Dr Judith Orloff's Blog

Sneak preview of Dr. Orloff's Dec PBS Special "Emotional Freedom Now!”

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:03:00 GMT

Dear Friends,

Check out this sneak preview of my upcoming PBS special "Emotional Freedom Now!" based on my book Emotional Freedom. This segment is Transform Frustration with Patience, something we all need to know. I am excited to preview my new show on my blog. Hope you can check it out on your local PBS station in December!

Peace,
Judith

Suicide: A Beyond Time and Space Perspective

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:08:00 GMT

Dear Community,

I wanted to share with you my intuitive take on suicide in this excerpt from "Emotional Freedom." Feel free to share with friends or whoever can benefit.

In healing,
Judith

Suicide: A Perspective Beyond Time and Space

Adapted from Dr. Judith Orloff’s new book “Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself From Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life” (Harmony Books, 2009)

The dark night of all dark nights is the hopelessness of wanting to die.

In this state, you can see no promised land beyond depression.

Over the years, several of my patients have attempted suicide. One did die: a heavy metal rocker with a sapphire-blue Mohawk and a sensitive soul. But super-stardom could never allay his depression or persistent back pain for which none of the many specialists he consulted could locate a medical cause. Legions of fans revered him, but he didn’t revere himself. He felt happy and pain-free only on stage, immersed in his music and adulation. When he killed himself, we hadn’t met for many months, but I was deeply saddened. I’d been his safe place for two years; we’d been very close. I did everything I could think of to help him, but he was on a runaway course. Plus, he was surrounded by shark-like managers who urged him to go on tour despite his precarious condition. Intellectually, I realized all this, but still I lamented my inability to save his life. I’ll always miss him. I’ll always recall those days I’d visited him after a previous suicide attempt. He was on a locked psychiatric ward along with others who were psychotic, suicidal, and homicidal. To me, it’s a crime to put someone who’s depressed in with that mix. I wish I could’ve sent him to a peaceful retreat with sunlit porches and hammocks to dream on. But our mental health system isn’t organized like that. All those needing intensive care go to the same hellish ward in traditional hospitals. So I saw him there until he was no longer suicidal. Against my advice he went back on the road too soon. I was greatly afraid for him. Then, four months later, I got the call: he was found dead in his London hotel room after slashing his wrists.

Most suicides are preventable with skilled interventions. I know people--including those on a spiritual path--who at dark times have considered taking their lives. (Suicide is the eleventh leading cause of death among Americans.) If you’ve had these thoughts, they’re nothing to be ashamed of. But I also know that suicide isn’t the answer. Freedom comes when you persist in searching for the light until it’s visible again.

In service to our growth, life asks an extraordinary amount of us. That used to anger me. Some situations seemed unendurable. Watching my ebullient, talented mother waste away from cancer, struggling to find strength to be there for her without disintegrating, I’d inwardly protest, “I can’t do it. I don’t have it in me.” But I did--and had to see that. So must you. Try to keep reaching beyond pain towards a greater power within. My spiritual teacher says, “Heaven is not a dead-end road.” With hope and the proper support, you will find it.

For years I believed suicide was an option we had the right to choose if things got rotten enough. I no longer feel this way except, possibly, with terminal patients in constant physical agony. From deepening my intuition, I came to realize that holding onto suicide as an out separated me from the essence of living. A commitment to staying in my body through it all was mandatory for being fully alive. Thus, to be more present, I’ve vowed to follow the wisdom of whatever life brings.

Weigh this critical point: Leaving your body doesn’t make emotional challenges disappear. The soul’s work continues. What I intuitively sense about its destinations is that who you are here is who you’ll be there too, albeit without the physical form you’re accustomed to identifying with. I don’t mean this punitively. I’m simply saying you’ll eventually have to face your demons. Personally, I’d rather do it now than drag out the ordeal. I prefer to go onto other things. For those who believe in past lives, facing the self is unavoidable. Whether now or in distant eons, you must do it. This is good. This is purifying.

