Meet Julie Colwell, Phd | Psychologist, teacher, author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Julie Colwell, Phd and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Julie, what matters most to you?
Integrity. I see integrity as wholeness (as in integer=whole number), so connection to essence, and so to the flow of life. I apply Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks’ qualities of integrity as including: speaking the bottomline, unarguable truth; feeling reactive emotions all the way through, back to real self; making and keeping great agreements; and taking 100% responsibility.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I was raised in a medical family (my father was a doctor, my mother a nurse), but watched my mom suffer from a long series of chronic illnesses, ultimately becoming addicted to pain killers and dying at 71. Western medicine never really helped her. Meanwhile, I was the fourth of four kids who came out as a lesbian in the 70s, right as the women’s movement was taking center stage. The traditional beliefs I was raised with were like a false floor–they gave me some stability, but I could feel them caving away.

I started my career as a clinical psychologist. I could read Rorschach inkblots, administer personality tests, and generate psychological evaluations that expertly pinpointed psychopathology and diagnoses. I was very skilled at knowing what was wrong with people–and myself. I lived in an unfriendly universe, but had no idea anything else existed.

All of this changed when I encountered the work of Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks in 1993. Their seemingly outrageous idea that “there are no real problems when you do this work–except feeling too good” was like seeing a flare shoot up in the darkness. I had assumed that my own struggles with anxiety, depression, and suicidality were to be expected as part of life. I thirsted for that challenge of feeling “too good,” became driven to understand the mechanisms behind such a possibility.

I’ve spent the last thirty years on this quest, to discover what it looks like to live in a FRIENDLY universe. I’ve developed and refined a set of powerful, reliable, effective tools and practices that just about anyone can learn. I’ve researched the science behind these tools and tested out and refined them with thousands of clients and workshop participants. The result is “Evolutionary Power,” my own modality and body of work. Evolutionary Power is our true power, power “with,” (versus the patriarchal systems anchored in power “over” or “under.)” It rests on the principle that, when we’re in our natural state, humans are naturally joyful, connected, creative, and collaborative.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Our week would be spent around Boulder, Colorado, my home of 40 years. We’d have breakfast at the Walnut Cafe, a community-focused diner that has celebrated diversity for 3 decades. We’d take my two dogs, Cody and Frankie, and go hiking, well, sauntering, up a trail from Chautauqua Park, filling our lungs with the wafting fragrance of sage and sniffing the bark of pine trees we passed by, breathing in notes of vanilla and butterscotch. We’d lay down in a patch of sun and let our bodies savor the warmth, the sounds, the beauty. Then we’d stop for an Nice Cap (Ice Cap with a shot of nitro) at Flatiron Coffee, owned by vampire-loving Melissa and the place I’ve written all four of my books.

The rest of the week would have a similar sense of joyful flow. We were so smart as to arrange this week during a time when I was teaching my long-term Immersive Learning Community, so we’d jump in and move old energy through my process “SEW” (Sensations, Emotions, What I Really Want), then play with shifting old patterns. Equally fortunate in our timing is that we’ll play in a weekend workshop I’m teaching. My friend might have expected to work hard at dislodging old patterns, but will be delighted to find that they get to relax and feel completely accepted for their whole self, from the most troublemaking personas to their true essential nature.

We’d eat great food, move our bodies as we wished, and rest with abandon. We’d follow flow, relying on our impulses to direct our next action. Should any kind a conflict arise (that’s a lot of time to be together) we’d each pause, find the real issue we were reacting from, and speak the truth, looking to answr the question: “how can we both get everything we want?”

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?
Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks of the Hendricks Institute and Foundation for Conscious Living. They are my beloved mentors and friends. Their work has, quite literally, changed every moment of every day.

Website: info@juliacolwell.com, https://www.juliacolwell.com, https://www.evolutionarypower.org, https://substack.com/@urhere4this

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Image Credits
Cynthia Hildner, Laura Downing