Jolette Jai, Peaceful Parenting Educator, Mindset Coach

For over 20 years, I’ve been interested in interpersonal communication, how our environment and cultural experiences shape our bodies and minds from an early age, and how the human brain can be re-programmed to heal and learn new patterns even as adults.

I studied cultural anthropology at The University of California, Berkeley and then traveled to West Africa to teach English, when I came upon the early writings of Deepak Chopra and the power of the mind to heal our bodies as outlined in Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine.

Fascinated by the scientific studies of Mind/Body Medicine, I studied with the indigenous herbalists in the Ivory Coast, West Africa, before returning to my home in California to train and become a Shiatsu and Jin Shin Do Acupressure Practitioner using the Chinese energy meridians of the body to transform and heal past injuries and traumas based in the body and mind.

I saw many clients – both children and adults – with illnesses and injuries ranging from multiple sclerosis to brain injuries to chronic migraines and sciatica.  I found that in all of my clients was the unique ability of their minds to relax and connect with the deepest energies flowing through their bodies as they released and healed.

Throughout all of my work as a Shiatsu and  Jin Shin Do Practitioner, the question always remained, ‘ How can we release old patterns within the brain effectively that don’t serve us anymore (or that are causing us stress and dis-ease) and create optimal health for our bodies and minds?’

I truly believed (and still do) in the powers of our minds to heal our bodies.

When I was pregnant with my son, Gabriel, I practiced HypnoBirthing techniques and planned for a home birth.  I was sure that I could ‘do it at home’ given my experience with over 100′s of clients and over 15 years of meditation and yoga practices.

However, when the time came to give birth, my mind said ‘go’ but my body said ‘no!’  My water had broke and yet, I was not even a centimeter dilated for over 24 hours!  My mind was holding on to something and despite both my husband and my midwife’s attempts to help me release and relax, I just kept on holding on.

Feeling discouraged, I went to the hospital at that point and the most amazing thing happened.  Right when we entered the waiting room of the hospital, my contractions started.  My body could finally relax in the hospital!  I was in shock.
The relaxed feelings of being cared for in a hospital by doctors went back to my childhood and were buried deep within my mind.  Until I was able to fulfill that very deep need for comfort and security that I had felt as a child being cared for by Western medical doctors when I was sick, my body would not relax to give birth.

I guess you could call Gabriel’s birth my big ‘aha’ moment in validating the incredible power that our minds and memories have over our bodies and moreover, how our early childhood experiences shape most of our behavior and feelings in the present moment.

I honored many of Gabriel’s feelings during the first two years of his life by practicing many of the Attachment parenting principles of attunement, empathetic connection and mirroring.

I took my first class on Emotional Intelligence and the
the biology of the early child’s brain and found the work of Daniel Siegel, Parenting From The Inside Out, Alfie Kohn, Unconditional Parenting, and the parenting classes at The Center for Nonviolent Education and Parenting in Los Angeles, California.

Delving deeper into the study of the human brain and early childhood development, I began to share what I was learning with other moms.

I began to write articles and record Mp3′s based on the principles of Emotional Intelligence, allowing a child’s feelings and needs to be respected and valued.

I saw the difference in the connection with my son as I practiced what I was learning and beginning to teach with other moms.

All of my work in the healing arts and now, as a parent, seemed to coalesce, and I trained as a Parent Educator at The Center for Nonviolent Education and Parenting in 2010.  The Center uses the term “nonviolent” to signify loving children unconditionally, supporting them to grow into adults who know the meaning of caring for themselves and for others.

I love coaching parents now and leading parenting workshops on learning to love children unconditionally through the principles and practices that develop Emotional Intelligence in the body and mind.  I feel like all of my life’s work up until this point has prepared me for these moments.

As a parent, I am so much more calm and find peace of mind daily through these sacred practices and principles of connection, empathy, and unconditional support.