Judith Orloff, MD.

Five Steps to Intuitive Healing

Step 1: Notice Your Beliefs Your beliefs set the stage for healing. Positive attitudes stimulate growth. Negative attitudes impede it. It's important to rid yourself of counterproductive attitudes that you may not even realize you have. If you examine your beliefs, choose life-enhancing ones, you'll create optimal wellness. No organ system stands apart from your thoughts. Your beliefs program your neurochemicals. I'm not suggesting that you be Pollyannish, but that you be completely true to yourself. This will free you from unconscious negative beliefs that can sabotage your healing. Who gets sick? How can we get well? Is illness simply a result of genetics and other physical factors, or does something else come in? Intuition? Spirituality? Your mind-set is the stage on which your health history plays out. What you believe is not of purely intellectual interest. The views you hold must be able to soothe you like a lullaby when it really counts. Its good to read books, attend lectures and workshops about healing, but in the end your convictions must get you through. Start now. Claim for yourself a sound vision of what health and illness mean. In our society were too often separated from such harmony with the natural world and ourselves. Healing is something we do when we get sick, not a way of life. Its important to articulate: What beliefs do you live by? Are they sustaining? Can you depend on them in periods of crisis and despair? Determining your stance on illness is pivotal, whether you ever get sick or not. Why? Because it crystallizes your priorities-not just about health issues but about how you face everything. Faith, courage, compassion, humor, intuition, hope-dont wait until the last minute to find them. How you cope with getting ill is how you cope with any stress. The difference may be that when your health is poor, the volume is turned up and your limits are stretched. Is crisis an opportunity, as the components of the Chinese ideogram suggest? Or is this only a rationalization for a situation that is really unredeemable? To clarify, lets learn from intuition. It tells us that everything is not as it seems. There are layers of perception, meaning upon meaning. Talk about magic and mystery! Yes, illness is challenging, as is any heros path. What is being asked of us? All heroic challenges, physical or not, have one thing in common: a call for a heart. What Im proposing is that this call is more important than anything we will ever do, the raison detre of being alive. Especially if were sick or in pain, the lessons of love dont always come easy. We must fight for self-compassion and the intuitive link with a loving force that heals. Of course, none of us would ever want to be sick or in pain. But if we are, loving-kindness, in all its ramifications, will offer us the strength we need. A healing life, in periods of illness of health, requires that you embrace a positive belief system. But before you do so you must bite the bullet. Address up front all the internalized negative voices that sabotage your getting well. Hear what they have to say. Allow the whole unseemly cast of characters we all know so well to surface: the martyr, the victim, the persecutor, the wounded child, the critical parent, and the faithless one. You must recognize

your opponents in order to defeat them. If I miss anything, you fill in the blanks. Does any of this sound familiar? Many of us spend a lifetime creating and listening to negative voices. Where do they come from? Why do they so inexorable persist? To begin with, they echo the words of parents, teachers, and other authority figures as well as normal individual insecurities. Further, body chemistry plays a role. When serotonin levels are low, depression can ensue. Also, our species history makes us anticipate danger to survive. In addition, we use anxiety to motivate ourselves or to defend against being let down. If we expect the worst, its harder to be disappointed. The problem is, we become driven by negativity, addicted to it. Consider the endless mayhem in the evening news. Finally, bear in mind that in intuitive terms negativity has an inherently noisier, more frenetic, and stronger charge than the more even, subtler signal of the positive. Generally, as a novice, you pick up traumatic events and emotional upheaval before anything else. Even in ordinary life our attention is compelled more by the train wreck than by the system that works nearly all the time. As you can see the negative voices have many sources, much power. To exorcise them requires reconditioning your focus, replacing fear with faith. First, expose the tirade. Hold nothing back. Go straight for the boil. Charge like a samurai: lance it. In one swift blow. Second, summon every ounce of compassion you can muster to combat these untrue, unkind beliefs. Dont buy into the fear. Third, tell these insufferable voices, Thank you for sharing and keep moving on. I ruefully appreciate from my own experience how tenacious negative voices can be. They feed on our apprehensions and on the part of ourselves that is reluctant to be large. Just when you think they are gone- theyre ba-ack. Nonetheless, there comes a point when you must decide if you want a life that is fear-driven or one founded on love and hope. Establishing this premise is tantamount to bringing your healing to the next level. Remember, each gain will be incremental. Youll catch the negative voices faster; youll dismiss them more quickly. Significant improvement, but its also true that the process is ongoing. In all types of illness, from cancer to a cold, never fail to remember the minds capacity to heal, even what has been deemed unhealable. By lovingly learning to focus your intuition, you can strive to cure or at least improve any health situation. This brings us to an appreciation of a world where positive beliefs, emotions, and actions are prime factors in getting well, can even stimulate our immune response. A world where our defense against illness is related to a bodywide communication network we can take an active part in programming. A mix of science, instinct, and mystery, this is how intuitive healing can benefit you. Exercise: Questions To Help You Create Positive Beliefs About Healing

Do your beliefs give you strength during illness? If not are you ready to find ones that do? In a health crisis, what role does intuition play? How far would you go to trust it?

How do you treat yourself when you get sick or are in pain? If youre self-critical how can you turn that into self-compassion? Do you believe love can heal? How about humor? Are you willing to put them to the test.

