Never stop believing in the incredible powers of your body. We are more powerful than we think. There is pure magic in us and if we create the right conditions in our life to let that magic express itself, miracles can happen. Our cells respond to each of our thoughts and beliefs — and it starts right here with changing ‘I can’t’ into ‘I can’.
As a part of our “Unstoppable” series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Julie Morin, Co-Founder of Envol.
As someone who’s spent years battling chronic illness, Julie knows how difficult and pricey it can be to get our health back. She started to wonder about what would happen to our bodies should we give them the opportunity to heal from within. Julie explored that question and when she started walking again after 4 years in a wheelchair, Envol was born: an easy-to-use mobile app to guide and empower people to take control of their health and start feeling better.
As a talented painter, meditation writer and health enthusiast, Julie uses her creativity and passion to inspire each of us to start believing in our own power again.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! It is really an honor. Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
Thank you for inviting me! My name is Julie, I was born in Paris and grew up in a loving family in the French Riviera until I started travelling the world for my studies. I grew up practicing the piano and dancing ballet, living a happy childhood in the middle of lavender fields with singing cicadas in the nearby pine trees. Couldn’t dream for a better upbringing! After graduating from my master’s degree in management in China and Spain, I met my Dutch partner Tim and moved to The Netherlands to start my career there in marketing.
Do you feel comfortable sharing with us the story surrounding how you became disabled or became ill? What mental shift did you make to not let that “stop you”?
I was practicing yoga one morning when my leg muscles went into a painful paralysis, out of nowhere. I couldn’t move my legs anymore and I couldn’t walk. I had to call for help — it was a scary moment. I was rushed to the hospital in the neurology department. No one knew what was wrong with me and all the tests came back negative. After 2 weeks, I was told that it was probably just in my head, and I was sent home.
There I was — a 25-year-old woman who was confused, in pain, and desperately looking for answers. I spent the next 4 years in a wheelchair, unable to walk more than a few meters without falling. Knowing that I used to dance ballet for years and travel the world before added to my frustration and despair. I also suffered hallucinations, cognitive impairments, brain fog, dizziness, and digestive issues. Doctors didn’t have answers for me, but I kept on knocking at every door until I got answers.
2 years later, I started a treatment with a doctor in Belgium for Lyme disease. That moment marked the beginning of a very difficult time when I hit rock bottom. I was not able to move any muscle at all. I had to move back with parents in France as my boyfriend couldn’t take care of me anymore. We were all terrified of what was happening to me. I spent the next 6 months in bed, barely able to talk or brush my teeth. At that moment, one thing only mattered: to wake up the next morning. And the next morning after that. I was in survival mode.
Time passed and it became clear to me that modern medicine couldn’t help me.
That’s when a mental shift happened. I realized one thing: if I was going to survive this and heal, I had to stop giving away my power to others and take my recovery into my own hands. I had waited long enough for answers…now was the time for something to change in my life.
That realization changed everything for me. I went from being a victim, not understood by doctors, expecting things that weren’t happening and being disappointed and angry, to someone who had the power to heal already somewhere within her. All I had to do was find a way to awaken that power.
With the help of people close to me, I started researching about natural healing and what I could do to create a positive change in my life. I asked myself: how can I create an environment in which my body can heal? What is the best I can do to get out of this situation?
Bruce Lipton says that ‘beliefs and thoughts alter cells in our body.’ From the moment I started believing that I would heal, that process started to take place. I changed my body’s chemistry by tuning in to a healed version of myself and I kept repeating to my cells that I was healing.
I started creating an environment in which I knew my body could have the best chance at healing: I placed my wheelchair out in the afternoon sunlight with my feet on the ground in nature. I ate nutritious, whole, and organic foods, practiced gratitude like a new religion, stretched my body daily to introduce gentle movement, spent hours meditating and went to bed early every single night.
And I started to heal. It took time, and patience. And it wasn’t easy. But a certainty was pulsating in my body and guiding my everyday choices: one day, I would be healed and walking again. And every one of my cells was listening and tuning to this message.
