Julie Langford, PhD, RYT-200, LMT
Julie specializes in using reiki, yoga, and massage to alleviate trauma and PTSD. She teaches her clients to employ breath work and loving self-talk in order to amplify the effects of yoga and massage. She firmly believes that when we address our own physical and emotional pain, we can more easily feel compassion for others.
How beautiful would the world be if we could all feel compassion for others?
Julie’s healing journey began at age 50 when she traveled to Rishikesh, India to study yoga, meditation, and breath work at the Vinyasa Yoga School. At the time, she was a tenured professor at the University of South Florida and had a thriving career publishing, presenting at international conferences, and teaching a wide variety of classes. But she wasn’t healthy.
When she arrived in Rishikesh, her fingers and toes were gnarled and she had developed a hump between her shoulders. Her neck was so tight that she could barely turn her head. Soon after arriving, she learned about marma massage. The combination of yoga practice with marma massage allowed her relieve her pain and inspired her to learn these techniques as well as yoga therapy.
Julie retired from USF in May 2022 and in August of 2022 she received her massage therapist license in Colorado and Florida. She’s also received her certificate to assist people as they undertake psliocybin trips to treat trauma and PTSD. She’s since been combining these techniques in working with chiropractors, yoga teachers, life coaches, aestheticians, and medical marijuana doctors.
In gratitude for this newly discovered health, Julie founded BreathWorks in January 2022 to teach self-care and trauma recovery through yoga, meditation, breath work, and marma massage. BreathWorks offers donation-based classes in which 100% of the proceeds raised go to fund weekly trauma-informed yoga classes for the St. Petersburg Baldwin’s Women Center which supports women recovering from substance abuse.
Some populations, however, cannot afford or are not privy to the relief that these healing modalities offer. BreathWorks is therefore actively involved in outreach education to local LGBTQ and African-American populations. Julie offers the same services to ANYONE who needs these healing modalities. She is convinced that doing so will make the world a kinder, more compassionate place to be.
And that’s good for everyone.