But who am I? Well, I was born and grew up in Germany and lived a pretty “normal” life from the outside. I went to school, then to university. At the age of 18, I got really sick with food allergies and lost a lot of weight. It happened so suddenly and seemed unexplainable. I never had any problems with my health before, but then from one day to the next I had crazy stomachaches, diarrhea and was vomiting almost after every meal. I couldn’t trust my body or my instincts anymore and I felt terrible. I had just graduated from high school and started at university, but I felt worse and worse.

I had a lot of check-ups with my doctor and tried many different alternative therapies, none of which seemed to really help me. Little did I know at this time that my allergies were a consequence of the trauma I had experienced.

When I was 20 years old, I moved to Denmark as part of an exchange program at university. Already after a couple of weeks, it was clear to me that I didn’t want to go back to Germany. Everything felt so much better in Denmark. I felt free and happy. The university was amazing, the teachers so open and nice. The atmosphere welcoming. Life felt slower and more beautiful.

So I stayed and completed my Bachelor degree and then started a Master program in a different city in Denmark. During my Master’s, I again had the opportunity to go on exchange and got my first choice:  Norway.

It has always been my dream to live in Norway. As a child, I spent every summer in Norway with my family, fishing, hiking and playing in nature. Living in Norway felt even better than living in Denmark. So I stayed again. Finished my Master’s degree and got a job. And here I am.

Of course my journey had many ups and downs. Living in foreign countries, learning new languages and managing life all alone and away from the well-known felt challenging. Yet, I simply knew that this is where I wanted to be.

But back to my studies. My background is in economics and accounting, and I felt from early onwards that this was not what I wanted to do in life. I had barely any friends in my study programs, because I was not able to connect with the people around me. Everything was about profit making, performance, image building, growth and competition.

I didn’t fit in, no matter how hard I tried. And eventually I had enough of trying to fit in to this (from my perspective) superficial world, where your dress code, grades and career path determines your identity.

I needed something more. Something meaningful. I felt like I was wandering around in life without really knowing what I wanted or who I was. I decided to look for an education that was more aligned with me, and I found a mindfulness & mediation coach training, which resonated so deeply with me, that I signed up.

And it was the beginning to a deep and beautiful journey inside. I found a space, where I could be. I came more in contact with myself. I was doing yoga, breath work, meditations and mindfulness practices.

But something was still missing. During meditation, I would often come in contact with an overwhelming feeling of sadness inside of me or have panic attacks when doing breath work. But I had no idea why this was happening.

One of the last modules in the mindfulness & meditation training was about trauma. And this is how I came across Identity-oriented Psychotrauma Theory (IoPT). I had my first self-encounter (resonance process) and was literally blown away. How was it possible that someone could resonate so accurately my feelings, symptoms and experiences?

It was spot on and I knew I had found it. The method and theory that would help me to dive to my core. I was not only fascinated by the therapeutic method, but also deeply interested in the underlying theory. So in addition to my private therapy sessions, I did both the basic and advanced training in IoPT over the past three years.

IoPT has been the most healing therapy I have ever done. Slowly my allergies are getting better. I really understand myself. I am in contact with my feelings and see the world with different eyes (trauma-informed). I have found so much compassion and self-love.

And trust me, it is not an easy ride. To look at our darkest parts, to feel the deepest pain, which we needed to split off under traumatisation, this is the bravest and most challenging thing I have ever done. IoPT therapy is a very emotional process. It has taught me that we all heal at our own pace.

No one walks our path for us. It is on us and us alone. But when we get the right support, we can grow and blossom and find our way back to our core. I love working as a therapist and as a coach. This is why I started Holistic Living. I want to create a space where people can choose from different healing and self-awareness modalities to find support on their journey. Therefore, it is so important to me to offer a variety of different services, so you can choose what resonates the most with you.

So here I am. And I am so excited for everything to come.

Thank you for being here.

Much love

Julia