I’ve had an ex-boyfriend and some acquaintances commit suicide when depression became unbearable. Two by overdosing, one with a gun. Though I wasn’t in regular contact with these people at the time they took their lives, I was notified by mutual friends the day each suicide happened. While I was shaken by both these losses and the terrible desperation that must have occasioned them, I was also curious about where these people went and their subsequent state of being. So I tuned in, simultaneously inquisitive and anticipatorily weary about the kinds of pain I’d encounter. What did I find? None of them were in places I’d ever want to be, and each felt utterly lost. Always there was severe confusion, a swirling-through-limbo vertigo that made me nauseous. Where they were at felt like the alarming, abrupt plummeting of an airplane during turbulence--but cube that by the speed of light and picture if it didn’t let up. Still, despite the dire straits they were all clearly in, I also intuited a beneficent force surrounding them, though it didn’t seem as if they recognized it. They felt totally alone. When tuning into the lawyer who’d shot herself in the head, I found her disorientation was so jolting I could barely stay with it. This panicked woman had no idea where she was. Dizzying, disjointed memories of her life were bombarding her at such speed, “overwhelmed” didn’t begin to describe her condition. I suspect it took a while to find her bearings and proceed to a calmer place. From what I could intuit, the violence of her suicide made the transition even more chaotic. Once I got the gist of her experience, I wanted out of that vision so I didn’t risk absorbing such angst.

I share my perceptions with you to offer what I sensed about suicide. As you can see, it may not be a way out of anything, as many depression sufferers envision. Though the pain in question may be temporarily put on the back burner, suicide seems to create another set of problems and a tumultuous journey. Even so, I’m certain that the soul eventually finds clarity and gets all the chances it needs to master emotional obstacles.

My duty as physician and healer is to talk people out of suicide. I can be effective because I absolutely know there’s hope for everyone and that depression is a distortion. It swallows the light, making misery seem like the only truth. But it is not. You must remember that. If ever suicide starts looking good, stop, regroup, and fight to find hope. Reach out for help. Don’t be seduced by the voice of depression.

If It Be Your Will

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 01:15:00 GMT

Dear Ones,

Emotional Freedom is about trusting the flow of life, trusting, trusting, trusting. When I meet resistance in myself, when I push too hard, when my desires overcome my intuition, this Leonard Cohen song "If It Be Your Will" realigns me. It softens all that is rigid in me and I can breathe into the flow again. Hope you enjoy it.

Peace and love,
Judith

A passage in Emotional Freedom that addresses clenching versus flow and what to do when things aren't happening on your time table is in Chapter 7 Facing Frustration, Building Patience on Page 183.

Awaken Intuition for Emotional Freedom

Fri, 22 May 2009 15:12:00 GMT

Dear Community,

I am thrilled to invite you to a workshop I'm giving June 5-7 at Kripalu Institute in the sublime Berkshire Mountains of Mass. I look forward to this time of retreat to get a break from the mundane world to replenish. I hope you can join me.

With love,
Judith

Animals and the power of Love

Fri, 01 May 2009 17:22:00 GMT

I love animals. They are powerful conduits of unconditional love. My editor wanted me to remove this story from "Emotional Freedom" about a dog's compassion because it wasn't between two humans. I disagreed and kept it in. Here is an excerpt from the last chapter of the book called "Facing Anger, Building Compassion". I hope you like it. I hope you know that love exists between all sentient beings.

Judith

Compassion also provides the crucible for healing miracles to occur. One of my workshop participants told the following story. Two years before, she’d longed to get pregnant but she had a rare, serious type of kidney disease. Her doctor warned that pregnancy would overly stress her body, even endanger her life. Still, this woman’s desire for a baby was so strong she decided to risk it. Fortunately, she stayed well those nine months and her disease stabilized, which isn’t typical during pregnancy, a great relief to her, her husband, and the doctor. However, in that same period, her young Golden Retriever, her constant companion and ?soul-mate? with whom she was so attuned, was diagnosed with kidney failure. Soon after the birth of her daughter, this loving animal died, as if having held on just long enough to see her through.

