Welcome

 I’m known as the Writing Sherpa and I take to this role joyfully. I have worked with aspiring writers for the past three decades. Dozens of my writers have gone on to be published in a variety of genres and publications. I offer monthly year-long writing consultation circles in Prairie du Sac, WI at Healing Services on the River, and at Holy Wisdom Monastery just outside Madison. I can work with you from anywhere in the world. You can also find me through the UW-Madison, Continuing Studies where I offer on-line writing classes.  All of my services are offered at reasonable rates. As your Writing Sherpa, I help you reach your personal summits. 
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I offer in-person and long-distance counseling sessions, transformational circles and on-line courses. I take a personalized approach to self-discovery, where together we explore  your capacities and possibilities. When you are ready to take the next step in your life​ contact me to a discuss how I may help you. I offer an initial twenty-minute free phone consultation prior to signing up for a personal session, on-line class, or circle. ​

Upcoming Events & News 

BEING FAITHFUL TO OUR LONGINGS: Join me and other writers for 4 Saturday mornings in May and June: BEING FAITHFUL TO OUR LONGINGS: Exploration, Recognition, Opening and Commitment to our True Lives (as Writers). Saturday May 9th and 23rd; June 6th and 27th.  Email me for more details.  Saturday's from 9 till 1:00. Limited to 10.  ​Each morning is dedicated to your opening up to what is truly possible as a writer (and creative).  Through explorations, the Wish fulfilling Mandala, collaboration with others, meditations and writing prompts you will take the next clear path as writer. So much is possible! Come discover for yourself how to listen and follow that longing as a writer.  $145.00 for entire series ($36 per session).  Register here.
RISE!: Transformational Writing and Yoga: Restorative•Integrative•Soulful•Empowering.  An upcoming summer retreat by Molly Chanson and Julie Tallard Johnson.  Save the dates:  July 24th, 25th & 26th on the lovely UW Madison Campus. 

Hosting Our Edges: Healing Trauma through Yoga, Writing, Recapitulation & Meditation.  An upcoming 2020 Fall retreat by Molly Chanson, MA, Yoga Teacher and Julie Tallard Johnson, MSW, LCSW. We transform our pain stories through breathwork, journal writing, yoga, recapitulation & meditation practices.  Save the dates:   October 16, 17, 18, 2020
Book Release!! The Red Thread: Touching Reality in our Everyday Lives will be released in June, 2020 by Shanti Arts.  I offer ways to touch reality and be heroic through simple practices like Hosting The Edge, the Inner Labyrinth, and other simple tools to discover your truest self and greatest potentials, no matter your circumstances. ​This book is based on the core teachings and my conversations with Parker J Palmer. ​ At the launching of this book we will be launching a FREE LIBRARY ON WHEELS, where we will reach out to communities often overlooked. 
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​NEW ON-LINE COURSE:  BE THE CAUSE OF YOUR LIFE.  Increase your authenticity through strengthening your personal boundaries and developing your courage. There is so much that hinders us in accessing our inner truth, trusting our experience, and living freely.  The course gives you simple means to be yourself, to be the cause of your life.  All my practices and teachings rely on a position of inclusivity and being trauma informed. We start with a free-20 minute phone consultation.  Learn more and sign up.
Segment 2 of Be The Cause of Your Life series now available! Segment 2: Listening to Your Rainbow Body and Living In Truth with Who You Are


Write by the Lake by Julie Tallard Johnson


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The Initiated Writer Online Course
Start anytime; take anywhere. 
This on-line class helps the writer in you develop voice and momentum while empowering your ability to make meaning and create with all that shows up in your life. . ​ Learn more and sign up.


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"Stop asking for the lamp to be put in your hand.
pick it up, and fill it with your own oil.
it is the stuff of you that’s meant to burn."  –  Rebecca Cecchini, Wisconsin poet
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 Mount Horeb Morning Writing Circle (Next one begins OCTOBER, 2020 
Meets monthly on the 3rd Tuesday 10am - 1:00pm.  join us next year.
Madison Evening Writing Circle (Next one begins SEPTEMBER, 2020)
Meets monthly on the 1st Tuesday 6-9pm.    join us next year.
Prairie du Sac Writing Circle (Next one begins October, 2020)
595 Water Street, Prairie du Sac
Meets monthly on the 1st Wednesday 6 till 9pm. join us next year

Monthly Transformative Circle: The Red Thread: Touching Reality (and being Heroic) in our Everyday Lives  at Healing Services on the River in Prairie Du Sac.  Attend to yourself and find ways to be heroic during difficult times.  Meets monthly, 6 to 9 pm  starts OCTOBER,  2020.  Learn more and sign up. ​.

Writing

I offer a variety of writing classes, consultation circles and  sherpa-coaching based on my experience as a published author, counselor and educator. 

Sherpa-coaching  and Sherpa-mentoring are one-to-one monthly programs in which we work together via phone, email  or ZOOM. 
Writing Circles are monthly, seasonal and annual meetings in which we work as a small group. Write by the Lake is my periodic workshop offered on the shores of beautiful Lake Mendota through the UW, Madison. The Initiated Writer™ is self-paced, online course  which can be joined at any time.  Learn more about Consultation Circles.

Books

Everyone wants to experience purpose and inspiration in their lives, but the search for meaning often leaves a seeker in the hands of fate. Offering a different approach to self-discovery, one where we create our meaning from within rather than seek it from the outside world, The Zero Point Agreement shows there is a science behind personal spiritual experiences and creativity. It reveals simple evidence-based methods that can be applied to any situation to generate enthusiasm, inspiration, and direct spiritual experience and transform the inner and outer landscapes of your life. Learn more about this and other books. 

Counseling

I offer a personalized approach to self-discovery and healing, where you explore and discover your capacities and possibilities. My transformative healing practice is centered on the Zero Point Agreement — where we live from the inside-out, from our side, meeting life and others half-way. We learn to create and integrate our inner wisdom with the outside world. All practices are trauma-informed. These healing sessions are an hour and fifteen minutes, involve narrative medicine, cognitive-behavioral practices, meditation, explorative conversation, and, optional integrative energy work. Learn more about counseling. 
An endorsement from His Holiness the Dalai Lama (an excerpt):
“Because the very purpose of life is to be happy, it is important to discover what will actually give us the greatest satisfaction. Everything we experience, whether it is enjoyable or not, affects either our minds or our bodies. Generally, it is our minds that have the greatest influence over whether we are happy or not. Our minds register everything that happens to us, no matter how small. As free human beings we can use our unique intelligence to try to understand ourselves and our world. But if we are unable to use our creative potential, we lose one of the basic characteristics of a human being. In order to find mental stability and peace, the mind itself can be trained. We can cultivate positive attitudes like kindness and compassion, tolerance and contentment. Julie describes many ways to create peace and happiness, some on your own and some with your friends." 
~ His Holiness the Dalai Lama, July 1995, for "The Thundering Years"

An endorsement from Parker J Palmer, author of A Hidden Wholeness and Healing the Heart of Democracy : 
“In this beautiful book, Julie Tallard Johnson--a gifted teacher and writer--brings fresh insight to an ancient truth: each of us must live from the inside out. This book--full of resources that range from heart-deep insight to helpful, practical exercises--can help us reclaim the treasure-trove of our own experience and being.” (Parker J. Palmer, author of Healing the Heart of Democracy, Let Your Life Speak, and The Courage to)

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