Julie Jackson: A Survivor Running For Those Who Can't

By all accounts, Julie Jackson was the picture of a young, healthy woman.

Julie spent her high school years in the pool as a competitive swimmer. When she began her architecture studies at Penn, she turned to running. “The pool wasn’t as convenient to get to,” Julie says. “I decided running would be a good replacement.”

Julie trained for and completed the 2011 Broad Street Run during her freshmen year of college. “Running is not something that has ever come easily to me, but I felt so strong crossing the finish line that day.”

Julie, like many Ivy League students, began to experience anxiety. She turned to yoga to manage her feelings. The success she experienced with yoga lead her to complete a Yoga Teacher Training at Hotbox Yoga West Philly. She’s now a teacher at Yoga Habit in Fairmount.

This coping mechanism would end up being much more important than Julie realized at the time.