67. A Different Kind of Healing with Dr. Shiroko Sokitch

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 0:04

Put your energy into love and if possible put your energy into loving yourself.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 0:12

Welcome to the your longevity blueprint podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Stephanie gray. My number one goal with the show is to help you discover your personalized plan to build your dream health and live a longer, happier, truly healthier life. You're about to hear from Dr. Xu Roco. So kitch Today we're going to talk about emotions and health, the healing power of love and finding physical balance. Let's get started.

Thanks for joining me for another episode of The your longevity blueprint podcast. Today I have on Dr. Xu Roco soakage. She is a doctor who cares about you the owner of Heart to Heart Medical Center in Santa Rosa, California since 1993. Dr. Shu Roca is an expert at using many modalities to bring your body to balance and wholeness. Her specialty is healing when it seems impossible. She brings hope and healing to difficult health conditions by blending Chinese and Western medicine with a deep spiritual and emotional healing approach. trained in general surgery and working as an emergency room doctor for 10 years while attending acupuncture school gave her a broad range of medical experience her new book healing when it seems impossible, seven keys to defy the odds, a book about her unique and comprehensive healing approach is now available on amazon.com. So welcome, Dr. soakage.

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 1:29

Thank you for having me. I'm delighted to be here.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 1:31

Well tell me what made you want to become a doctor and then we'll kind of get into the Chinese medicine aspect of what you do. Tell us your story. How'd you get into medicine?

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 1:40

Well, when I was five, my great grandmother was my very best friend. And my parents had split when I was three. And I didn't ever see my dad again as a child. And so I had already had a pretty big loss. We were living with my grandmother and my great grandmother lived next door. And so I would spend a lot of time with her. And then one night I was hanging out with her and, and she suddenly collapsed. And a few days later, my grandma and my mom came in, got her sent to the hospital. But a few days later, my mom came and told me that she had died. Hmm. And I didn't know what that meant. But I knew she said I would never see her again. I already knew what that meant. And, and she told me that her heart had stopped beating. And so in that moment, I was like, of course, upset and devastated. But at the same time, I was like, What can I do to bring her back to life?

Like how can I bring her back to life. And so that led to me becoming like, obviously, there was some desire to save lives. And so that made me start to think about wanting to be a doctor. So it was really, then that that seed was born and the idea that miracles can happen, you know, like, so I've spent my whole life sort of dedicated to miracles of healing and wanting people to achieve miraculous healing. And Fast Forward many years to when I got to medical school, the first time I got to save a life was when I was in third year medical student in the ER rotation, we had a patient come in with gunshot wound. And we took him to surgery. And literally, you know, he was at death's door, and we saved his life. And it was amazing. And so that's what got me to want to go to surgical residency. And so it's kind of a because I had always been sort of family practice oriented as a medical student. And then suddenly, this life saving experience happened and I decided I wanted to do surgery.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 3:36

So you had many years and the emergency room but something then increased your desire to learn something different. Chinese medicine is very different from emergency room. Medicine. So tell us about that transition that overlap.

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 3:50

Well, actually, the transition was I was a surgical resident and I had sort of my first midlife crisis. And it was in my second year residency and several things happen that sort of led me to question what I was doing. And one of the things that happened was, there was always patient experiences. But we'd have these difficult patients that even the best of what we knew how to do wouldn't help them and it and it upset me every single time. And so I was like, Well, how can I help them better? And I remember I was on a burn unit rotation which in the county house. I was in Seattle at the county hospital and the burn unit. People are in severe pain, pain. Yep. And so that was one of the thing is is like the medications that we had didn't work and there was no apparent solution to their pain, and I just was frustrated. So I took a month off from my residency. And during that month off, I had a dream. That was like literally banner, it was like if you stay in surgery, you will die.

