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Dr.
Judith Orloff and Positive Energy:
The Missing Link in Health and Healing
By
Susan Meeker Lowrey
 Judith
Orloff, M.D., author of the new book Positive Energy,
is an assistantprofessor of psychiatry at UCLA with twenty years
in practice. She is also an intuitive, from a long line of intuitives
which include her grandmother, mother, and aunts. Judith has pushed
the envelope of what a physician can be by integrating her gift
of intuition with her conventional medical training. She is the
author of two best-selling books, Second Sight and Guide to Intuitive
Healing. Her work has been featured on CNN, PBS, and NPR, and
has appeared in USA Today, O Magazine, and Self.
Judith's new book, Positive Energy, addresses
the hidden energy crisis that threatens our world. And no, she's
not referring to oil and gas, but rather to the energy crisis
in our daily lives. We're running on empty – rushing
around, barely keeping up, enslaved by computers and cell phones,
trying to live a normal life while dealing with ever-present personal
stresses and geopolitical threats. And what is worse, we've
come to accept this exhaustion as normal.
This leading edge work is made accessible thanks to Judith's
down-to-earth, practical guidance highlighted by interviews with
some of Judith's personal heroes including Rosa Parks, Quincy
Jones, and Shirley MacLaine. It's personal because it begins
with you, the individual. But the implications go beyond the personal.
When we live passionately with an open heart, changes occur that
ripple out to the world.
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SML:
Your new book, Positive Energy, is very timely. We live in difficult
times. There are the everyday stresses of our personal lives which are
always there, and then there is the world situation, terrorism, environmental
destruction and so on. They all affect us in some way.
JO: That's why I wrote this book. A hidden energy crisis
is threatening our world. We're inundated by violence in the news,
and we're faced with negativity every day. What tools do we have
to cope with it? We must learn what drains our energy and how we can
protect ourselves!
SML: I love how you share the stories of patients as
well as your own struggles with honoring your own energy. You don't
set yourself up as a perfect person. You're real.
JO: I know how hard it is to respect our energy without a conscious
strategy. For years I ran around the country giving lectures nonstop,
which led to my energy crash. As committed as I was to helping others
connect with their intuition, I was ignoring my own exhaustion. I'm
not the type who sails through life. I trudge. I fall down. I pick myself
up and keep going. Like many of us, I teach what I need to learn. Honoring
my energy is a hard earned lesson I want to share with you.
SML: What is energy psychiatry?
JO: Energy psychiatry is a term I coined to describe a new type
of psychotherapy that I practice. It addresses the subtle energetic
underpinnings of health and behavior. It is a subspecialty of energy
medicine which views our bodies and spirits as manifestations of subtle
energy.
SML: What does subtle energy feel like? How can we become
aware of it?
JO: Our bodies are made of flesh and blood, but they're also
composed of energy fields that project beyond the body. The best way
to feel these is to notice how you respond to others. Who gives you
energy and who drains you? It's all a function of subtle energy.
SML: How can intuition help us sense energy?
JO: There's no way to experience subtle energy with your
intellect alone. So, throughout the book I focus on how to tune into
intuition so you can be more sensitive to the energy that is in and
around your body, and the energy coming from other people. This means
learning how to be open to images and impressions that reveal your energetic
responses to the environment. Intuition is amazing because it helps
you know all that.
SML: How does subtle energy impact our bodies?
JO: Every aspect of health is related to subtle energy. You can't
talk about a biochemical reaction without talking about a subtle energetic
reaction. The field of prescription-based psychiatry needs to be reinvented
to bring spirituality, subtle energy, and intuition into the healing
process. Many people are scared to death of traditional psychiatry,
afraid they're going to be called crazy or pathologized.
SML: You write about the intriguing concept of intuitive
empathy. Can you explain how this can help people who have very real
symptoms, but the doctor finds nothing wrong?