Step 2: Be In Your Body Your body is a complex and sensitive intuitive receptor. You must make a commitment to be in it completely to heal. Most people in Western society are conditioned to live from the neck up, ignoring the rest of their body. This stance is counter-intuitive. I'd like you to shift that perspective-to enjoy your intellect but revel in your physicality as well. Being aware of the sensuousness of your body opens intuition. Then you'll become more cognizant of early warning signs your body sends. This gives you a head-start on preventing illness, choosing healthy relationships, and avoiding detrimental situations. You can't heal your body unless you're in it. Sounds reasonable, right? Then how come the instant most of us get sick we check out, the sooner the better? We feel pain or discomfort, we get scared, we withdraw. We're out of our bodies so fast, the last thing on our minds is to rally every iota of awareness and energy to the part of us that most needs attention. You might ask, How would this help? Let me explain. Intuitive truth 1: The more love and consciousness you bring to your body when it is ill, the better chance you'll have of mending it. Intuitive truth 2: If you resist discomfort, it will persist. If you soften around it, it will lessen. Let's get specific. You have what you're going to discover is appendicitis. First signs? You're in agony, curled in the fetal position on your bed. Your body is sending out a frantic SOS. Something's really wrong. You have no choice but to listen. You head for the emergency room. You need surgery. No way out. Next thing you know, you wake up in recovery, sans appendix. You made it. Your acute pain obviously had a purpose. It got you, fast, to the hospital. Some pain is short-lived. You have it. It's treated. It's gone. Even with pain of this kind, however, there's no question that informed attention is an asset. From the onset of a health crisis, focusing your intuition can get you past all-too-human resistances. For instance, people frequently die of heart attacks, failing to heed the warning of their angina. As they say, Denial is not just a river in Egypt. Intuition combats denial. By tuning in to pain, you'll get a more incisive take on how to deal with it. But, in general, here is a strategy that never fails: Loving-kindness. Conscious softening. Releasing resistance and fear. Not forsaking the body. This is where you begin. What if pain becomes chronic? My patient Meg, a corporate attorney used to being in charge-a control freak, really-was diagnosed with a bulging lumbar disc. Compressing the sciatic nerve, this disc caused excruciating pain in her lower back and down her leg. Pain became Meg's enemy. Drawing on techniques honed in years of legal warfare, she went on a crusade to eradicate it: anti-inflammatory drugs, ice packs, acupuncture, physical therapy, and gradual exercise. She did everything her doctor told her. Still the pain was there. The more she dreaded it, the worse it got. One day she hobbled into my office, cane in one hand, and cell phone in the other. An impossible juggling act, heart rending to see. On the verge of tears, she said, "I can't take it anymore. I hate this pain. I just want to get rid of it."

Of course she did. Any of us would. But Meg was working against herself. I had to teach Meg something contrary to her style of being in the world. She just wasn't going to be able to conquer her pain. She'd have to harmonize with it. For a bold spirit like Meg, this would be no easy task. Nor was this issue hers alone. So often in medicine we have it backwards. We attempt to repair the body without consulting it. Pain has its own spirit, language, intelligence, and rhythm. Pain is absolutely alive. It will speak to you, not in the usual sense but on an intuitive level. First, open up communication. Odd as it may seem, ask your pain-or any illness for help. Healing is collaboration, an opportunity to learn from a sometimes demanding but most enlightened master. Approach your pain with deep respect. If you do, it will respond, point the way toward getting well. These practices gave Meg the courage to mend past wounds and change present behaviors. It allowed compassion into many areas of her life. She never expected that part of her healing would be to allow other people to support her: letting a friend drive to the movies; asking a stranger to carry her bags when traveling. Meg's success wasn't only that her back pain subsided. Much about her started to melt: her rigidity, her tendency to beat herself up whenever she'd make a mistake, her impulse to give to others rather than take time to savor or receive. She has become more mindful of beauty. The glistening sunlit boughs of magenta bougainvillea arcing over her front porch don't go unnoticed anymore. Of course, Meg didn't achieve this overnight, but an extraordinary new pattern had begun. Self compassion is the most enduring antidote to pain or illness I know, a kind of oxygen that can revitalize. Moving toward it is a lifelong path. Your body also gives you leads about recovering from pain or illness through its internal pictures. If you get sick you may have to undergo certain tests-X rays, ultrasound, CT scans, MRIS, or endoscopy - some more grueling than others but all with their intuitive upside. I'd like you to begin to consider these tests a training ground where you can learn to zero in intuitively. I can't overemphasize the importance of having a distinct mental image of the part of you that needs to be healed. These tests offer you that. Their visuals are structural reference points that further ground you in your body. Intuitive healing is always body-interactive. Why not put your medical procedures to intuitive good? Why deny yourself such an asset? When traveling in a foreign country, wouldn't you prefer to have a guidebook? I know tests can be scary, especially if something is wrong. Even so, don't miss the magic of seeing into your body, a connector between you and the substance of which you are made. The martial arts concept of mu-shin, or "no mind," means no separation between mind and body. Power flows from this unity. Our physical self, our emotions, a healthy body or an organ with disease-our capacity to heal strengthens as we become one with it all. Meeting The Master: A Meditation For Dealing With Pain and Illness

Relax into the discomfort. Don't try to change it or rid yourself of it. Simply let the pain be. Gently breathe through any tightening, fear, resistance. Loosen your grip. Get to know the geography of your pain. Map it out. Become familiar with it.

Intuitively tune in to the discomfort. Does it have color? Texture? Emotion? Is it hot? Cold? Does it move or stay in one place? Do you notice images? Sounds? Scents? Memories? Ask the discomfort: What can I learn from you? How can I case my pain? Focus lightly on the discomfort. Feel it completely. As you inhale, breathe all your pain in. Visualize it as a cloud of dark smoke. Let it flow throughout your body, right to the core of your compassion. Now picture every last bit of the black smoke dissolving, purified by love. As you exhale, imagine this love as clear white light. Send it back to your area of discomfort. Breathe in pain. Breathe out compassion. Breathe in pain. Fill the pain with the healing breath of compassion.