And I was like wow. And it was that as a voice that I was used to listening to an inner voice and so I started looking for other things. This is still in my second year residency and I wasn't quite ready to give up that, that title of surgeon. And so I didn't accept an offer to go to a family practice residency in San Francisco, I just start, you know, is like, Well, what do I want to do? And somebody gave me this book called the web that has no Weaver, about Chinese medicine. Hmm. And I started reading that and I really, I fell in love with the whole idea. So I completed my second year residency and decided I was going to go work in the ER, while I figured out what specialty I wanted to put my residency in. And then after read that book, I decided I wanted to study acupuncture, which was not an option for MDS.

So I ended up going to acupuncture school and working in the ER at the same time, okay, so which was a very good education, because, you know, I was still young, and I was still learning medicine, but I was also learning Chinese medicine, so they kind of became one for me. So my practice of Chinese and Western medicine is kind of unique in the sense that I'm able to see both sides, whenever I talk to somebody, and I'm able with as an ER doctor, because I did that for 10 years, while I studied acupuncture and got my practice going. But as an ER doctor, you have certain ways of thinking and protocols. And so I'm always thinking in a sort of a, what do you call it a systematic way, you know, linear, linear way, but at the same time, Chinese medicine is integrated with that. So when I went to medical school, it was in the 80s.

And we didn't have all this wonderful functional medicine testing available yet, you know, and we didn't have all that more recent science available yet. So then it was even a bigger split between when somebody had a problem that we could diagnose in western medicine, versus what their symptoms were. And so I was able to use Chinese medicine to understand what was going on with somebody, when we couldn't understand it from a Western point of view, which I've always been able to do, because the perspective in Chinese medicine is based on how the organs you know, energy flow and organs and different functions that organs have. And so I can always tell what organ is out of balance, or what needs to happen for a person in order for them to get well. Wonderful.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 7:17

Yeah, so I've only had one other guest on the show talk about Chinese medicine. And and I don't know that everyone's listened to that episode. So can you talk a little bit more about what Chinese medicine is? Sure.

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 7:27

So Chinese medicine is based on the idea that you are made of energy and energy travels through your body and certain patterns. And when your energy is out of balance, there are problems. So it's all about getting your energy in balance. So the organs work differently than how we know them to work in western medicine. So I'll give you an explanation of one organ. The liver regulates the smooth flow of energy in your whole body. And it regulates it deals with the emotion of anger. So every organ has an emotional function, a spiritual function and other physical functions. It regulates your menstrual cycles, which is different than Western medicine. And when the liver is out of balance, you'll have PMS or gas and bloating, it also, because it regulates the smooth flow of energy, it has a lot to do with the digestion.

So when it's out of balance, you'll get things like irritable bowel, where you have that gassy, bloating, awful feeling. It also deals with the ligaments and tendons. So people who sprain ankles really easily or sprain their knees or, you know, easily get injured when they're exercising, that's a liver imbalance thing. And it regulates your eyesight. So when you have eye problems, a lot of Oh, and it stores the blood. So that's another thing. And every organ is like that, where it has additional physical functions, and emotional and spiritual functions. And so when somebody gives me a story of their health, what happens is, I can see the pattern of imbalance. So I'm also certified in functional medicine. So in functional medicine, we're always talking about systems and patterns of imbalance, right? So I use both those Chinese and Western medicine to understand what is the imbalance in what pattern is, is happening here so that I can help a person find the root cause of their health concerns.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 9:16

Love that. So you kind of just answered the question I was about to ask. But how does Chinese medicine work to help to promote longevity, even over conventional medicine?

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 9:26

Well, because it's all about balance. So when your energy is flowing in your body consistently, so I actually recommend having acupuncture consistently as you get older because it helps energy continue to flow. And it's also why in China, people do Qigong because that's one way to make energy flow in your body by yourself. You know, like by doing certain movements by keeping energy moving, then you live longer, and you live healthier. So it's All about how is that energy flowing. One of the other cool things about Chinese medicine is the philosophy is that disease comes from two places is either comes from inside of you or from outside.

