Positive Energy: 10 Extraordinary Prescriptions for Transforming Fatigue, Stress, and Fear into Vibrance, Strength, and Love

by Judith Orloff Narrated by Anna Fields

Overview

Are you forever rushing around, fending off chronic exhaustion? Are you desperately overcommitted, afraid to say no? Do you have fang marks from being bled dry by energy vampires? Does the onslaught of violence in the news leave you drained? If so, you're the victim of a hidden energy crisis. To resolve it you need more than traditional solutions such as eating well, getting a good night's sleep, and exercising. Here at last is the complete prescription to stop you from feeling constantly drained and enables you to live a more vibrant life: the Positive Energy Program created by Judith Orloff, M.D.

Dr. Orloff is the pioneer behind Energy Psychiatry, a new field that addresses the subtle energetic components of health and behavior. Energy Psychiatry blends the practice of mainstream medicine with an emerging scientific understanding of subtle energies, revered by many cross-cultural healing traditions as our life force. In Positive Energy, Dr. Orloff explains this exciting new discipline and how it led her to formulate ten essential prescriptions for boosting energy, improving relationships, and combating energy vampires. The prescriptions are:

¿ Awaken your intuition and rejuvenate yourself--and learn the cure for technodespair and overload from emails, computers, and phones
¿ Find a nurturing spiritual path that fits your own beliefs and inner stirrings
¿ Design an energy-aware approach to diet, exercise, and health--and learn how to avoid the "energetic overeating" that sabotages attempts to lose weight
¿ Generate positive emotional energy to counter negativity
¿ Develop a heart-centered sexuality
¿ Open yourself to the flow of creativity and inspiration to achieve greater joy
¿ Celebrate the sacredness of laughter, pampering, and the replenishment of retreat--it's not selfish to take care of yourself
¿ Discover how to attract positive people and situations
¿ Protect yourself from energy vampires with specific
shielding techniques
¿ Create abundance and a continuing flow of energy

The purpose of this program is to make your life easier. Each prescription has clear instructions for practicing the simple, powerful exercises Dr. Orloff gives her patients and uses herself--plus, there's a "Treat Yourself" section to help you relax and enjoy the program's full benefits. Following each chapter are Dr. Orloff's interviews with luminaries who share their personal secrets about how they use a specific prescription to generate more energy. You'll discover how Quincy Jones's intuition opened up after brain surgery, Larry King honed his interviewing techniques, Naomi Judd recovered from hepatitis C, and Jamie Lee Curtis deals with draining people.

Dr. Orloff says, "We can't stop the negative circumstances of our time--our cell phones will keep ringing, e-mails will keep coming, people will be rude, our children will be demanding, and bad things will happen in the world. But we can learn ways to protect our energy so that we can stay centered in dealing with the stresses that arise." Positive Energy shows you how to slow down time to match your natural rhythms, allowing you to be fully present for your life. Learning this can make the difference between an exuberant life and one you're always recovering from. Filled with Dr. Orloff's warmth, humor, and compassion, Positive Energy is your tool kit for transforming fatigue, stress, and fear into an abundance of vibrance, strength, and love.

Editorial Reviews

Suffering from Technodespair or Energy Defensive Eating? Dr. Judith Orloff, the founder of Energy Psychiatry, offers a positive response to these and other postmodern ailments. Her method incorporates intuition, the body's "chi" energies, and traditional medicine to provide real world solution to problems such as workaholism, habitual fatigue, and panic in crowds.

Publishers Weekly

Orloff, a psychiatrist who has appeared frequently on television and written an eponymous Guide to Intuitive Healing, here provides 10 detailed prescriptions for harnessing one's "positive energy" to replace fatigue with physical and emotional vigor. Her commonsense program includes pursuing an individual spiritual path, developing "true-to-self eroticism," designing an energy-building diet and exercise plan, learning to celebrate laughter and protecting oneself from "energy vampires." Along with practice exercises for following these prescriptions, each section ends with a public figure describing the ways that he or she uses Orloff's methods. In the chapter on spirituality, Amy Gross, editor in chief of O: The Oprah Magazine, discusses how practicing deep breathing and meditation replenishes energy as she centers herself. Wavy Gravy, who warned against eating the brown acid at Woodstock, explores the way laughter has not only helped him cope with pain but also heightened his vitality level. Orloff delivers her revivification techniques in thoughtful, accessible prose that some may find an energy builder in itself. (Apr.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Psychiatrist, best-selling author (Second Sight), and medical intuitive to the stars, Orloff returns with a passionate argument for engaged spiritual energy as the single most important factor in fostering personal transformation. Connecting with one's soul is possible for anyone who will fervently focus on inner listening beyond the mind's chatter, she claims. Her "Positive Energy Program" is set forth in two sections. Part 1 covers building one's energy (e.g., taking tub time and three-minute meditations) and offers a spiritually based diet and fitness tips. An interesting sidebar posits that overeating is energetically based-if we lack awareness of our true nature, we unwittingly feed the negative energy within, eating mindlessly. Part 2 explores sculpting positive relationships by evaluating energy flow between oneself and others. Overall, not much is new here, but the energy-level practices are simple, fun, and specific. Orloff also enjoys a wide fan base. Recommended for self-help collections in public libraries and psychology sections in medical libraries.-Lisa Liquori, M.L.S., Syracuse, NY Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