Step 3: Sense Your Body's Subtle Energy We are composed of flesh and blood, but also of subtle energy. Chinese Medical Practitioners call it "chi," a vital substance which penetrates the body and extends many feet beyond it. From an intuitive point of view, these vibrantly colored energy fields, whose centers are called chakras have a significant effect on our health. For that reason, it is important that we learn to sense this energy within us, recognize when it is off, and learn to correct the imbalance. Feeling energy can be very sensual, an extension of love. Learning to tap into your body's energy is healing. Step 4: Ask for Inner Guidance We each possess an intuitive voice that contains answers about our healing. Because our intellect is often so loud, this voice often gets drowned out. It's essential that we learn to access the stillness within--though meditation, quite contemplation, connecting with nature, prayer-in order to gain answers about our health. Spend a few minutes each day devoted to listening to this voice. It may appear as a gut feeling, a hunch, an image, a sound, a memory, an instant knowing-as if a light bulb suddenly switched on. Learn to trust the signals your inner wisdom sends. Step 5: Listen To Your Dreams Intuition is the language of dreams. Every ninety minutes each night during the REM stage of sleep, we dream. Dreams provide answers about health, relationships, career choices, any new direction. The secret is to remember them. I suggest keeping a dream journal by your bed. Before you go to sleep, ask a dream a question. For instance, "Is this relationship healthy for me or should I move on?" The next morning, write down any dreams immediately before getting out of bed. Try repeating the question, every night for the next week until your answer comes. As you develop the habit of remembering dreams, you'll be able to benefit from this form of healing. As a physician, I have a continual sense of awe for the relationship between body and spirit. As your heart opens, so does your intuition. Your intuition will teach you how to see and how to love. It will instill in you a renewed faith to face anything.
There is a healing instinct within you that can manifest in dreams. You'd be surprised at the straightforward health advice they give, either spontaneously or on request. Tips on food, preventive therapies, treatment options constantly come through-but we miss them. Once remembered the essence of many of our dreams is lost because we, or our therapists, misinterpret them. A patient told me about a recurring broccoli dream. "You can't be serious," he said, chuckling. "It's actually trying to tell me what to eat? A vegetable?" Yes-it was. We often dismiss such practical

suggestions as meaningless. But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Keep it simple. Try something new. If you dream of eating a luscious mango, run out, devour one. Or when, in a dream, you're soaking in natural hot springs, make a date to go. How do you know if the advice you receive is right? Count on common sense to direct you. Though some intuitive flashes may seem impractical or unexpected, the authentic ones will never suggest anything to jeopardize you or anyone else's physical welfare. So, for instance, if you have heart disease and a dream tells you, "It's okay to smoke cigarettes," don't do it. Question all messages that risk your health. Along with this guideline, begin to familiarize yourself with traditional dream interpretation. I suggest Carl Jung's classic text Man and His Symbols, or take a look at Creative Dreaming by Dr. Patricia Garfield. In addition, there's an intuitive level to understanding dreams of which I'd like you to be aware. Reliable intuitive information stands out in very specific ways. Watch for these clues:

Statements that simply convey information Neutral segments that evoke or convey no emotion A detached feeling, like you're a witness watching a scene A voice or person counseling you-as if you're taking dictation from an outside source Conversations with people you never met before who give instr-uctions about your health

I've found that my most dead-on intuitions either come across as compassionate or have no emotion at all. Develop a careful eye as you practice separating the content of your dreams from your reactions to it. Soon you'll be able to tell what is reliable health guidance and what is not. Be aware that your dreams go by different rules than your waking life. Get ready for a mind shift. Physical laws no longer apply. Gravity changes. In dreams you can fly! Remember as a child (or adult) when you took off wingless, soared over mountains and valleys below. Healthwise, this is a reminder of the vitality and freedom that is in you. Silence is pregnant. A dream's tone can be as restorative as its content; a revelation about staying well can come through someone's eyes rather than words. You are in partnership with your dreams. Initiate an ongoing dialogue with them. It's like consulting the wisest old-time family doctor you can imagine who knows you inside out. You can ask your dreams anything-even what seems most impossible. How can I keep my blood pressure down? What about my hip pain or allergies? Are there ways to stop catching so many colds? No question is trivial if it is meaningful to you. Expect answers. Some will be direct. Others may require interpretation. Dreams can keep you well. Dreams provide answers. But first you must retrieve them. How many nights have you awakened with the most amazing dream you were certain you'd recall? The next morning it was gone. Our memories deceive. During sleep we experience a kind of amnesia. Dreams are not of the rational mind. Your intuitive memory is what is needed. Here is a method I recommend to remember your dreams. It's helpful to practice it each day. Soon it will become second nature to you.

Four Strategies To Remember Your Dreams

Keep a journal and pen by your bed. Write a question on a piece of paper before you go to sleep. Formalize your request. Place it on a table beside your bed or under your pillow. In the morning do not wake up too fast. Stay under the covers for at least a few minutes remembering your dream. Luxuriate in a peaceful feeling between sleep and waking, what scientists call the hypnagogic state. Those initial moments provide a doorway. Open your eyes. Write down your dream immediately; otherwise it will evaporate. You may recall a face, object, color, or scenario, feel an emotion. It doesn't matter if it makes perfect sense-or if you retrieve a single image or many. Record everything you remember.

When you're finished refocus on the health question you asked the previous night. See how your dream applies. One, two, or more impressions about the who/what/where of your solution may have surfaced. Get in the habit of recording your dreams regularly. Be assured I've never met anyone who can't be taught how to remember. Keep at it. If your answer doesn't come the first night, try again. More details will emerge, rounding out the picture. Then look to your daily life for evidence of what your dream tells you. The woman's face you glimpsed for that split second could just be that of the healer you've been searching for. I am guided every day by the five intuitive steps I've just presented. They have become my eyes. They can be yours too. The intuitions about your health I speak of and live by are ordinarily without boundary and are unseen. As you go through these steps they highlight, truths about your body, providing a framework in which to recognize them. Ordering allows for a simple, focused understanding. I have a great respect for structure as long as it facilitates our freedom. Go through the steps with this in mind. With each health question you ask, be prepared to expand or contract in response to whatever fluid motion is called for. Surrender all preconceptions about your healing. This realm I'm attempting to outline ultimately escapes definition. The mastermind of all things intuitive, the brains behind the scene, is of an infinite source. What if, just once, you let yourself go, accept the gift unconditionally? I dare you. What do you have to lose? And to gain? Breathe fire into what is dormant in you: your intuitions about a healthy body, your sense of spiritual power from which all your intuitions come. Make these connections count. They will last a lifetime. Open yourself to knowledge of how to heal. Let the mystery touch you. It is everything, everything.

