Nicole Lenkeit, MA
Trauma Therapist in Sacramento, CA
If you feel constantly on edge, shut down, or stuck in patterns you can’t think your way out of, this is where we start.
I support adults, couples, and first responders navigating the impact of trauma, chronic stress, relationship strain, and nervous system overwhelm.
Therapy for Trauma & Stress →
Pilates for Pain & Stress Recovery →
Out of Survival Mode
•
Sleeping Again
•
Able to Relax
•
Connected with Others
•
Tension Releases
•
More Present
•
Less Reactive
•
No Longer Bracing
•
Out of Survival Mode • Sleeping Again • Able to Relax • Connected with Others • Tension Releases • More Present • Less Reactive • No Longer Bracing •
Recovery is Human.
Stress and trauma can leave us feeling disconnected from ourselves, from the people we love, and from the life we want to be living. But survival isn't where the story ends. Our nervous systems can learn, adapt, and recover.
Together, we'll help you return to life—more present, more connected, and more fully yourself.
We begin by understanding how trauma shapes the nervous system.
Not as a story but as that knot in your shoulder that won't go away. The way your heart races when work gets overwhelming. How your back still braces months after an injury.
Tension, restricted breath, and reactions that happen automatically long after the moment has passed.
Your Body Remembers
The System Adapts
Maybe you’re always switched on, tense, waiting for the next thing. Maybe you go numb or disconnected. Or you bounce between both with no middle ground.
Your nervous system gets stuck because it learned a response that helped you survive and kept repeating it.
Signs You Might Be Stuck:
✓ Chronic pain or unresolved injuries
✓ Your body won’t relax
✓ Sleep disruption
✓ Headaches or gut issues
✓ Hypervigilance
✓ Emotional shutdown
The goal isn’t to erase these responses. It’s to help your system become more flexible and adaptable.
Roughly 80% of communication travels from the body to the brain, not the other way around. That's why understanding something isn't always enough to change it.
Your Return to Life
Change happens through a different physical experience. Together, we'll slow things down and work with your body's physiology, not against it.
Discomfort doesn't disappear, but it stops being permanent.
Over time, you build the capacity to feel it, stay with it, and know it will shift. That's what nervous system resilience feels like.
How I Work
Whether you're coming for therapy or Pilates, the lens is the same: understanding your nervous system to create lasting change in both body and mind.
Therapy
Work directly with trauma, overwhelm, and relationship patterns.
Pilates
Address pain, tension, and stress through movement.
Nicole Lenkeit
MA | Trauma Therapist in Sacramento, CA
I’m an anatomy nerd, a deep listener, and someone who pays close attention to what your body is trying to say.
After 16 years of teaching Classical Pilates, including eight years running my own studio in San Francisco, I began noticing that people weren’t just carrying tight muscles or injuries. Their bodies were holding stress, trauma, and patterns.
That realization changed how I work. I integrated Somatic Experiencing™ and earned my Master’s in Counseling Psychology to better support what I was already seeing in the body. My work now sits at the intersection of nervous system regulation, trauma therapy, and somatic movement.
Growing up as the daughter of a combat veteran and now as the wife of a firefighter, I’ve seen firsthand how chronic stress and trauma affect the body, relationships, and sense of self over time. That experience continues to inform my work with both therapy and Pilates clients.
If you’re here, your body is likely asking for something different. I’d be honored to help you listen.