Welcome to the Creative Altar. A space for healing, creativity, dreams and alchemy.
Hello! My name is Julie and I’m an artist, healer, teacher, musician, writer and mother. I live in Toronto, Canada with my husband and five year old daughter named Skye. The Creative Altar is the latest evolution of what was formerly known as Living Maps; and was born out of many years of clinical experience running an acupuncture practice, a yoga studio both in person and online, a contemporary art gallery and being an interdisciplinary artist investigating the alchemical, ancestral and metaphysical realms.
I have been sharing yoga, healing and art for over 25 years and am here to share my journey with other creatives, healers, sensitive souls and dreamers to find agency in their own healing journey. As a life long artist, I have also come to see the many ways in which creative practice and alchemical healing overlap and more and more I see the importance of staying connected with the images and power of the psyche, the senses and the natural world. The Creative Altar aims to create offerings grounded in self care, that weave together the somatic experience with dreamspace, energetic maps from the Chakras to the Meridians, the five elements, the lunar cycles, essential oils, journaling and the creative process.
I’m now thrilled to be offering courses as part of the A New Possibility community through Mighty Networks!
The Creative Altar is brought to you by Julie Gladstone (otherwise known as Jules),
Julie Gladstone
Interdisciplinary artist, Alchemical healer, Reiki practitioner , Senior yoga teacher, Mother
Julie is a graduate of the Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design program at OCAD University in 2022. She is a senior yoga teacher with over 25 years of teaching experience who received certification from the Chakra Yoga Centre, Victoria, BC in 2001. She studied acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine received her diploma from Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine Academy in 2012. Julie is also a Reiki practitioner who incorporates essential oils, flower essences, dream work and acupressure massage into her sessions. Julie has been a member of the alchemical healing community A New Possibility since 2012 with ongoing mentorship in Alchemical Healing with Lorie Dechar. She has studied Mindfulness Meditation with Sarah and Ty Powers, Michael Stone and has studied Vipasana. Former yoga teacher to the McGill Medical School and a personal trainer for the McGill Woman’s rugby team in 2007. She also taught yoga to youth at risk and to teachers through the Montreal School Board. In 2010 Julie founded Starving Artist Yoga and established her commitment to offering affordable PWYC classes to Toronto’s creative community in various studios in the GTA. She went on to become the founding director of Gallery 555 a multidisciplinary art gallery, yoga studio and healing arts centre in Toronto. She is currently working as a full time artist, mother and the vision behind The Creative Altar
Alchemical Healing begins with arriving in the present moment. Working with the breath, the body, open awareness, intuition, compassion and humour, together we create a safe vessel for presence and connection. Through community, mindfulness and following the cycles of the season, the phases of the moon and our body’s internal energetic pathways, each class is a journey through our spiritual anatomy using the energetic maps from the Chakra system and the Meridian system. Living Maps yoga is a fusion of Traditional Yoga with Traditional Chinese Medicine, 5 Elements, Mindfulness Meditation, Taoist Alchemy, Earth based wisdom traditions, intuition and creativity