About Judith Orloff Judith Orloff MD, an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA and intuition expert, is author of The Ecstasy of Surrender: 12 Surprising Ways Letting Go Can Empower Your Life (Harmony Books, 2014). Her other books include the New York Times Bestseller Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself

From Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life, Positive Energy, Guide to Intuitive Healing, and Second Sight. Dr. Orloff synthesizes the pearls of traditional medicine with cutting edge knowledge of intuition and energy medicine. She passionately believes that the future of medicine involves integrating all this wisdom to achieve emotional freedom and total wellness. www.drjudithorloff.com FREE MINI VIDEO CLASSES ON YOUTUBE FOR YOU! Please check out Dr. Orloffs Living Room Series to find out more about the special method Dr. Orloff recommends to remember your dreams and other topics to build the power within. Stop by www.youtube.com/judithorloffmd anytime. THE POWER OF INTUITION: DR. ORLOFF'S PERSONAL JOURNEY

by Judith Orloff MD Im a psychiatrist and intuitive in Los Angeles. What I do isnt my job. Its my lifes passion. With patients and in workshops, I listen with my intellect and my intuition, a potent inner wisdom that goes beyond the literal. I experience it as a flash of insight, a gut feeling, a hunch, a dream. By blending intuition with orthodox medical knowledge I can offer my patients and workshop participants the best of both worlds. Now, listening to intuition is sacred to me, but learning to trust it has taken years. Ive described the details in my memoir Second Sight which is meant to assure anyone whoever thought they were weird or crazy for having intuitive experiences, that they are not! This brief synopsis gives you a good sense of the book.

I grew up in Beverly Hills the only daughter of two-physician parents with twenty-five physicians in my family. From age nine, I had dreams and intuitions that would come true. I could predicts illness, earthquakes, even the suicide of one of my parents friends. This confused and alarmed me, as it did my parents who were entrenched in the hard-core rational world of science. At first they tried to write my intuitions off as coincidence. Finally, though, after I dreamed my mothers mentor would loose a political election--which to my horror, came true--she took me aside and told me, Never mention another dream or intuition in our house again! Ill never forget the look in my dear mothers exasperated, frightened eyes, nothing I ever wanted to see again. So from that day on, I kept my intuitions to myself. I grew up ashamed of my abilities, sure there was something wrong with me.

Luckily, Ive had many angels in human form whove pointed me to my true calling as physician. In the sixties I got heavily involved with drugs in an attempt to block my intuitions outnot something Im recommending to you! Following a nearly fatal car accident at age sixteen when I tumbled over a treacherous 1500 foot cliff in Malibu Canyon, my parents forced me to see a psychiatrist. This man was the first person who ever saw me--not who he wanted me to be, but who I was. He taught me

to begin to value the gift of intuition, and referred me to Dr. Thelma Moss, a intuition researcher at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. She was to become my mentor and guide to developing my intuitive side.

While working in Thelmas lab I had an amazingly specific dream which announced, Youre going to become an MD, a psychiatrist, to help legitimize intuition in medicine. When I awoke, I felt like someone was playing a practical joke on me. Id never liked science, and I was bored around all my parents doctor-friends. I was a hippie living in an old converted brick Laundromat with my artistboyfriend in Venice Beach, working in the May Companys towel department. (Ive had a great love of towels and sheets since!) The last thing I envisioned doing was medicine. But because I was beginning to trust my intuition, I enrolled in a junior college just to see how it would go. So one course became two, became fourteen years of medical training--USC medical school and a UCLA psychiatric internship and residency.

The irony was, that during my medical training I strayed far from the intuitive world again. Traditional psychiatry equates visions with psychosis. Working in the UCLA emergency room, Id keep seeing psychotics who were wheeled in screaming, strapped to gurneys, accompanied by cops with billy clubs. These patients professed to hear God and to be able predict things. They also felt their food was poisoned, and that the FBI was on their tail. No one tried to sort through this mishmash of claims. Typically, patients would shot up with with Thorazine, hospitalized on lockdown inpatient units until their symptoms subsided. Seeing this so many times I doubted whether it was safe or appropriate to integrate my intuitions in medicine.

When I opened my Los Angeles psychiatric practice in 1983, I had every intention of it being traditional; Id use medications, psychotherapy, but I didnt intend for intuition to play a role. My practice was extremely successful. Since I was a workaholic and also loved helping people, I had twelve hour days, though very little personal life. But then I had a heart-wrenching wake-up call that changed everything. It was an intuition that a patient, on antidepressants, was going to make a suicide attempt. Because she was doing so well--nothing supported my hunch--I dismissed it. Within a week she overdosed on the antidepressants Id prescribed and ended up in a coma for nearly a month. (Had she not survived I wouldve been devastated.) The hardest part, though, was that I thought Id harmed her by not utilizing a vital piece of intuitive information. This was intolerable for me. From then on, I knew, as a responsible physician, I had to integrate my intuitions into my work.

After this episode, my journey to bring intuition into my medical practice began. I didnt know how Id do it, but I put out a silent prayer to the universe to help me. Soon, I began meeting people, more angels, who showed me the way. Gradually I grew comfortable with my intuition, set out to write Second Sight. This took me seven years to complete because I had so much fear about coming out of the closet as an intuitive. I was afraid of what my physician-peers would think, that theyd mock me or blackball me from the profession. My mother warned, Theyll think youre weird. Itll

jeopardize your medical career. Ah Mother: I loved her, but thank god I didnt listen. Finding my voice as a psychiatrist and intuitive has been my path to freedom.

