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Nikyla Maria

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Speaking & retreats

Come for the conversation. Leave knowing yourself differently.

I speak the way I write: body first. I bring the dark parts with me on purpose, because that’s where the soil is. Rooms get quiet, then loud, then honest, and people find out what’s been growing in them all along.

A retreat circle with hands raised in front of a tapestry, singing bowls on the floor.
a room full of people remembering

Speaking

Becoming sovereign in a world that keeps telling us who to be.

I speak about what it means to become sovereign inside a world that is constantly trying to tell us who to be.

Self-mastery. Power. Mindfulness. Trauma. The nervous system. The systems we’ve inherited and the ones we keep participating in without realizing it. What it means to unplug from the noise long enough to hear your own voice again.

My work has always been about self-discovery, but I am less interested in giving people another version of themselves to perform. I want to know what remains when the performance falls away.

Sometimes that conversation is spiritual. Sometimes psychological. Sometimes political. Sometimes deeply practical.

Usually it’s all of them.

Universities, bookstores, literary festivals, women’s events, conferences, podcasts, media, panels and community organisations.

  1. Sovereignty: Becoming the Authority in Your Own LifeHow we reclaim authorship over our choices, bodies, beliefs and lives after years of being taught to look outside ourselves for permission.
  2. Self-Mastery Without Self-AbandonmentThe difference between controlling yourself and actually knowing yourself. Mindfulness, emotional responsibility, self-trust and learning to stay present with the full human experience.
  3. Sovereignty in a World Built to Sell It Back to YouHow power operates through culture, capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy, institutions and the stories we’re taught about ourselves, and what personal sovereignty looks like when it includes responsibility to one another.
  4. The Body RemembersTrauma, embodiment, nervous-system awareness and the intelligence carried beneath conscious thought. How we begin listening without turning healing into another performance of perfection.
  5. Remembering Is RebellionMemory, history, power and the stories individuals and societies are taught to forget. What becomes possible when we begin questioning who benefits from the version of reality we’ve inherited.
  6. Unplugging From the SystemExamining the cultural, familial and institutional conditioning we inherit, the identities we’re rewarded for performing, and what happens when we begin consciously deciding what stays.
  7. The Human ExperienceGrief and pleasure. Power and surrender. Fear, desire, contradiction, failure, wonder and all the inconvenient parts of being alive. A conversation about becoming more human rather than endlessly trying to transcend being one.

Healing & facilitation

My work with people began long before the novels.

I am trauma-certified and have spent years working in self-mastery, inner-child work, mindfulness, embodiment and energetic healing. As an advanced energetic surgeon and master healer, I work across the emotional, energetic and embodied layers of self-discovery.

I don’t believe healing is about becoming endlessly healed, optimized or untouched by life. I care about helping people know themselves deeply enough to recognize what belongs to them, what was handed to them, what they’re ready to release, and what they want to choose now.

Nikyla barefoot on a rock by a river, braids and sunglasses, winking at the camera.

Retreats

I curate an entire world for people to step into.

I don’t host retreats by finding a beautiful house and filling an itinerary.

I’ve hosted immersive retreats around the world, including week-long experiences designed around the people coming and the work we’re there to do. The location matters. The place we sleep matters. The food matters. The landscape matters. The practices, conversations, adventures, silence, laughter and spaces between scheduled things matter.

Every element is chosen intentionally.

Depending on the retreat, our days may include self-discovery work, mindfulness, embodiment, inner-child practice, energetic work, meditation, ritual, writing, movement, time in nature, shared meals, excursions and experiences specific to where we are.

I don’t want people flying across the world to sit in a conference room while I talk at them about transformation. The experience itself is part of the work.

People should return home having encountered themselves somewhere they couldn’t have reached from their ordinary routines.

From the retreats

Women in swimsuits laughing with their arms in the air on a bright beach.
Black-and-white photograph of two women resting their foreheads together.
Two women leaping in the air on a forest trail.
Black-and-white photograph of a woman crawling through a tunnel of legs on a mat during a ritual.
A circle of women sitting together on blankets inside a tent.
Women sitting cross-legged on cushions in a bright meditation room.
Three women laughing together in a tropical garden.
A group on bicycles on a forest road.
Two women sitting on a rock in a garden full of flowers.
A group sitting in a circle on the floor of a meeting room.
A group walking up a forest path.
Bare muddy feet with red toenails standing in wet grass and wild strawberry leaves.
Nikyla from behind, watching a steaming stream run through bright green grass and pines.
Nikyla crouched at the foot of a huge mineral formation, yellow wildflowers in front.

Listen & watch

Inquiries

Speaking, retreats & press.

Tell me about your event or your group, the dates you’re holding, and where you are.

info@nikylamaria.com

Bio and press assets: The Official Version →