Integrative Health Sciences Student, Musician
Date of Birth: 02/13/1997 (21 in ceremony)
Lives in Burlington, Vermont

Julia Asadorian, a junior at the University of Vermont, intends to work on “healing my own personal eating issues and self-love” in the medicine space “so I can fully and wholesomely accept and love myself in this vessel that I am currently in.”

Julia has been a Communication Science Disorders major, but she was recently accepted into the university’s Integrative Health Sciences program, which explores different healing techniques such as touch therapy and plant medicine. Julia personally suffers from anxiety and depression and has been dealing with an eating disorder since she started college. A binge-purge cycle and excessive workouts (sometimes four hours per day) caused her to lose a lot of weight and suffer ongoing shame. “I lost about half of the weight in an unhealthy way and then the remainder in a healthy way,” she says, “Experiencing that essential wellness shift from self-sabotage to self-care was empowering and inspired me to help others embrace the profound benefits of mindful diet and exercise, which goes far beyond chasing some cultural concept of a physical ideal.”

Julia is a talented vocalist, and music has been a very important part of her life. Broadway singer Jean-Pierre Ferragamo was her voice coach and guitar teacher for four years while she was in high school. An avid performer who went to American Idol camp and would step up to an open mic at any possibility, she hasn’t been singing since she started school because she wanted to focus on college studies. “Music,” she says, “helps my soul feel full and nourished. It has always been my passion and I want that feeling back.”

A three-season athlete who played soccer, lacrosse and basketball in high school, she also misses healthy competition through sports. “I think I started to compete with myself instead through my disorder and the gym,” she says.

Julia has a passion for American Sign Language and is considering a career that helps people heal through mindfulness. She’d like to open a gym because that’s the place that “in general just allows me to feel like a new person.”

“I know I help others. It’s what I’m good at,” Julia says. “And for some reason, people are able to open up to me and tell me anything.”

Julia has experienced psychedelic journeying with close family members and understands the important difference between self-healing and simply “getting high.”

“In the medicine space, I’d like to explore my true passions and what drives them,” Julia says. “I also want to explore my own energy and what I truly want to do and accomplish in this life.”

Cosmic Sister Plant Spirit Grant 2018
Women of the Psychedelic Renaissance Grant 2018
Ayahuasca Retreat: Temple of The Way of Light