Though cynics would dismiss as “mere coincidence” the fact that both contracted the same rare disease--especially when the dog had been perfectly healthy--I read this quite differently. For me, it seems rather to be a moving reminder of the interconnectedness of our hearts and the power of compassion. There was a special love between this woman and her dog. Could it be possible for one life to so empathize with another that it can sense, even assume illness? Certainly, something to contemplate. As a physician I know that love can create miracles that defy logical explanation. Selfless giving resonates with such mystery. How wondrous and far reaching compassion can be among all living beings. Each of us is capable of limitless love. The monumental implications of this fact continue to reveal themselves over the years, always giving me chills and re-clarifying my emotional priorities.

Excerpted from "Emotional Freedom" by Judith Orloff MD

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Kripalu Institute Awaken Intuition for Emotional Freedom
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Get 100 free gifts with Emotional Freedom!

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 15:39:00 GMT

Greetings everyone--

I'm so excited Emotional Freedom came out this month and hit the NY Times Bestseller list! I couldn't have done it without your beautiful support. I thank you with all my heart. To get your copy of book with 100 free gifts from Dr. Christiane Northrup, Dr. Bruce Lipton, Dr. Michael Beckwith and more here is the link!

Purchase book and claim gifts at:
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With gratitude,
Judith

EMOTIONAL FREEDOM
NEW BOOK HELPS YOU STAY BRAVE,
POSITIVE, AND INTUITIVE
A heartfelt, accessible guide to a graceland
of peace and calm, regardless of our
parents, our past, or our present.
Christiane Northrup, MD
Greetings,

Judith Orloff MD, bestselling author and UCLA psychiatrist, invites you on a remarkable
journey where you can embrace more happiness and mastery over negativity than you
may have ever known. Our world is in the midst of a meltdown. She describes how to
stay intuitively and spiritually centered in our times.

In "Emotional Freedom" Dr. Orloff states:
"I’m presenting the unique process I use with patients to view emotions as a path to
spiritual and intuitive awakening. I synthesize traditional medicine with energy
medicine to offer you new tools to master emotions and become heroes in your own
life. Inner peace leads to outer peace in the world.”

Publisher's Weekly's review of “Emotional Freedom" says this:
"Dr. Orloff regards emotions as a training ground for the soul, and views "every victory
over fear, anxiety, and resentment as a way to develop your spiritual muscles.""
“Emotional Freedom” has rave reviews from Deepak Chopra, Dr. Candace Pert,
Christiane Northrup MD, Caroline Myss, Dean Ornish MD, and Mary Oliver, Pulitzer
Prize winning poet. They call it "Spectacular," "A must-read," "A heartfelt, accessible
guide," and "Resolutely compassionate."

Hope you enjoy the book!
Judith

How To Deal With A Narcissist-A Topic From Emotional Freedom

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:18:00 GMT

Dear Readers,

To nurture and protect your emotions, it is important that you learn to identify narcissists. These people are self-obsessed, lack empathy and can suck your energy dry. They can turn on the charm, but they are about as charming as a banana peel when you see through them. Do not fall in love with one!! Hope my new video on this topic sheds some light on this topic.
Peace,
Judith

How To Deal With A Narcissist

How Intuition Can Help Us Understand Death and Dying

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:22:00 GMT

Dear Community

As a physician, I see fear of death permeating our health care system. Doctors shy away from patients who are dying or resort to technical language. Patients are afraid of making the passage. Relatives don't know what to say or do around the death bed. Intuition--our deepest gut feelings and knowing--can guide us if we listen.

Hope you enjoy this video with myself, Doors drummer John Densmore and Virtuoso percussionist Hani Nasar. It is about the intuitions around my father's death bed that guided me.