And the only things that come from outside are infections, or reactions to your environment, environmental problems, or environmental reactions, like allergies, or food reactivities. But for the most part, it's bacteria, or parasites or viruses or things like that, and, and all things that come from inside are connected to emotions, because every organ has an emotional, and so energy starts in the emotional realm. So there's always an emotional component. So when you keep your energy flowing, you're also dealing with your emotions and emotions is what gets us stuck.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 10:47

Now, do you talk more about this in your book? Yes. So your book is seven keys to defy the odds. So let's talk about the seven keys Tell us about your book. And maybe we can get in to these concepts a little deeper.

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 11:00

Sure. So the book is healing when it seems impossible seven keys to defy the odds. And the first key is love. And the whole approach in my book is that people who have difficult health issues, they haven't found a solution. So the idea is that you've been given a challenge. And the first thing to notice when you have something difficult that no one seems to know the answer to, and that you've gone to doctor after doctor, or you've been through all kinds of different health scares, is that there's a reason. And it's just like when we have a challenging family member, right? When we have a challenging family member, we know that there's a lesson there for us, and that we have something to learn. And when we have a challenge in our body, it's the same thing. There's a lesson for us, our body is our friend. And so the love is the first key because first, the love of your body for you.

You're a Spirit living inside of a body, but your body loves you, and it's your friend, it's not your enemy. And so we want especially when we feel challenged physically, we think our body is our enemy. And we're mad and we feel betrayed. And then we say we I just want to get rid of that thing, or I just want to run out, you know, like, that's how people come to me. They're like, I'm just tired of this. I don't want to feel like this anymore. Well, of course, you don't want to feel like this anymore. But if you thought of your body as your friend, what would you do differently? That's good. Yeah. And if you apply love in every angle, so like my business is called Heart to Heart Medical Center, because for me, it's important that there's a connection between me and my patients. And that's because my caring will help them heal.

And their feeling of connection with me will help them trust me, you know, so that's like, it's a two way street. And in every element of our lives, if we bring more love in, there's healing potential. So Love is the healing is power of the universe. The other element in the love section is that we actually have a hormone that our bodies produced called oxytocin. And it's not just produced in the brain, it's produced in the heart. And that is the connection hormone. And I'm actually working on creating a talk just about the healing power of love, because there's so much science, and I think that's our next realm of exploration is the healing power of our heart. And the immense amount of things that our heart does physically and emotionally and spiritually, that is just like what we've recently discovered about the brain, you know, we've learned a lot about the brain. But now we have an opportunity to learn more about the heart. And that same way. So I'm super excited about that.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 13:42

So yeah, so love is number one. Okay, what's number two? Yeah.

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 13:47

Number two is physical balance. So I'm a doctor, you know, and so I'm always going to have to deal with people's physical issues. And, again, a lot of people come to me after having been to many other practitioners and the mystery of whatever they have. So there's three elements to this, there's something called the triangle of wellness. So even if you have no idea what's going on with you, one of the things that you can look at is, what is your hormones, your nervous system and your immune system. And again, this is where longevity comes into play. When these three elements are in balance, you can deal with anything, you have the tools in your body to heal from anything, because if your hormones work and your nervous systems are working, and your immune systems working, you can fight off anything and we all have probably had some experience of that. So even if I don't know what the diagnosis is, with someone, I always start with helping them balance those three elements.

And then the next would be to find the root cause and then the root cause we can sometimes find depending on our science level of you know, ability to diagnose things, but sometimes we can So if we can't find the root cause we still have the root, the template for healing that we're able to have. So. So the third key is finding your own unique lifestyle. And that's diet, exercise, you know, whatever works in order for you to feel well. And we know there's millions of diets and millions of ways to exercise. And there's a lot of science about a lot of different things and, and different people do differently with all kinds of things. And part of this is my own health issues that I've had over the years, including irritable bowel, where I've tried millions of diets myself, and finding which one worked for me and different ones work at different times. So there's your your own unique lifestyle. And the fourth key so they kind of bounced back and forth is learning to listen to your body. In Chinese medicine, like I said, each organ has its own unique qualities.

