Alchemy: Integrated Mind Body Therapy

09/03/2025

On International Women’s Day, I pay tribute to the courage and tenacity of my clients who, in spite of trauma, endurance and loss, remain committed to connection and understanding; who still have the capacity to love and live . I am honoured to support you along your path and you bring meaningful moments everday and my heart bursts with pride when I think of you ❤️🙏🏽.

28/02/2025

When are things too much?

Dearest one in need,

If we have become used to endurance, we can become accustomed to hyper- independence and not seeking support when we need it. If we come from a background where caregivers did not meet our needs, we develop survival adaptations for getting us through. The internal model is
‘I am too much/ I am not important/ no-one is there for me’.
Often we miss when things are too much, are overwhelming, because the evolutionary sensory mechanisms that we are given to survive are worn out, overused, switched off as we attempt to deny or dissociate from our needs.
Pretending that you’re ok when you’re not, having too few expectations of others to meet us where we are, or too many expectations of ourselves to cope or push through when we are depleted. This can lead to not asking for help, not knowing when we need help, illness, anxiety, mood disorders, coping adaptations, addiction, eating disorders, self harm, depression, aberration, inappropriate defensiveness, over-achieving, an inability to say ‘No’ , or to confront the insensitivities and mistreatment by or to others, emotional shutdown, even psychosis.
It’s ok to ask for help.
Humans need other humans.
We are hardwired for connection and mutual care-giving.
You are not too much.
You are enough.
You are important.
Not everyone can meet our needs- but someone can.
And that someone will want to, because they love and care about you . The human in them sees the human in you and says’I know you’
Pain needs to be felt and seen, witnessed.
We are not designed to be alone.
Our fragility is not weakness.
Humanity does not survive by strength-
It survives through love.

With my love,
Julia xx

13/01/2025

29/09/2024

Loss changes you
and it changes how
You see the world around you
It shifts your point of view.
It impacts everything you do.

You become more
Tender-hearted and aware
Of the hearts around you
Who feel shattered beyond repair.

You become more
Open-minded and alert
To the pain of those
Who have known worlds of hurt.

Because loss changes you
And it changes how
You see the people around you.
It helps you break through
Walls to tend to the wounds
And witness the hardships
Others have gone through.

~ Liz Newman, Liz Newman Writer

~ Art by Duy Huynh

29/09/2024

“Not all toxic people are cruel and uncaring.
Some of them love us dearly.
Many of them have good intentions.
Most are toxic to our being simply because their needs and way of existing in the world force us to compromise ourselves and our happiness.
They aren’t inherently bad people, but they aren’t the right people for us.
And as hard as it is, we have to let them go.
Life is hard enough without being around people who bring you down, and as much as you care, you can’t destroy yourself for the sake of someone else.
You have to make your wellbeing a priority.
Whether that means breaking up with someone you care about, loving a family member from a distance, letting go of a friend, or removing yourself from a situation that feels painful — you have every right to leave and create a safer space for yourself.

( ✍️ Daniell Koepke )

Art : M.Leigh Hood

29/09/2024

Let them misinterpret, let them judge—because no matter what you do, some people will only see what they want to see.

They’ll take a fragment of your story and build an entire narrative around it, casting you in a role that suits their version of events. Maybe it’s the way you didn’t respond to a message, or a decision you made when you were at your lowest—they’ll seize those moments and define you by them. And sometimes, no matter how much you explain, they won’t hear you. It happens to all of us. At work, when we’re misunderstood by our colleagues, or in friendships, where they choose to believe a rumor rather than ask us directly. In those moments, the hardest thing to do is to stay quiet and let them think what they want. But that’s where your peace lies.

You don’t need to carry the weight of convincing others of who you really are. We all know what it’s like to be misjudged—to have someone form an opinion based on a single mistake or a brief misunderstanding. But even when you try to clarify, it rarely changes anything if their mind is already set. So, focus instead on building yourself up.

Understand your worth beyond their opinions. In the same way we all stumble through relationships or missteps at work, take those as lessons for growth, not as reasons to shrink back. Because in the end, it’s the quiet confidence of truly knowing yourself that sets you free from their expectations. That’s how people grow, how they become stronger—by letting go of the need to be understood by everyone and learning to stand firm in who they are.

~ MJ Blossoms, Writer’s Blossoms

~ Art 'Empowered' by Janice VanChronkhite

21/09/2024

21/09/2024

The most difficult lesson I’ve faced as an adult is the unending need to survive, regardless of how broken I feel inside.

It doesn’t matter if my heart is aching, if I’m mourning the loss of someone I love, or if I’m too tired to even get out of bed. Life doesn’t wait for me to catch my breath. It keeps moving forward, indifferent to my pain, and I’m left with no choice but to push through, even when every part of me is screaming for a moment of rest.

But what’s even harder is realizing that no one truly prepares you for this. We grow up believing in the comfort of happy endings, only to be met with the harsh reality that survival often means pretending you’re okay when you’re not. And maybe that’s the hardest part—not just surviving, but doing so quietly, without letting the weight of it show. Yet, through it all, we find strength we never knew we had, because despite the heaviness, we keep moving.
~ LJ Blossoms, Writer’s Blossoms

~ Art ''Survival' by Karen Wilcox

21/09/2024

“The meaning of “whole” or “wholeness” is to make holy or to heal. The descent into the depths will bring healing. It is the way to the total being, to the treasure which suffering mankind is forever seeking, which is hidden in the place guarded by terrible danger. This is the place of primordial unconsciousness and at the same time the place of healing and redemption, because it contains the jewel of wholeness. It is the cave where the dragon of chaos lives and it is also the indestructible city, the magic circle . . . the sacred precinct where all the split-off parts of the personality are united.”

― Carl Jung

[ Art • “Twilight” by Tomasz Alen Kopera ]

21/09/2024

When you finally realise that joy

is less fireworks
more firefly

less orchestra
more birdsong

she will come back much more often

for joy will not fight
with the fast pace of this life
she is not in the shiny or the new

she breathes in the basic
shimmers in the simple
and dances in the daily to and fro

joy has been beckoning you
for many a year my friend
you were just too busy doing, to see

the very next time joy wraps
her quiet warmth around you
as the garden embraces your weary body
in its wildness

tip her a nod

you cannot force her to stay
but if you are a gracious host

joy comes back.

~ 'Joy Comes Back' by Donna Ashworth from 'Growing Brave'

~ Art by mAls Art

19/09/2024

Meditation 101 😉