Sure, theres a risk when you stretch yourself, but the rewards are enormous. Now, Im blessed to travel around the country giving workshops on intuition to auditoriums full of extraordinary people-health care professionals and general audiences alike--who long to embrace their inner voice. Im heartened to see that many physicians are eager to deal with patients in the new way I offer. Recently I gave an intuitive healing workshop at the American Psychiatric Association convention, a annual gathering of the most conservative psychiatrists in the world. Im pleased to report the response was wonderful.

Im sad to report that my mother didnt live long enough to see this. In 1993 she died of a lymphoma. But, on her deathbed, she decided to tell me our family secrets. She told me, I want to pass the power onto you. I was astounded to learn that I came from a lineage of intuitive healers on her side of the family--my Jewish grandmother who did laying on of hands in a shed behind the pharmacy she and Grandpop ran in Philadelphia. East coast aunts and cousins Id never met since I grew up in California. Also, my mother, herself, had a strong inner voice which told her how to treat patients for over forty years. Shed listened to this voice and secretly used her innate healing powers to keep her lymphoma in remission for many years. Why didnt you tell me? I asked her. She said simply, I wanted you to lead a normal, happy life, not to be thought of as weird like your grandmother was. Oh Mother... Ill always be grateful for what she shared, but, still... shed waited so long. Even so, I believe in the wisdom of the paths weve been given. Mine has been to fight for what I believed in despite what my parents or anyone said. An invaluable but rugged lesson in empowerment.

These days, no matter what Im going through, especially when my heart is torn in a million pieces my intuition has sustained me. I hope that my journey in my book Second Sight can help you. One thing Im certain of: if you follow your intuitive voice, you cant go wrong. Stay true to it. Intuition is about empowerment, not having to conform to someone elses notion of who you should be. Its about being true to yourself, and all the goodness that comes from that.

Meditations and Exercises To Reduce Stress Dr. Orloffs Ten Prescriptions for Positive Energy
The First Prescription: Awaken Your Intuition and Rejuvenate Yourself The Second Prescription: Find a Nurturing Spiritual Path The Third Prescription: Design an Energy-Aware Approach to Diet, Exercise, and Health The Fourth Prescription: Generate Positive Emotional Energy to Counter Negativity The Fifth Prescription: Develop a Heart-Centered Sexuality The Sixth Prescription: Open to the Flow of Creativity and Inspiration The Seventh Prescription: Celebrate the Sacredness of Laughter, Pampering, and The Replenishment of Retreat The Eighth Prescription: Attract Positive People and Situations The Ninth Prescription: Protect Yourself From Energy Vampires The Tenth Prescription: Create Abundance

How To Protect Yourself From Energy Vampires 1. Take an inventory of people in your life who give energy, and people who drain. Specifically identify the energy vampires, and begin to evaluate ones you'd like to limit contact with or eliminate. 2. Set Clear Boundaries Its crucial to limit the time you spend discussing a vampires gripes. Remember: the difference between being a bitch and setting boundaries is attitude. Instead of saying, Youre selfish and self-obsessed, I cant take you anymore, which a part of you likely feels, take a breath and shift to your heart. 3. Meditate for a few minutes. Sitting in meditation is a life-line to your center, to the earth. it will ground you when youve been zapped by a vampire. By calming the mind, you can realign with your essence. Close your eyes. Focus on your breath. Then. picture having a long tail that extends down into the earths core and lodges in that center. Let the earth's energy to fill your body. 4. Visualize a Protective Shield. When youre with vampires you cant get away from visualize a protective shield of while light surrounding every inch of you. This lets positive energy in, but keeps negative energy outparticularly efficient for vampires at family dinners or social events where youre trapped.

A Three Minute Meditation to Open Your Heart

1. Settle in a peaceful place with no interruptions. In a cozy chair or in in a hot bath with candles all around. Make it as sensual as you like. Get very quiet. Relax your body. Slowly inhale. Then exhale. Your breath will bring you back to center. 2. Gently rest your palm over your heart. Concentrate on a person, place, song, or memory you love. You may want to start with nature. Visualize a sublime dawn. Or picture your puppy napping in your lap. If you prefer, focus on your higher power, whatever your definition. The purpose is to feel love in a general sense, then specifically as a localized energy in your chest. 3. Observe the sensations in your heart, dramatic or subtle. Heat. Coolness. Tingling. Vibration. Expansion. Bliss. Pressure releasing. Compassion. Let it happen. Dont hold back. With time, youll feel a vortex of positive energy growing in your heart which spontaneously flows out into your body.

8 WAYS TO INCREASE YOUR POSITIVE ENERGY 1. The Three Minute Mini-Meditation Three minutes of meditation can work magic! Take a break in a quiet place to center yourself. Close your eyes. Sit in a comfortable position. Then slowly inhale and exhale. If thoughts come keep refocusing on your breath. Then practice this visualization: Breathe in light and clarity. Breathe out stress. Breathe in vitality. Breathe out fear. Do this until positive energy fills you. 2. Avoid energy vampires who suck you dry, and be around nurturing friends 3. Create a Sacred Space at Home to Replenish Yourself. It can be very simple. Mine is a small table with candles, incense, and a rose in a vase. When Im exhausted I sit there, close my eyes, and get centered again. A place to sit for at least five minutes where no one can interrupt you. Home can be a retreat, not merely a pit stop where we plop ourselves down on our bed after work exhausted. 4. Take Technology Fasts. Energetic breaks from machine or cyber exposure. Sitting at a computer all day can drain you and cause what I have termed techodespair fatigue or depression that comes from being around machines too longfaxes, emails, phones included. Go out for a walk, breathe fresh air, feel the sun on your shoulders instead. 5. Stop Rushing! If youre a rusher focus on one thing at a time. Take a few minutes out to be in the Now.Be totally present in the moment. Open your senses. Notice your environment. Take pleasure in the tulips, the fountains, the puppies. 6. Do Nothing. Allow yourself to veg out and do mindless activities for a while (watch a soap opera instead of CNN, read magazines, stare at the sky. Or stay in bed all afternoon with the phone unplugged.I see the occasional veg out as a spiritual state because it restores energy. 7. Laugh at something or just be plain silly. Laughter increases positive energy, elevates the immune system and endorphins, and decreases depression.

