julia-hollenberg

[julia-hollenberg]

The Many Benefits of Intuitive Eating

Hey there. So if you’re considering intuitive eating work, you might be looking into it and figuring out what it’s about and maybe how it could help you. So I wanted to share with you a few of the benefits that you might get to discover for yourself if you choose to dive into intuitive eating, either on your own or with a food and body therapist like me and the other two people on my team.

So first of all, what I want to let you know is that we are always intuitively eating. And that may sound a little edgy. It is, but it’s also true. One of the benefits that you can really get from diving into intuitive eating work is by getting really curious and asking the question, what is it that my relationship to food, how I’m eating, what I’m eating, what can it tell me about what is happening inside?

So the first benefit of intuitive eating work is that it is a journey of self discovery. We get to really discover what is happening for you on your insides. And this ushers you into a process of getting to know your body, getting to know yourself. So at a basic level, intuitive eating work can really help you get in touch with these signals that are coming from your body.

Basic examples are hunger and fullness. So when you really get in touch with your intuitive eater, you can rely on yourself, right, the cues from your body to know what to eat and how much to eat, without having to rely on a pesky diet at all. A second benefit that you could get from intuitive eating work is that you get to take back your agency over your body and over your health.

So when you are entrenched in diet culture, it takes your power, right? Someone else is telling you about your body, what is good and bad. Someone else is telling you about your health and what you need to do, what you should do to manage it. That is not true with intuitive eating. Intuitive eating really guides you to your inner wisdom and your inner knower so that you can take back your own agency, your ability to decide for yourself how to take care of your body and how to engage with your health.

Another benefit that you could get is developing self respect from validating your own needs and really learning how to get them met. You may have a disruption in this ability to really know and honor your own needs for myriad reasons. But the important thing is that intuitive eating really guides you in checking in and acknowledging and honoring what your needs are and finding a pathway to get them met.

And it might be you learning to meet some of your own needs, or it might be you reaching out for connections to get some of those needs met. Things like, you know, social connection, physical touch, those sorts of things. So when we’re talking about needs, we’re not just talking about food and movement and water and things like that. We’re really talking about needs globally that go beyond just our basic bodily needs.

Okay, so here’s a really important benefit that a lot of people realize through this work. So intuitive eating work helps you to quiet your inner critical voice. So this means that your experience of body shame can really diminish, really quiet down. And we’re really cultivating instead respect for your body, care for your body. And let me tell you, when that really harsh voice of inner judgment, of body shame starts to lighten and lift, it increases your sense of well being through so dramatically.

Okay, so here’s a really important benefit that so many people experience with this work. The inner critic voice quiets and the experience of body shame really diminishes. I’m not going to lie to you, it’s probably not going to be totally gone, but it is much quieter. And you learn skillfulness around working with that voice when it does arise so that in general you can live your life with a feeling of respect for yourself and your well being.

Being raised in quite a profound way when this harsh voice gets a lot quieter and you grow your inner voice that is kind and respectful. And all of these benefits together support you growing your sense of empowerment and your inner sense of confidence in yourself, your body and your ability to listen to your body and respond to its needs. So there’s usually this feeling that arises of just feeling more comfortable being yourself in the world, which is just a beautiful thing to witness when that blossoms.

So all of these benefits together, if we were to find the common thread between them all, what we would see is that they decrease stress. And when your stress decreases, every single system of your body benefits. We’re talking about your physiological systems, your digestion, your immune system, and we’re also talking about your mental health. So all of these things globally, your whole body will improve when your stress decreases from really reducing body shame and decreasing your anxiety around food and doing a better job of meeting all of your needs.

Thanks so much for joining me today. If you’re on YouTube, please hit the subscribe button. And if you’re on my website, please feel free to peruse the website pages, take a look at more of the benefits of intuitive eating. And if you’re curious about your specific situation and want to talk to one of us, please book a discovery call. It is totally free. We would be happy to speak with you.

[julia-hollenberg]

Body Image Healing in Seattle, WA

Call a truce with your body.

You’ve been battling your body for so long. What if you could finally cease the fight? Finally find some peace within your own skin?

Healing body image goes hand-in-hand with reclaiming your intuitive eating ability. But it is often overlooked or not fully addressed in a way that truly facilitates healing the wounds of body shame.

If you’re willing, we will go there. This is tough stuff. Deep stuff. Vulnerable stuff. And, this is a space where all that messiness is welcome.