From the Publisher

A ‘let me count the ways’ of [how to deal with] work, eating, sex, computers, and getting away from the human ‘energy vampires’ around us. Orloff is a serene maverick.” —USA Today

“Dr. Orloff’s book takes you on a wondrous journey through the mysteries of energy. A must-read for anyone who’s rushed, stressed, or stopped by fear.” —Deepak Chopra

“A brilliant, intriguing, and extremely practical book . . . Dr. Orloff is a true visionary.” —Caroline Myss, Ph.D., author of Sacred Contracts

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169348958
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	01/08/2004
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Positive Energy

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By Judith Orloff, M.D.

Random House

Copyright (C) 2004 by Judith Orloff, M.D.
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0609610104

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Chapter One

LET ME TELL YOU A SECRET THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

It's about energy, creativity, the rhythms of existence-how their compelling interconnection gives birth to an inner voice so sophisticated it'll teach you to harness the positive and dispel negativity. Intuition brings magic to traditional wellness approaches, but also opens you to the intriguing realm of energy fields-vibes that radiate from people, places, plants, the night sky. Think of the contagious electric buzz of Tokyo or Rome; the mellow, cool groove of Coltrane's sax; or the orgasmic surge of applause at Yankee Stadium when the home team wins. Each day you'll encounter a wonderfully diverse but often unacknowledged range of energies. In this prescription you'll see how intuition registers them and sharpens your sensitivity to your life force's fire, showing ways to metabolize and protect it. By awakening your intuition, you can access your full energy. This is the true secret of secrets: I won't be satisfied with anything less and hope you won't either.

As a specialist in Energy Psychiatry, and personally, I worship my high-octane intuitions: I owe the blessing of becoming a physician to one. However, at twenty, when an unwavering inner voice told me I was going to medical school, it was the last thing I thought I wanted. Yes, I was the only child of two physician parents with twenty-five physicians in my family, from cancer researchers to gynecologists, a lineage I seemed ordained to join. But I'd never liked science, would get bored around my parents' doctor friends. At the time I was a hippie living in an old converted brick Laundromat with my muralist boyfriend in Venice Beach. I worked in the May Company's towel department. Still, as my intuition sank in, it gave me tremendous energy. So, dubiously, I enrolled in one course in a junior college just to see. One course became two, became . . . fourteen years of medical training-a trek that would've pushed Indiana Jones to the edge. But my intuition had staying power, provided all the oomph needed to propel me to my calling.

Similarly blessed, my patient Laura literally owes her life to an intuition about energy. A math teacher with moxie, at forty-five she began experiencing a terrible pounding in her ear, diagnosed by a top neurologist as a routine recurring migraine. Despite his reassurance, she kept feeling "an energy like a train roaring through my body screaming something was wrong." As I heard the dire immediacy of this intuitive warning, I convulsed with chills. I was very afraid for Laura; she had to act. At my urging, Laura sought a second opinion.

I'm all for protesting when something doesn't feel right. It's foolish, even reckless to ignore such energy signals. An angiogram was ordered; dangerous blockages in her cerebral arteries were found. This new doctor told her: "The good news is you didn't have a stroke or die. The bad news is you have fibromuscular dysplasia. You'll need surgery to keep your arteries from collapsing." Arteries collapsing? Of course, Laura was terrified, but also relieved to have a possible solution. Then, the medical machine kicked into high gear. Laura's emergency brain surgery both cured her symptoms and saved her life. For a year, her angiograms have been fine. Now, Laura listens to her intuition like a fiend. She and her doctor agree: doubting it would have proven lethal.