Judith

Judith Orloff, MD, is the author of Emotional Freedom. Check out this book and other article on drjudithorloff.com.

UCLA Evening; How Intuition Can Help Us Understand Death and Dying

Are You An Emotional Vampire? Take this quiz

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:01:00 GMT

Dear Community,

Here is a quiz from my new book Emotional Freedom. I often get asked the wonderful question; What do I do if I'm draining someone? I love this question because it is honest and means that the person is ready for change. We all have a little vampire in us at different times. Please read my article on the subject at http://www.drjudithorloff.com/Free-Articles/Emotional-Vampire.htm. Be compassionate with yourself in this inquiry, and applaud your desire to make change.

With love,
Judith
Emotional Freedom available at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307338185?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwdrjudithor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0307338185

Quiz: Are You An Emotional Vampire?

   1. Do people avoid you or glaze over during a conversation?
   2. Are you self-obsessed?
   3. Are you often negative?
   4. Do you gossip or bad-mouth people?
   5. Are you critical or controlling?
   6. Are you a drama queen or king?
   7. Do you corner people and tell them your life's story?
   8. Are an emotional black hole, but won’t get help?

Your score: 0 Congratulations! There are no signs that you are being an emotional vampire.
Your score: 1 This behavior could very well be draining others. Start being mindful of when do this and begin to shift the behavior. Then see if people are relieved.
Your score: 2   These are warning signs that you may becoming emotionally draining to others. Ask yourself what is motivating you to engage is these draining behaviors and move forward to make positive changes.

Your score: 3   You are showing some definite emotional vampire tendencies. It is time to compassionately examine your behaviors and begin to make a change. Do not beat yourself up. Be proud that you can be emotionally honest and want to be more positive.

Your score: 4. You are showing moderate emotional vampire tendencies. Take a breath. Begin to tackle each behavior individually over time and take baby steps to change. For instance, if you tend to be self-obsessed you can begin to ask others about themselves. Celebrate every change you make to be supportive.

Your score: 5   You are showing moderate-strong emotional vampire behaviors. You may ask your loved ones if they feel drained by a specific behavior--such as nagging or being critical. Then you can begin to be mindful of when you fall into it and start to change.

Your score: 6   You are showing strong emotional vampire behaviors. You may ask your loved ones if they feel drained by a specific behavior--such as being negative but being unwilling to get help. Seriously consider their suggestions about how to improve your communication. Be compassionate with yourself all along the way.

Your score: 7 You are showing strong-extremely strong emotional vampire behaviors Be kind to yourself and set out to make small changes to improve one behavior at a time.

Your score: 8 You have extremely strong emotional vampire behaviors that can be draining others in your life. Commend yourself for your honesty, but begin to understand what motivates you. Is it fear? Feeling less-than? Angry? Don't hesitate to ask for help--from friends who can offer honest feedback or a therapist. People around you will appreciate the positive changes you make.

Dealing With Negativity C2C Radio Interview

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 06:42:00 GMT

Dear Community,

I hope this radio interview lifts your mood and gives you skills to triumph over anything---Judith

Dealing With Negativity: How to Emotionally Survive Stressful Economic Times and World Stress

New Starred Review of Emotional Freedom in Publisher's Weekly!

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:04:00 GMT

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY STARRED REVIEW OF EMOTIONAL FREEDOM 11/24/08

Dear Readers,

I am so thrilled to share this review of my new book hot off the press today! It gives you a good idea of some of the themes of the book. Thankyou with all my heart for all your support in my work and writing.