Elements you may explore in cultivating a respectful relationship to your body:

Understanding the various influences that built your belief system surrounding your body

Learning to spot diet culture, even in its sneakiest forms

How to cope with crushing negative body thoughts

How to stop being at war with your body

How to start truly caring for yourself & your health

How to set boundaries with friends and family

Building community to connect to a sea of powerful people on parallel healing journeys

How to cultivate resilience to body shaming triggers and increase confidence in your skin

All of this means you can be at peace in your own skin and finally start to have a really freaking good time in your life.

Dive in, love, the water’s actually quite refreshing!

Now is your time: Food freedom, body liberation, and access to your most vibrant life are yours for the taking… Schedule A Discovery Call

[julia-hollenberg]

Reclaim Your Relationship with Yourself in Seattle, WA

Break free from restrictive eating

One-on-one sessions to help you break free from restrictive eating, make peace with your body, and learn how to truly take care of your health – on physical, mental, and emotional levels.

In a world where the dominant messages are that thinness is prized and losing weight is a health imperative, it can be so confusing to know how to take care of yourself when you reckon with the fact that restrictive eating is making you feel miserable and anxious.

If you want to be done with hyper vigilance with food, guilt from eating, grueling workouts at the gym, and limiting your life experiences from lack of confidence in your body, keep reading, because Food + Body Therapy is for you.

Heal your relationship with your body

Food + Body Therapy offers you space to heal your relationship to food and your body so that food can take its rightful place as one form of nourishment, allowing you to invest in other endeavors, interests, and relationships that bring you meaning and joy.

Our work is tailored to your unique needs, goals, and picture of health. Together, we’ll unpack the story of your body and explore the beliefs and narratives that are keeping you stuck in negative thinking and habits.

Our sessions will offer you a new perspective on how to think about and treat your body – one that is based in respect and compassion, and that works with your biology rather than fighting against it.

We’ll guide you to crafting a way of eating, moving, and taking care of yourself that actually improves your health – on physical, mental, and emotional levels – and that is flexible and sustainable for your life.

We offer food + body therapy for:

Adults

Adolescents

Couples wanting to learn intuitive eating together.

Explore Specialty areas:

Intuitive Eating

Body Image Healing

Eating Disorder Recovery

Non-Diet Approach to Health

Mindfulness & Yoga

Now is your time: Food freedom, body liberation, and access to your most vibrant life are yours for the taking… Schedule A Discovery Call

[julia-hollenberg]

Mindfulness and Yoga Practices in Seattle, Washington

Mindfulness

Diet culture often disrupts our innate connection to our bodies, fostering mistrust and disconnection. Mindfulness offers a way to restore this connection, allowing us to trust our bodies and inner wisdom while treating ourselves with kindness and respect.

Mindfulness… involves paying attention deliberately, in the present moment, and without judgment. This approach is crucial in healing our relationship with food and our bodies, as well as in learning to care for ourselves. It is fundamentally a process of awareness.

In one-on-one sessions, we will use simple mindfulness practices to help you identify what hunger and fullness feel like for you. Together, we will explore foods that bring genuine satisfaction and learn to recognize your own needs and emotions. This personalized approach will guide you back to a place of self-trust and respect.

Yoga with Julia

Yoga, another form of mindfulness practice, is also an integral part of this healing journey. Teaching yoga is both a joy and an honor for me!

However, it’s important to note that my yoga offerings are separate from Food + Body Therapy work. Yoga facilitates a gentle reconnection between your mind and body, helping you remain present with openness and acceptance. It’s a practice that meets you exactly where you are, regardless of ability or size.

Please join Julia for a group class.

I invite you to join me for group yoga classes, workshops, and retreats. These sessions can serve as an additional practice to support your journey toward healing your relationship with food and your body. You are always welcome in these spaces, where we come together to foster mindfulness and well-being.

By embracing mindfulness and yoga, you can begin to rebuild a positive, respectful relationship with your body and yourself, moving away from the harmful influences of diet culture.

Contact us

[julia-hollenberg]

Intuitive Eating in Seattle, WA

The chips call your name from inside the cupboard.

You kind of want to punch the woman across the table from you who left three bites of cake on her dessert plate. THREE BITES. How does she DO that?! And WHY?

