From elite athlete to coach. From teacher to non-profit founder... I am a yogi, creative, healer, and more...

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Since before I could remember, I daydreamed, danced, sang, and made art. I began ice skating at the age of three, my father holding pennies out in front of me to lure me around the ice. I didn't really need the pennies; I loved the feeling of gliding across the smooth ice with the wind in my hair. As an elite figure skater, the sport soon became more like a job, with the occupational hazards of injury after injury, and the disconnected life of trying to keep up with schoolwork, while traveling the world. It also came with a heavy load of emotional and psychological trauma, leading me to hang up my skates at the age of 17. I walked away from a chance at the US World and Olympic Team and began to reinvent myself as a "normal" teenager with college aspirations. 

The arts were a natural segue for me, as the expressive and artistic side of figure skating was always my favorite. I dabbled in theater, dance, and music, which soothed the transition from gliding on ice to navigating dry land as I tried to shed my old identity. Although I didn't realize it, the creative arts helped me to express the joy and pain of growing up as an elite athlete. Art-making didn't need my words...just my presence. I didn't believe in myself as an artist at that time, and passed up a scholarship opportunity at a well-known art and design school. 

Following college, I spent years trying to fit myself into others' boxes - I tried returning to the sport to coach figure skaters, got a Master's degree in Education, and taught everyone from preschool to college students, of all abilities. What I learned from my 25 years of coaching and teaching was that I love connecting with people through movement, emotions, and art. 

My family grew to include 2 beautiful children, a cozy home, and a beloved dog. From the outside, I looked happy and successful, but on the inside, my trauma began to take prisoners. First me, and then my marriage. I felt broken by the pain of my childhood experience in a world of perfectionism, ignoring pain, and letting others cross my boundaries one too many times. 

My healing path began with my yoga practice, as I sought a gentle way to connect more deeply with my body after years of dissociating. I also returned to art-making, finding a renewed love for the meditative qualities of photography and the rhythmic, sensory-filled practices of knitting, weaving, and watercolor. Slowly, by developing self-compassion through embodied awareness, I found that yoga and the creative arts helped me to come home to my body again and again. 

Now, I come to the mat with a trauma-informed approach that emphasizes mindful self-compassion, developing somatic awareness, and creating dialogue within our bodies to explore our inner experiences through yoga and expressive art. I believe the most important aspect of any healing practice is finding safety in our own bodies. 

I am so glad you're here, and I'm excited to share my experience and knowledge of the deeply healing connections between yoga, creative arts, and a healthy nervous system.  I enjoy sharing the “pause” that yoga and art-making practices provide, making space for slowing down, reflection, connection, and presence within the body and mind.

Julie (Julianne) Thompson Lewis, M.Ed., is a New York State licensed educator and a 200-hour RYT. She has trained with Dr. Ann Biasetti in yoga therapeutics, interoception, and somatic awareness; received certification in Applied Polyvagal Theory in Therapeutic Yoga for Trauma Recovery, and is in the process of certification in Mindful Awareness in Body-Oriented Therapy (MABT), a somatic trauma recovery protocol developed by researcher and trauma recovery practitioner Dr. Cynthia Price. As a therapeutic yoga instructor, Julie enjoys sharing the powerful practices of yin and restorative yoga, along with breath-work and embodied expressive arts. She is also a co-founder of C.R.E.A.T.E. Community Studios, a non-profit organization making therapeutic expressive arts affordable and accessible to ALL ages and abilities in the Capital Region of New York.