Meet Julia Willinger | Licensed Psychotherapist, Retreat Leader, Meditation and Yoga Teacher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Julia Willinger and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Julia, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
I went from a life of no balance to a life where balance is my priority. When I worked in the music industry, my work was my life. I was always working, traveling, and moving from one thing to the next. I was saying yes to every opportunity and invitation. I never had time to be with myself or take care of myself. Looking back, I am not sure I wanted that time or understood how to have it. After multiple burnouts and eventually leaving that career, I have played around with balance and prioritization. As someone who loves to try things and is passionate about what I do, I had to figure out a way to still be multi-passionate, while prioritizing my mental and physical health as well as what brings me meaning and joy. When I became a therapist, I hyper focused on self-care and it came from a place wanting to be good to myself, but it was more out of worry. I wanted to make sure I was healthy and would not burn out from the work itself and overworking, which is a tendency of mine. I made a tight schedule of obligations in order to prevent my work becoming my life and prevent emotional baggage. Over time, I realized that I was coming from a place of concern, and not from a place of integrity and what made me happy. I had to experiment and go through that to get to the place I am in now. It is a process to understand what is both good for me and what I enjoy. I know work has to be part of my life, not all of it. My body tells me when I have taken on too much, which I am grateful for. Luckily, I have learned my signals before taking on too much now in order to have time and space for the things I enjoy and make me feel alive. I am a person who needs to feel meaning in what she does, but my growth edge is to play and not take things too seriously as well. The productive part of me is beginning to learn resting and not being productive is very important too.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a passionate, forever learner, with many interests and excitements. This has led me to dip my toes into all kinds of trainings and modalities within the field of psychology, yet I finally landed on combining what I feel is both the most healing as well as the most exciting. Between the creativity and magic of depth psychotherapy, the practical and most loving work of Internal Family Systems, and the authenticity of Relational Gestalt therapy, I find this combination to be supportive and my passion to bringing to clients and the world. I also get to run retreats for creatives and musicians, taking my background working in music and bringing what was needed to a population I am also passionate about. Recently, I have begun to help facilitate women retreats. I am someone who works on bringing self awareness and love into my own life and I want to bring what I have learned to as many as I can. I see doing therapy, running retreats, and offering workshops as ways I can do this. I want people to know that change and healing is possible. I want people to find meaning, connection to something deep and life, and creativity on this earth. I got to where I am over time. I took great initiative starting my work in the music industry and became successful starting at a young age. Even though there were good pieces to it, I felt it lacked meaning and that I could not do what I felt called too. Leaving that industry was very challenging as it was my entire life and I did not know how to get out of it. After years of soul searching and having to return to self, while putting trust in the universe, I decided to explore the other side of me, which was always interested in the mind, soul, and body. I had been practicing and studying Buddhism, meditation, and yoga for as long as I had worked in music, and was teaching it as well later on. Once I realized I could live my life for myself, and what brought me pleasure, I could finally make the transition. I did not know the amount of years, trainings, schooling, testing, and practice it would take to get here, but I finally am doing it. I have learned so many lessons – if you have doubts, perhaps listen to them. Your anxiety may be a window into your unmet needs. You can always change your path, learning about yourself along the way is one of the biggest parts of it. Although a big piece of what I do is to support others, I have learned it is ok to also make this work work for me too. I can enjoy it and it can be for my soul too. You are not stuck, perhaps it feels that way, you just have not figured out what you want on the other side yet. Trust that frustration and stuckness as information – learn how to be with uncertainty, as that is all we actually know to be true.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would start with a surf session at Will Rogers beach. If they don’t want to hop in the water with me, they would still enjoy laying on the beach and seeing dolphins! After that, we would get breakfast at Great White in Venice. What’s better than their breakfast? Not much. Perhaps from there we could walk around Venice and head to Small World Books. After the Westside, we could move to the east side. I would take the to the Huntington Gardens, just walk around and see what’s outside. After we could head to Highland Park and eat at KitchenMaus or Amara Kitchen- yum yum. We could go to the vintage shops on Figueroa and the book shop too. I would hop I could take them to a class at Dance Church or Stud Country while they were here too.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
One thing I have learned is that support is key. There was not enough support within the music industry for industry members or for the artists. As a therapist, I have been lucky to have an abundance of support throughout the journey. The Relational Center was a key component of not only having my back and teaching me how to become a therapist, but it taught me the importance of support and how to give and receive it. I gained many deep friendships and lasting bonds there, I learned how to be authentic, vulnerable, and the person I am today from that special place. I met two mentors and now friends, Jami Winkel and Megan Auron there, as well as a community of humans who are very important in my life including, but not limited to, Meredith Siller, Cassidy Weiss, Hannah Warner, Sarah Clark, Kasey Crown and many more. My family supports me deeply, which I know is rare and I do not take for granted. I have my partner in crime, Chrissy Stuart, to thank for running retreats with me, yet also for being the best friend one could ask for. Naomi Arbit, Gabby Agin-Liebes, and Nicole Vainer and my forever sisters, to them I am forever grateful. Alex Siegel has been a consistent support and encouragement of taking care of myself and doing what makes me happy. My spiritual teacher from afar is Tara Brach, her teachings have been with me for over a decade, and InsightLA has become a safe haven for me since I moved to LA.

Website: https://www.juliawillinger.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliawillingertherapy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-willinger/

Image Credits
Alex Siegel