JO: An intuitive empath is someone who not only senses energy
but also absorbs it from others and the environment. Their body takes
on the angst of the world. It can be very draining. I've been an
intuitive empath since childhood which prompted my exploration of this
phenomena. I couldn't go to shopping malls or crowded places because
I'd get overwhelmed by the energy. I'd walk in feeling fine
and walk out exhausted, anxious or with a new ache or pain. I told my
mother who was a physician and she said, “Oh no, dear, you just
don't have a thick enough skin.” So I thought there was something
wrong with me. Only as an adult did I realize that I'm an empath
and I was absorbing the energy of crowds. Being compressed in crowds
can zap your energy. Traditional medicine doesn't address this at
all, but Energy Psychiatry does.
SML: Do you find that many people are intuitive empaths?
JO: At my workshops on energy I ask people to raise their hands.
At least a third to half of the room are empaths to some extent. And
of course some people don't realize it. You see empaths run from
doctor to doctor with mystery symptoms that can't be solved by traditional
medicine. They are labeled “hypochondriacs” or “crazy”
and sent to psychiatrists. But psychiatrists don't know how to deal
with the energy component of what's going on. Energy psychiatry
gives patients a home to come to so that they can be understood. In
my book I describe many techniques to center your energy and not absorb
it from others. We empaths need to learn this to survive!
SML: I find it interesting how you relate empathy to
overeating and weight gain. Can you explain?
JO: Empaths often overeat to ward off negative energy. That's
why old time faith healers used to be obese women. They packed on the
pounds to buffer the negative energy of their patients, believing that
was the only way to cope with it. Nonsense. That is an unhealthy way
to deal with negativity and in my book I outline other alternatives.
I've identified a new eating disorder, “Energetic Defensive
Eating,” which explains why many diets fail. People aren't
aware of how they energetically cope with negative energy by running
to the refrigerator. You don't even have to talk to someone. Just
being around negative vibes can cause you to overeat.
SML: Wow. Sometimes I feel that is my problem.
JO: Yes, many people can relate. It's a huge missing piece
to obesity. When I give lectures about energetic eating disorders people
are going “Ah ha!” all over the place because they've
never thought of it that way. What I suggest to people who have weight
they want to get rid of and can't is to notice how they relate to
others in the world. If they start reaching for food or carbs, they
must see if it is related to some negative interaction.
SML: This brings us to the part of your book on energy
vampires. What are they?
JO: These people can suck the life right out of us. Energy vampires
roam our world. It's an epidemic that medical texts don't address.
People are attacked all the time by energy vampires and mope around
in an exhausted state not realizing what is happening.
SML: You write about several kinds of energy vampires.
Some are obvious, but others aren't. Can you describe the types?
JO: One of the vampires is the sob sister. She makes herself
a victim. She whines and complains, appears utterly helpless. When you
present her with a solution, she says, “Yes, but...” These
are big drainers. Another type is the blamer. This one has a sneaky
way of making you feel guilty for not getting things right. This person
doles out endless servings of guilt or resorts to verbal abuse. Then
there is the drama queen, the Sarah Bernhardt of vampires. She exaggerates
small incidents into off-the-chart dramas. Another type is the constant
talker, a chronic motor-mouth with no interest in what you're saying
or feeling. She doesn't let you get a word in edgewise. Often these
vampires stand right in your face and when you back off they take one
step forward. The most malevolent of bloodsuckers is the go-for-the-jugular
type who cuts you down with no consideration for your feelings. Often
this one is driven by envy, competition, or insecurity. Her jabs
just cut right in. Then there are the unintentional zappers – your
children, your mate, friends. They don't intend to deplete you but
they do.
SML: To conclude Positive Energy you say, We must wage a revolution
of love and extend this globally. You speak of love as sustainable energy.
I was very moved by that.
JO: Love is the ultimate sustainable energy. And it starts with
being loving to the self, then being loving to others, to the Earth,
and extending it out to the globe. When you tune into intuition it will
teach you that there's a oneness between everyone. We're all
brothers and sisters. It is not Us versus Them. Until we realize this
we'll never achieve peace. Love is the answer. It has to be experienced,
not intellectualized. And once you get it you'll see what needs
to be done. We have to incorporate the sustainable energy of love into
our lives to save the Earth and humankind.
Judith
Orloff, M.D., will be speaking on The Power of Intuition and Positive
Energy at Atlanta Unity Church this month. Call 770.455.8920
for info. Interview by Susan Meeker Lowrey
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