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| Janet and Burt, One of Her Sweethearts |
I’m sure most of you are wondering, “Just what makes Janet Stegman such a ‘Healer Advisor Extraordinaire’?” Well, I’ll tell you. I was thrust upon this career, not by choice, but rather by happenstance.
When I was 16 years old, there suddenly appeared in my person a debilitating, painful, out of control eating disorder. I simply could not stop eating. Like there was a monster inside me cramming food down my throat. It was literally like that improvisational comedy sketch about good angel / bad angel. “I want a piece of cake.” “No.” “Why?” “Because you’re trying to lose weight.” “Tough!” and I’d be eating the cake. But then it would never stop at “a” piece of cake. It was the whole cake. And then a loaf of bread. With butter and honey. And a quart of milk. “Oh, I’m soooo stuffed!” And as soon as the heap of food went down, there would be a pint of Hagen Daz (vanilla, of course — mother’s milk). This continued for 3 years. I was a voice major at UCLA, but I had to drop out because I was in so much pain so much of the time from stuffing down so much food.
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| Janet, age 19, much larger, with Brother, and Mother, (now passed on) Judge Lillian M. Stevens, at enrobing ceremony for elevation to the Superior Court |
As I (much) later found out, I had a disease called “compulsive overeating,” and the cure was the 12-step program of Overeaters Anonymous. Which I did. I went to a meeting a day, I got a sponsor, I read the books, I worked the steps. I OWNED Overeaters Anonymous. But then one day one of my OA friends said, “I’m not going to be a compulsive overeater for my whole life: I’m going to heal myself of overeating.” I said, “Yeah, that sounds good.”
So, I have been on a relentless search – a journey you might say – for the past 36 years for 100% mental, physical and spiritual healing to the point that when you met me, you would think, “There goes a completely normal, healthy, happy person. I bet she’s never spent one single moment in pain. Just happy, happy happy all the time.”
Some people actually think that now. They are shocked when I tell them that I used to have an eating disorder of a skid row drunk. That I weighed 175 pounds and wore a 42EE bra – size 16 dress.
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| Janet, age 30, with future ex husband. |
The truth is, I now weigh 126.4 pounds at last weighing (which are few and far between). I feel full at dinner and actually leave food on my plate because I am full. When I watch myself leave food on my plate, I feel such a feeling of accomplishment, you have no idea. I have arrived. This is it. I am a walking miracle.
But little did I know that was only the beginning. Little did I know I would have yet to walk through the . . . feelings . . . that caused the overeating. OMG! You want to talk about pain. If I had known the kind of pain I was going to have to walk through to get to the other side, I would have told you, “No thanks, I’ll take the food. I’m safe over here!”
But I didn’t know. And it was too late. Damn it. I was already over the food and into I’m just living my life now mode. But the good news is that throughout those 36 challenging years, I have been blessed with the most compassionate and brilliant healers the world has ever known. The therapists, the chiropractors, the nutritionists that were my doctors worked tirelessly with me and changed me. But they didn’t just help me get better, they taught me how to get better.
In addition, after several years of working my OA program, when I was in Kauai on a 9 month healing venture, my therapist suggested I try Siddha Yoga. I, of course, did, and what a blessing that has been! Siddha Yoga is a magical path to a light and happy life here on earth. I took the correspondence course and participated in the meditation programs. Every few months I would look back and say, “Oh my gosh, my eating is so much better now than it was only 3 months ago!” I am forever appreciative of Siddha Yoga for the help it has given me in my quest for health and happiness.
So, I’m all about staying young you know — after all, my best roll was Peter Pan, and I wasn’t acting! A few months ago, I read an article by Harolyn C. Gilles, M.D. at the TriVita Wellness Center entitled, “Hormones & Healthy Aging: Why Settle for Normal?” about how “aging is a treatable condition.” I was all over that! So I went to Scottsdale, Arizona to see the brilliant Dr. Gilles and received Bio-Identical Hormone Treatment and took the compound pharmaceuticals (all natural from soy and yam) she prescribed for me and got younger and healthier.
I have been fascinated by my entire process of healing and have retained every ounce of knowledge I have acquired on the journey.
And I can now help others.
For example: My therapist and my nutritionist taught me “muscle testing” or “applied kinesiology.” Then several years later, my therapist and my chiropractor simultaneously taught me Emotional Freedom Technique or “The Tapping.” At a Church of Religious Science after-service seminar, they taught the congregation how to “muscle test” ourselves. My chiropractor then said to me, “If you are with another person and your energies are mixing together, you can muscle test that person through your body.” So at first I would touch my friends on the chest and have them push on my arm to read them. But then I found that I could ask my body what was going on with the other person, and I would get an answer. So after 10 years of doing that, I now seem to have this power to think about a person and get a reading on what they need to heal. And when they do what I suggest, they get better. Believe it or not, I am amazed that I can do that. But I can and I do. And I enjoy it, and I enjoy helping people.
That’s why I eventually decided to become a minister of the Universal Life Church. True healing is all about restoring balance, physically, emotionally and spiritually!
If you are intrigued by my story and would like help in healing from something — anything, ask away in the space below and I will respond. And if you feel comfortable with my suggestions, follow them and see if you don’t feel better!
I wish you light and happiness.
Janet
