Nicole Melrose is a somatic theologian, trauma-informed practitioner certified in polyvagal theory, professional violinist, sound healer, speaker, and consultant. She holds a Master of Arts in Social Justice and Theology from Perkins School of Theology and a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education.

During her time at Perkins, Nicole studied how music can empower communities and carry hope in the face of injustice. That season deepened her belief in the sacred role of sound, belonging, and shared presence. While she didn’t yet have the language of nervous system healing, she was beginning to understand that transformation, whether spiritual or social, lives in the body.

Nicole’s work is also shaped by her years as a string educator and professional violinist. She spent more than a decade developing trauma-informed, music-centered tools to support emotional regulation and performance resilience in classrooms and concert halls. That lived experience of working with sound, bodies, and learning continues to shape her understanding of sacred embodiment.

As a facilitator, Nicole has led immersive workshops, trainings, and healing-centered experiences across the United States. She has worked with school districts, national organizations, and music communities, bringing a trauma-informed, body-centered approach to both educational and sacred spaces. Whether guiding a room of educators, musicians, or spiritual seekers, she creates environments of deep presence, clarity, and co-regulation.

Connectional Wisdom was born from the threshold of Nicole’s own healing. As she engaged more deeply with somatic work and tended to long-held trauma, she experienced not only recovery but revelation. She began to see the nervous system as a living expression of divine design, created to protect, adapt, and guide us back to connection.

In the stillness of embodiment, she encountered God not beyond the body but through it. She came to believe that spiritual formation cannot be separated from the body’s wisdom, and that felt safety is often the ground where our deepest spiritual experiences unfold.

Connectional Wisdom integrates theology, nervous system healing, and sacred embodiment. It is a space where the body is honored as holy ground, and where presence itself becomes the path back to God.

Nicole lives in Plano, Texas with her spouse, a United Methodist campus minister, and their five-year-old twins.