In a wild and vast jungle of dieters and extra health-conscious eaters, intuitive eaters can seem like rare, exotic birds – mysterious and a little alarming at first sight.

“Wait a minute – you mean you really eat whatever you want?!”

Yup.

“But if I did that I would be totally out of control!”

You will be surprised at what you discover!

There is both art and science in rediscovering your innate intuitive eater where eating is enjoyable and effortless. It’s in there for every single person, including you. I promise.

Elements you can expect to explore on your path back to Intuitive Eating:

How to let go of restrictive eating and ditch the scale.

How to release guilt and anxiety around eating.

How to get off the weight roller coaster for good.

How to free up mental energy to invest in things you really care about.

How to listen for and interpret your body’s signals – including hunger and fullness.

Strategies to navigate challenges with body image, cultivate body shame resilience, and increase confidence.

Skills to cope with anxiety, cravings, and discomfort that influence eating.

An alternative perspective on emotional eating, and how to lessen its power over you.

How to start truly caring for yourself.

How to reconnect to pleasure in your eating, movement, and life.

And yes, you’ll also learn how to take the tempting voice away from the chips and just let chips be chips.

Now is your time: Food freedom, body liberation, and access to your most vibrant life are yours for the taking…Schedule A Call

[julia-hollenberg]

Eating Disorder Recovery Nutritionist in Seattle, Washington

Heal your relationship with food

The line between dieting and eating disorder is blurry. We work with all types of eating disorders, and you do not have to have an eating disorder diagnosis to seek help healing your relationship to food.

Whether you are stepping down from higher level care, are experiencing a recurrence of your eating disorder behaviors or thoughts, or if food has just become all-consuming and you want support, please reach out.

We’ll work toward your goals for recovery together.

Your mind and body are not broken.

They can heal.

We can provide you with the support and structure to help you get your body working well again. When you’re ready, we’ll guide you through reclaiming your intuitive eater so that you can be free to live your life.

Please begin by scheduling a complimentary 15-minute discovery phone call.

[julia-hollenberg]

Mindfulness and Yoga Practices in Seattle, Washington

Mindfulness

Diet culture often disrupts our innate connection to our bodies, fostering mistrust and disconnection. Mindfulness offers a way to restore this connection, allowing us to trust our bodies and inner wisdom while treating ourselves with kindness and respect.

Mindfulness… involves paying attention deliberately, in the present moment, and without judgment. This approach is crucial in healing our relationship with food and our bodies, as well as in learning to care for ourselves. It is fundamentally a process of awareness.

In one-on-one sessions, we will use simple mindfulness practices to help you identify what hunger and fullness feel like for you. Together, we will explore foods that bring genuine satisfaction and learn to recognize your own needs and emotions. This personalized approach will guide you back to a place of self-trust and respect.

Yoga with Julia

Yoga, another form of mindfulness practice, is also an integral part of this healing journey. Teaching yoga is both a joy and an honor for me!

However, it’s important to note that my yoga offerings are separate from Food + Body Therapy work. Yoga facilitates a gentle reconnection between your mind and body, helping you remain present with openness and acceptance. It’s a practice that meets you exactly where you are, regardless of ability or size.

Please join Julia for a group class.

I invite you to join me for group yoga classes, workshops, and retreats. These sessions can serve as an additional practice to support your journey toward healing your relationship with food and your body. You are always welcome in these spaces, where we come together to foster mindfulness and well-being.

By embracing mindfulness and yoga, you can begin to rebuild a positive, respectful relationship with your body and yourself, moving away from the harmful influences of diet culture.

Schedule an Appointment

[julia-hollenberg]

The Many Benefits of Intuitive Eating

Hey there. So if you’re considering intuitive eating work, you might be looking into it and figuring out what it’s about and maybe how it could help you. So I wanted to share with you a few of the benefits that you might get to discover for yourself if you choose to dive into intuitive eating, either on your own or with a food and body therapist like me and the other two people on my team.

So first of all, what I want to let you know is that we are always intuitively eating. And that may sound a little edgy. It is, but it’s also true. One of the benefits that you can really get from diving into intuitive eating work is by getting really curious and asking the question, what is it that my relationship to food, how I’m eating, what I’m eating, what can it tell me about what is happening inside?

So the first benefit of intuitive eating work is that it is a journey of self discovery. We get to really discover what is happening for you on your insides. And this ushers you into a process of getting to know your body, getting to know yourself. So at a basic level, intuitive eating work can really help you get in touch with these signals that are coming from your body.

