High Vibes Healing: An Introduction

Welcome to the first post for High Vibes Healing! My name is Julie Beedle, and some of my friends call me Jules. Seriously, it’s basically 50/50, so pick whichever one you want. For the past two years I have wanted to put out a blog. I have never actually taken the steps to make this happen because I was afraid. I was afraid no one would read it, or if they did they would judge me. I was afraid that I would slip into a depressive state and let down anyone who actually did read my blog by disappearing off the face of the Earth. After realizing that I do not have to be afraid of what other people think of me, my courage to start a blog became stronger. I decided that I do not have to wait until I am completely healed from my own trauma to help people work through their own.

Every Wednesday I will release a blog post about mental health, yoga/yoga therapy, fitness, or a combination of these topics and how we can involve our bodies in our healing process. My goal is to create a community of women who are working to overcome physical, mental, and/or emotional trauma. It takes a lot of hard inner work to confront your pain, but with consistency you can come out stronger than ever and work towards bettering your life. I am not promising to heal or fix you; instead I am looking to provide you with a safe space and tools to be able to heal yourself.

Who am I and why should you listen to what I have to say? Well, first and foremost, I am here to tell you that you are not alone. If you have struggled with mental health in any way shape or form, you are more normal than you think. Being open about my mental health journey has made people feel comfortable opening up to me about their own struggles. You would be surprised by how many people you know and love are dealing with pain, even if they seem okay. A lot of people who know me may be surprised to know that I struggle with serious mental health issues (unless you have been following me on instagram for a while). My friends would probably describe me as outgoing, happy, and energetic; while this is true, there are times where this is a total front and I am hurting horribly inside. I have been dealing with depression and anger issues since the age of 12. At 18, I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety. Within less than a year, a Fibromyalgia diagnosis followed because I have been dealing with chronic pain since the age of 10 and this was their answer.

Why have I put up such a front for so long? We have been taught throughout our whole lives that mental health problems automatically make someone “crazy.” The stigma attached to mental health is severe enough that it caused me to avoid treatment for FOUR YEARS out of fear that I was going to be diagnosed as bipolar. One doctor mentioned ONE TIME that they thought some of my symptoms might point towards bipolar disorder, but I refused to believe that so I never went back to that doctor. This was in March of 2014. Fast forward to April of 2018, and I finally sought out treatment from a Psychiatrist. She was much more professional than my previous doctor and actually asked in depth questions to get to the bottom of what was happening. As it turns out, I am NOT bipolar; my new doctor diagnosed me with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This explains my occasional outbursts of rage that feel uncontrollable. It also explains why I never felt manic. After years of avoiding the doctor, I finally have a correct diagnosis that allows me to be able to more effectively heal myself.

Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy (PRYT) is ultimately what helped me to decide that I needed to go to a Psychiatrist. Over the past 2 years I have completed a 600 Hour PRYT Training and hope to help others change their lives with the knowledge I have learned. This form of embodied therapy uses yoga postures and dialogue techniques to access mental, emotional, or physical trauma stored in the body. Allowing a person to process their trauma can create space for positive growth in their life. After I connected my body and mind on a deeper level, I was able to become aware of just how many issues I need to work through. At a certain point, I finally admitted to myself that I needed additional help.

In addition to my Yoga Therapy certification, I completed a 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training in August of 2013. My desire to become a yoga teacher came from being diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I was being put on all different sorts of medications and I knew that there had to be a better way to fight the pain. Since I have been an athlete my whole life, it was easy to turn to fitness for a solution. Yoga is just one aspect of my fit lifestyle, but it has taught me to manage my emotions, as well as my pain for more than a decade. Lifting weights has also made my body feel more stable and strong than it has ever been. Fitness alone has not cured my mental health, but it is an integral part of the healing process.

It has been five and a half years since I started on the journey to fix myself, and I am nowhere near finished. Changing lifelong patterns does not happen overnight and you better believe that there have been plenty of setbacks. One step forward and two steps back as they say! Getting a handle on your mental health is not easy, but the more you work at it, the more change you will create. There has been a noticeable difference in the amount of time in between my depressive episodes and I am become so much more aware of when I am starting to slip into one. The anger is still a hard one to deal with because I am learning what my triggers are, but now that I am learning more about PTSD, I am confident that will improve too.

My life is now basically an open book. I have depression, anxiety, PTSD, and Fibromyalgia. These diagnoses do not define me. There are plenty of other interesting things about me that have nothing to do with my mental health! If you keep up with me, I’m sure you’ll find out what some of those things are. For instance, I work with kids almost every day of my life. I am a competitive gymnastics coach and I also teach yoga to kids in 10 different schools. So many of our problems as adults stem from our childhood and it brings me the greatest joy to be able to teach young kids the tools to be present and manage their emotions. Throughout the weeks I will also be diving deeper into each of the topics I touched on in this post. If you have any questions about what I talked about here or have something that you would like to know about more in depth, feel free to send me an e-mail, Facebook message, or direct message on Instagram.

Namaste my friends!!!

Jules

IG: @highvibesyogi

FB: Jules Beedle-Yoga, Health, & Fitness

E-Mail: julieannebeedle@gmail.com

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