Have you ever heard of Ayurvedic Yoga Massage (AYM) and that this treatment is available in South Leeds?
AYM mainly comes from India and works with the needs and energy of the clients, helping to massage and release tension to help improve breathing with some stretching involved too. Julie Gill or as some people know her as ‘Keep Fit Julie’ is based in Middleton and has been delivering community based exercise classes in South Leeds for over 30 years.
Having had massages for my lower back pain over the years, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I need look no further than my own bus route to find someone fully experienced and specialised in the AYM practice. Having not experienced this before, I thought I would give it a try.
After a long and slow recovery from Covid in 2020 I was looking for somewhere that was good but not expensive to help with my shortness of breath and chest pain. I picked up Julie’s leaflet at Health for All (Tenants Hall) one day when I was at work and my eyes dived into the leaflet and soaked up the glowing recommendations:
“I woke up this morning and I haven’t got any pain.”
“I can highly recommend AYM with Julie – she has cured many of the issues I’m having after reaching retirement age.”
Julie qualified in AYM in 2019 and recently qualified in AYM for pregnancy too. With many years of experience she also trained as a complementary therapist offering Swedish massage, reflexology and aromatherapy.
I wasted no time in booking an appointment and before I knew it I was invited into a tranquil ambience of her working space in her back garden. Julie is super professional putting me at ease, offering a warm and friendly welcome she carried out a basic health assessment listening to make sure she understood where my areas of needs and check a few health questions. The 60 minute massage really concentrated on my problem areas and left me feeling rejuvenated and full of energy which is something that I haven’t had in a while.
After I learnt that Julie wants to reach more people and share the positive benefits these treatments have to offer. Julie was inspired to bring the idea of free retreats to her community:
“The mini retreat idea came after I attended a retreat in Portugal which I loved so much I wanted to give people in my own community the opportunity to try. Retreats are very expensive usually so I wanted to organise and run my own free retreats using local therapists and tutors.”
Julie and her colleague Karen Marshall (who specialises and delivers mental health first aid training and is a shiatsu massage therapist) and has recently become self employed, are excited to be planning a social enterprise to enable them to tap into funding so they can develop these mini retreats for people who would not usually be able afford this experience.
The idea is to introduce the local community to an array of modalities to help improve one’s general health and wellbeing. The retreats include an introduction to yoga, drumming circles, relaxation and meditation and a range of complementary therapies with a hope to introduce residential retreats too.
They are also offering health and wellbeing workshops for organisations and businesses across the Leeds area.
Julie says:
“We want the workshops and retreats to be holistic and as organic and natural as possible.”
Julie has been collecting carboot sale items and doing carboot sales to raise the funds. She has also received MICE money to cover the costs of two of the retreats: one in Beeston and one in Belle Isle. The next mini retreat with be either in Holbeck or Hunslet.
If you would like to book in for a massage her prices are affordable at £35 for a 60 minute treatment or £60 for a full body. She also offers mobile appointments for an extra charge to cover fuel costs.
It’s worth every penny!
To book and discuss treatments please text 07783 786776 or email keepfitjulie@yahoo.co.uk