8. Anonymous giving builds energy. The paradox is that we profit from this at those time when we may least feel like it. Help an old lady across the street. Hold the elevator for someone. Bring a friend a peach. This reverses the misery and exhaustion of self obsession and negative thinking.

4 Intuitive Tips to Be In The Now

Tip #1. Observe People Whore In the Now To feel the power of Now, observe those whore in it. This intuitively attunes you to vibes you can resonate with. Babies and young children are naturally in the Now. Similarly, for creative people, the moment is everything. Take Maya Angelou singing and strutting her poetry. Or YoYo Ma stroking his celestial cello. Attend a performance of someone you gets you going. Also recognize that during emergencies we revert to the Now. If your seven-yearold falls from a tree, your mind isnt going to roam; all your energy and attention will be with her. Tip #2. Follow Your Breath Following the breath brings you back to the Now during a busy day. Many cultures equate the terms spirit and breath: Latin, spirtus; Hebrew, ruach; Greek, pneuma; Sanskrit, prana. Many of us walk around unconsciously holding our breath which constricts energy. Take a few quiet moments to relax, eyes closed, focusing on each inhalation and exhalation: the softness of breath entering your nostrils, your lungs; your chest rising and falling. Simply follow the breath; dont control it. If thoughts intrude--and they will!--intuitively visualize each one as a puffy cloud passing in the sky. Try not to attach to thoughts, an ability that gets easier with practice. Just let them float by. Then, each time, return to your breath, your body, and the Now. Tip #3. Physically Feel Your Pulse Locate and concentrate on the beat of your pulse: with your palm facing upward gently align two fingers vertically on the wrist just below the thumb. Get used to how your pulse feels. Then, with each beat, intuitively visualize your life force as golden energy rushing through you, a beautiful sensation. Tip #4. Repeat A Mantra A mantra is a sacred word or phrase that can cue you to return to the Now. One translation is that which protects one from negative energy. In Tibetan Buddhism, a mantra is passed from teacher to student. Its either recited inwardly or aloud, a way to focus during meditation or during chaos. So, in the chaos of your world a special mantra can retrieve you. It could be ohm or shalom for peace, the Beatles song Let It Be. MIne is I am that I am that I am that I am... Choose one that appears to you.

6 Positive Energy Tactics to Overcome Fear

Tactic 1. Know your fears well to avoid ambush First, identify your fears, small or monstrous. Dont censor. For instance, Im not smart enough, pretty enough...Ill never find a soulmate so I might as well not try. Some of my biggest fears include ending up drooling and alone in a nursing home: or if I suddenly die at home Id just lie there unmissed until my cleaning lady found me. Second,, say to your fear, Thank-you for sharing. Then make a conscious move into your heart. To replace fear with faith, I affirm, I will be taken care of, not abandoned. I also suggest meditating on your heart to reconnect with whatever you love. I do this by focusing on Spirit--letting all that renewing energy fill me. This reminds me Im not alone--nor are any of us.. Conjuring positive energy in these ways collapses fear. Tactic 2. Listen to your intuition Once youve identified the fear, tune into the actual truth of the situation. Some fears are protective, others are not. Our species history makes us anticipate danger for survival. In contrast, we need to question fears tied to low self worth: were all entitled to an extraordinary life, whatever form that takes. We also must question fears that were unable to love. Even the severely traumatized can have enormous capacities. Fear seduces most when we doubt ourselves. Follow these guidelines to tell intuition from fear. (1) Trustworthy intuitions will energize you. They are either neutral, simply conveying information; compassionate, never beating you up; or a gut feeling that something feels right or off. For instance, if late at night you notice an unkempt man with sleazy vibes--your gut affirms this-walking toward you, its prudent to avoid him. Or if during a date, your gut yells beware, dont marry the guy. At the very least, take the relationship slow. (2) Irrational fear, on the other hand, exhausts you. Its emotionally charged so that centered neutrality is impossible. The content is often cruel or demeaning, with no gut-level confirmation. Irrational fear lacks the clarity of feeling on target. One good thing: its denigrating rants give it away. Knowing your fears keeps you from getting hooked. Tactic 3. Say A Prayer to Lift Fear Sometimes fear grips your spirit and just wont let go. You do everything right. You pin down the fear. You tune in. You know its irrational, but still cant shake it. Now, ask for another kind of help. You may believe in angels, or that your grandfather is watching over you (mine is!). Whoever your positive energy emissaries are, get ready to call in the troops. Take a breath. Close your eyes. Be innocent, not cynical. Know that the non-material world holds much magic our rational mind can never understand. Then say a prayer from the heart. It could be very simple: Please take this fear from me. Meanwhile, just stay open. No tensing up. Let the positive energy youre summoning do its job. Requesting such intervention brings amazing results. Tactic 4. Make a gratitude list Concentrating on what youre grateful for shifts fear. Gratitude is a form of positive energy. If you want it, youve got to seek it out. Gratitude doesnt just happen. By accentuating blessings, not problems, youre supplanting negative thoughts with positive vibes. Writing gratitudes down solidifies them. Sometimes, though, riddled by fear, a gratitude list is the last thing you feel like doing. Nevertheless, take contrary action--even if you resist, make one anyway.

