I am Julie MacAdam. Nervous system enthusiast, somatic therapist, educator, and dreamer who doesn’t just believe these tools work but knows they do on a personal level. They have, and continue to, transform my life.
For a long time, I felt bombarded – the speed, loudness and demand of life were too much. The sensations inside of my body overwhelmed me; my body became one of the last places I wanted to be. For years I lived in a frozen state, going through the motions of my life without any real sense of responsibility or empowerment. I slept for hours in front of the fireplace in my childhood home, it was the way I navigated what I didn’t know how to bear. I thought for some time I wanted to die, but the truth was, I just didn’t know how to live.
My wounds eventually brought me towards the practices the helped me transform: my wounds became my gift, my vitality. That, I can say, is such a tender blessing that has all of my reverence and motivates what I offer.
The many years of personal exploration that continues to this day, have supported my understanding and acceptance that wounds are an intrinsic part of our shared human predicament; it doesn’t equate being flawed or broken, it means being human and alive. As I leaned further into that notion and stopped trying so hard or fighting against my body, things began to shift, and the shifts affected the entirety of my life. I was learning what life felt like.
Over time, I’ve discovered that it is possible to cultivate openness and friendliness towards what takes place in the body, without going numb, shutting down or disconnecting further. That did not happen overnight but it can happen – the body doesn’t have to be feared.
When I’m not working one-on-one with clients, I teach classes on various embodiment practices, including dreams, at the University of Vermont. It brings me great joy to work with both individuals and groups, doing what I love, offering what was my solace on the darkest of nights: dreams and the muse of image and creativity.
When I’m doing neither of those things, I’m likely to be found dancing, resting, reading, walking somewhere in nature, or hanging out with my partner and friends.
Leading Ethics
- Perspective shifting both either/or to both/and, so you can embrace more of your life with increased capacity.
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Befriending the body, sensations, feelings and the world outside, so you feel capable of staying present with what is happening from moment to moment.
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Navigating life issues in creative and embodied ways, so you can trust the resources within yourself and experience shifts.
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Taking a process-oriented approach, so you can feel empowered in cultivating a relationship with all the arises rather than seeking certain results.
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Attending to more than the thinking mind alone, so that you can learn other ways of knowing and being with yourself.
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Working slowly, with thorough attentiveness, so you don’t have to have a dramatic change to recognize newness.
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The power of a transdisciplinary approach where more than one therapeutic modality is used, so that you are equipped with a full toolbox.
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You, over time, seeing and feeling the changes that you desire, so that you feel empowered in your capacity to transform.
Training
- 200hr YTT
- Yoga 1, 2 & 3, Pranayam (breathing exercise) Studies
- 3-month Yoga Development Course (YDC)
- Hidden Language Hatha Yoga Certification
- Hatha Yoga Certification
- SEP, Three-year Professional Training Program
- RSMT/E, Movement-based Expressive Arts Therapy
- Masters in Embodiment Studies
- Masters Thesis – Creative Dreamwork: A Body-based Creative Arts approach to Dreams for Healing Trauma
- 3 month Herbal Apprenticeship
- 1 year Herbal Apprenticeship
- 9 month Herbal Apprenticeship
Vermont Center of Integrative Herbalism
- Three-year Clinical Training Program
Yasodhara Ashram
- Kundalini & Dream Certification Program
In Vermont
- On-going 1-1 Studies
Change is possible - that isn't false hope.
I know that some things are beyond words; that is why I work with dreams, art, and the body. I can help you learn how to relate to the language of your body and nervous system and stay present to sensations; it is my passion. It is through listening to how one has been shaped – their wounds, patterns, themes, resources, and more – I support people to shift on emotional, behavioral, physical and soul-seated levels.
My approach is embedded with reverence and playful curiosity. It is a relational, non-hierarchical, unfolding process that honors complexity and nuance. It is empowerment-based and educational. I offer you presence, practices and years of experience that give you back to yourself, letting your revelations be yours to support your developing sovereignty and freedom.
The work we do together happens in “real time”, meaning we aren’t just talking but working with visceral states of activation and settling, finding where the story lives in the body as it emerges, in the present moment. It involves gentle interruption, pausing and locating one thing at a time. It involves time, space and lots of support for what is already highly intelligent in you. It is not just feel good therapy; it is a process that supports you to nourish your resilience and expand your capacity of what you can stay present for.
The speed of permission is honored and healing is tended as a process that is sometimes challenging and sometimes joyful.
More than anything, it is yours.