What Is Julie Russell's Background and Teaching Experience?

Julie Russell holds a B.S. in Education from Wheelock College and an M.A. in Art from Peabody College in Nashville. She founded and directed The Center, a school for pottery, arts and crafts, for seven years, and expanded into the healing arts in the early 1980s. Since the 1960s she has lived and taught in Tennessee, where she raised three children. Her teaching now centers on Yoga, T'ai Chi, Self-Breema, and The Painting Journal™, offered through her site Journeying Toward Wholeness.

Education and Formal Training

The pairing matters if you are evaluating her fit for a particular class. The education degree speaks to how she structures instruction; the art degree connects directly to The Painting Journal™ and the art therapy workshops listed on the site.

Teaching and Directing Experience

• The Center (founder and director, seven years): A school for pottery, arts and crafts in Nashville. This is her longest documented leadership role and the origin point of her teaching practice.
• Healing arts (from the early 1980s): She began doing Breema and simultaneously practicing and teaching both Yoga and T'ai Chi.
• Workshops: Classes and workshops in art therapy and The Painting Journal™.
• Prison Yoga: Listed as a distinct offering on the site, indicating teaching experience outside a standard studio setting.
• Regional roots: She has taught in Tennessee since the 1960s, combining a New England upbringing with decades in the same region.

How the Background Shows Up in Her Current Offerings

The site organizes her work around Yoga, T'ai Chi, and Self-Breema, with The Painting Journal™ as a separate creative practice. Her stated aim is that through these practices "one feels the wholeness inside, natural to children," and that the journey surfaces qualities of courage, serenity, acceptance, and compassion.

If your question is whether she is qualified to teach a specific format:

• Yoga and T'ai Chi — supported by roughly four decades of practice and teaching since the early 1980s.
• Self-Breema — same period of involvement, beginning in the early 1980s.
• The Painting Journal™ and art therapy — supported by the M.A. in Art plus the workshop history.
• Arts and crafts instruction — supported by the seven years directing The Center.

What the Background Does Not Tell You

The site does not list certifications, lineage, or continuing-education credentials for Yoga, T'ai Chi, or Breema, and it does not state class prices or registration requirements. If a specific certification matters to you—for example, for insurance, studio hiring, or a particular style—ask Julie directly rather than inferring it from the biography. The page was first created in 2002 and last modified in February 2025, so the biography reflects her standing as of that update.