Hi, I’m Julie, an energetic and spiritual being living a human existence on a mission to expand love and light in this world. I support spiritual women with a dream, towards easeful alignment and joyful receiving.
As a physical being, I have been living joyfully well despite a long-term health condition for many years. More recently, life taught me to expand my joyful wellth, through the experience of stage 4 cancer.
As a holistic life coach, I have put together all that I have learned professionally with all that I have learned physically, emotionally and spiritually, from my own experience of creating a richly rewarding life despite huge physical challenges and all that comes with them.
My unique picture of joyful wellth involves an abundance of deep and loving connection, the freedom to spend time in nature or nurture my garden particularly my organic veg and enjoy myself in the kitchen. It involves shining my light on the world through activating joyful wellth in others and the confidence that I always have everything I need and everything I desire is already on it’s way to me. I also love moving my body with tai chi, yoga and dance. For me the ecology of the planet we live on is just as important as the people, so talking care of the planet is also very important to me.
I haven’t always recognised my nature as a spirutual being but I have always been interested in helping others overcome their challenges and improve their quality of life. I studied Psychology at university, then after extensive experience as a counsellor, trainer and supervisor in a voluntary agency I studied an Advanced Diploma in Person-Centred Counselling. I’ve also worked as a Residential Social Worker, a Children’s Worker in a women’s refuge and as a Manager of children’s homes. But after many years of dealing with health challenges, along with many beautiful life experiences, I’ve felt called to help others balance wellness, purpose and abundance to create a rich a joyful life.
Although I’ve been living with a long term health condition, for a second time, for over 18 years now, I also have the wonderful experience of having completely recovered after the first 5 years and having another 7 years of a very active life in full and vibrant health. My initial recovery was helped along by my growing interest in Taoist philosophy, Yoga and other forms of spirituality. I found that learning to be at peace with what is, and happy in the here and now, freed my body to send its resources to physical healing. I also learned to recognise the importance of the connection of the body, mind and spirit.
In the end I decided to qualify as a holistic life coach because I wanted to do more than support people emotionally. I wanted to be able to help people focus on creating a joyfully well and satisfyingly purposeful life.
In my many years of continued development as a holistic coach, I’ve come to realise just how valuable it is to have a sense of being supported by a higher power, to recognise our oneness with the infinite potential of the universe and the power we have to create with the non-physical. I have learned that life unfolds with far more ease when we align to our inner being and connect with our energetic nature.
The blogs and courses on this website represent all the stages of my professional idenity as my own spiritual and personal development evolved. As The ME/CFS Self-Help guru I focused on the tools and the action steps that can lead to better wellbeing. As The ME/CFS Holistic coach I showed my clients how to allow action to be inspired by inner alignment so no energy is wasted forcing action that is not right for the moment. In my most expansive identity as a holistic Joyful Wellth coach, I understand that wellness, abundance and purpose all flow from the same place and aren’t separate spiritual/ energetic entities. We activate joyful wellth with our desire, then open to receive. We align our thoughts and our nervous system to who we are meant to become, allowing our divine masculine action to be inspired by our divine feminine creativity.
My mission now, is to free you from a life of struggle and help YOU become joyfully wellthy!
I can help you if:
- You want to experience a sense of wellness on a daily basis
- You want your life to unfold with more ease and joy
- You want to enjoy a satisfying sense of serving your purpose
- You want a rich life full of the things that have meaning for you
- You want a greater sense of freedom and peace
- You want to be able to actively choose how and where to spend your energy so that you can include the things that light you up
- You want to manifest a more harmonious life of joyful wellness, purpose and abundance
- You want to more fully embrace your nature as an energetic and spiritual being and shine your light on the world
- You want to be more expressive with your love and add expansion to the world
- You want to take joy in the little things in life, embrace your childlike sense of wonder and feel playful again
- You’re ready to explore your divine purpose and bring yourself into alignment with who you are meant to be.
Some of the challenges that I can help you overcome:
- Wellness doesnt leave enough space for purpose and abundance
- Persuing purpose and abundance leads you to neglect your wellness
- A sense of pushing and striving to make things happen with little success
- Receiving doesn’t seem to match your effort
- There never seems time for all the things that would bring a sense of richness to your life
- Feeling constrained by the demands of life without the freedom to choose
- You seem unable to balance other demands with being able to enjoy life
- You can manifest some things you desire but not the really big things
- You know that you’re meant for more, but there always seems to be something getting in the way
I’ve written a great deal over the years, particularly about creating joyful wellness, that could help you make a start in my blog posts. But if you’re really ready to activate your joyful wellth find out more about how I work on my coaching page.
My Story
I first became ill nearly 30 years ago at the age of 29. Although perhaps it really started a year earlier when I took over a month to get over a virus and was diagnosed with a post viral fatigue. At the time, I thought I was at the peak of my health. I had an active and demanding job as a Residential Social Worker and I volunteered at a youth counselling agency. I was extremely fit: I did yoga every day and either swam, ran, or did aerobics about 5 times a week. I also had a great social life but I didn’t sleep much!
One day I felt that I was coming down with a virus. I rested up but it never fully materialised, however, as soon as I tried to work I was hit with an extreme exhaustion and pain that nobody could explain. My response was to push, I was determined to get better, but instead I just got worse to the point where I was mostly bedbound could barely look after myself.