In my Energy Psychiatry practice I advocate a "take no prisoners" style of intuition. This gut-centered voice is committed to your happiness, health, and survival. With practice, you can learn to tune into it. I want you to start listening. Really listening. I guarantee: your positive energy will grow. Why? You'll be operating from a spot inside that's juicy, core-felt, authentic-not from an impulse to conform or disown your strength. You won't be seduced by what may look good but betrays your gut. Intuition is a truth detector. When you deviate even a nanofraction from your inner voice, your energy will wane, whether a subtle seepage or radical bottoming out. The more ferociously faithful you are to this truth, the more energized you'll be.

Intuition offers a direct line to your life force and also, as I experience it, to a divine intelligence. It's the language of energy. You need to speak it to thrive, though our techno-crazed society doesn't recognize this essential fact. At best it equates intuition with a woman's trait (try telling that to Native American male shamans!). At worst, it's considered a magic trick or fluff. No surprise there's an epidemic of worn-down, confused people out there.

Our energy issues are solvable, but we can't afford to remain deaf to intuition's messages. Its expertise is energy; its job is to know every nuance of what makes you tick. A master at reading vibes, intuition is constantly tallying: what gives you positive energy, what dissipates it. Your intuition evaluates who you meet, where you go, your job, your family, current events-all crucial data this program will show you how to interpret and apply.

As an Energy Psychiatrist, I train patients and workshop participants to tune into vibes, a skill you'll learn. I've watched thousands of people do it. Consider Gloria, who's driven a sixteen-wheeler for thirty years: "I can sense the bad vibes of someone's road rage and maneuver around the aggravation." Or Janet, a homicide detective: "By shielding my energy, I'm not emotionally destroyed by gruesome crimes." My friend serving in an elite naval team in Afghanistan told me, "An effective point man catfooting behind enemy lines has to use 'Spidy Sense,' like Spider-Man does. It means reading energy, attending to internal alarms beyond the five senses." Whatever your field, you'll benefit from intuiting energy too. Get ready to put the Positive Energy Program's First Prescription into action.



GET IN SYNC WITH YOUR LIFE



Think of yourself as a spy whose mission is to detect how much in tune you really are with your life-the big picture and the details. Unlike more cerebral methods, intuition offers you the edge of having X-ray vision into all energy matters. Whether revealing the hard truth about toxic relationships, your exhaustion level, or a thankless job, intuition is always trying to communicate, though you may not hear. It resides in a quiet place obscured by the chatter of everyday thoughts. I will take you there.

Prepare to raise your antennae. You're constantly having intuitions about energy, but may not realize it. Suddenly, bam! A gut feeling, goose bumps, or a flash affirm what fuels or depletes you. Intuitions can be positive. For instance, you'll feel a burst of aliveness, clarity, or tension lifting about a new project. Or negative-your skin crawls or you wilt at the prospect of a sleazy business deal. In the Positive Energy Program, you'll get in the habit of intuitively tracking your energy response. (Mine soars around full moons, puppies, and during uninterrupted days of writing alone, but shrinks at the thought of black-tie events, greasy food, and fast talkers.) As I do and teach my patients, you'll identify information that zings and feels right. By noticing your energy's fluctuations, you'll get a jump on where you're off-center-in relationships, health, and career-so you can change.

Intuition also involves picking up vibes. People and situations can give off welcoming positive energy that invigorates, or oppressive negative energy that repels. Our colloquial language reflects these intuitions. One patient affectionately calls his gangly, six-foot-five brother a "tall drink of water"; another says, "My boss shoots daggers with his eyes." Sensing vibes provides instinctual gauges of your comfort level.



Techniques for Sensing Positive and Negative Energy

In the mid-eighties when I'd just begun to expand my traditional psychiatric practice to include intuition and energy, I did plenty of experimenting. My good buddy for the first few years of this exploration was Michael Crichton, filmmaker, author, and Harvard M.D. A towering six foot nine, Michael has a wicked mix of intellect and humor with a cynical edge. For me, he was the perfect companion to investigate a dimension of health I'd never heard of in medical school: our body's subtle energy system.