Basic examples are hunger and fullness. So when you really get in touch with your intuitive eater, you can rely on yourself, right, the cues from your body to know what to eat and how much to eat, without having to rely on a pesky diet at all. A second benefit that you could get from intuitive eating work is that you get to take back your agency over your body and over your health.

So when you are entrenched in diet culture, it takes your power, right? Someone else is telling you about your body, what is good and bad. Someone else is telling you about your health and what you need to do, what you should do to manage it. That is not true with intuitive eating. Intuitive eating really guides you to your inner wisdom and your inner knower so that you can take back your own agency, your ability to decide for yourself how to take care of your body and how to engage with your health.

Another benefit that you could get is developing self respect from validating your own needs and really learning how to get them met. You may have a disruption in this ability to really know and honor your own needs for myriad reasons. But the important thing is that intuitive eating really guides you in checking in and acknowledging and honoring what your needs are and finding a pathway to get them met.

And it might be you learning to meet some of your own needs, or it might be you reaching out for connections to get some of those needs met. Things like, you know, social connection, physical touch, those sorts of things. So when we’re talking about needs, we’re not just talking about food and movement and water and things like that. We’re really talking about needs globally that go beyond just our basic bodily needs.

Okay, so here’s a really important benefit that a lot of people realize through this work. So intuitive eating work helps you to quiet your inner critical voice. So this means that your experience of body shame can really diminish, really quiet down. And we’re really cultivating instead respect for your body, care for your body. And let me tell you, when that really harsh voice of inner judgment, of body shame starts to lighten and lift, it increases your sense of well being through so dramatically.

Okay, so here’s a really important benefit that so many people experience with this work. The inner critic voice quiets and the experience of body shame really diminishes. I’m not going to lie to you, it’s probably not going to be totally gone, but it is much quieter. And you learn skillfulness around working with that voice when it does arise so that in general you can live your life with a feeling of respect for yourself and your well being.

Being raised in quite a profound way when this harsh voice gets a lot quieter and you grow your inner voice that is kind and respectful. And all of these benefits together support you growing your sense of empowerment and your inner sense of confidence in yourself, your body and your ability to listen to your body and respond to its needs. So there’s usually this feeling that arises of just feeling more comfortable being yourself in the world, which is just a beautiful thing to witness when that blossoms.

So all of these benefits together, if we were to find the common thread between them all, what we would see is that they decrease stress. And when your stress decreases, every single system of your body benefits. We’re talking about your physiological systems, your digestion, your immune system, and we’re also talking about your mental health. So all of these things globally, your whole body will improve when your stress decreases from really reducing body shame and decreasing your anxiety around food and doing a better job of meeting all of your needs.

Thanks so much for joining me today. If you’re on YouTube, please hit the subscribe button. And if you’re on my website, please feel free to peruse the website pages, take a look at more of the benefits of intuitive eating. And if you’re curious about your specific situation and want to talk to one of us, please book a discovery call. It is totally free. We would be happy to speak with you.

[julia-hollenberg]

Body Image Healing in Seattle, WA

Call a truce with your body.

You’ve been battling your body for so long. What if you could finally cease the fight? Finally find some peace within your own skin?

Healing body image goes hand-in-hand with reclaiming your intuitive eating ability. But it is often overlooked or not fully addressed in a way that truly facilitates healing the wounds of body shame.

If you’re willing, we will go there. This is tough stuff. Deep stuff. Vulnerable stuff. And, this is a space where all that messiness is welcome.

Elements you may explore in cultivating a respectful relationship to your body:

Understanding the various influences that built your belief system surrounding your body

Learning to spot diet culture, even in its sneakiest forms

How to cope with crushing negative body thoughts

How to stop being at war with your body

How to start truly caring for yourself & your health

How to set boundaries with friends and family

Building community to connect to a sea of powerful people on parallel healing journeys

How to cultivate resilience to body shaming triggers and increase confidence in your skin

All of this means you can be at peace in your own skin and finally start to have a really freaking good time in your life.

Dive in, love, the water’s actually quite refreshing!

Now is your time: Food freedom, body liberation, and access to your most vibrant life are yours for the taking… Schedule A Discovery Call

[julia-hollenberg]

Eating Disorder Recovery Nutritionist in Seattle, Washington

Heal your relationship with food

The line between dieting and eating disorder is blurry. We work with all types of eating disorders, and you do not have to have an eating disorder diagnosis to seek help healing your relationship to food.

