Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Canadian author of several best selling works, including "The Invitation" (now translated into more than fifteen languages), "The Dance," and "The Call: Discovering Why You Are Here."

She explains that the origin of her name came directly from her quest to heal from CFS: "Oriah has a long and unusual history with her name. In 1984, at thirty years of age, after the onset of severe Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, she had a dream where several elderly women- those she calls Grandmothers in the dream- told her to change her given name to Oriah as part of the process of healing. Nervous about doing something others might see as strange, but desperate to be well, she took the name Oriah and has been called this (by everyone but her mother) since that time. Twenty years later, while doing a book tour, on three successive nights, in three different cities, she was told by people at the bookstores she was visiting that Oriah means light of God in Hebrew, and that it is an ancient Jewish custom to change a patient’s name when doing a healing, to invite new and healing energies." [Sourse: from bio on her website - http://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com/]

She periodically writes about the effects of living with ME/CFS, such as in the 'The Green Bough' blog piece on January 12, 2011:

"So here’s the surprise that the book ["Fried: Why You Burn Out and How to Revive" by Joan Borysenko] held for me: I don’t have burnout. I cannot tell you how difficult it is for me to acknowledge this. Because as debilitating as burnout is, you can recover from it. I have done and continue to do most if not all of the things Joan suggests and documents as creating recovery from burnout. And I still can’t go out after six in the evening or write for more than two hours a day without ending up in bed unable to even read for days.

Because I don't have burnout- I have CFS/ME (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis outside North America.) And, although I have openly acknowledged that I have had this illness for twenty-seven years, internally I’ve been clinging to the semi-conscious hope/belief that I have burnout [...] because we can heal from and learn to avoid burnout, can have some control. With CFS/ME things are more. . . . uncertain. A lot more uncertain."

[Source: 'The Green Bough' blog, January 12, 2011 - http://oriahsinvitation.blogspot.com/2011/01/learning-from-fried-friends.html]