FEATURES
Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself From
Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life
Interview with Judith Orloff , MD
by Barbara Stahura
Judith Orloff , MD, is a psychiatrist and intuition expert
that you talk about in
who synthesizes the pearls of traditional medicine
your book and how can
with cutting-edge knowledge of intuition, energy, and
we integrate them into
spirituality to create a new blend of healing wisdom.
our lives?
She passionately believes that the future of medicine
depends upon integrating all these elements to
Judith Orloff MD: To
achieve emotional freedom and total wellness. Her new
experience emotional
book is Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself From
freedom itʼs necessary
Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life .
to understand these
four basic components
Dr. Orloff is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
of emotion: their
at UCLA and has been featured on The Today Show,
biology, spirituality,
CNN, and in Oprah Magazine and USA Today. For more
energy, and psychology.
inspiration and information about her workshops and
With fear, frustration,
books visit www.DrJudithOrloff .com.
loneliness, worry, and
Barbara: Why do you feel that it was important for you
more, the book teaches
to write Emotional Freedom?
you to proactively shift
your biochemistry as well as your energy, and to see
Judith Orloff M.D. Iʼm passionate about teaching people
the spiritual and psychological meaning of what youʼre
to transform negative emotions into positive ones. If
going through.This will give you all the tools you need
you get mired in the muck of negativity, you canʼt lead
to change.
a liberated, happy life. As a physician, I see that most
people donʼt have the everyday tools to transform
Barbara: What do you see as the connection between
frustration, depression, anxiety, worry, and fear into
emotions and spiritual awakening?
positive emotions. This book is a how-to guide that
Judith Orloff MD: I see diffi cult emotions as a laboratory
off ers you these tools.
for spiritual growth--whereas traditional psychiatry
I work in a mainstream medical system that doesnʼt
often views them more as tormentors; something to
generally deal with emotions in an expanded way.
get rid of. I believe that emotions come to us—even
As a UCLA psychiatric resident I learned to prescribe
wrenching ones like depression—to spiritually awaken
medications and use traditional psychotherapy. In
us. Each emotion is a prompt for us to get more in
this book, I also bring spirituality, subtle energy, and
touch with our hearts and expand our light. This
intuition into this equation and off er strategies that go
perspective really changes how you deal with all
beyond mainstream medicine.
emotional challenges.
Another powerful reason I wrote this book is that I
Barbara: How can we know what emotions are actually
watched my mother, a physician, literally lose her life
ours and which ones weʼre soaking up from people
to stress and fear. I loved her more than anything, but
around us?
I didnʼt want to do the same thing to myself, as I have
Judith Orloff MD: Many sensitive people come to me, as
similar tendencies.
patients and in workshops, whoʼve been labeled “overly
Barbara: What is emotional freedom, and why is it so
sensitive.” These people, including me, are what I call
important for individuals and our world today?
“emotional empaths.” Because we are so sensitive, we
absorb the energy of others. We sense their fear, anxiety,
Judith Orloff MD: Emotional freedom is your ability to
and stress and take them into our bodies. Then we get
love by cultivating positive emotions and being able
exhausted or feel ill ourselves. As a child, I couldnʼt go
to compassionately witness and transform negative
into shopping malls or crowded places because Iʼd walk
ones, whether theyʼre yours or anotherʼs. This skill
in fi ne and then walk out exhausted or with some ache
liberates you from fear and lets you navigate adversity
or pain I didnʼt have before. I didnʼt realize what was
without attacking someone, losing your cool, or
happening. I went to my mother, a physician, who said,
being derailed by negativity. With emotional freedom
“Oh, no, dear, you just donʼt have a thick enough skin.”
you can choose to react constructively rather than
Not a good thing to tell an intuitive child! But as Iʼve
relinquishing command of the situation when your
matured intuitively and as a physician, Iʼve realized that
buttons get pushed (This book is unrelated to the
people on a spiritual path tend to gain more sensitivity
tapping technique of the same name).
as they develop. Thus, they need to learn how not to
Barbara: What are the crucial components of emotion
absorb outside energy so they can feel joyous and free.
continued fon page 20
Oracle 20/20 February 2009
19
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