Hi, my name is Julie Greenhalgh and I am based in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5. 

 

I have always been passionate about our well being and mental health. I have spent many years working as a holistic and wellness therapist and have professionally trained and graduated in many complimentary healing therapies. The main areas where I help people are with stress, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, low self esteem, bereavement and loss.

 

During my work in holistic therapies, I felt in order to better support my clients I needed to gain a greater understanding of the mind, which led me on a journey to become an Integrative counsellor.  My background allows me to take a holistic approach into my counselling work, focusing on the 'whole' of client; looking at their life style, including health, work and home stress, diet and other contributing factors.

 

For over two decades I  have been practicing different styles of yoga and from personal experience know the benefits that yoga brings. My passion is with Kundalini Yoga which is known as the yoga of transformation, awareness and wellness and I proceeded to train to teach this style of  yoga.  The benefits of Kundalini Yoga helps you to; destress, achieve balance, mental clarity and physical well-being. It keeps the body in shape and trains the mind to be strong and flexible in the face of stress and change. Kundalini Yoga has a range of tools to help with stress, anxiety, addictions to name a few, and through practicing this yoga, you will feel so much happier and lighter in your approach to life. I feel my knowledge of this yoga and the techniques that come with it helps to enhance my approach to counselling.

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In Kundalini yoga we practice a lot of breathwork in the asanas. Breathwork is the active form of consciously working your breath to bypass the mind and enter a different state of awareness. Conscious breathwork is learning how to use the full capacity of our natural breathing system to help us feel more energised, lighter, positive, calmer and have more clarity in our thinking.  The breath and mind are connected. When we are stressed and the mind is full, the breath is often short and shallow and when the mind is calm our breath is slow.  I am a qualified Breathwork coach and use the breathwork to help my clients when they are feeling anxious, fearful and panicky - this gives them tools to use when they are feeling emotional and/or stressed. 

 

Research is showing that therapeutic yoga techniques are being used increasingly within psychological therapies as neuroscience research suggests that body-based practices increase neuroplasticity and improve affect regulation. Yogic techniques naturally offer both improved mindfulness and greater emotional regulation, making it a perfect complement to psychological work. Yoga is a holistic practice which attends to mind, body, behaviour and social interaction.

 

I believe it is our right to live a happy heartfelt life, being free of negativity, self criticism, our feelings of not being good enough, stress and other old patterns that no longer serve us. I know and understand that life will always present us with challenges, I will help support you to navigate through your challenges to improve the quality of your life in all your environments.  I hope that either through my counselling, breathwork, yoga or holistic therapy (or a combination of all), I will help empower you to transform back to your authentic happy self so you can live a harmonious and peaceful life.