Hi, I'm Judy.
I hypnotize you, the high-achieving trauma survivor to cultivate self-love, build confidence, and break through upper limits.
"The Orchid Child"
I hypnotize you, the high-achieving trauma survivor to cultivate self-love, build confidence, and break through upper limits.
I hypnotize you, the high-achieving trauma survivor to cultivate self-love, build confidence, and break through upper limits.
Hi, I'm Judy
"the Orchid Child"
I hypnotize you, the high-achieving trauma survivor to cultivate self-love, build confidence, and break through upper limits.
What if Wisdom Lies in the Dialectic?
Science And spirituality. Intuition And Analysis.
If you consider yourself an optimistic realist, you’re in good company.
As your practitioner, I recognize that your trauma is not a product of a broken you, but a product of a broken system.
But when you work with me, your well-being becomes your responsibility, no matter how little-to-blame you are. Because you are no less powerful of a creator.
Most profound therapy is done in a state of trance. It’s a provocative statement, but it’s true—your subconscious must get on board for any significant change to manifest.
Let’s Rewind
There’s No Place Like Home
My beautiful roots are in Seoul, South Korea, but I currently reside in Portland, Oregon. I’ve also been blessed to call Los Angeles and New York City my homes.
I was born 이상은 after my parents’ favorite musician. In the third grade, I gave myself another name “Judy” after Garland in the Wizard of Oz. Something about breaking free and journeying back to one’s roots must have resonated with me even at the young age of 10.
For me, home meant handmade lunch boxes, a warm bed, and the constant lull of music. But home also meant witnessing my immigrant parents navigating their own demons in real time, opening doors for social workers and police officers, and staying hidden from the sheer shame of it all.
The Post-Tornado Aftermath
There’s a word in Korean, 억울하다, which translates to the feeling of having been deeply wronged despite your innocence.
As children raised in violent homes, we don’t know how bad things are until we become exposed to other family dynamics. Once that dissonance hit for me, I obsessed about how I had been betrayed, violated, and wronged.
Despite our traumatic family history, my sister—a dandelion child, performed well, excelling in academics, friendships, extracurriculars. I, an orchid child to my very bulb, tacked on a myriad of psychiatric labels, including PTSD and bipolar.
At 15, I slipped into catatonia, becoming suicidal. I spent years in treatment centers and on medication. It was also around this time that I, in manic rampage, crashed my childhood van rounding an icy mountain road—my saving grace being a half-bent street sign that prevented my tumble into the house below.
↳ Scroll to the bottom of the page to see why this is relevant later.
Haunted by perfectionism and a fixed mindset, I was dissociated and angry. I became overly sensitive to others' opinions of me. After my first hospitalization for medication-induced pancreatitis, I needed to learn a way to heal without relying on pharmaceuticals. Things had to change.
Research as Me-search
I eventually made it to university and graduated with a Master’s degree in Cognitive and Social Psychology, working for various state mental hospitals, suicide hotlines, and psychology labs.
I learned to regulate without medication. I broke free from intergenerational wounds. And somewhere during my journey to becoming a safe person for myself, I became a safe person for others too.
Once I hAD BUILT A LIFE THAT was livable,
I decided I wanted to more than simply survive.
Behind the Curtain:
Meeting My Subconscious for the First Time
Western mental healthcare, while valuable, only took me so far in my healing journey.
1. I discovered how often clinical psychotherapeutic modalities are only studied on WEIRD populations (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic)
2. I wanted my mental wellness practice to fully embrace my spiritual and cultural practices. I desired a more holistic approach, so I started seeing a hypnotherapist.
After the first few sessions with a hypnotherapist, I realized that I was no longer embattled by intrusive thoughts about shameful memories or felt the compulsion to glue myself to Netflix as I dissociated and binge-ate snacks until 2am. I lost 15 pounds of trauma weight, landed a 6-figure corporate job (quite literally 10x’ing my income), and met a partner whose emotional intelligence checked off every single non-negotiable on my list.
Reveling in the Delight of a Life Worth Living
I quickly became the youngest voting member of the American Council of Hypnotist Examiners. As I built up my confidence and stretched into my highest timeline, I tackled my fear of being seen by posting on social media, gathering millions of views on my videos.
From there, it was an unstoppable pour. I started getting press and interview requests and was fully booked several months in advance. I had found my "calling" while making peace with my family.
As a practitioner, I engage with your trauma through an intergenerational lens, targeting every aspect of your life: your career, relationships, spiritual life, cultural values, money, nutrition, sleep, and even period cycle—just to name a few.
BOOK OUR 30 MIN CALL ♡
I had finally found a sense of purpose that had eluded me my entire life.
Now It’s Your Turn
There is no way I’d be writing this to you right now without the help and blessings of my tremendous mentors, therapists, and ancestors. It is through them that I’ve had the absolute honor of guiding dozens of women towards the first day of their dream lives.
Success is your destination no matter what. But getting your subconscious on board will get you there so much faster. This is your opportunity to go from biking to your destination to taking a luxury aircraft. From being sad in bed to dancing in anticipation of another day happening tomorrow. It will quite possibly be the most joyous, melodic, and cathartic ride of your life.
Can’t wait to meet you!
Little Pieces To The Puzzle
Love language
Solving the NYT Crossword together
Latest solo travel destinations
Greece and Ecuador
Minimal self-control around
Home-popped popcorn, stone fruit, and corn cookies (iykyk)
Go-to souvenirs
Stickers and hot sauce
Nothing quite heartbreaking like
When Shazam doesn't catch the song
Raised bY
My local public library and my sweet, sweet librarians 😚 (love u)
Things I Stand For
Postscript: Where My Family Is Today
My mother eventually returned to Korea and my father remarried a local designer at Nike. At first, I resented this new woman in our lives, but as our family unit expanded from a prism to pyramid, I learned a lesson in unconditional love.
The first thing my stepmom did when she became a part of our family was pay off the entirety of the debt my father had accrued from giving me and my sister the best clinical care he could find.
As per academic literature, we know that orchid children often wilt in difficult home environments, but we also know that when they are replanted into a new, nutritious milieu, they can surpass even their dandelion counterparts, academically and socially. We thrive. I thrived.
One time, before they got married, my future stepmom invited me over to her house. I snuck around to the backyard and was startled by a car passing by on the street above. You wouldn’t believe what I found—the half-bent street sign that prevented my manic tumble into her house years ago.