And so based on the unique qualities, you can start to want to think about what's going on with your own body. So not just like knowing when you're hungry, or knowing when you're sleepy, which everybody knows, there's some basic things we all know, right? We know when we're tired. Actually, some people don't know when they're hungry. And some people don't know when they're tired, because they're not listening at all. But all of those things that we already know, and then taking Chinese medicine and going okay, that, for example, the kidneys rule, your low back, your knees, your bones, your overall sense of having energy, and big transitions in life. So let's say you were moving across the country and you started having low back pain, you might think that maybe your kidneys were having a challenge. And so then you would do things to be good for your kidneys, and then that would go back to lifestyle. So what can you do to do work for your kidneys is well, you rest more.

And water, I don't drink water. But there are specific foods, the color for the kidneys is black. So black beans, and there are these special beans called a dukey beans, which are actually little tiny red beans, but they're really good for your kidney. So there's foods that are good for each organ, there's exercises that are good. And this is all in the book, like the exercises that you can do for each organ. And then the lifestyle factors. So you kind of bounce back and forth between listening to your body, and what adjustment your lifestyle needs in order for that to work. The fifth key is the emotions

for a while. Yeah, so how to deal with your emotions, what to do about them, and how they play a role in our health. And they really do. So this is one of the things that I loved about Chinese medicine right away is because when I when I left my surgical residency, and I started studying Chinese medicine, each organ had emotional functions. But I also at the time started having therapy for various childhood issues that came up in my life. And I began to realize how much my own emotions affected my body and my whole life. And being able to understand my body from the perspective of Chinese medicine, like so I tended to be an angry person. And so I had problems with my eyes and I had cramps with my period. So PMS symptoms, and I also had severe irritable bowel, which was gassy, bloating, those are all symptoms of liver imbalance. You know, I knew that I was a liver imbalanced type person, and so that everything that I did at the time was to help support my liver and to work with the right exercises and the right diet and all of that, but I also knew I had a lot of anger to deal with.

And that anger was probably the root cause of all of the things that were affecting me now other people that like the spleen, which is your digestive system rules, the emotion of worry. So some people worry a lot and they just might and worry is this thinking thinking thinking that you can't stop and the spleen rules your ability to take in food and to transform that food into energy? It regulates the strength of your muscles and your ability to concentrate. So that's your way of taking in information right, so the spleen is an organ of taking things in. But if you can't take in information, you might just be Worry, worry, worry worry all the time.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 19:18

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Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 20:32

So the thyroid is actually connected to your immune system. And in Chinese medicine, the lungs, rule your whole entire respiratory system. So your nose, your throat, your physical lungs, your large intestine, and your skin. And they deal with the emotion of grief and the desire to be in your body, and your ability to protect yourself from things that come in from outside. So that's your immune system. So think about it when you get sick. Where does it go? It's either in your lungs, so somewhere in your respiratory system or diarrhea, right? Yeah, those are the main infectious diseases where they enter your body is from and the lungs are the outermost layer. So and the thyroid is connected to that. And so when people have thyroid issues, they often get sick really easily, right? their immune system is weak. It's one of the symptoms that I notice of people when they have thyroid issues is that they can't stop getting colds, they get colds all the time.

There's certain other symptoms that maybe Western medicine doesn't take into account for thyroid, but that's one and other one is getting headaches very easily, like people who get headaches a lot. I've noticed this connected to low thyroid, and then the ovaries and the uterus is ruled by the liver. So that would be connected to the emotion of anger. Okay, so back to anger. Okay. Yeah. And but the liver also is on a spiritual level, the liver is a master sergeant of getting things done. So it's kind of the Oregon where we manage things, right. So a lot of women are always managing too many things, you have 1000 things to do on your to do list and you can't get them all done. Right. So that's livre two. That's that show, go, go, go, go go. And I think that's what our culture is much liver imbalance, not just because of the emotion of anger, but that needs to always be doing something. The livers job is also that place between your higher self and between your physical body and your higher self.

