creative embodied healing

I highly recommend therapist Julie Brannen. Julie is one of a kind. Working from a place of both acceptance and encouragement to continue improving, Julie reminds you to take time to celebrate that you’re doing the work of healing without belittling the toll that healing can take. I have always felt that I’ve made progress after our sessions. Witty and kind, she is more than willing to give outside reading from multiple references—but asks first if you would like that. She has a great vibe, and her active listening and perception cuts to the core of the subconscious without asking leading questions. She’s very open about her positionality and influences, which allows you as the client to plenty of room to agree or disagree and get out of therapy what you need. Working with Julie naturally increased my body awareness, and I feel my relationship with my body has begun a process of healing I didn’t know it needed. I can’t recommend Julie highly enough—for her calming and grounding demeanor, her warm presence, her intuitive perception, and her gentle encouragement to sit with my emotions and honor every part of myself without judgment.

Thank you, Julie, for all of your incredible help!

Every time I work with Julie I immediately feel a sense of being seen and being grounded, while also being given the freedom to open myself and explore in a safe container. While I know Julie lives an incredibly busy life, never in her presence have I felt rushed or like other things were on her mind - I've always been given her full, grounded attention no matter what else may be going on. Because of her grounded presence I've felt safe to open myself up, take of my literal and metaphorical layers, and dig in for deeper healing and growth work that would have otherwise been impossible. In my Reiki session she took the extra time to discuss the intentions and stories I wanted to let go of, and processed with me afterwards the layers I had shed and images that had arisen. In her movement workshops I've been able to tap into the wild, free, child parts of myself that otherwise stay tightly bottled up, and with their release I've experienced an increased freedom of self in my daily life. I highly recommend working with Julie if you want to unlock parts of yourself fear has kept hidden away as she skillfully creates the safe space where fear evaporates and exuberance emerges.

Last week I had an absolutely incredible healing session with Julie. I’ve been dealing with a lot of stressful family situations lately and have felt very weighed down by the heaviness of it all, but one hour with Julie literally lifted it all away! I was so soothed from her combination of therapies that I fell asleep on the table, despite it being the middle of the day. She used both tuning forks and drumming in addition to the Reiki, neither of which I have experienced before. I was blown away by how powerful the drumming was! As Julie played it through my aura I could tangibly feel the energy around me shift. When I woke up I felt blissed out on a level I haven’t felt in a long time. I felt tranquil, I felt serene, and I felt light again. As a Reiki Master Teacher I do not often receive healing, and I have never received energy work from Julie before, so I was truly blown away by her and her gifts. I did not divulge to her the struggles I have been going through, but she was able to sense all of it anyway through my energy. I highly recommend seeing her if you need an energy reset or help connecting to your inner radiance!

I am grateful to be a Dance/Movement Therapist. Where else would I be surrounded by wise, compassionate, deeply rooted people who are in search of the same thing as me. We serve others. And in doing that, we serve ourselves. It is a beautiful interplay and dance.

I was excited to work with Julie Brannen because I had the feeling I'd get much more than placed choreography on my body. In fact, this is what happened in that rather short amount of time.

I reached down into the dirt in wide tribal stance, I felt my "mother" self and my ability to birth a child. I reached up in vulnerability, shackled but held then released and reminded of my feminine strength. This was not the "strength" I had been harnessing so many years, which was valued as more masculine than feminine. I could feel my fragility as a sense of actual power. There were stuck moments when my back was literally against the wall and I froze for several minutes. Once my body was ready to release it did so into the ground where I found a familiar place in the tiny grain of the wood floor. I was a child again, a little girl. I was truly there for a good 5 minutes. I saw her hands, and I just looked in awe at how amazing they were. These hands had been with me all this time. Then to look upon my feet. These feet that I have danced with, ran with, hustled with. I loved them once again. I loved my body in this moment. This was no small thing.

There was a moment when I became aware that I had heavy black wings made of stone on my back. They were so heavy. But they crumbled and I was released again. Released, released, released. Again and again, released.

So to the wolf women I say, thank you. Thank you for allowing me the chance to get there in that perfect moment in time. Julie Brannen, you are a compassionate force to be reckoned with. You are deep, spiritual and connected to our female ancestors in a way I have never seen.

I am so thankful for the love, compassion, light, guidance, and space Julie provided for me. Through our webcam meetings and our in person sessions, she helped me find a place within myself. A place where my inner fire & wild woman live. A place where I can now go to find peace through the daily trials and tribulations of life. She taught me how to meditate, trust another to hold space for me, performed a magical Reiki session & reminded me of the importance of staying in-tune with my body. My 6 months of working closely with Julie was a mind, body, & soul journey through healing, discovery, & building a foundation for my new life. I'm just so grateful for her presence in my life!

I hired Julie to help me choreograph a dance piece that was incredibly personal for a performance. My initial intent was for the piece to represent a recent personal trauma. Julie was "all-in" from the beginning. She was the ultimate professional- on time and communicative. Most importantly, she always seemed to ask the right questions at just the right moments to get me to dig deeper. It was an emotional journey, and Julie's support was not only instrumental to helping me create the piece, but to helping me move through an incredibly difficult time. Julie was open, responsive and supportive of my process. She gently introduced suggestions for consideration, all the while making sure that the piece remained my own. She made space for my vulnerability and supported me every step of the way. Her eye for effort and space brought out layers in the piece that I may not have realized otherwise. In the end, the piece symbolized so much more than I had anticipated and was an immense part of my healing. I am so pleased with the end result and it will forever remain one of my favorite and most authentic performances. Thank you, Julie, for your lovely, gentle spirit and fiery passion for creating meaningful art and movement expression!

I want to express my sincere gratitude for the time we spend together. Working with you was a learning experience as to how to find my way into alignment with the right manifesting frequency. As I continue to find the forces within me. I knew I needed it some assistance since I kept sabotaging myself over and over again, and even though I was sure of what I wanted to do, I constantly missed opportunities because I was not brave enough to take them on. You guide me in a way I was able to find my confidence and the reassurance to take on on my gifts and used them in a better way so I can profit from and do what I love the most. Sometimes we need some assistance on how to make things happen and you were there for me, as I confronted my old issues that I allowed constantly to hunt me. Your approach was simple but at the same time it took effort and lots of inner work, that now I understand why I was not in alignment with my desires. it’s amazing how things started to happen once I trusted on the work we were doing. As I let myself go and remove the soil with in me, thank you for your guidance and support during each session. Thank you for helping me to clear my path so I can continue on with a clear vision of how to persuade my purpose as a healing facilitator.