Boulder massage therapist co-authors wellness book

BOULDER – A lot of suffering went into Jan DeCourtney’s book – 20 years. That’s how long she searched for relief from a debilitating illness that even left doctors baffled.

Then, one day, she found a Web site that described a program called 3LS. It featured three simple self-help practices. As soon as DeCourtney, a massage therapist, incorporated the program into her life, she experienced “immediate and dramatic improvement. There was profound healing power of nature that was very special,” she says.

She called the man behind 3LS, Dr. Walt Stoll, and asked him if she could create handouts for her clients so they could also learn about the program.

Stoll offered to help, and a healthy collaboration was born. It didn’t take long for them to gather so much useful information that they realized the handouts would need to become a book.

After another five years, the two celebrated “Recapture Your Health: A Step-By-Step Program to Reverse Chronic Symptoms and Create Lasting Wellness,” a 440-page manifesto for people who can’t shake chronic pain or illness. The book, which sells for $19.95, is available at local bookstores and online at Amazon.com, among other outlets.

“So what started as being just for me became a tool for helping my clients, and now it’s for the whole nation and the world,” she says.

DeCourtney had dysautonomia, a little-known condition formerly known as neurasthenia, which is defined as a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. Her symptoms: fatigue, poor concentration, muscle spasms, insomnia and anxiety.

“I was barely functional,” she says. “But I think I’m about 90 to 95 percent over all my symptoms. It’s hard to say because each year, to my surprise, I keep getting better.”

DeCourtney says that because the autonomic nervous system affects the functioning of the entire body, dysautonomia can be to blame for many mysterious and chronic symptoms.

“Actually, dysautonomia is a very common condition, but there is very little information available about it,” she says. DeCourtney is writing a book about dysautonomia.

She explains that her current book teaches readers how to eliminate “major disease-causing stressors” while simultaneously strengthening the body. “When people give their body and mind adequate resources over time in this way, healing occurs and symptoms disappear,” she says.

The authors claim that the 3LS wellness program is effective for a “wide variety of chronic symptoms, illnesses, and pain,” including the most perplexing conditions for which conventional medicine has no cure.

“Symptoms aren’t just suppressed as they are with conventional approaches like drugs and surgery,” DeCourtney says. “Our program eliminates the root causes of symptoms. It also works to maintain good health once you’ve got it.”

She describes the program as a three-legged stool (the meaning of “3LS”) that gives balance and stability through skilled relaxation, a perfect whole foods diet and exercise.

A patient follows the program “very accurately” for six months to a year or longer. During that time, DeCourtney says the causes of the chronic condition are reversed. After the symptoms disappear, the patient doesn’t have to follow the program as rigorously.

“These practices are so powerful that they may be all that’s necessary for an individual to totally reverse a chronic illness and restore health,” she says. “Some people get better just from doing one practice, more get well by doing two, and by doing all three, a person has the greatest potential for reversing a chronic condition.”

Stoll and DeCourtney often recommend that most people start by adopting just one of the practices and doing it well before adding another. The authors add that usually patients see results from one element of the program they “enthusiastically” want to begin the next.

Reader response to the book, which won an award from Colorado Independent Publishers Association, has been favorable.

“The exact words I hear over and over again from our readers is ‘Recapture Your Health’ is awesome,'” she says. “Then they describe their experience of almost immediate and often dramatic results.”

DeCourtney describes the book’s sales as “good.” In publishing, she says, some books have a limited shelf life, and have to sell in large quantities before the content is outdated. With these books, publishers invest a lot of money into advertising and marketing to get quick sales.

“Our book is different. It uses timeless principles that don’t become outdated. We don’t use high-powered marketing or advertising to get quick sales,” DeCourtney says. “Instead we’re taking a grassroots, slow and steady approach, mostly through word of mouth.”

People read and understand “Recapture Your Health.” They use what they learn and get results. “At that point, they become very excited and begin to tell their friends and colleagues about it,” she says.
DeCourtney also speaks publicly to local businesses about how to bring wellness to the workplace.

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