My world has never been the same, this was my initiation into Energy Psychiatry. I want to share with you our discoveries, and what I've been learning since. Being able to sense and direct our life force gets positive energy going: we exude it, attract it, and can read it in others. Our subtle system is the engine that drives well-being. Acupuncture activates energy by placing tiny needles in meridian points in the body. So does exchanging good vibes with people. First, I'll teach you what energy feels like, a sublime experience that intuition conveys. You may perceive it as colors, light, or positive and negative vibes. This program makes real for you what Energy Psychiatry is based on: that our bodies and spirits are microsystems of energy, and that health is about balance, which intuition helps us achieve.

Friends can be the best coconspirators in charting the unknown. Michael and I set out to experience energy, a real adventure given our "rational" medical backgrounds. We were the blind leading the blind, but so curious. Here's what we did, an exercise you'll try later: I'd lie on my back on the floor as Michael placed his palm about two feet from my head. Slowly he'd edge closer until he described feeling "a distinct contour of warmth" inches above me-the halo depicted in sacred art. We all have halos, not just angels. Michael used the same sensing technique to outline my energy field from head to toe. Starting a few feet away, he'd move his palm nearer until he definitely felt warmth, tingling, quivering or pressure, marking an invisible energy border inches to a foot from my body. Then we'd switch places, and I'd practice with him. Michael describes this process in his autobiography, Travels: "I was terrifically excited like a kid with a new toy, a new discovery I didn't think about, I just kept doing it. I could feel this warm contour just as distinctly as you can feel hot bath water when you put your hand into it."

As part of the First Prescription, I'd like you to try sensing energy too. This is important because the energy that people exude can profoundly influence your health and mood. Once you know how to read it, you'll better determine who nurtures or saps you. Practice with a friend: be playful. See how his or her energy feels.



MAKE CHANGES NOW

EXPERIENCE ENERGY THROUGH BODY SCANNING AT HOME



Sit beside your friend as she lies on her back on the floor or a bed. Together, take a few deep, calming breaths. Once relaxed, observe your friend's eyes, hair, clothes, then look further. Picture a capsule of light surrounding her body, what Carlos Castaneda calls "a luminous egg." This is the energy you're going to intuitively sense.

Start by cupping your hand a few feet over her head. Then slowly come closer. With the palm as your sensing device, notice a point at which you hit a subtle border of heat, coolness, pressure, a hum or vibration-the outer rim of her energy field. Raise your hand, then lower it against the rim until you're sure. It's all about feel. You also may see colors. Similarly, continue to map the subtle energy around her entire body, without touching the skin.

When you're finished, it's your friend's turn. Then compare notes.


What a hoot to realize we are more than our physical selves! Each of us radiates a palpable energy. In practical terms: Have you ever sat next to someone at a luncheon and were drawn to her immediately? It wasn't so much what she said or did, but how refreshing she felt to be around. Or how about that coworker who seemed congenial, but you always left a conversation feeling run down? We are medicine for each other, sometimes good, sometimes bad. An exchange occurs whenever you interact with someone.

Certain people give off positive energy, others negative. It's the quality of someone's being, a measure of the love with which they've led their lives. It also reflects the inner work they've done, their efforts to heal anger, hatred, or self-loathing, which poison us like toxic fumes. Energetically these linger, precluding joy from shining through. It's important to grasp, however, that once you undertake the process of healing, it changes the quality of even the negativity that remains. Don't be too hard on yourself-we're all works in progress.



SIGNS OF POSITIVE ENERGY IN PEOPLE


*They exude an inviting sense of heart, compassion, and support.
*You intuitively feel safe, relaxed, wanting to get closer.
*They emanate a peaceful glow.
*You feel better around them. Your energy and optimism increase.


SIGNS OF NEGATIVE ENERGY IN PEOPLE

*You experience a sense of being demeaned, constricted, or attacked.
*You intuitively feel unsafe, tense, or on guard.
*You sense prickly, off-putting vibes. You can't wait to get away from them.
*Your energy starts to fizzle. You may feel beleaguered or ill.


Beginning to differentiate these energies, I was able to name something I'd always intuited: why as a child, within seconds of meeting someone, I knew whether or not I liked them. This knowing wasn't about looks or how nice a person seemed. Rather, I could sense invisible tendrils reaching out to me from a person that transmitted information about them. It would happen before we exchanged a word. The confusing part for us is that people aren't always as they appear. Sensing energy reveals a fuller picture. I don't care how intelligent or attractive someone is on paper, if he zaps your energy, he isn't for you. True chemistry is more than intellectual compatibility. Beyond surfaces, you must be intuitively at ease.

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Excerpted from Positive Energy by Judith Orloff, M.D. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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