Juanita:
Hi Jamie, thanks for taking the time to talk with your readers
today. You have written a book titled "Transformational Healing:
Five Surprisingly Simple Keys Designed to Redirect Your Life
Toward Wellness, Purpose, and Prosperity." Please tell
us what motivated you to write at this time in your healing
journey.
Jamie: About five years after my cancer experience,
I began to write incessantly. Though I still had a lot to learn,
the calling had been sent. I wrote several drafts but I kept
feeling as though something were missing. I actually used the
exercises in my book to break through those blocks and to grab
a hold of what I knew lay hidden somewhere inside of me.
Juanita: Jamie, you were diagnosed with cancer
at age 24, yet had a miraculous recovery due in part to a dream
you had. Please tell us a little about this life changing dream.
Jamie: The dream itself is not as important
as the fact that it made me understand how my experience was
part of an important journey in my life. In addition, through
the dream I realized that no one but me had as much at stake
in my life as me. No matter how much my husband or other family
members loved me, only I could take whatever steps necessary
to heal my life. I realized it was up to me to listen to the
intuitive nudges inside of me and to stand up for what I needed
to do for me. This was a huge change in my frame of mind and
part of what I refer to in my book as an innate challenge,
something we inherit from our parents and must work through
before we can accomplish those things that are most dear to
our hearts.
Juanita:
How can the same exercises you outline in your book help
with such a wide array of problems – physical,
emotional, mental, and spiritual?
Jamie: My belief
is that if we are fulfilling our purpose, all else in our
life falls in line. If we'd
all do that, our lives would be relatively easy. However, most
of us drag our feet, stall, and think up excuses not to do
the very thing we know we should be doing. We worry in fear
that we might fail, that it will cost too much money, that
we don't have enough education, or that our relatives
will disapprove. This blockage in our life can lend to frustration,
the feeling of abandonment, and eventually--illness. There
are a few exceptions to this, but typically it is when we continually
ignore our inner calling that we find ourselves facing illness,
injury, and strife.
Juanita:
You had read countless other self help books in hopes of
relieving your pain, but none helped achieve the results
you were looking for. Why do you think the other books didn’t
work?
Jamie:
(Laughs) Well, I think mainly because it was part of my calling
to write this book. However, my frustration came partly due
to my inability to understand some of what these writers
were saying or to implement what they suggested I do. For
example, many suggested that I work with a partner, a mentor,
or a friend. I just didn't have anyone at the
time who could help me work through these things. I felt
alone and helpless. Some of what I read made good sense and
I did try to implement those things. I just didn't see any
dramatic results… and I definitely wanted results.
Also, I felt that a lot of their given advice was generic – one
size fits all – and it just wasn't fitting me.
You know, physically, I am a very petite person. If I buy
a one-size-fits all shirt or dress, it hangs on me like a
bed sheet. That is kind of what happened to me when I sought
help with these other books.
Juanita: What sets your book apart from all
the others on the market today?
Jamie: The most important thing to me when
I wrote my book was finding a way to convey the information
in such a way that almost anyone could understand it and implement
it regardless of their beliefs, education, or age. In addition,
I wanted the system to be specific to the person and their
needs.
Juanita:
What is the format of “Transformational
Healing?” Is it a workbook with each exercise building
off the last, or can you just pick a chapter that applies
to your complaint and go from there?
Jamie:
I don't consider it a workbook. I think of it more as a map
with clues to a treasure. I learned all of these techniques
in a jumble. I did a little of this and a little of that.
I wrote the book in a cohesive, step-by-step format, but
I also understand that Step One might not be where a person
is at. So it's okay if they jump ahead or just open the book
and start in. The book is broken into the five main keys:
Relief, Commitment, Goals (or Desires), Connection, and Synchronicity.
There is also a large appendix where, in one part, I detail
my personal path through the use of the main (first) exercise.
A person who isn't ill at the
time of reading my book, might find Section III – Goals,
a more appropriate place for them to start, though they might
have to page back to understand some aspects of that chapter.
Juanita: Do you feel family of origin illnesses
leave someone genetically predisposed to the same problems,
or is this a learned response?
Jamie:
I look at a family of origin illness on a deeper level. Keep
in mind that I am not a doctor, this is about taking an inner
journey whether alongside of traditional treatment, before
treatment is needed, or after the fact. I spend about 100
pages on goals and heritage (the two are linked like conjoined
twins) and this is one of the most important sections in
my book. Let me briefly explain it like this. Our grandparents
accomplished some things, and failed at some things. They
passed these on to our parents both by influence and by experience.
Then our parents did the same, passing them to us. Now here
we are with these same influences, experiences, and innate
challenges. Some we will succeed at over-coming, some we
will pass on to our children. How does this tie into illnesses?
It is through our illnesses that we can find the hidden meanings
of our innate challenges. Whoa… what?
