Yoga, motherhood, and identity: Julie Urbišová’s Journey on Czechast

In this episode of Czechast, journalist and podcaster Julie Urbišová reflects on life between cultures—Czech, American, and Turkish. From her first glimpse of Louisiana’s flooded bayous to teaching schoolchildren how to slow down and breathe, her story is one of quiet transformation. Born in Hlučínsko, she now lives in New Orleans, where she continues to explore identity, parenting, and balance—topics at the heart of this Czechast conversation.

When Julie Urbišová landed in New Orleans for the first time, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Looking down from the airplane window, she saw water everywhere.

“I remember when we were flying in, landing to New Orleans,” she recalls. “I couldn't believe what… is it still flooded? The water everywhere, because you're going over those bayous… I was very confused.”

Julie, a Czech journalist and podcaster originally from the Hlučínsko area in the Moravian-Silesian Region, has now spent several years in the United States. She lives in the vibrant, multicultural city of New Orleans, where she is raising two daughters and working at the intersection of storytelling, education, and wellness.

As her children began attending school, Julie started noticing how the American education system differs from what she experienced growing up in Czechia.

“Like you know, how our teachers used to always say, like, you wake up in the middle of the night, you have to know what is seven times eight,” she says. “In my kids’ schools, they don’t really do it that much.”

These small but meaningful differences in teaching styles, cultural values, and expectations are all part of the broader adjustment process for Czech families living abroad. For Julie, it also sparked a new path: bringing mindfulness and calm into the classroom.

She now runs yoga sessions for children at school, helping them to unwind after long, overstimulating days filled with activities and digital distractions.

“They need to… just relax sometime,” she says. “I'm trying to teach them how to learn how to relax… And you would be surprised how difficult it is for them.”

Julie’s work isn’t just about flexibility or movement. It’s about giving children permission to pause—something adults often forget to do as well. In a world where stress, noise, and division often dominate the headlines, her approach is refreshingly simple: breathe, notice, and be present.