Live well. Live now. Live long.
Therapy and coaching for women in their 30s to 60s who are ready to flourish and thrive.
Root Down to Rise Up
This phrase, a prompt in yoga, directs you to ground down into your feet, your lower body, and your core, in order to find strength and lift in your upper body.
The name of my practice — Root to Flourish — references a very similar idea: we firmly and deeply lay a foundation, and from there, we are able to thrive in luxuriant growth.
What is keeping you from creating this foundation and, therefore, being able to flourish and thrive?
You are a smart, capable, thoughtful, and determined woman who is used to handling a lot. On paper, your life is full, and you seem to have it all together. But inside, you may feel stretched thin or disconnected from yourself and what you need. You may be carrying stress, self-doubt, perfectionism, physical discomfort, or the quiet sense that you have been so focused on everything and everyone else that your own well-being has taken a back seat. You may feel like you are not taking very good care of yourself, or living with the clarity, vitality, and purpose you want.
Whatever the source, you know you are meant for more than just keeping up. And when you are not living in a way that feels connected to what matters most, it becomes harder to build the habits, health, and foundation that allow you to truly flourish.
I’m Julia King, a psychologist board-certified in lifestyle medicine.
I see people stuck and struggling to level up, to throw off the negative, unhelpful patterns they’ve allowed to develop over time (perhaps without realizing it). And, I understand how hard it is to get started and to then to make the life they desire a reality.
But, then I also get to see client after client learn to translate their wants into action, and to create and claim the lives they truly want to live. It is my honor and privilege to support and empower them in that process.
Resources to help you thrive:
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Therapy
Science-based approaches, delivered in a modern way, for the way you live. Serving residents of Connecticut, Ohio, Kentucky, New York, and New Jersey.
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Coaching
Coaching is for growth, behavior change, accountability, and building a vibrant, healthy future.
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Extra Support
Explore my free Masterclass, or a mini-Challenge, or listen to my podcast interviews, for education, support, and inspiration.
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Newsletter
Subscribe to A Flourishing Life, my newsletter for seekers of practical, action-oriented guidance to creating a thriving everyday life.
I invite you to imagine a day in which you are free to choose your actions based on what excites you and what you're curious about rather than steering clear of what scares you or because it’s uncomfortable or difficult. Imagine channeling your energy toward creating a life of freedom and confidence, thriving in the everyday, and becoming the person you truly want to be.
If you’re ready to move forward; if you’re ready for it to be different, I’d be honored to support you in creating a more fulfilled, more expansive life.
My Areas of Focus
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You don’t just want more years. You want better years—years marked by energy, vitality, strength, mobility, clarity, and spunk. Fostering longevity means investing in your healthspan—the portion of life you spend in good health—starting now, just as you invest in your financial future. If you want to lift your grandkids (or great-grandkids), place your own carry-on in the overhead compartment, and climb bell towers on unforgettable trips in your 70s and 80s, you need to build the habits, resilience, and physical well-being that help you feel vibrant now and stay strong for the years ahead.
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You know what you’d like to do. You’ve made a plan and are prepared. You start off strong; you execute perfectly for about three to six weeks… but you slip up, and then it’s all over. You lose your mojo. You can’t stick with it: you’ve failed… again. You’re likely effective and competent — even awesome! — in other areas of your life, but in this one space you struggle to get it together. It’s really important to you to make these changes, and you may feel some shame around being unable to do so, frustration with your repeated lack of progress, and fear that you’ll never be able to figure it out, it’ll never happen.
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Your worries have hijacked your life. You struggle to be present in it. You ruminate, about things that have happened (“did I say something stupid?”) or that may happen (“what if I get fired?”), and cannot stop or control the avalanche of thoughts. Your worry may show up physically: heart pounding, shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea, trembling hands, sweating. Or, these sensations may show up out of the blue and, in the worst cases, it may escalate to the point that you feel like you’re having a heart attack, and you truly think you’re going to die.
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The doctor told you you’re not sick... And the test results came back fine, but your life is consumed by the fear that you’re actually seriously ill, or will develop some serious illness in the future. You’re constantly checking in with your body. And, researching symptoms, conditions, and causes online. There is no respite from the fear; you struggle to fully engage in thinking of, or doing, anything else, as it’s always there. And, it’s causing havoc in your relationships; although your friends and family try to reassure you, it works only for a short while, and they may be becoming frustrated.
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You experience intrusive thoughts. The most extremely scary, catastrophic thoughts (obsessions). Nothing you do can make them stop. But it feels like you can manage them, sometimes, if you do the thing (compulsions) that will make sure you’re safe or that will prevent something bad from happening. The compulsions can vary greatly. For some, it’s something concrete like handwashing, but for others, it’s a mental ritual like reassuring yourself, mentally reviewing, or trying to rationalize to eliminate doubt. But, the compulsions are a trap… because they don’t really solve the problem, they just keep you stuck in a repetitive pattern that’s not serving you, and they don’t really keep you safe after all.
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You’re overwhelmed. You struggle to find balance between work and life. You can’t get it all done and you feel like you’re definitely not doing enough. And, it seems there is never a reprieve; it feels as though ‘it’s always something’ and you’ll never be free to just relax (and even if you were, you’re not sure you’d know how!).
This overwhelm and stress may be caused by big changes in your life. You’re in transition. The sand is shifting beneath your feet, leaving you feeling unsteady, uncertain. You may even feel like you’re flailing. The unknown, the unanswered questions (“what’s next?”), even if it’s a good change, can be really uncomfortable. And, often the more you try to plan, the worse you feel.
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You’re your own worst critic. You would never speak to anyone else the way you speak to yourself. No matter how hard you try, and no matter what you accomplish, you feel guilty, inadequate, not good enough. Your standards, for yourself, are incredibly high, unreasonable even, although you’re able to give grace to others. You put others before yourself and struggle to say no. And then, as a result, you’re depleted, and then resentful of the time you give to others.
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You feel stuck. You’re dissatisfied. You’re tired of simply surviving — or just tolerating — your life. You may find your work, your relationships, maybe even the general course of your life, unsatisfying. Perhaps you remember a time when you had zest for life, a sparkle. But, you lost it somehow. Or… maybe you’ve never really had it. Maybe you’re struggling to find that energy, that gusto, that gumption for the first time. A sense of purpose or direction — even a clear sense of your identity — eludes you at the moment. You have no idea what the next best step is for you. But, you do know you’re ready to truly live. You’re ready to figure out what is most important to you, and to live in alignment with those values.
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There is a very real connection between the gut and the brain. And it’s a two-way street: anxiety and depression can create and worsen gut symptoms, and vice versa, the experience of distress in the gut can create or exacerbate mental health difficulties. If you have IBS, you may, because of this condition, worry about or feel defeated by the limits it has placed on your life. You may have developed worries about food. You may avoid going out or frequently cancel plans. You feel anxious for days about eating out or traveling. You may believe that living this way is “intolerable,” that you’re “helpless,” or that this is “terrible and it’s not going to get any better.”