Whether you are stepping down from higher level care, are experiencing a recurrence of your eating disorder behaviors or thoughts, or if food has just become all-consuming and you want support, please reach out.

We’ll work toward your goals for recovery together.

Your mind and body are not broken.

They can heal.

We can provide you with the support and structure to help you get your body working well again. When you’re ready, we’ll guide you through reclaiming your intuitive eater so that you can be free to live your life.

Please begin by scheduling a complimentary 15-minute discovery phone call.

[julia-hollenberg]

Reclaim Your Relationship with Yourself in Seattle, WA

Break free from restrictive eating

One-on-one sessions to help you break free from restrictive eating, make peace with your body, and learn how to truly take care of your health – on physical, mental, and emotional levels.

In a world where the dominant messages are that thinness is prized and losing weight is a health imperative, it can be so confusing to know how to take care of yourself when you reckon with the fact that restrictive eating is making you feel miserable and anxious.

If you want to be done with hyper vigilance with food, guilt from eating, grueling workouts at the gym, and limiting your life experiences from lack of confidence in your body, keep reading, because Food + Body Therapy is for you.

Heal your relationship with your body

Food + Body Therapy offers you space to heal your relationship to food and your body so that food can take its rightful place as one form of nourishment, allowing you to invest in other endeavors, interests, and relationships that bring you meaning and joy.

Our work is tailored to your unique needs, goals, and picture of health. Together, we’ll unpack the story of your body and explore the beliefs and narratives that are keeping you stuck in negative thinking and habits.

Our sessions will offer you a new perspective on how to think about and treat your body – one that is based in respect and compassion, and that works with your biology rather than fighting against it.

We’ll guide you to crafting a way of eating, moving, and taking care of yourself that actually improves your health – on physical, mental, and emotional levels – and that is flexible and sustainable for your life.

We offer food + body therapy for:

Adults

Adolescents

Couples wanting to learn intuitive eating together.

Now is your time: Food freedom, body liberation, and access to your most vibrant life are yours for the taking… Schedule A Discovery Call

[julia-hollenberg]

Mindfulness and Yoga Practices in Seattle, Washington

Mindfulness

Diet culture often disrupts our innate connection to our bodies, fostering mistrust and disconnection. Mindfulness offers a way to restore this connection, allowing us to trust our bodies and inner wisdom while treating ourselves with kindness and respect.

Mindfulness… involves paying attention deliberately, in the present moment, and without judgment. This approach is crucial in healing our relationship with food and our bodies, as well as in learning to care for ourselves. It is fundamentally a process of awareness.

In one-on-one sessions, we will use simple mindfulness practices to help you identify what hunger and fullness feel like for you. Together, we will explore foods that bring genuine satisfaction and learn to recognize your own needs and emotions. This personalized approach will guide you back to a place of self-trust and respect.

Yoga with Julia

Yoga, another form of mindfulness practice, is also an integral part of this healing journey. Teaching yoga is both a joy and an honor for me!

However, it’s important to note that my yoga offerings are separate from Food + Body Therapy work. Yoga facilitates a gentle reconnection between your mind and body, helping you remain present with openness and acceptance. It’s a practice that meets you exactly where you are, regardless of ability or size.

Please join Julia for a group class.

I invite you to join me for group yoga classes, workshops, and retreats. These sessions can serve as an additional practice to support your journey toward healing your relationship with food and your body. You are always welcome in these spaces, where we come together to foster mindfulness and well-being.

By embracing mindfulness and yoga, you can begin to rebuild a positive, respectful relationship with your body and yourself, moving away from the harmful influences of diet culture.

Contact Us

[julia-hollenberg]

Why is Starting Exercise SO Hard! Part 2

Hey there and welcome back to this mini-series where we are exploring this question. Why is it so challenging to begin exercising? So today, I want to explore the barrier created by expectations and exercise rules that you may not even know that you have lurking underneath the surface. And this can be something that sort of comes out of nowhere when you finally get the motivation and the courage to go out and move your body or go to a class or go back to the gym or something like that.

And then you are sort of smacked in the face by these hidden expectations or rules that send you right back to the comfort of your living room and not approaching movement again for a long time. So what I mean by expectations is that perhaps there’s this hidden expectation that your body should be performing or feeling exactly like it did the last time you did. Fill in the blank activity.

