24: Breaking Free from Trauma with Julie Stevens

Julie Stevens—a somatic spiritual healer and coach and founder of the Urban Retreat Center in Oakland—helps people heal PTSD and trauma by regulating the nervous system through somatic practices, shamanic/Andean-informed ritual, and carefully facilitated plant-medicine work. Interviewed by hosts Coach Sapphire Star and Coach Kyle McCloud, Julie traces her journey from an “intense,” overextended life in the early 2000s through a breaking point marked by a severe panic attack and family losses (her mother’s Alzheimer’s and passing, selling her business just before the pandemic, then her father’s death). That period catalyzed deep healing: long-term work with shamanic healers, craniosacral and hands-on therapies, coaching, and practices received through plant medicine.Core themes:Mind–Body–Spirit unity: Somatics is the bridge—healing must include the body and the nervous system (vagus-nerve calming, “shaking off” survival stress like animals do) rather than talk alone.Dark and light as necessary contrast: Growth happens “in the roots,” the unseen/“dark” places; culture often conditions fear of darkness, yet it’s where integration occurs.Ancestral work with joy: Honor lineage (not only pain). Julie cites learning from a spiritually gifted grandmother and calls for reclaiming ancestral joy alongside trauma healing.Science meets spirituality: Energy precedes matter; psychedelics can enhance neuroplasticity, aligning subjective spiritual insight with brain-change mechanisms.Daily practice: “Spiritual” = returning to Stillness repeatedly; look within, cultivate willingness, and let timing be “divine.”Resources & offerings mentioned:Books she’s reading/recommends include My Grandmother’s Hands and a work by Rev. Deborah Johnson (described as channeled teachings).A 12-week program for women, Homecoming: Zoom-based teachings on nervous-system healing plus an in-person plant-medicine retreat.Contact: UrbanRetreatCenterOakland.com; Instagram: @TheRealJulieStevens.Please Like, Comment, & Share!About us - www.soulshiftsessions.comCoach Sapphire Starr - www.sapphirestarr.comCoach Kyle McCloud- www.coachkylemccloud.comBecome A Guest - www.soulshiftsessions.comBusiness inquiries - [email protected] us on IG - @soulshiftsessions