Judith

*Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life Judith Orloff, M.D. Harmony, (416p) ISBN 978-0-307-33818-1

Orloff (Second Sight) offers a superbly written series of psychological strategies for maximizing positive emotions and minimizing toxic ones. A practicing psychiatrist, the author straddles the worlds of mainstream medicine and alternative healing; she regards emotions as a training ground for the soul, and views “every victory over fear, anxiety, and resentment as a way to develop your spiritual muscles.” As the self is the foundation for emotional freedom, the author discusses how readers can find their emotional type—intellectual, empathic, rock or gusher—and suggests how to find balance. Her tips include avoiding “emotional vampires” or consulting dreams, which she divides into three types: psychological (where fears and neuroses express themselves), predictive and guidance. The second half of the book tackles the most difficult life challenges: depression, loneliness, anxiety, frustration, rejection, grief, envy and bitterness. Orloff addresses each fully and frankly, using anecdotes from her own life and practice—the death of her mother, her own crippling envy. This insightful and positive book will assist anyone who is suffering in mapping a path out of pain. (Mar.)

Available for discounted preorder on amazon at http//www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307338185/ref=cm_plog_item_link

Remembering my friend Michael Crichton

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 06:03:00 GMT

Today I was saddened when I heard of author Michael Crichton's passing at age 66 from cancer..
Michael and I were good friends at the time when I first started exploring intuition and spirituality in the early 1980s during my psychiatric residency at UCLA. I write about him in "Second Sight.". We were spiritual buddies and explored all kinds of wild people from a housewife who claimed to channal an ancient entity to going to spoon bending parties where people bent metal with their minds. Michael had a wonderful dog he'd take with him. One day his car got stolen and the dog was in it and he was so upset. Thank goodness both were found! Michael and I learned to sense and outline energy fields practicing on each other. Michael has a brilliant mind and was just cynical/skeptical enough to make me feel in good hands when we explored all this spiritual and psychic phenomenon. He gave me my first computer lesson on my first Mac though he was a bit impatient with how slow I was comprehending the whole thing and how clumsy I was at first with my first mouse. We used to have lunch in Santa Monica and talk a lot during those days. I remember when he was in the midst of writing Jurrasic Park, and he was bemoaning to me how he was afraid he was losing touch with his creativity. As a writer i loved to listen to him talk about writing. He loved doing the same things everyday when he wrote--going to the same Japanese restaurant, keeping a routine. Michael had a big heart, a wide open imagination and was a great buddy for me. We lost touch when he got really famous. I don't know why. I thought about him over the years a lot, with love, missing him. I will miss him now with his passing.

Judith

Emotional Freedom: My New Book!

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:05:00 GMT

Dear Wonderful Community,

I am excited to announce that my new book EMOTIONAL FREEDOM is available on amazon for preorders now!

GO HERE TO PREORDER: www.drjudithorloff.com/shop

It’s about how to transform negative emotions such as fear, worry, and frustration into courage, calm, and patience. I also describe how to identify your “emotional type” and combat emotional vampires who can agitate your mood. Every step we make in the direction towards emotional freedom lets us be heroes in our own lives and creates a ripple effect to the world so that we can create positive change. It is so essential that we make a commitment not to lead a fear driven life and do our best to overcome fear with faith, staying in the "Now" instead of catastrophizing, listening to our intuition instead of just our overactive heads. I wrote Emotional Freedom as a guidebook with everyday strategies to overcome negativity in all its seductive forms, so we can move towards what is best and brightest in ourselves. I am presenting emotions as a path to spiritual awakening and to a more compassionate consciousness toward yourself and others.

My fondest hope is this book can help you find peace and centeredness in these tumultuous, soul-stretching times we live in.

Judith Orloff

Note: I also have a companion DVD and CD “Introduction to Emotional Freedom” available on www.drjudithorloff.com/shop

Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself From Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life

Judith Orloff, M.D.

Picture yourself in a traffic jam but feeling utterly calm. Or not letting your supervisor’s bad mood frustrate you. Imagine being peaceful instead of worrying. Or enjoying nurturing relationships and a warm sense of belonging in the place of loneliness. This is what it feels like when you’ve achieved emotional freedom.