So the heart rules, the emotion of joy, and it rules your higher self, the heart is considered to be the Emperor. So not just your physical heart, but it's the emperor of all of your emotions. And it is your connection to your higher self. So the liver is that space in between your physical body and your higher self. And so one of the things that it took me a long time to discover was, so the emotion of anger leads to the emotion of joy through the path of forgiveness. Hmm. So healing, for becoming whole is really coming to a place of forgiveness, especially when you have a lot of hormone problems. Just bring that Chinese medicine standpoint, and you were asking about longevity tips. And for me, one of the big longevity tips and really help the survival tips is really finding ways to heal our emotions and to be able to forgive, which is also been a challenge in my own life. So I understand when people struggle with that.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 23:31

I was I was next going to ask how does dealing with our emotions help us stay young, but you basically answered that dealing with them will like extend longevity. But that, that makes sense.

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 23:42

Right? So my wonderful gift of having been in practice for so many years is that I've gotten to see people who didn't deal with their emotions. And what it does to their bodies. Dealing with your emotions is doesn't mean you have to spend years in therapy, or it's about really just finding balance. And being able to at some point, you have to feel whatever it is you're feeling and experience it but finding balance with it is the key, which is another great reason to try acupuncture. Because acupuncture works physically, emotionally and spiritually, so it works on all those levels. Tell us

Dr. Stephanie Gray 24:21

more about that. So you alluded to earlier saying you think everyone should be getting acupuncture did from a longevity standpoint. So So how does how does that work? So what the acupuncturist from like a maintenance standpoint, are they selecting certain points for each each session? Or is that a personalized?

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 24:37

Well, there are different ways of practicing Chinese medicine or acupuncture. So there are different styles and I practice a Japanese style that is involved in listening to your body. So first of all, we feel the pulse and we look at the tongue those are two tools for tuning into your body. And of course listening to your story because there's all those the story that you tell about and we helps me understand which organs are out of balance. But then by feeling your pulse, I can tell which organs are out of balance as well. So a person could have the same symptoms. And it could be from many different possible causes from a Chinese perspective. So you want to feel what's going on. But I also feel the belly, and I feel the toes, and I touch certain places, and that tells me what's going on with those organs. And then there are points that I can put in place to change something instantaneously.

And so again, acupuncture, when you put needles in certain locations, it's about achieving physical balance in your body through like release of energy or by balancing energy. So let's, when you have a physical pain, quite often, that means energy stuck in a certain place. Pain means energy is not moving. And so the idea is, so there's a channel a pathway, so the lung, for example, the lung meridian starts right here, and it goes down your arm into your thumb here. And but it connects to all of those things that I said, the nose, the throat, the physical, the large intestine and your skin, right. So when I find an imbalance, let's say you're short of breath, there's a point right up here, that's for shortness of breath, there's a point right here, that helps your immune system be stronger, that helps kind of create a protective layer in your whole body.

So there's all these different locations that there are points and those points do different things. And I can test where like certain imbalances are, there's a place on the belly that connects to the immune system where you touch that if it's tender, and then you touch, let's say, right here, it may make that tenderness go away. And that's how energy is energy moves instantly, we have that experience maybe in our lives. But yeah,

Dr. Stephanie Gray 26:55

I was just gonna say you almost have to experience acupuncture to know, it's just such a different concept we that we don't many of us in the US just don't know about. So you almost have to experience that I think, for pain or what not to, and not that I understand how it works. This is not my forte, but

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 27:11

well, and I don't know that because science is just beginning to understand the concept of energy. Even though all of us know something about energy when we think about it, like if you walk into a room, and there's a lot of tension, everybody feels that, right? If you if your family's just had a fight and you walk in, you know, they had a fight. Well, how did you feel that not? Maybe they all act like they're okay. But you know, there's something wrong, right? Or if you see somebody that you're attracted to, you get butterflies in your stomach. So we all know that energy exists. We all feel energy in different points, but we don't know what to call that.

