ABOUT JULIA YANKER, SEP (she/her)
Alchemista.
Contrarian.
Adventurologist.
Rebel Wild Woman.
Midwife of Transformation.
Freedom Facilitator.
Creatrix.
Lover of Nature.
Hello and welcome! I’m Julia Yanker - besides holding a doctorate in Questioning the Universe 😉, I hold a bachelor’s degree in Equine Business Management and have a certificate as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), aka trauma resolution specialist. I’ve also trained as a life coach.
I mention these because some people find them important...but what is most important for you to know is that I've done my own work - intensively, deeply, transformatively. I can't take my clients somewhere I haven't been myself, and I've committed my life to traverse my own inner landscape so I can help others explore theirs.
A Life-long Love Affair with Wild Places
My love of nature has led me on many adventures, via many modes of travel. I'll let the pictures tell the story. They look pretty cool, huh? Looks like fun, right? You know what they don't show? The struggle. The near-death experiences I've had to work through to be able to reclaim the joy of adventuring in nature's wild nooks and crannies, or the expansive vistas. These traumatic outdoor events are part of what led me to Somatic Experiencing. Without SE, I may have given up on a lot of them.
...And the Rest of My Healing Journey.
Beyond adventuring, another passion of mine filled dark evenings and rainy weekends: I endeavored to tame the monkey of my mind and heal my lifelong depression through mindfulness teachings, meditation, and psychological study.
Eventually, this led me to the life's work of Dr. Peter Levine, who pioneered the highly effective method of trauma resolution called Somatic Experiencing. I learned that “trauma” isn’t just experienced by war veterans, sexual assault and abuse survivors. In fact, we all experience some sort of trauma on life’s path with various degrees of impact on our behaviors, thoughts, and emotions. Some of it is “little t” trauma, and some of it is “Big T” Trauma. I discovered I had "Medium T" trauma.
For me, the stressful environment I grew up in caused me to behave in ways that were detrimental to my health, my relationships, my work, and my play. I had vowed to find the root cause of my depression and inability to have healthy relationships with my lovers, friends, and family...and I found it in my seemingly-pretty-normal childhood.
And now, I am honored to call this my life's work: guiding other people on their healing journey recovering from past experiences so they can be happy, healthy, and whole; living life untethered from the life-energy-sucking symptoms of trauma or stress injury. This work I do in service of our community was inspired and informed by my own journey - I hope it's been helpful to you to get to know me a little bit better!