National bestselling author Dr. Judith Orloff invites you to take a remarkable journey. One where can embrace more happiness and serenity. Where you can gain mastery over negativity that can pervade daily life. No matter how stressed you currently feel, the time for positive change is now. You possess the ability to liberate yourself from depression, anger, and fear. True emotional freedom is closer than you think.

Synthesizing neuroscience, intuitive medicine, psychological and subtle energy techniques, Dr. Orloff maps the elegant relationships between our minds, bodies, spirits, and our environments. With humor and compassion, she shows you how to identify the most powerful negative emotions and how to transform them into hope, kindness, and courage. Compelling patient case-studies, stories from her on-line community and workshop participants, and from her own private life illustrate the simple, easy-to-follow action steps that you can take to cope with emotional vampires, disappointments, and rejection.

Emotional Freedom is a road map for those who are stressed out, discouraged, or overwhelmed as well as for those who are in a good emotional place but want to feel even better. As Dr. Orloff shows, each day presents opportunities for us to be heroes in our own lives: to turn away from negativity, react constructively, and seize command of any situation. Complete emotional freedom is within your grasp.

JUDITH ORLOFF, M.D., is a psychiatrist in private practice and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA. She is the author of the bestsellers Positive Energy, Dr. Judith Orloff’s Guide to Intuitive Healing, and Second Sight. For more information and inspiration visit www.drjudithorloff.com

Also available as an eBook and audio book

Advanced Praise for Dr. Judith Orloff’s “Emotional Freedom”

Emotional Freedom is a heartfelt, accessible guide to the graceland of peace and calm--regardless of our parents, our past, or our present. It's loaded with nuggets of practical and profound healing wisdom."
Christiane Northrup, MD
Author, Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom

A must read for anyone who’s tired of feeling frustrated, lonely, jealous, or emotionally tense. Dr. Orloff shows you how to achieve a lightness of being and feel more peaceful and positive. Highly recommended.
Deepak Chopra
Author, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

Spectacular! I endorse this book so heartily because it gives a unique blend of the author’s personal and professional experience to enlighten us and it’s a totally fascinating read. I recommend it to everyone who wants to overcome sabotaging emotional patterns to achieve self-mastery.
Candace Pert Ph.D. author of Molecules of Emotion

EMOTIONAL FREEDOM combines neuroscience, psychology, and spirituality to present a new approach for freeing yourself from negative emotions. Scientific studies document that people who often feel lonely, angry, or depressed are more likely to get sick. This book offers you a path to greater health, intimacy, and compassion.
Dean Ornish, MD
Author, The Spectrum

If you, like myself, wish for a deeper and truer life, a wiser understanding of yourself and your emotions, this book will provide you with answers, with companionship, and, most powerful of all, the clarity and faith of an extraordinary teacher.
Mary Oliver
Pulitizer Prize winning poet

Overcome fear, listen to intuition

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:27:00 GMT

Dear Community

We are living in time of intense fear, stress, and economic insecurity. It is so essential that we make a commitment not to lead a fear driven life and do our best overcome fear with faith, staying in the "Now" instead of catastrophizing, and doing what we can to make positive changes in our personal life and the world--all vital themes I talk about in my upcoming book Emotional Freedom. Part of this requires that we vow to trust our deepest intuition, not just our heads and the fearful thoughts that roll around in our mind which can keep us up in panic in the the middle of the night. Intuition is the still small voice inside that tells us the truth about things, a non-linear knowledge that goes beyond the intellect into the realm of body knowing. Listen to your body to move towards when is positive and energizing and to avoid negative people and obsessive negative thoughts. I hope my video "Listen to Your Body" will be helpful with this!

Trust your intuition and remember to exhale!

Judith

How To Listen to the Body

New Video Class
“The Missing Piece to Overeating: Why Diets Fail.”

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:06:00 GMT

Find out why energy is the missing piece to overeating and why diets may have failed even though you have given them your all. Video tells you how to stay open in an overwhelming world without overeating!!