But the cool thing about Chinese medicine is it's a system that's been in place for 1000s of years for accessing our own energy. And I think all energy medicine techniques, if you come back to like, that system is so brilliant. This, I've been doing this for over 30 years, and I still love it. I still like when I get to talk about it. I'm like, Oh, yes, this is what I love. Because it's so cool. And it can cause instant, you know, I told you when I was five, I wanted to heal my great grandmother instantly. I want that for everybody. It's what's driven me in my in my path as a healer is like the research I've done over the years, the the ways that the people I've reached out to it's always How can I help somebody feel better now, there's got to be a way now?

Dr. Stephanie Gray 28:42

Well, I'm glad we spent some time on that the fifth key which is dealing with emotions. So let's go on to the sixth key. What's the sixth one,

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 28:49

the sixth key is never give up. It's fairly simple. Well, it's called patience and persistence, because when you're on a journey of healing, so I set it up in the intro, the book is a hero's journey, you're a hero, you're on a journey to heal yourself. And you've been given this difficult mission of finding out what's going on with you. You know, there are millions of Americans alone, but probably all over the world who have problems that have not been answered by whatever standard diagnosis we can come up with. And it's becoming more and more common. There's an answer. And if you keep looking, you're going to find the way and it's a path that requires you know, you need your allies, you need your helpers, and it's a hero's journey, but just don't give up.

Be patient keep going. And then the seventh key is also kind of blended with the sixth key, which is trusting the process. So knowing that you've been to maybe 6789 doctors and didn't get an answer. You might be frustrated, but that might finally lead you to my door or to someone like you who's who's got different kinds of answers, different tools. Yep, different tools, right and then when you find them tool like I've got patients who like I'm their first last resort, because they still feel safe with doctors on some level. And so they come to a doctor who does something different, right. But then they start talking to a nutritionist or they'll start talking to an energy healer, or they'll start you know, like that it opens the door for so many possibilities of other healers to connect with. There's so many ways to get well. And if you just trust that your body is taking you on a journey for a reason,

Dr. Stephanie Gray 30:31

that's hard when patients are desperate, but I totally agree. I think the timing is there for a reason also, and many of my guests have shared their stories and one who's a guest whose good friend, she, she truly feels that her cancer was found when it was found so that she could have the tools she needed to deal with that when when that happened. So I totally agree with you. So six was never give up. And seven was trust, trust the process. Okay,

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 30:58

I'm taking whatever journey you end up on, know that it's for a reason.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 31:03

That's so good. Yeah. Can you give us a few examples, short examples. I know, you can't just spill the beans on some passion. testimonies are examples that you've seen with your clients. So you know, for instance, like someone who came to see you with your bowel syndrome, how was your approach different than conventional medicine? So can we put this into kind of a practical, just example, for the listeners?

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 31:27

Sure, irritable bowel is common in my practice, or pick anything? Yeah, I will do a whole long intake and work with the functional medicine tools, which is, you know, I would do a stool test. Now I use a stool test that will look at the DNA of critters, so I have a higher percentage of finding what's going on with them. And so we'll do a stool test, we'll do Western medicine, and we'll also do acupuncture. And I mean, I've got literally 1000s of people who've come to me with various digestive issues, and the combination of doing herbs and acupuncture, and you know, finding the root cause. And so there's usually dietary changes I have, most people eliminate white foods, so grains and dairy and sugar, because that really does make a difference for a lot of people. But one thing that a lot of people don't know.

And then Chinese medicine, we say that if your digestion is weak, you don't eat raw food. And it's common for health people to talk about eating raw food, there's different circles, but but when you have a weak digestion, raw food doesn't work because your stomach can't cook it and your stomach needs a certain amount of energy in order to produce the fire that would allow you to cook food. So if you eat raw food, you might get diarrhea, so so people who have irritable bowel, I often take them off a raw food.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 32:49

Yeah, yeah. Which some of those people are they are thinking raw food is the best thing to be eating because it has more enzymes, so it should be easier to digest. But that's not always the case.

