WILMINGTON- Michele Dou­cette experienced the pains of sorrow and loss during her life journey. The loss of a child through miscarriage is a deeply personal and tragic experience to recover from. Yet Doucette persevered, worked through life challenges, and came through with a sense of fulfillment and empowerment. Now she is sharing her experience in her first book, which has just been published.

“Waking to Eden” is a true story about Doucette’s journey of self-healing and self-discovery. Doucette is the mother of two boys. They are Justin, a Hamilton College student, and Beau, a Twin Valley High School student. She is married to Dale Doucette and has a chiropractic office in Wilmington where she practices Zero-Balance, a holistic mind and body therapy.

In the book, Michele Doucette retells the story of her third pregnancy, which ends in the tragic death of a fully-developed fetus. Afterward, Doucette develops an autoimmune disease and is faced with the new challenge of how to cope with a chronic condition. “Walking to Eden” traces how a change in her beliefs was instrumental in coming to terms with recovery.

“I was becoming a teacher of Zero-Balance therapy. It was intense and we had to do a big project. In the meantime, the story happened to me and so I decided this was my big project,” said Doucette. “I just had to recall what happened and why I thought the material was pertinent because of all of the synchronicities that were happening. I was blown away by all of the connections.”

Doucette sought to uncover what the autoimmune disease was doing to her body. She wanted to look beyond medical models for diagnosis and find out what this chronic condition meant in a bigger perspective. “Waking to Eden” explores the possibility of changing one’s DNA by changing one’s beliefs and offers an integral view of natural health care, energy medicine, and natural living.

“I asked the question ‘What’s going on and how am I feeling inside myself?’ I had a visual of my own body and my DNA. I asked ‘What is that?’ One thing led to another of how we see who we are. Zero-Balancing has helped me wake up to this life.”

Zero-Balance therapy is a combination of chiropractic and acupuncture. Doucette said “It is more than touching the structure of the bone but also the energy of the body ... It is not just neck and back work but it also helps them with self-realization.”

She hopes “Waking to Eden” will help readers see the bigger picture in what their bodies are telling them and to use those messages to understand the bigger picture in life. “It’s about something bigger than a higher purpose. When you have a higher purpose, you can get through the difficult times. It’s helped people resonate with their own healing,” said Doucette. “I’ve had incredible feedback and it’s come full circle. The idea is, if we share our healing stories, we can all learn from each other. That’s the key.”

“Waking to Eden” is available at Amazon.com, Bartleby’s Books & Music, online at www.createspace.com/3432479, and at Doucette’s medical practice located at 497 Boyd Hill Road.