Tactic 5. Visit an uplifting place When fear takes hold, brooding in isolation isnt the answer. Get out of the house. Its all over if you become fears captive audience. Go to a setting that makes you happy. Positive vibes will rub off on you. Soak them up. One of my patients goes to an aquarium. Another to a cathedral. Another to a Malibu bluff. The energy sites you cherish in the world offset fear. Tactic 6. Avoid Absorbing Other Peoples Fears When fear crops up instantly ask yourself: Is this mine or someone elses? Sometimes, though, it could be both. If the fear is yours softly confront it. If not, it may be easy to pinpoint the source. However, say youve come home from a comedy full of fear, you couldve energetically picked it up from someone beside you; in close proximity energy fields overlap. Ditto with going to a mall. To detach from fear: (1) When possible, distance yourself from the source. Move at least twenty feet away, out of their energy field; youll feel relief. Dont err on the side of not wanting to offend strangers. In a public place I dont hesitate to change seats if I get unsettling vibes. (2) For a few minutes, center yourself by concentrating on your breath: keep exhaling fear, inhaling calm; practice the grounding and breathing meditations youve learned. Try visualizing fear as black smoke exiting, and calm as while light entering; it can yield quick results. (4) Fear frequently lodges in your emotional energy center at the solar plexus. Place your palm there, as you focus on sending that location loving energy to flush fear out. Keep pumping love from your heart into the area to purify the emotional pollution.

Intuition and Health: Tips to Find the Right Doctor (Adapted from Guide to Intuitive Healing: Five Steps to Physical, Emotional, and Sexual Wellness by Judith Orloff MD) I want to guide you through the process of selecting a health care practitioner to match your needs. I'll point out qualities to look for and those to avoid. Here are some guidelines to follow. Also use common sense combined with intuition to choose the right practitioner for you. Who you let touch your body, prescribe medications, and counsel you about vital health strategies is one of the most important decisions you'll ever make. In Guide to Intuitive Healing I discuss in detail the dos and donts when evaluating or looking for a doctor. Many of us have stuck far too long with a health care practitioner when we didn't follow our intuition on whether they were a good fit for our needs. Seek out someone who blends intuitive and technical skills implementing as many of the following guidelines from my book as possible. QUALITIES TO LOOK FOR Notice if your doctor: Takes time to listen to you Does he or she pay attention and let you fully explain why you are there? Is there good eye contact or is your doctor staring down at a clipboard or a computer screen? Is technically qualified Does your practitioner have sold credentials? For example, an MD, Ph.D. or RN? Is he or she licensed? Is your alternative healer certified, and/or does your healer have a good track record with patients? Do you know anyone who can vouch for his or her high level of care? Isn't offended if you ask for a second opinion If needed, is your doctor open and non-defensive about getting another point of view? Will he or she recommend a trustworthy colleague? Presents you with options and is knowledgeable about (or at least open to) alternative health techniques Are you told the pros and cons of a few possible treatments? If you ask, for example, about acupuncture, will your doctor react with an open mind? If you say, "Here's an article about my condition, would you be willing to read it and discuss it with me? How does your doctor respond? Honors your intuitions and preferences about your body If you say, "My intuition doesn't feel good about this plan of action," does your doctor factor it into the decision making? Or will he or she chide you, "Be serious that's not very scientific?" Does your doctor encourage you to know your body's needs? QUALITIES TO AVOID Notice if your doctor:

 Rushes you through an office visit Are you interrupted by your doctor taking phone calls? Do you overhear him or her making dinner reservations or golf dates? Does your HMO doc really make those fifteen minutes count? Or is he or she abrupt? Distracted? Do you get cut off repeatedly or before you're finished explaining why you're there? Approaches you with a demeaning "holier than thou" attitude, talking in jargon Are you told, "I'm the doctor. I know what's best for you?" Does he or she insist in using complex medical terminology even though you've said it confuses you? Does your doctor refuse to explain things in simple terms? Isn't professionally accredited or technically skilled Is your doctor unlicensed? Has his or her license ever been revoked? Do you know of any complaints of wrong-doing from other patients? Makes you feel guilty or foolish for asking questions Does your doctor dismiss or minimize your concerns remarking, "You're overly sensitive," or even worse, "You created your illness?" Is he or she patronizing, saying, "It's over your head. I can't explain your condition in a way you'd understand." Doesn't return phone calls within twenty four hours When calling, are you told, "The doctor's busy and will have to get back to you," then doesn't? Is he or she hard to reach during an emergency? Do you have the sense that your doctor's always tied up with something more important than you? It is your right to access who is the right health care practitioner for you. Taking responsibility for your choice by evaluating the above criteria will lead to a more positive and productive relationship with your doctor. The care and time you give to finding the right health care practitioner is very empowering. It allows you to become an integral part of your healing process. When you and your doctor are on the same wavelength, communication about all aspects of your health will be vastly improved.

The Meaning of Deja Vu Adapted from Second Sight: An Intuitive Psychiatrist Tells Her Story and Show You How to Tap Your Own Inner Wisdom (Three Rivers Press, 2010) by Judith Orloff MD "Dj Vu" is a common intuitive experience that has happened to many of us. The expression is derived from the French, meaning "already seen." When it occurs, it seems to spark our memory of a place we have already been, a person we have already seen, or an act we have already done. It is a signal to pay special attention to what is taking place, perhaps to receive a specific lesson in a certain area or complete what is not yet finished. In Second Sight I describe many theories to explain dj vu: a memory of a dream, a precognition, a coincidental overlapping of events or even a past life experience in which we rekindle ancient alliances. What matters is that it draws us closer to the mystical. It is an offering, an opportunity for additional knowledge about ourselves and others. During a trip to Africa, Carl Jung described a feeling of dj vu when he viewed a slim, black man leaning on a spear looking down at his train as it made a turn around a steep cliff on the way to Nairobi. He writes, "I had the feeling that I had already experienced this moment and had always known this world." Although this world and this man were something alien to him, he saw the whole thing as perfectly natural. He called this a recognition of what was "immemorially known." In Western culture, we are brought up to consider anyone who isn't an immediate member of our circle of friends and family to be a stranger. Yet at times, you meet people whom you feel as if you have known for years. You can talk to them about anything and they understand. You laugh easily with them. The tone of their voice, the way they take their coffee, all seem commonplace. It isn't that they remind you of someone else or that their qualities are simply endearing. You relate to them not as strangers, but as people with whom you have shared history, members of the same tribe. A patient of mine named Shannon knew that she was going to marry her husband the day that they met. She had dated a lot of men following her divorce, but none of them felt right. Then, she met Bob. There was something about the way he smiled, the glint of his hair, his voice and the shape of his hands, that made her think that they had known each other before. After talking it was clear that their paths had never crossed, but after their first lunch date, they became inseparable. What Shannon and Bob immediately felt for each other was more than just physical chemistry. It was a natural compatibility and a depth of intimacy that usually emerges after couples are together for many years. They were married two months after they met and have been together now for ten years. Im often asked how to tell the difference between a feeling of dj-vu when we first meet someone and an attraction stemming from an addictive obsession. Some addiction specialists say that whenever you meet someone and an explosion of fireworks go off, this is a sign not of true love, but of one neurosis meeting another. They suggest that you run as fast as you can in the opposite direction. Based upon my work with the recovering community, I agree that there is a strong tendency among addicts and some non-addicts to try to "fix" themselves with love and sex, rushing prematurely into