So there can be an expectation that your body is as strong, that it can lift as much weight, or that it can go as fast, or that it can be just as flexible and agile as it was when you took a yoga class 10 years ago. And these expectations can either sneak up on us when we, when we go do the thing, or they can be the thing that holds us back.

Meaning there’s this feeling of like, I know I’m not going to be able. I know I’m not as in shape as I used to be, and the pain of that is too much to bear, so I’m just not going to do it at all. So in the realm of expectations, we need to examine this within ourselves and to work to shed the expectations that we have of ourselves and our bodies.

You know, when we are, when we’re in that mode of expecting our body to be like it was, we’re comparing ourselves to a previous version of ours. Of our body. And the truth is that, you know, if there has been a break in movement for whatever period, your fitness is different, your level of agility, your flexibility is different. And that’s the truth of our bodies. Our fitness shifts and changes over time depending on a whole host of factors.

Or, the state of our health, right? The way that our age, and then of course, how we’re using our body or not using our body does change our fitness. And so setting, releasing expectations, and approaching movement exactly where you are right now can help lower the barrier to entry, right? So what this means is letting your body tell you how fast it wants to go, how intense it wants to move, what it wants to do, right?

So the mind has to be willing to let go of its agenda of what it thinks your body should be doing, and start to give the body a voice. And in that way, it becomes possible to begin moving your body exactly where your body is. The other piece of this is the unconscious rules that may be operating. Sort of like, you know, if you’ve been working on your relationship to food, there are all kinds of unconscious rules or consciousness.

Conscious and unconscious rules can create a lot of angst around eating. Same thing with exercise. So you might just start to get curious about what, what are the criteria that you have for exercise? Does it have to be a certain amount of time? Does it have to be, you know, do you have to sweat for it to count? Does it have to be this feeling of like, go hard, leave it all on the mat?

These rules and expectations have no doubt accumulated from your past experiences with exercise and from the conditioning of diet culture. And becoming aware of these rules, we can start to shed, right? And set down the ones that are creating a barrier to movement. And so when we become aware of these expectations and rules that we have accumulated over time, we can start to then say, okay, what if I set that rule aside?

Does it create more ease in stepping into a movement arena? Right. One of your choosing, the fact of the matter is, is that you get to choose how to move your body. You get to choose what feels good, you get to choose what supports your health and well-being. This is not about anyone else. And so there are no rules whatsoever. What if there were no rules and no expectations of yourself or your body in moving your body?

Once again, stay tuned as we continue to explore this question of why is it so difficult to begin movement. If you’re watching on YouTube, you can subscribe to the channel and if you are watching on my website, feel free to give the various pages a read and just see what strikes you, see what resonates with you, and we’ll see you next time.

Contact Us

[julia-hollenberg]

Why is Starting Exercise SO HARD?! Part 1?

Hey friends, we are well into 2025 and this is a popular time to be making some goals or resolutions about your self-care and health habits. While I don’t personally work with resolutions or work with them in my clients, I do think it’s worth reflecting on how we are taking care of ourselves and our bodies. And the new year can be a potent time to do that.

So my work is all about supporting people in building a sustainable enjoyable and respectful relationship with their bodies that supports health and well-being, physical health, mental health, emotional health, and well-being. And it’s a pretty well-established fact, truth, let me say a well-established truth that movement, as I like to say exercise or movement is something that does maintain and improve our health.

So that’s in general and for most people, and yet if knowledge were enough, that would be so amazing. But knowledge is not enough. And I’m constantly encountering this dilemma of why is it so hard to begin exercising. And so while the truth is there that we know that it supports our health, it is a very complex matter that has a lot of reasons, sort of running underneath the surface for why it can be so complicated and so difficult to begin exercising.

So this is the first of a four-part miniseries that is looking at that question, why in the heck is it so, so freaking hard to begin exercising? Okay, so the first thing that might be getting in the way of you starting or restarting exercise is perhaps your lived experience with moving your body has been one of punishment, one that has felt miserable for most or all of the time.

So if you were made to feel by culture or by your parents or by your friends or something like that, that your body was somehow too big or not good enough, maybe you were in the gym when you were 14 years old, just slaving away on the treadmill. Oh, or maybe you went to Weight Watchers with your mom and you found out that you could exercise to earn back points and so you found yourself doing jumping jacks in your room or again like running around the track or going to the gym and slaving and usually at quite a high intensity.