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 32:58

No, no. And if you have a weak stomach and you don't have enzymes, which a lot of people don't chewing your food really well helps, you know, because that's one place where you can start the digestive process but a lot of people have irritable bowel, they're not eating they're not doing well and then they put it in their cold stomach which doesn't work well and and then they get more gas and bloating. So that's a common situation and most people who I see who have irritable bowel within three to four months, I'm able to help them feel a lot better.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 33:29

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Now let's get back to the episode. I'm gonna go off on a tangent here for a minute. So because I'm trained in functional medicine, I would do similar testing, I would run a comprehensive stool analysis I do food sensitivity testing, take patients off the top inflammatory food groups like the white stuff like you mentioned, what's the energy impact? So when I'm trying to just again try I'm trying to learn Chinese medicine through a podcast when someone's eating those foods, right that's causing inflammation in the gut. It's causing leaky gut like from a functional medicine standpoint, I you know, I can explain to patient what's happening but from a Chinese medicine standpoint, how is that impacting energy,

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 34:53

so energy and Chinese medicine is always described in relation to hot or cold, excess or deficient So the science that we have now we didn't they didn't exist 5000 years ago. So write about effects of the weather. And when you get that terrible sticky gas and bloating and a really bad pain in your belly, which I have had over years, until I, you know, I eliminated certain foods, I did the stool test, I got rid of certain infections. So in terms of energy, what it is, is that if so like, if you get really bad heartburn or your stomach doesn't digest food, like when you eat food, and you start to feel full, really right away, and you can't feel it moving?

Well, that's means that there's a deficiency in your ability to process right. So from a Western standpoint, that would be not enough enzymes, or not enough acid in your stomach. But from a Chinese point of view, it's a deficiency of energy. So I use acupuncture and Okay, an herb called moxa. With which will basically increase the energy of the system. And I sometimes use Chinese herbs, but quite often is where I blend, right? Quite often, I'll use enzymes and hydrochloric acid, right, from a Western standpoint, and then I'll use the acupuncture to help the energy flow, so that it just works much better. So we're

Dr. Stephanie Gray 36:13

trying to accomplish the same thing. We're just doing it different ways, either through acupuncture or through using the herbs or the supplements, whatnot. Yeah,

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 36:21

we're doing the same thing. Just In fact, functional medicine and Chinese medicine just beautifully go together.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 36:28

I kind of sounding like it. Yeah, yeah. So obviously, you have also worked through your own irritable bowel syndrome, whatnot. Can you tell us kind of what you've learned over the past several decades? Like, what what have you incorporated as part of your daily regimen, kind of help you defy the odds and help help you live a longer, happier life? What are some tips that you've incorporated personally?

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 36:48

Well, lots of things. But you know, I have a daily meditation practice, I have several daily practices that I do that keep me in line. So stress is a big cause of digestive problems, it stress is a big cause of almost all physical problems, right. And so finding ways to stay calm and cool and collected is good for longevity, but also really good for your physical body on so many levels. So, stress management, I'm an owner of a business, you probably know how that you're always thinking about your business, always thinking about how to make, you know, make sure it's okay. So that kind of stress, you have to find a way to stay calm and surrendered and, and peaceful. So I have a love practice, I have a meditation practice.

Literally a love practice every day, I pray and love people in my prayers, you know, and I love my body practice. So I how I love my body is I exercise consistently, and eat what my body likes. And so there are certain foods that for me made a huge difference. And it was sugar, dairy, and most grains, my body doesn't like grains. Now, every once in a while, like during the time of COVID those things have fallen by the wayside to some degree, and then you know, then I have to kind of recall myself and go, okay, you can't do this.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 38:14

We're all we all have learned that. Yeah, yeah,

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 38:17

we have our ups and downs. But I think that's what makes us human. And so,

Dr. Stephanie Gray 38:21

sure. Well, those are good tips. If you had to pick one, what would your top longevity tip be? That's okay, if you've already mentioned it,