relationships inspired only by intense physical attraction. They often have nothing to do with djvu, but stem rather from a basic emptiness that longs to be filled. There is no true bond between the people involved, they hardly know each other, and these partnership attempts fail miserably when the pink glow of newness wears off. The fact that an encounter feels compelling or immediate doesn't necessarily mean that it is healthy or unhealthy. The experience of dj vu must always be approached discerningly. However, mostly dj-vu experiences are not obsessive or compulsive. They rather convey a quality that is quiet and solid.. The possibility of having a dj vu is inherent in partnerships of all kinds, particularly the more intimate ones. It can occur in business, friendships and family, often leading to pivotal outcomes that can impact the direction of our life. There are situations that are glitches in time, when the rules bend and the mystery takes hold. Enchanted moments that sparkle. These are deja-vus. They can take place anywhere, at any time and with anyone. Your real estate agent might show you a house that feels so familiar and right, you instantly know it is yours. Or perhaps you are in a restaurant and sense an inexplicable kinship with a woman sitting in the back corner booth. Don't let these possibilities pass you by. Take notice; investigate. There is no way of predicting where each might lead or what it will teach you. Summoning the courage to take a chance and act on synchronicities, to have faith in what is not yet visible, will make the experience your own.

4 Techniques to Protect Your Energy Adapted from Dr. Judith Orloffs New York Times Bestseller, Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself From Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life (Three Rivers Press, 2011) Emotional freedom means learning how to stay centered in a stressful, highly emotionally charged world. Since emotions such as fear, anger, and frustration are energies, you can potentially catch them from people without realizing it. If you tend to be an emotional sponge, its vital to know how to avoid taking on an individuals negative emotions or the free-floating kind in crowds. Another twist is that chronic anxiety, depression, or stress can turn you into an emotional sponge by wearing down your defenses. Suddenly, you become hyper-attuned to others, especially those with similar pain. Thats how empathy works; we zero in on hot-button issues that are unresolved in ourselves. From an energetic standpoint, negative emotions can originate from several sources. What youre feeling may be your own; it may be someone elses; or it may be a combination. Ill explain how to tell the difference and strategically bolster positive emotions so you dont shoulder negativity that doesnt belong to you. This wasnt something I always knew how to do. Growing up, my girlfriends couldn't wait to hit the shopping malls and go to parties, the bigger the better--but I didn't share their excitement. I always felt overwhelmed, exhausted around large groups of people, though I was clueless why. "What's the matter with you?" friends would say, shooting me the weirdest looks. All I knew was that crowded places and I just didn't mix. I'd go there feeling just fine but leave nervous, depressed, or with some horrible new ache or pain. Unsuspectingly, I was a gigantic sponge, absorbing the emotions of people around me. With my patients, Ive also seen how absorbing other peoples emotions can trigger panic attacks, depression, food, sex and drug binges, and a plethora of physical symptoms that defy traditional medical diagnosis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that more than two million Americans suffer from chronic fatigue. Its likely that many of them are emotional sponges. Here are some strategies from Emotional Freedom to practice. They will help you to stop absorbing other peoples emotions. Emotional Action Step: How To Stay Centered In A Stressful World To detach from other peoples negative emotions:

First, ask yourself: Is the feeling mine or someone elses? It could be both. If the emotion such as fear or anger is yours, gently confront whats causing it on your own or with professional help. If not, try to pinpoint the obvious generator. For instance, if youve just watched a comedy, yet you came home from the movie theater feeling blue, you may have incorporated the depression of the people sitting beside you; in close proximity, energy fields overlap. The same is true with going to a mall or packed concert. When possible, distance yourself from the suspected source. Move at least twenty feet away; see if you feel relief. Dont err on the side of not wanting to offend strangers. In a public place, dont hesitate to change seats if you feel a sense of depression imposing on you.

For a few minutes, center yourself by concentrating on your breath: This connects you to your essence. Keep exhaling negativity, inhaling calm. This helps to ground yourself and purify fear or other difficult emotions Visualize negativity as gray fog lifting from your body, and hope as golden light entering. This can yield quick results. Negative emotions such as fear frequently lodge in your emotional center at the solar plexus. Place your palm there as you keep sending loving-kindness to that area to flush stress out. For longstanding depression or anxiety, use this method daily to strengthen this center. Its comforting and builds a sense of safety and optimism. Shield yourself. A handy form of protection many people use, including healers with trying patients, involves visualizing an envelope of white light (or any color you feel imparts power) around your entire body. Think of it as a shield that blocks out negativity or physical discomfort but allows what's positive to filter in. Look for positive people and situations. Call a friend who sees the good in others. Spend time with a colleague who affirms the bright side of things. Listen to hopeful people. Hear the faith they have in themselves and others. Also relish hopeful words, songs, and art forms. Hope is contagious and it will lift your mood.

Keep practicing these strategies. You dont have to reinvent the wheel each time youre on emotional overload. With strategies to cope, you can have quicker retorts to stressful situations, feel safer, and your sensitivities can blossom.