*** Nurturing Wellness Through Radical Self-Care: Foreword

Finally, after a summer of moving to Maryland, editing, and working with the publisher, my new book is about to be born. It is due out before Christmas and will be available on Amazon and Barnes and Nobel. I am excited because this book is a reflection of my work over the years, both as a educator and as a counselor. It combines my love of life with my love of energy psychology, mindfulness, meditation and jou
aling. These amazing mind-body balancing tools are a part of my personal life and my professional life, and I am now able to share them with you.

Below you'll find the foreword written by two amazing women, Marion Ross,PhD, MhD and Tracy Latz, MD, MS.

F O R E W O R D

When Janet asked “The Shift Doctors” to write the foreword to her book, Nurturing Wellness through Radical Self-Care, we were delighted. As an Integrative Psychiatrist (Dr.Latz) and a Transpersonal Psychologist(Dr.Ross)who are both trained etaphysicians, energy medicine practitioners, and holistic/qigong healers,we both have written books, recorded DVDs, mindfulness and guided meditation CDs, and taught personal transformation courses about holistic approaches to wellness and shifting personal as well as global consciousness. In addition, Dr. Latz has written numerous articles on trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder. Our passion and purpose of giving rapid, easy-to-use tools to assist people who are ready to get out of maladaptive reactive patterns, transform negative thoughts and baser emotions (anger, guilt, shame, abandonment, fear, heartache, inadequacy, etc.), and to ‘Shift Your Life’ seemed to be a natural fit to Janet’s approach.

Humans are naturally wired at birth for joy and playfulness. It is our natural state until we learn not to be in it. Just observe a young child before they have become socialized or worried about performing, disappoint- ing, etc. They are happy and carefree. As we experience life’s hurts, disappointments or traumas, we can become entrenched in a state of fear, or “fight or flight or freeze.” Our adrenal glands can go into overdrive to keep us in an anxious, fearful state; we can become fatigued with lack of purpose or awareness of who we truly are.

Janet’s book gives tools and a program for both patients and therapists to assist with stopping the fight-or-flight response. It can allow a person who has been living in a fearful state to become more peaceful and centered, to hold space to begin to “wake up” and learn to create differently in their relationships, their body, and their life.

When we reconnect with our natural neurological state of joy and happiness we can weave the fabric of our lives from our heart center, employing joy, love, compassion, wisdom, and intuition. We can walk our paths from a proactive rather than reactive state of being. We are expressing our resilience, vitality, and joy. We allow ourselves to BE in the NOW.

Traditional Chinese medicine, which is one of the oldest forms of healing documented on the planet, describes a flow of energy called the ‘strange flows’ or ‘Radiant Circuits’.

These subtle energies respond immediately when needed by a meridian or other energy system that is in deficit. These flows respond to all of our thoughts and emotions as they connect and harmonize our energy systems. The importance of activating and energizing these circuits regularly to produce inner joy and the ‘physician within’ cannot be underestimated.

We believe in the concept of Janet’s book and workbook because we know it works! We (and many of our colleagues) have had enormous success in using energy medicine tools and techniques with patients in psychiatric and counseling practices as well as in our own Shift Your Life seminars. We have taught for the past several years about Radiant Circuits that naturally produce joyfulness and were quoted in SELF magazine in the article “Wake Up Happier,” (November 2008) where they found (much to their surprise) that use of ‘figure eights’ was the only one of four techniques that gave EVERY person an inner sense of well-being to some degree. We are thrilled that Janet is bringing Radiant Circuits and their benefits to the attention of more therapists and to those seeking self-empowerment.

Unfortunately most of us are rarely in this state of joyful consciousness. In our hectic daily lives we create stress as our thoughts race from the previous task to the next on the list, the traffic, what we have left undone, and then we often react from negative patterns which have nothing to do with the current events and circumstances in our lives. This can lead to our suffering ill health from tight muscles, colds, back ailments, obesity, migraines, auto immune diseases, and other physical issues to psychological symptoms like depression and anxiety, among other things. Our ideal state is lost and we become victims of unhealthy choices we didn’t know we could avoid.

The four principal building blocks of Janet’s program, Radiant Energies Balance (REB), mindfulness, affirmations, and jou
aling, can be easily incorporated into a daily dharma or practice to assist in stopping the mind chatter, and feelings of overwhelm, and creating inner peace, or centering. This is a starting point to begin to address shifting faulty thoughts to re-patte
thinking and empowering people to be able to make different choices for their lives coming from the circumstances of the present moment. These tools allow you to quiet the mind to prepare you to begin the jou
ey to access your intuition and connect with your inner wisdom, and they empower you to develop to your highest potential in mind, body, and spirit.

Enjoy Janet’s book—it just might Shift Your Life! Janet Nestor is a woman of great heart, compassion, and inner wisdom. Allow her to share some of it with you in the pages of this guide and workbook.

Wishing you well and Bright Blessings on your inner jou
ey,

Tracy Latz, MD, MS, and Marion Ross, PhD, MhD
Authors of Shift: 12 Keys to Shift Your Life