About Julia

In 1998, a young woman from South Africa walked into the Isa Carstens International College in Stellenbosch and began what would become one of the most remarkable careers in the healing arts. Two years later, she graduated with Masters and Advanced qualifications — and then she went to London, where she added CIDESCO, ITEC, BABTAC and a Masters diploma in Clinical Aromatherapy to a body of knowledge that was already extraordinary.

Then she went to sea.

For three years, Julia worked aboard Mandara Spas and Steiner International luxury cruise liners, sailing through the waters of Europe, the Mediterranean, the Americas and the Pacific — working in Tunisia, Malta, the United States, Canada, Hawaii, Alaska and beyond. She treated thousands of people from every walk of life, in every state of need. She learned what bodies carry when they finally stop moving long enough to be touched.

She came home to South Africa and spent the next fourteen years as one of the most sought-after therapists in the country's finest luxury game reserves — eventually rising to Spa Director at the Hyatt Oubaai Resort, and then to Hospitality Operations Manager for the Mantis Collection.

And then her soul ached.

Not for prestige. Not for titles. For the work itself. For the profound, irreplaceable thing that happens when a skilled pair of hands meets a body that is ready to let go.

That ache led her back. Back to her true calling — to deep somatic bodywork, energetic healing, sacred sound and the quieter, more intimate world of one practitioner, one client, one room. She continued studying — Chi Nei Tsang, somatic bodywork, intuitive energy healing, Usui Reiki at Master and Grand Master level, Kundalini Reiki, Sound Healing. She gathered every thread.

And then she opened Meraki.

Meraki — the Greek word for doing something with soul, creativity and love — is not just the name of a studio. It is the only word that accurately describes what Julia does in that room. Every session carries the full weight of everything she has learned, everywhere she has been, and everyone she has held.

Her hands have worked on some of the most extraordinary people on the planet — Elton John and David Furnish, Bono, Calvin Klein, Juliette Binoche, Graham Beck, the Prince and Princess of Luxembourg. And thousands of people who simply needed to be held, restored and returned to themselves.

She works alone. Every session is with Julia. There are no junior therapists, no routines, no shortcuts. Just twenty-five years of mastery, in a space that holds whatever needs to happen.

What clients experience at Meraki

Sessions at Meraki are unlike anything most clients have experienced before — even those who have received treatment at five-star resorts around the world. Clients come for a massage and leave having moved through things they have carried for years. They come tense and leave soft. They come in their heads and leave in their bodies.

Clients fly in from London, Los Angeles, Italy and across South Africa to sit with Julia. Many have been coming for years. Some book their sessions before they book their flights.

‘Transported to another time and space.’ ‘Moved a huge blockage.’ ‘Released tension held for years.’ ‘Reconnected with parts of myself I had not seen in some time.’ ‘This is beyond a massage — it is a remembering.’

In Julia's own words

“I have spent my career moving through the world — its oceans, its game reserves, its cities and its cultures — learning everything I could about the body, the energy field and the deep intelligence that lives in both. Every country I worked in, every person I treated, every modality I studied has shaped the way my hands move and the way I hold space.

What I know now, after all of it, is this: every body is telling a story. And when you know how to listen — really listen, with your hands and your presence and your whole being — something extraordinary becomes possible.

That is what I bring to every session. That is Meraki.”

— Julia

Career Timeline