I was lucky to get a tentative diagnosis as ‘ME?’ which at least it meant I could read up about what little was known about it. However, all my doctor wanted to do, was treat me with antidepressants. Eventually we agreed on a low dose of amitriptyline which helped me sleep better and eased the pain and tension in my muscles a little. Feeling let down by the medical profession, I started a T’ai chi class and seeing an acupuncturist with slow but positive results. After 6 months I started back to work a few hours at a time. After another 6 months I was working half time but I knew that even though I was doing a lot better, it wasn’t good for me to work when I was having a bad day and there was no predicting my bad days when the rota was drawn up!
By then, I had accepted that I had a chronic illness and resolved not to put my life on hold until I was better. I decided I just needed to learn how to live it in a different way and keep within my energy limits. I left work and go travelling and headed off around South America. So what if I couldn’t walk the Inca trail? I could still visit Machu Picchu! So what if I couldn’t carry my backpack? I could get a taxi from the bus station to the hostel! The best thing about travelling was that I was wonderfully free to respond to how I was feeling on each day. I could do nothing on my bad days and it was very easy to pace! I had a wonderful time and little by little my health improved.
By the time I returned to England I had improved enough to live a relatively normal life, albeit a sedentary one. I was still unable to increase my physical activity without pay-back. I then decided to build on my Psychology Degree and take an Advanced Diploma in person centred counselling. It was something I knew from my voluntary work that I was good at but had always resisted because I couldn’t imagine a job that involved sitting down all day! Now it fit much better with the way condition dictated that I live my life.
Whilst studying part time, I worked as a Children’s Worker in a woman’s refuge and I counselled in a young offenders institute on placement. I continued practising a way of being that I’d been learning through my interest in Taoist philosophy. This involved accepting what is, minimising both mental and physical exertion and going wih the flow. My health continued improving and I got a job managing children’s homes.
5 years after first being hit with ME/CFS, I found myself looking down from the peak of a mountain I’d hiked up (Helvellyn), feeling like a blind woman who had regained her sight. I knew I was well again, I had beaten the illness.
Unfortunately that’s not the end of my story…..
With my full health returned my itchy feet could no longer be ignored. A 6-month trip around Central America didn’t satisfy the itch so six months later I was off again. However, when I returned I found I still didn’t want to resume my career. Although it had been very rewarding I’d felt out of balance; I’d been serious and responsible all the time. I wanted to be able to laugh and experience joy on a daily basis, not just if I tried hard on the weekend. Recovering from a long-term health condition taught me how precious life was, and not to put up with an unsatisfactory lifestyle.
I then started my ‘live life for today’ career. I did 6 ski seasons in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Spain, first as a Rep and a Ski Guide and later as a Ski Instructor. In the summers I worked as a Walking Guide, Group Tour Leader and Hotel Receptionist. In between seasons I picked cherries, I temped, I ‘wwoofed’ and did whatever I had to, to get by. And I experienced joy on a daily basis.
Then, after a relatively stressful ski season with money worries and a nightmare flatmate, I picked up a virus on a plane journey. I was on my way to a brief, between-season visit to family and friends. I had so little time to catch up with everybody, that against my better judgement, I ignored my bodies need for rest and rushed around seeing everyone as planned. My first day back in Spain (after 7 years of full and vibrant health) I was horrified to realise I had those familiar symptoms again. Determined to look on the bright side, I thought that if I rested and put all my previous learning back into action, it might just end up being a short term post viral fatigue. My management kept my symptoms mild but a couple of months later I suffered a new complication.
Unable to do another ski season, my job as a hotel receptionist was extended to 10 months a year. It was an easy sedentary job that I was familiar with and I could live a relatively stress free life in a very beautiful village surrounded by supportive friends.
3 years later, after learning to meditate at a yoga retreat, I suddenly knew that I wasn’t giving my health enough of a chance working all the hours that I did. It also became clear to me that I needed to share all I’d learned about self-help. I made the decision to leave Spain and return to my parents’ house in England. I started blogging as the ME/CFS Self-Help Guru and later decided to qualify as a life coach.
4 years later I managed to get back to spending about half of my year in Spain. Working as Inspirational Editor for ProHealth, and running an online coaching business meant I could work anywhere even if I was moving around. After a couple of years I decided to live in Spain full time.
Unfortunately, a year later the costs of running a business there, when I still had to work part time because of my health, became too high and I made the decision to move back to the UK once again. Despite no longer living ‘the dream’ in Spain, I still absolutely loved my life. I loved running my own business helping others to create joyful wellness and a purposeful life.
Further health complications resulted from the COVID vaccine and once again I became pretty much housebond. I was still enjoying my purpose on a smaller scale, still finding joy every day, but my wellness tanked and I ended up on benefits. By then I knew to look at what I could learn from each challenge and my personal and spiritual evolution began to accelerate.
And as I stepped more fully into alignment with who I am meant be, I found it easier and easier to create the joyful wellness I desire. I manifested a new home just when I needed it, in a lovely community. I took great pleasure in all the abundance and joy in my life and I enjoyed the faith that my even bigger dream is already on it’s way to me.
However, the divine power wasn’t done with me, I guess she saw the potential for even more expansive growth. Just as my purpose led business and wellbeing were reaching levels I hadn’t seen before, I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Despite what I’ve been living through in the past 12 months, I can still say that I experienced joy just about every day. There has always been a richness of beautiful experiences and I’ve received an abundance of love and support.
I’ve grown so much and have discovered how to embody joyful wellth no matter what is going on for life. Every day I choose a wellness identity, every day I allow the divine to guide me through what is in my best interest in the moment. My wellness is accelerating every day and I’m even better at balancing everything that is important to me, to have a rich sense of satisfaction. Now I’m back, ready to support you to activate your joyful wellth!
