I did a shamanic journey to the scorpion to get the message.

Yet, here I was. Laying in bed. Gracie sleeping beside me. And I get 4 excruciating stings so quickly I had no idea what happened until I flipped on the light and saw it crawling away on the floor.

For a moment, I panicked. I had no idea how my body would respond to scorpion venom, let alone 4 doses. I felt all of the fear set in of being a single mom in a foreign country.

Who would I call at this hour if I had an adverse reaction? I surely couldn't risk driving myself to the hospital with my daughter in the car.

I felt into a deeper part of myself that said, "everything will be okay. This is important medicine."

The next morning, after a terrible night of sleep, I released the scorpion out on the land. I did another shamanic journey back to scorpion. It gave me a long teaching. And also a message...

"It is time to work on your fear."

Fear? Really? Do I have to? Can't I just focus elsewhere? Is it really THAT important? (and enter every other bargaining tactic, denial, etc.).

Yet again. Part of me knew. It was time. I felt the way that I carried around this deep deep fear. Fear of trusting life. Fear of trusting my body. Fear of losing who I love. Fear of rejection. Fear of abandonment.

I started to go into this deeper layer of fear and as I processed what was there, I found an unconscious place in myself that was afraid of my own repressed emotions and trauma memories from childhood. I was afraid of my own experience.

As I took a breath and faced this fear, I was able to not only be there for my younger self, but released a huge amount of energy that was bound up in my nervous system unconsciously repressing these things.

This came with relief and spaciousness. It freed up my life force. And I am reminded again the importance of trusting the process.

07/31/2024

Welcome to all of my new followers. It is an honor to have you in my community. And for those of you who have been here with me over the years, thank you for sharing space with me.

I adore each of you and treasure this community we have built.

I have worked in the mental health field for 20 years and have been specializing in EMDR and trauma work for over a decade.

My work in trauma lead me into shamanic work, where I came to understand the spiritual and energetic aspects of the journey of the soul. I find that these approaches blend together beautifully.

The work that I've done with people over the years has been so sacred and such an honor. I am always moved at the depth of courage, vulnerability, love, and wisdom that flows from people who I hold sessions for.

The ever unfolding process of being human is so beautiful and heartbreaking and messy. For clients and therapists alike.

Each of us will face our initiations, trials, deaths, and rebirths. And what I have found particularly helpful in these types of portals is to have someone who can hold us through. To hold up the light while we find our way through the dark. To remind us that in accordance with the rhythm of life, an expansion will always follow a contraction. To reflect back to us our power, truth, and light.

It is my prayer that we can all feel a belonging to each other, belonging to ourselves, and belonging to the web of life.

photo by the very talented

07/29/2024

The healing power of Nature is truly unmatched. And there is something particularly incredible about the power of the Ocean.

Anytime I am having stuck or big emotions, I go to the ocean. When Gracie or I wake up in a cranky mood… ocean. When I’m feeling stagnant or unclear about something? Ocean. When I need a presence to hold big grief for me to release… Ocean.

Mama ocean will also put you face to face with the wild, unbridled, chaos. I’m learning how to stay steady in it, and it’s truly a training ground for all of life.

I am truly grateful for this medicine.

Of course, I wasn’t always so lucky to live 3 minutes from a warm ocean. And if you don’t live near an ocean, I recommend finding your nearest lake, river, waterfall. Each of these carrying different energies, but all ultimately cleansing and reconciling.

07/05/2024

I recently sat down with my soul sister Amanda Zeglinski to chat about the incredible journey of the soul that lead us both to Costa Rica.

When I arrived in Costa Rica with my daughter I did not know anyone. It was the biggest leap of faith that I had taken possibly in my entire life. Quickly after I landed in Costa Rica, I connected with Amanda and we became instant friends. In this episode we talk about healing and what a healing crisis can look like. We dive into the depths of a Dark Night of the Soul and the beautiful practices, mindsets, and rituals that keep us going and assist in the understanding of the medicine that life is dishing up.

And of course, we weave in the magic and mayhem of living in the jungle of Latin America.

This podcast will definitely inspire you if you're feeling like you're lost or stagnant, unsure if you want to take that giant leap that is calling you, and if you are longing for a life that you feel more present and alive in. Give it a listen!

‎Show The Pegasus Tribe, Ep Snakes, Scorpions, & Butterflies; Taking a Leap of Faith & Trusting the Wild Feminine with Amanda Z. - Jul 5, 2024

06/29/2024

There are many of us on the planet right now who's work is to be a bridge to Spirit. We know how to access the realms of Spirit to receive guidance for healing of ourselves, the land, and others. We work in deep relationship with the sky, the stars, the earth, the animals, the minerals, the waters, and many other facets of the great web. We know that everything is related, all are our relatives, and we respect and honor those who came before us and those that will come after us. We use our discernment regarding what energies are those of life and what energies are not life. We face initiations with courage and surrender to yet again the shedding of our skin so we can become the most authentic and true expressions of ourselves. We know that everything life brings our way is important medicine for our soul growth and we welcome our shadow as well as the light, knowing that deep in our shadow is treasure. We know that the tears, and the pain, and the grief, and longing, and anger are just as sacred as the peace and joy. We also know when it is time to celebrate, lay down the endless quest for healing, and actually be in this life. With the people around us. In our communities. With our children. We bring love through and we are love and we let this guide the way. We know the way. You know the way.

photo by

06/18/2024

I have had many women recently tell me that they feel like they don't belong. Like the circles they are in don't understand them and they feel like they are only able to be a part of themselves.

The sense of belonging is complex, as often if there are parts of ourselves that we feel we have to cut off or hide, we will feel internally a lack of belongingness.

Often it can happen as we begin to heal these parts of ourselves, integrate them, welcome them home, and become more of ourselves, we may find that we have changed so much that the people around us no longer understand us.

To be able to find our soul friends, those who hold and witness us in all of our breaking down, shedding, and becoming is a gift that is one of the most precious in this lifetime.

I would not be who I am today without the friends, teachers, family, and mentors that have been present along the way.

We cannot do this life alone.

This understanding is part of what inspired my friend Lauren Merrill and I to create our latest online Women's Group SPIRIT-LED.

Lauren and I spent many many hours in a local cafe laughing and crying and reading runes as we shared our journeys of this life. All of the trials and the triumphs.

We know the power of women coming together to become themselves.

The second round of SPIRIT-LED begins tomorrow and there is still time to join if you feel called.

Lauren and I will be teaching powerful practices for nervous system balance, beauty rituals, and also having twice monthly processing groups and divination readings from our mentor Jeremy White.

You can read more about the program at the link below in comments

06/14/2024

SPIRIT-LED begins June 19th.

I am deeply honored and excited to be holding this second round of this potent online group.

Spirit-led is an online group course for women who are tired of compromising their energy, overextending themselves, and are interested in finding more pleasure, beauty and magic in their day to day world.

Together with my dear friend Lauren Merrill ( )energy healer, esthetician, and aromatherapist— we will be holding this unique course and serving as a bridge between spirit and ordinary reality. We will be teaching embodiment and daily ritual practices from our own in-depth studies to help you ground your mind-body-spirit practices into your everyday life.

Over the course of 3 months, you will go on a series of guided shamanic journeys, heart-centered discussion and shares, and entryways into the beauty found in a community of like-minded souls.