Julie Westlin-Naigus

Julie shares yoga with passion and purpose.

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She comes to yoga through a social justice lens and strives to create classes that are inclusive, compassionate, safe, and that give space for all to experience embodiment. Julie is passionate about bringing education and empowerment to yoga teachers and students through trainings, workshops, retreats, and classes based on principles of body acceptance, Health at Every Size© (HAES), Body Vulnerability™, radical acceptance, and embodied anatomy.

Julie teaches a Hatha-style class with an emphasis on anatomy through an approachable and experiential method from her studies with Amy Matthews and Todd Jackson. She received her 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training from Kripalu Yoga Center in 2008 and has been studying Body-Mind Centering since 2013. She began studying yoga in 2006 when she found herself fully immersed in the Kripalu Seva program where she spent two years studying the science of yoga.

Julie is a licensed professional counselor who received her M.A. in Professional Mental Health Counseling with an emphasis and certificate in Eating Disorders from Lewis & Clark College. Julie specializes in weight and body image-related worries as well as anxiety, depression, trauma, and life-transitions.

In 2013, Julie created Yoga for Bigger Bodies, which continues to grow and develop. Yoga for Bigger Bodies is designed to bring yoga to those who feel that the traditional class setting is not providing the support and encouragement that is needed to feel successful in Yoga. Julie lives and teaches at The People's Yoga in Portland, Oregon.