Dr. Nic was raised in the Hudson Valley, NY on a homestead where plants, animals, and her family lived in a harmonious hum. As a child, she was happiest when she was dancing, flitting about the forest and farm with her siblings, and forging trails in the woods. Both athletic and academic, Dr. Nic dreamed of becoming a doctor, Broadway dancer, and environmental biologist so she could heal people, inspire them, and protect the environment. First step was graduating from Boston College with a degree in microbiology in the pre-medical program while performing with Boston University’s dance theater program. She then pursued a clinical doctoral degree in physical therapy at New York University.
During her studies at NYU, Dr. Nic worked as a personal trainer at Equinox fitness clubs in Manhattan. She served as a private trainer for a distinguished group of clients and led instructor training in post-rehab program design. Dr. Nic earned a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist designation from the National Strength and Conditioning Association and became a certified Mat-Based Pilates instructor through Power Pilates NYC. Dr. Nic has also competed in fitness and physique competitions with the Fitness America circuit and placed in the top ten at the Fitness Universe World Championships.
In her twenty years of clinical physical therapy practice, Dr. Nic has worked in sports medicine, women’s health, home healthcare, subacute rehab, and orthopedics. She started to develop an acute awareness that one’s relationship with the environment and one’s mindset were critical players in healing. Dr. Nic also observed a worrying trend: The healthcare model based on private insurance and corporate-owned medical facilities resulted in patients no longer being treated for “health” or with “care”. As a practitioner and consumer of healthcare, she noticed a shift from patient supportive practices to disease management practices that elevate and protect corporate profits of Big Pharma and private insurance companies. She believes that this paradigm continues to degrade the very infrastructure of our health by failing to support our innate healing capacity and devolving into a system that is limited in scope by prescribing “a pill for every ill”.
Dr. Nic realized that she could restore physical well-being by returning to the passion that was rooted in her childhood: Using nature as the source of inspiration for physical movement and intrinsic health. Her intention with the Earth-Body Way is to create a new paradigm for fitness and regenerative health (self) care based on multi-dimensional, balanced, and holistic movement and wellness practices.