That just feels miserable. And if you’ve been on diets a lot in your life that have included an exercise component, you may have been not eating enough and then expecting your body to exercise on top of that. And that is a real recipe for it feeling grueling and miserable and just not enjoyable at all. And the feeling of that. Right. So when those are the dominant experiences, or maybe the only experiences with Exercise.

The message is that you need to exercise because your body is not good enough in some way. So it becomes a punishment for having the body that you have and that is oh, so heavy and so painful. And at a certain point, your system will say, enough of that, right? I’m not doing that anymore. And if you would like to be, or you are on a journey in healing your relationship to food and body, you might think, well, I’m thinking differently about exercise now.

But it’s not just a light switch. And it’s hard to go from having a relationship with a movement that is like punishment to one that is self-care. It’s like there’s not a, there’s not a slot in your system for exercise to be used as self-care, even if there’s a part of your conscious mind that knows it. So you may even be, you may be in a state of feeling like you should be exercising but not doing it.

But yet the sort of, pull inside of you, the imperative, the should is there, there, but then not doing it is also creating a weight of guilt as well. Oh, what a heavy, heavy burden. So I want to encourage you that it is possible, right? If you resonate with this, it is possible to create a new relationship to moving your body where its primary motivation and function is as self-care.

However, it often requires that you take a break first, that you strip away the shoulder and give yourself permission to not exercise, to not go to the gym, to not even go on a walk, to not have to go to yoga, right? If that’s been something that’s been weaponized against you, just the permission to not. And that period of sort of stepping away physically and mentally as well, right?

Letting yourself off the hook clears the decks and creates an opening eventually, I don’t know after how much time. That’s very individual, but it creates an opening. It creates this space for you to be able to return to the question of exercise or moving your body from a place of your choosing. So you bring your agency, you bring your autonomy to the question of how do I want to move my body?

Do I want to move it at all? How does it feel? So that, that break, that break is a really important part of the process of healing your relationship to movement and finding your way back to it in a way that feels self-care. So stay tuned. We’re going to continue this conversation about this question. Why is exercise so freaking hard to begin? If you’re watching on YouTube, you can subscribe to this channel.

And if you’re watching on my website. Feel free to peruse the content of my website. See what resonates with you. See what food and body therapy is all about. All right, until next time. Bye.

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[julia-hollenberg]

Mindfulness and Yoga Practices in Seattle, Washington

Mindfulness

Diet culture often disrupts our innate connection to our bodies, fostering mistrust and disconnection. Mindfulness offers a way to restore this connection, allowing us to trust our bodies and inner wisdom while treating ourselves with kindness and respect.

Mindfulness… involves paying attention deliberately, in the present moment, and without judgment. This approach is crucial in healing our relationship with food and our bodies, as well as in learning to care for ourselves. It is fundamentally a process of awareness.

In one-on-one sessions, we will use simple mindfulness practices to help you identify what hunger and fullness feel like for you. Together, we will explore foods that bring genuine satisfaction and learn to recognize your own needs and emotions. This personalized approach will guide you back to a place of self-trust and respect.

Yoga with Julia

Yoga, another form of mindfulness practice, is also an integral part of this healing journey. Teaching yoga is both a joy and an honor for me!

However, it’s important to note that my yoga offerings are separate from Food + Body Therapy work. Yoga facilitates a gentle reconnection between your mind and body, helping you remain present with openness and acceptance. It’s a practice that meets you exactly where you are, regardless of ability or size.

Please join Julia for a group class.

I invite you to join me for group yoga classes, workshops, and retreats. These sessions can serve as an additional practice to support your journey toward healing your relationship with food and your body. You are always welcome in these spaces, where we come together to foster mindfulness and well-being.

By embracing mindfulness and yoga, you can begin to rebuild a positive, respectful relationship with your body and yourself, moving away from the harmful influences of diet culture.

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[julia-hollenberg]

Reclaim Your Relationship with Yourself in Seattle, WA

Break free from restrictive eating

One-on-one sessions to help you break free from restrictive eating, make peace with your body, and learn how to truly take care of your health – on physical, mental, and emotional levels.

In a world where the dominant messages are that thinness is prized and losing weight is a health imperative, it can be so confusing to know how to take care of yourself when you reckon with the fact that restrictive eating is making you feel miserable and anxious.

