Nicole Trombley, MA, CMT, SpBAP
Founder & Director | Massage Educator
Certified Pre & Perinatal massage therapist & Spinning Babies Aware Practitioner
Nicole has been a bodyworker for over 25 years, specializing in supporting the transitions that change our bodies — pregnancy, birth, postpartum recovery, cancer treatment, perimenopause, and the long-term effects of surgical scars, including breast/chest surgery scars. Her work is slow, deep, anatomically focused, and trauma-informed, attuned to the nervous system as much as to the tissue.
Teaching & Writing
When she's not with clients, you might find Nicole nerding out deep in a research database or university library stacks, reading about what's actually happening at the cellular and tissue levels under a therapist's hands. She co-founded AnatomySCAPES, a continuing education company that teaches the human fascial system through hands-on dissection lab experiences for massage therapists nationwide. In the dissection lab, she's seen firsthand how tissue is organized in three dimensions — how layers connect, where adhesions actually live, and how restrictions at one site create patterns somewhere else entirely.
Nicole co-authors the "Anatomy for Touch" column in Massage & Bodywork magazine, podcasts for ABMP — one of the leading national podcasts for massage therapists — and has served as a peer reviewer for the International Journal of Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork. Her writing and podcast work spans from scar tissue to the collagen matrix to fat tissue anatomy, bringing both scientific rigor and social justice perspectives to the profession.
Background
While her Grandma always knew she'd be a massage therapist, Nicole took a circuitous route to get here. After earning her BS in Biology at Providence College and an MA at the University of Cincinnati, she followed her heart into the social justice nonprofit sector — before realizing she wanted off the roller coaster. Seeking a deep pause to slow it all down, she sought training in massage, yoga, and somatic practices, and founded Equilibrio in 2004. Balance isn't a place you arrive at. It's not a moment of stillness you finally earn. It's something you're always moving toward, or away from, or passing through. Body and breath are how we influence the pendulum — the levers we actually have. The work of Equilibrio is learning to use them, knowing the swinging never stops.
Originally from New Hampshire, Nicole has called San Diego home since 1998. It took her approximately six months in Southern California before she could redefine “cold” as anything below sixty-five degrees. When not working with clients or teaching fascial anatomy, she's usually on the trails around San Diego County with her family.
Her Approach
Nicole's bodywork is grounded in trauma-informed, nervous-system-centered care. Her style is slow, anatomically-informed, melting deep tissue work combined with soothing relaxation - therapeutic and effective while honoring your nervous system's need for safety and calm.
As a Spinning Babies Aware Practitioner, she uses body balancing techniques to address the muscular and ligamentous tensions that create discomfort in pregnancy. Nicole is certified in Pre and Perinatal Massage with advanced training by Carole Osborne, trained as a doula (and still deeply humbled every time she attends a birth), and holds both her national certification (NCTMB) and California state license (CMT).