And one day — I did. I walked further and further, as tears were rolling down my face. I didn’t need my wheelchair anymore. I was healed.
Funny enough, it’s when I stopped looking for answers that I finally received a diagnosis, 5 years later: it was fluoroquinolone toxicity: an adverse reaction to a class of antibiotic I had taken to cure a urinary infection 5 years prior. A few pills did that to my body and brain — and it should have taken 5 minutes to figure that out (the insert of ciprofloxacin, the antibiotic I took, shows a black box warning with potential permanent side effects to the neuromuscular system and to the brain. The FDA has issued many warnings about this class of antibiotics, as the potential severity of the side effects have been recognized to outweigh the benefits). But instead of 5 minutes, it took 5 years for me to get answers — and the whole lot of pain and frustration that went with it.
But maybe there is a reason why it took 5 years. I have grown as a person and learned more about myself in the past years than I have with any other experience. I learned the meaning of resilience, patience, and self-love, and I developed an attitude of never giving up.
Can you tell our readers about the accomplishments you have been able to make despite your disability or illness ?
After seeing my body recover when I created the right environment to heal, I thought that it would be great to have an app guide me in my everyday choices. I told my partner Tim, and he was onboard right away. Together we created a mobile app, Envol, to guide me in my recovery.
At every stage of my journey, I thought about what I needed, and we created it. A recharge score to tell me that I was creating a healing environment for my body, positive affirmations, breathing exercises, motivating quotes, reminders of what I needed to focus on… as well as meditations to find relief, to believe again… Tim and I spent hours creating content that was the exact answer to what I needed at that moment to heal. I was still in my wheelchair when I came up with my first meditations. And then, after 1 and a half year working on this project, Envol was born. Envol means a bird taking off in French…ready to fly. Ready to be fully healed and start living to our full potential.
What advice would you give to other people who have disabilities or limitations?
Never stop believing in the incredible powers of your body. We are more powerful than we think. There is pure magic in us and if we create the right conditions in our life to let that magic express itself, miracles can happen. Our cells respond to each of our thoughts and beliefs — and it starts right here with changing ‘I can’t’ into ‘I can’.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are?
My parents and my friend Marianne were with me every step of the way, and I love them dearly. But the person who become a true hero to my eyes is Tim, my partner. He was the rock that carried me all this way and made me believe that recovery was possible when everyone around him told him otherwise (even me). He’s my hero and an example to how you shouldn’t give up on the people you love, even when life is hard.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
Envol app is my legacy to the world — a daily guide combining all the tools we need to maximize our healing & wellness. Tim and I studied the conditions in which the body heals the most, and we applied this knowledge to every element of the app. Every day I receive all sorts of healing testimonies of people who thank me for creating Envol. It fills my heart with gratitude that something so good came out of such a trying experience, and that it is making a difference in people’s lives.
Can you share “5 things I wish people understood or knew about people with physical limitations” and why.
- Illness isn’t always visible. It is always good to be careful with assumptions and assume someone is doing well just because they don’t look sick.
- Dare to talk about it. Avoiding difficult topics because they might be awkward can make a person dealing with chronic illness feel even more lonely and not heard.
- Showing empathy and understanding is always a good idea to help someone feel acknowledged in their everyday struggles.
- Avoid making someone feel ‘lucky’ because they cannot work. Not being able to work is not a privilege, it’s a consequence of chronic illness.
- People with physical limitations are reminded everyday of how different life is for them. Be that person who finds and enhances similarities and connections, making them feel that they belong to the same group as healthy and capable people.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”?
Happiness = reality — expectations.
Together as a couple, Tim and I learned how to embrace reality with all it had to offer, without expecting more than what was possible then. This mindset helped us let go of expectations of what our life as a couple ‘’should’’ look like, especially when you’re 25. When you let go of expectations, you let go of disappointments. You are left with what life has to offer in this exact moment — the present. And you see it as what it is: a gift.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this 🙂
Joe Dispenza, because his book ‘How to become supernatural’ made me believe again!
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
Social Impact Heroes: Why & How Julie Morin of Envol Is Helping To Change Our World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.