If you want to be done with hyper vigilance with food, guilt from eating, grueling workouts at the gym, and limiting your life experiences from lack of confidence in your body, keep reading, because Food + Body Therapy is for you.

Heal your relationship with your body

Food + Body Therapy offers you space to heal your relationship to food and your body so that food can take its rightful place as one form of nourishment, allowing you to invest in other endeavors, interests, and relationships that bring you meaning and joy.

Our work is tailored to your unique needs, goals, and picture of health. Together, we’ll unpack the story of your body and explore the beliefs and narratives that are keeping you stuck in negative thinking and habits.

Our sessions will offer you a new perspective on how to think about and treat your body – one that is based in respect and compassion, and that works with your biology rather than fighting against it.

We’ll guide you to crafting a way of eating, moving, and taking care of yourself that actually improves your health – on physical, mental, and emotional levels – and that is flexible and sustainable for your life.

We offer food + body therapy for:

Adults

Adolescents

Couples wanting to learn intuitive eating together.

Now is your time: Food freedom, body liberation, and access to your most vibrant life are yours for the taking… Schedule A Discovery Call

[julia-hollenberg]

Essential Self Care

Hey there. If you’re watching this in real time, you know, it’s the holidays and a very much needed time to talk about self care. But you know, any time is a good time. I’ve found that it’s so common for there to be a lack of encouragement and support in our families and cultures in learning to truly take care of ourselves. And so many of us end up as adults, like flames flailing around in our lives, really not feeling very good at all because we haven’t taken the time to learn how to care for ourselves.

Self care is not just massages and vacations. Self care is, it’s any practice, any practice or activity that meets your own needs so that you feel nourished. Self care is really about filling up our own energy tank so that we feel resourced to go back out and rise to the occasion of our lives and our relationships. So this asks us to get to know what drains our energy and what fills us up.

So this is a very personal process that we must embark on if we want to feel well. It is our personal responsibility to get to know our needs and how to meet them. So this is a really radical notion for many women because women are conditioned to be self-sacrificial caregivers, to put all others needs first, hoping there is a time later for themselves, but that later doesn’t usually come.

So it’s time to flip the script and prioritize caring for yourself so that you have the energy, the patience, the openness and the desire to really show up in the other areas of your life. So let’s talk specifics. Self care could be something that meets your physical needs like getting outside and breathing fresh air, or brushing your teeth, or going to bed at a time that allows you to get enough sleep for yourself.

It could be meeting an emotional need like going to therapy or cuddling with your dog when you’re anxious, or calling a trusted friend to help you talk through a scenario. It could be meeting a spiritual need like reading poetry or meditating. These are just examples and there are infinite more possibilities. And like I said, it’s a very personal process of learning self care for you. So when it comes to spending time with family during the holidays, I’ve found one essential piece of self care.

And this is what I call the adult timeout. This is permission to spend time alone so that you get to choose when you’re engaging with the family and when you have a little solo time to take a walk or go get a coffee or simply go in whatever room you’re staying in for 10 minutes or an hour and take an adult timeout nap, listen to music that you love or whatever makes you feel more grounded and ready to be with the family again.

Now comes the sticky part. You might not have any idea what you need to feel more resourced, or you might be unfamiliar with considering your own needs or that they exist at all. And if this is you, you are not alone. There are so many things that can block our ability to engage in self care, even if you technically know what is good for you. Our families and our culture really shape our relationships to our needs from a very young age.

Diet culture actively encourages us to detach from and deny our needs and disordered eating reinforces and entrenches our own separation from our needs and how to attend to them. So if you’re struggling with self care, there are resources for you. There is support and Food and Body Therapy is one resource. One way to look at Food and body therapy is that it is all about discovering and developing a personalized way of taking care of your body, mind, heart and spirit.

So thank you so much for watching this video and if you’re interested to learn more, you can peruse and just check out Food and Body Therapy. See what it’s all about and if it resonates with you. And I also have a free downloadable body image guide there that really the resources that are there are about self care. It’s about helping to relate to your body in a more caring way to really calm some of the judgmental noise that goes on in our heads about body image.

So check that out. It’s a free download on my website and if you’re on YouTube, subscribe and I will look forward to seeing you in the next video. In the meantime, have a wonderful holiday season. Bye.

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