Growth by relaxing.
Overcoming Struggles with Daily Rituals:
Dr. Nicole Fleischmann on Healing and Growth - as heard on Brave New Girls podcast
Dr. Nicole Fleischmann is not only a pioneering urologist and pelvic floor surgeon, she’s also a woman navigating the daily pressures of life, health, and emotional wellbeing. On this week’s Brave New Girls podcast, she opens up about the very real struggles behind the white coat, and how her groundbreaking Second Mouth concept was born not just from science, but from lived experience.
Dr. Nicole isn’t interested in surface-level solutions. Her work is bold and deeply personal. As the author of The Second Mouth, she brings attention to a long-ignored truth: the pelvic floor isn’t just about function- it’s a centre of stored emotion, trauma, and power. And just like the mouth on our face, it needs expression, nourishment, and care.
Dr. Nicole Fleischmann is no stranger to growth- the slow, embodied, life-changing kind that starts with one small question:
Am I breathing all the way down to my pelvic floor?
On Brave New Girls podcast, Nicole shared her personal and professional evolution. She spoke of training as a surgeon, prescribing Kegels, and performing thousands of sling surgeries- until the results stopped making sense. Women weren’t getting better. In fact, they were getting worse.
So she asked a better question:
“What if we’re peeing wrong? What if our bodies are pushing, clenching, and guarding- because we were never properly taught how to release?”
From this question came her book The Second Mouth and a whole new understanding of pelvic health.
The “second mouth” is the pelvic floor—a part of the body with the ability to open and close, to hold and to release. But if we’ve spent a lifetime clenching, sucking in, and holding stress in our core, we lose our connection to this mouth. We stop trusting our bodies. We stop listening.
Nicole teaches that growth begins not with doing more, but with doing less—slowing down, tuning in, and breathing differently.
“Learning how to sniff changes everything. It resets your nervous system. It helps your bladder trust you again. It opens your body to healing.”
Real Talk About Real Life
In conversation, Nicole is refreshingly honest. She admits to pushing too hard, not listening to her body, and being conditioned, like so many of us, to ignore signs of stress, fatigue, and pain until they become crises. What changed was her decision to grow through it, not just go through it.
Instead of reaching for the quick fix, she slowed down. She turned toward body-based therapies, breathwork, and ancient healing wisdom. She built boundaries. She made space for emotions. She let go of being the “fixer” and chose to be a feeler instead.
What emerges from her story is a powerful lesson in growth: we’re all capable of healing, if we give ourselves permission to pause, to feel, and to be human.
Do you want to join our next Brave New Girls Wellbeing Growth Retreat? Find out more.
Talk to Lou Hamilton- Your Wellbeing Coach
Ten Actionable Steps for Building Wellbeing
Ground yourself every morning
Begin the day with breath, feet on the floor, and one word for how you feel. Awareness is the first step.Rest when your body whispers
Don’t wait for burnout. Micro-pauses throughout the day support long-term energy.Own your emotional landscape
Make space to feel frustration, grief, joy - it’s all valid. Suppression fuels stress.Work with your body, not against it
Learn what your body needs daily - movement, stillness, nourishment, touch.Talk to yourself with kindness
Replace internal criticism with compassion. Healing begins with how we speak to ourselves.Hydrate your nervous system
Drink water. Breathe. Soften your jaw. These small acts calm the stress response.Schedule sacred time
Whether it's a walk, creative hour, or a warm bath, carve out space that belongs only to you.Observe patterns without judgment
Notice what triggers stress or tightness. Curiosity opens the door to change.Unplug to reconnect
Take breaks from tech to reconnect with your breath, your senses, and your body.Let support in
You don’t have to do it all. Reach out. Let others hold space for you, too.Dr. Nicole teaches us that true growth begins when we turn inward with honesty, care, and courage- starting one day at a time.
Lou Hamilton has partnered with a global wellbeing brand on a mission to help humans lead healthy, happy lives, safer from harmful toxins, and reaching for their highest potential through the healing power of plants & personal development.
See which bespoke coaching programme works for you & we can tailor them further to your growth needs.