Think about this for a moment… If you knew where some
gold was hidden, and you needed it, wouldn't you make
a straight-for-it beeline to get it? But if you didn't
know where the gold was, maybe you'd only heard rumor
that it existed, you might stumble and stall in trying to find
it. What I do in my book is explain how you can find the gold—the
meaning and purpose of your life. To do so means looking
at where you parents and others have been (along with a few
other keys). Then once you know what it is you are looking
for, it is easy to find it and achieve it. Yes, there are
still challenges, life is full of them, but you know where
you are heading and that makes you more powerful.
Juanita: Jamie, self help/inspirational books
are at the forefront of the market right now. Why do you think
so many people are feeling lost, overwhelmed, in need of help?
Jamie:
We live in a society where we treat the symptom and not the
cause. Give me a pill! Is there a surgery for this? Plus
we receive solace from sharing our misery with our friends – who
are also suffering. (Remember the saying, “misery
loves company?”) Think of a symptom like a leak in
a Holland dam. We plug the hole with our finger. Soon a leak
appears somewhere else. We stick another finger in that hole.
However, the underlying problem isn't the small holes
appearing in the dam, perhaps it is faulty construction or
a severe increase in back flow. The point is that the dam
will continue to sprout leaks or give way entirely until
the underlying cause is addressed. Illness is a symptom of
an underlying emotional cause. I didn't make this up. Some
of the greatest psychologists of our time have proven this.
Juanita:
What were some of the "ah-ha's" your
myriad of complaints and illnesses taught you?
Jamie:
(Laughs) Well, this will sound kind of silly, but most of
them are embarrassing things, the kind of things you don't
really want to share with someone. I am also hesitant to
say, even though I give lots of examples in my book, because,
again, my personal conclusions are not transferable to someone
else. There are a lot of subtleties and intuitive nuances,
an individual has his or her own bag of experiences and correlations.
I don't want people to get the idea that because I found
cancer to be a message about standing up for myself, that
it would be for them too. It likely wouldn't. My personal
answers were based on my personal associations. When I help
others find the meanings of their ailments, I first have
to get them thinking in terms of word associations, stereotypes,
and common sayings. (What a pain in the neck! Bite your tongue!
Get off my back…)
Then we start working backwards as to what feelings and connections
those associations tie in with. For example, just the other
day, a fellow was telling me he had four nerves removed from
a tooth during a root canal. I said, "Something in your
life must really be hitting a nerve." We talked about
what sort of things he associated with teeth, nerves, and also
about the type of pain he was experiencing. The words we use
to describe things often lead to a new direction as well. This
fellow said "the dentist had to'‘burn out' the
nerves." Was he suffering from major life 'burn
out'? Only he knows for sure.
Juanita: Most people are completely unaware
of the thought that transformation healing comes from a deeply
personal inward journey that is available to each of us at
anytime. Why do you think we have lost the ability to recognize
our own innate healing powers?
Jamie:
It's easier to take a pill. And… we have been programmed that taking
a pill is the way to do things. For most of us, using intuition
and mind over matter are foreign from what we are taught at
home, in school, via the media, and through our interactions
with others. Suggesting that we rely on intuition is asking
us to go against all we have been taught. That is hard very
hard to do. What we are talking about is BELIEF. If you've
seen the movie, "What
the Bleep Do We Know?," then you'll understand what
I'm talking about.
Juanita: I have heard that you do one-on-one
consultations. How may your readers contact you if they would
like further help?
Jamie:
I am in the process of revamping my website to make contacting
me easier. I find I do my best consultations via email because
it gives the participant a chance to think through their
answers – and this is a thinking type process.
I am also planning to unveil a teleseminar yet this year,
and eventually, a web-driven e-course, and I will soon be
offering intensive retreats and day-long workshops too.
Juanita: Jamie,
your life story and book serve as such inspiration. You have
a very unique way to look at illness, wellness, and healing
which will be refreshing to your readers. Do you have any
last thoughts you'd
like to share today?
Jamie:
To me, the book is meaningless unless people actually DO
the exercises and put them into practice. Reading the book
is a nice thing but it won’t change
your life. Doing the exercises and implementing these keys
will. I know this because I have lived it. Really, that is
what the whole book is about… how I used these simple
principals to gain what I wanted most. I am doing things today
that were bigger than I ever could have dreamed. I didn’t
know they were possible… for me… yet all I
did was just to draw some stick figures on an index card.
Disclaimer:
Jamie L. Saloff is not a doctor and does not dispense medical
advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form
of treatment for physical or medical problems either directly
or indirectly, without the advice of a physician. The intent
of the author is only to offer information of a general
nature to help you in your quest for emotional well- being
and good health. In the event you use any of the information
in her book, from her website or from her emails for yourself,
which is your constitutional right, the author and the
publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.
