A former journalist for the Athens Banner-Herald (1996-2011), Julie Phillips is a founding member of Canopy Studio, a community aerial dance space in Athens, where she became a member of its acclaimed repertory company in 2002. She began teaching classes shortly after, helping create the studio's teaching curriculum.

 

Her primary studies were with Susan Murphy, a seminal contributor and renowned artist in the aerial world. But she has studied with a number of aerialists from around the country, including Elsie and Serenity Smith, former Cirque du Soleil artists who founded and direct the New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA), one of the most respected circus schools in the country.

 

Julie has performed on many different pieces of equipment, including dance and circus trapeze, aerial rope (Corde Lisse) and Spanish Web, aerial silks and sling, bungees, and various metal apparatus. But her heart has always been in teaching, and she continues to teach group and private lessons at Canopy (learn more more about Canopy here).

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As she began to unravel some of her own tightness, pain and strength challenges, she found Yamuna® Body Rolling and Pilates, and a new interest in body therapy was born.

 

Julie's mission is to help you not just get out of pain, but come to understand and strengthen into healthy movement patterns along the way. Studying with Yamuna Zake, the founder of Yamuna® Body Rolling, she aligns with Yamuna's belief that we spend a great deal of time getting to know what's going on in the world around us, but not nearly enough getting to know this vessel in which we spend our lives.

 

Even more, as we gain a deeper awareness of our bodies, we can quiet the mind and find space in which to better understand ourselves.

A healthy body is without question the path to a healthy mind.