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 38:29

love, yeah, fill your life with love in every way possible. And, you know, we have tricky minds. And we're trained to think in a negative way. So we have to work at it sometimes to find ways to fill our life. So if you love somebody, everybody loves somebody, right? So you love people love them. Even if they've hurt your feelings. Try to pour love on that person. Because if you can't find love for yourself, by giving love to someone else, it will come back to you. So it opens your heart to give love. It opens your heart to put energy in a loving way out into the world.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 39:08

And that's what the world needs right now. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 39:11

I heard a song like that one. But, so love is the most healing power in the universe. And so if you focus on love in any way, shape, or form tiny little bits of love, if you don't have somebody in your life, that you feel that kind of connection with a dog or a cat, because they love unconditionally. Well, dogs love unconditionally. Cats are a little more finicky. But you know, a pet or a plant, I have a bunch of plants in my house, because I'm not home enough to have a pet but put your energy into love. And if possible, put your energy into loving yourself and your body and appreciating whatever is happening to you. You know, so like we're doing this interview around Thanksgiving but probably it's not Thanksgiving when you're listening to this but Thanksgiving is such an amazing holiday. It's become My favorite because with gratitude in our lives, we open our hearts. By being grateful for things, we open our hearts. And so love and gratitude and those kinds of things, improve longevity. And there is science that proves this. So you don't just have to believe me. Don't have to take your word for it. Yeah, yeah, don't take my word for it.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 40:19

So we've talked about your book, but I know you have a free gift for our listeners, which is a compliment to the book. So do you want to share what that is?

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 40:27

Sure. So my book at the end of every chapter there, well, there's a whole bunch of different subsections in each chapter, and there's always exercises for you to do. And so what I did is I pulled all the exercises out and put them in a workbook so that you can kind of do your own healing journey by following the workbook and doing certain things like for love. There's a component where it's about loving yourself, so you can do certain things, but you can also begin to reach out to community, you know, which is one of the things that's happening with Facebook, right is that there's all these groups where people have common things that they can talk about. And so you have a community to feel support with whatever it is right to begin to form connections and, and so the the workbook is an an opportunity to do that for yourself.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 41:19

Thank you. So we will post a link to that free workbook in the show notes. Where can listeners find you?

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 41:26

My website is heart to heart, Medical Center, calm, and all of my stuff is there, my my blogs and my book, you can get my book there, you can learn about what it takes to have a visit with me. And nowadays, I'm doing telemedicine, so you can talk to me from anywhere.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 41:42

Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show and talking so much about emotions. I'm glad we got to dive into that. Because I think that's something that's neglected that many of us haven't dealt with, that we do need to deal with. So thank you for spending some extra time on that your book sounds very interesting. So I'll have to get a copy of myself. Well, thank you for coming on the show today again, and just talking about the healing power of love as well, which is, like I mentioned is something that we all need to hear. It's something that we need to do we need to to love ourselves and have a practice of that every day. So thank you for coming on the show.

Dr. Shiroko Sokitch 42:11

Thank you for having me. It's delightful to talk to you.

Dr. Stephanie Gray 42:17

Thanks for listening to another episode, a different episode about a different kind of healing. I'd love to close challenging you into putting energy into loving yourself finding what Dr. soakage called that daily love your body practice. Be sure to check out my book your longevity blueprint. And if you aren't much of a reader, you're in luck. You can now take my course online where I walk you through each chapter in the book plus for a limited time that course is 50% off. Check this offer out at your longevity blueprint comm and click the course tab. One of the biggest things you can do to support the show and help us reach more listeners is to subscribe to the show. Leave us a rating and review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. I do read all the reviews and would truly love to hear your suggestions for show topics guests and for how you're applying what you learn on the show to create your own longevity blueprint. The podcast is produced by the team at counterweight creative As always, thank you so much for listening and remember, wellness is waiting.

The information provided in this podcast is educational no information provided should be considered to be or used as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always consult with your personal medical authority.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai