Episode 48
Shiroko Sokitch:
The Healing Power of Love
In this episode we talk about the 7 keys to healing and using the knowledge from Chinese and Western Medicine to heal when it seems impossible. Dr. Shiroko joins us to share her beautifully encompassing approach and give us some "how to" steps to get us on the way to healing.
First Aired on: Aug 15, 2022
Episode 48
Shiroko Sokitch:
The Healing Power of Love
In this episode we talk about the 7 keys to healing and using the knowledge from Chinese and Western Medicine to heal when it seems impossible. Dr. Shiroko joins us to share her beautifully encompassing approach and give us some "how to" steps to get us on the way to healing.
First Aired on: Aug 15, 2022
Table of Contents:
In this episode:
In today's episode, Dr. Shiroko Sokitch shares her experience and expertise in how to heal when it seems impossible. We touch on her seven keys to healing and dive deeper into the power of love.
Dr. Shiroko uses many modalities to bring your body into balance in her Heart to Heart Medical Center in Santa Rosa California. Her specialty is healing when it seems impossible, and her new book Healing When It Seems Impossible - 7 Keys to Defy the Odds is available now.
Shiroko knew she wanted to be a doctor since the age of 5, when she unexpectedly lost her best friend, her great grandmother.
When she was a second year surgical resident, she listened to her dream that advised her "if you stay in surgery, you will die."
After quitting her residency and beginning her work in the ER, Shiroko found acupuncture and Chinese Medicine and began her training.
She had a dream of opening a medical center that blended the two approaches to wellness...and so she did!
7 Keys to Healing
1-Love
Essential to move from feeling betrayed by your body, to your body is your best friend.
2-Physical Balance
Triangle of Wellness: hormones, nervous system, immune system
YOUR BODY CAN HEAL!
3-Finding your own unique lifestyle
4-Learning to listen to your body
5-Emotions
Every organ has an emotional and spiritual function. Every physical condition is connected to emotion.
6-The hero's journey
Our bodies are our best tool for our spiritual path.
7-Trust the process
(Which can be difficult!)
Back to LOVE
The heart is the most amazing organ. It runs the show. Considered the emporer in Chinese Medicine because it runs the show.
Oxytocin - the love hormone, counteracts cortisol for a calming, healing effect.
If you give love, you will feel love.
Build love:
Start thinking about where you have love in your life. Express your love. It can be with humans, animals. nature, art, the universe...
Try to bring love to every part of your life in any way you can.
Eventually, loving yourself!
You can give yourself love!
Give yourself a hug. Physically.
Cross your arms and hold opposite upper arms. Take a few deep breaths.
This will relax you and reduce any anxiety.
Release that oxytocin!
Love truly heals!
Dr. Shiroko uses many modalities to bring your body into balance in her Heart to Heart Medical Center in Santa Rosa California. Her specialty is healing when it seems impossible, and her new book Healing When It Seems Impossible - 7 Keys to Defy the Odds is available now.
Shiroko knew she wanted to be a doctor since the age of 5, when she unexpectedly lost her best friend, her great grandmother.
When she was a second year surgical resident, she listened to her dream that advised her "if you stay in surgery, you will die."
After quitting her residency and beginning her work in the ER, Shiroko found acupuncture and Chinese Medicine and began her training.
She had a dream of opening a medical center that blended the two approaches to wellness...and so she did!
7 Keys to Healing
1-Love
Essential to move from feeling betrayed by your body, to your body is your best friend.
2-Physical Balance
Triangle of Wellness: hormones, nervous system, immune system
YOUR BODY CAN HEAL!
3-Finding your own unique lifestyle
4-Learning to listen to your body
5-Emotions
Every organ has an emotional and spiritual function. Every physical condition is connected to emotion.
6-The hero's journey
Our bodies are our best tool for our spiritual path.
7-Trust the process
(Which can be difficult!)
Back to LOVE
The heart is the most amazing organ. It runs the show. Considered the emporer in Chinese Medicine because it runs the show.
Oxytocin - the love hormone, counteracts cortisol for a calming, healing effect.
If you give love, you will feel love.
Build love:
Start thinking about where you have love in your life. Express your love. It can be with humans, animals. nature, art, the universe...
Try to bring love to every part of your life in any way you can.
Eventually, loving yourself!
You can give yourself love!
Give yourself a hug. Physically.
Cross your arms and hold opposite upper arms. Take a few deep breaths.
This will relax you and reduce any anxiety.
Release that oxytocin!
Love truly heals!
Other Resources:
Connect with Shiroko Sokitch
Watch this interview:
Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Julie Michelson: Welcome back to the inspired living with auto immunity podcast. I'm your host, Julie Michaelson. And today we are joined by Dr. Shiroko Sokitch owner of heart to heart medical center in Santa Rosa, California. An author of healing. When it seems impossible, seven keys to defy the odds. Dr. Chico's effective approach, blends Chinese and Western medicine with spiritual and emotional healing, [00:01:00] which is why I'm so excited to have her on the podcast.
[00:01:03] We're talking about the healing power of love and how you can take steps today to start to tap into that magic.
[00:01:12] Dr. Shiroko welcome to the podcast.
[00:01:15] Shiroko Sokitch: Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to be talking to you today.
[00:01:18] Julie Michelson: We're excited to have you here. I always love to start with, you know, how did you get to be doing what you're doing? I cheated. I asked you a little bit before I hit record. But I would love if you chair some of your journey with us.
[00:01:33] Shiroko Sokitch: Sure. I'll try to make it short.
[00:01:36] Julie Michelson: Yeah
[00:01:36] Shiroko Sokitch: you know, it all kind of started when I was five years old that my great-grandmother was my very best friend in the world. And she was the person, my mom was a single mom and she was working and and my grandma was busy with her own business and we lived right next door to my great-grandmother.
[00:01:54] And so she would take care of me during the. And one day I was hanging out with her. It was in, [00:02:00] in the evening. And suddenly she collapsed and I couldn't get her up. So I ran over and got my grandma and my mom and they called the ambulance and they took her away. And I lived in Germany at the time and, and they didn't take kids to the hospital.
[00:02:15] So I never got to see her again. And one day, a few days later, my mom came and told me that her heart had stopped beating and that I would never see her again. And that was devastating to me because I already had lost my dad. He had left and I never saw him again as a child. And so I was like, wait, what does that mean?
[00:02:37] And I started trying to imagine. Like first there's the, the, you know, disbelief and devastation, but then there was this like, well, how can I solve this problem? You know? So I started immediately thinking of, well, what could I do to, to change that situation? So I started imagining a heart. Machine that would make her heart start [00:03:00] beating again so that she would come back to me.
[00:03:02] And that was kind of the day that I decided to become a doctor and I've basically spent my whole life wanting to be a doctor. And then once I finally got to medical school, the first time that I got to save a life was when we had a patient come in with a gunshot wound and I was in the ER. As a third year medical student and, and they brought in this patient who had a gunshot wound and I got to go and we literally, we saved his life in a moment and it was so thrilling.
[00:03:29] So I was like, okay, surgery's the specialty for me, obviously. So I went into surgery and then, and then of course, you know, when you've heard of the, the. That time in your late twenties, where you start questioning your life. And so of course, everything coincided. I achieved my lifelong goal, becoming a doctor and, and.
[00:03:53] Here I am doing a surgical residency. And then I started questioning things because patients [00:04:00] surgery didn't always save their lives one and two, they, they still didn't feel well. And I didn't feel well with various things in my life story. And so I was like, what's going on? What, why am I doing this? If I'm not saving people in the way that I wanted to be saving them.
[00:04:17] And so I took a month off for my residency. And and during that month off, I got sick and I was laying in bed with, so I had a mystery illness and, and I was laying in bed and my mom was the kind of person that she would just leave me alone. She didn't que she didn't believe in medicine so I, a little bit of an odd duck for her, I think.
[00:04:37] And during the night, one night I had this dream. If you stay in surgery, you will die. And it was this like what, what, and I didn. I was like, I was used to those kinds of experiences, you know? So like if, if I heard a little voice in my head like that, I would listen to it. So I did, I listened to it. [00:05:00] And I decided at the end of my second year residency that I was gonna leave, but I didn't know what else to do,
[00:05:07] Julie Michelson: Wow.
[00:05:08] Shiroko Sokitch: then somewhere in the.
[00:05:10] In one of my rotations, I was working in the ICU at one of the county hospital in Seattle. Somebody gave me this book called the web that has no Weaver. And I read it and I just fell in love with a concept. And it's about Chinese medicine. I'd never even heard of Chinese medicine before that.
[00:05:30] And, but it was. It was about doing acupuncture and about how the, the magic of energy and the idea of energy and healing and all of this stuff. And, and, you know, it's many years later now, and I still am in love with Chinese medicine. So I decided right then I, I met a guy in my, during my rotations in the hospital who was a respiratory therapist who had just finished acupuncture school.
[00:05:56] And he kind of became my mentor, cuz he was a few years ahead of [00:06:00] me and he, he had a great connection with Chinese medicine too. So I started studying Chinese medicine. I left my residency at the end of my second year and went to work in the ER. So I had this training, you know, as a young physician, I was doing ER, at the same time that I was studying Chinese medicine.
[00:06:17] So I evolved
[00:06:19] Julie Michelson: Mm-hmm
[00:06:19] Shiroko Sokitch: a way that maybe not a lot of people do, cuz both of them are integral to how I work. And so, and so at the end of my training in Chinese medicine, I began to dream of having a center where you, where we're both Western and Eastern medicine were blended. So that's how I got to pretty much where I am today.
[00:06:41] There's more, but , but that's a quick version.
[00:06:45] Julie Michelson: That's that's amazing. And that's my, I, I just, you know, the, the blend of the two is the answer. It is totally the answer for anybody who's experienced, you know, mystery illness, [00:07:00] chronic illness. And I say all the time is people that are listeners are familiar with my story. And one might think I'm, you know, anti-Western medicine.
[00:07:11] I'm absolutely not. It just wasn't the answer for, you know, they didn't didn't there was never the question of why, why do you have RA, why do you have one after another autoimmune condition? And so this blend is. The key and I hope the future for everybody. And so I know that, you know, your patients and clients are blessed to have you bringing that to the world.
[00:07:38] And then that's amazing. Talk about commitment and faith. To listen to the voice and leave. I mean, I know what it takes to get to your second year residency. And so that is unbelievable that you were strong enough to just listen and follow. So yeah. Amazing. Amazing.
[00:07:59] Shiroko Sokitch: that was [00:08:00] in the eighties and I was the only doctor in the state of Washington studying Chinese medicine at the time.
[00:08:06] Julie Michelson: Wow.
[00:08:07] Shiroko Sokitch: so yeah, that was, it was at that time, even more of a. Thing. All my friends were like, is it like being a voodoo doll? And
[00:08:15] Julie Michelson: you? Yeah. Are
[00:08:17] Shiroko Sokitch: So,
[00:08:19] Julie Michelson: you crazy? I'm sure there was a lot of that. A lot of questioning So your specialty is healing when it seems impossible, which is why I wanted to have you on the podcast, because I remember when I thought. Just even for my own self, that healing was impossible. You know, a, I was told that and then unfortunately believed it for, for a long time.
[00:08:49] So I know you have seven keys to healing. And I know we only have a short time together and so share those with us and then we're gonna dig [00:09:00] into to some particular ones.
[00:09:03] Shiroko Sokitch: Cool. Okay. So that's all based. On my many years of experience, I've been in practice in my own clinic for almost 30 years.
[00:09:11] Julie Michelson: And she looks, she looks like she's 30 for anyone. Who's just listening and not watching so there's, there's something to it. That's all I can say.
[00:09:22] Shiroko Sokitch: Thank you. Oh my goodness. But anyway, so it it's based on, so there are many, of course there's this parallel of my own life versus the practice that I've had over the years. And it evolved in helping people with difficult health issues and very much blended with Chinese and Western medicine. So the first key is love and the I, and. And and it comes out of the several experiences that I had personally, but also out of the, because when you feel ill and you're not feeling well in your body, you will usually feel betrayed. [00:10:00] You usually feel angry and frustrated and upset. And why did your body do this? And especially for many people who have chronic conditions, they sort of start all of a sudden, you know, or it appears like they started all of a sudden and you don't, maybe haven't noticed.
[00:10:16] The progression over time, as, as things were getting worse. And many people that I've seen are functional, highly functional people who ha who have done everything and are really good at what they do. And, and then suddenly not able to do anything. And so so they feel betrayed. So love is the first key because.
[00:10:39] If you imagine that your body is your best friend, then it wouldn't betray you. It wouldn't do something to you that was, you know, wrong. So if this happened, why did it, you know, what is the root of that condition? And. And so that's where I start is thinking about your body as your best friend, thinking [00:11:00] about love as the most powerful healing force in the universe.
[00:11:04] And thinking about what would you do if your body was your best friend? How would you look at things? Did you have a question? I saw you move your mouth.
[00:11:15] Julie Michelson: I my, my dog was trying to chime in
[00:11:18] It is, it is. I. You know, this is how and why we do what we do, right? This is I've experienced the exact same and then see the pattern and everybody else. And so that is I it's such an essential first step to integrate again. And how can we expect our body to heal if we're thinking it's our enemy or we're betrayed by it.
[00:11:41] So Yeah, I could not, I will shout it from the rooftops. take step one, everybody. It's it's essential.
[00:11:50] Shiroko Sokitch: Yeah. So, and then the second key is the physical balance, which is what I have done for the, the whole of my career, which is, you know, [00:12:00] finding finding how to heal the physical body. And so from my, again, blending of Chinese medicine for so many years, and the thing about mysterious illnesses or illnesses that people don't understand or, or.
[00:12:14] They may have a diagnosis like you did, but there's not really an answer that solves the problem. Right? So the first element that I work with is what I call the triangle of wellness, which is a hormones nervous system and immune system. Quite often, when you get a chronic or ongoing difficult health situation, it's these systems have gone offline for some reason.
[00:12:39] And You know, again, I see people who either don't have a diagnosis or who feel crummy and have been told to take an antidepressant or whatever, you know, like long term uncomfortable. Maybe they have a diagnosis, like what, what you did, but no answer really except take these drugs to suppress your immune system.
[00:12:58] So in Chinese medicine, it's [00:13:00] very important to. Your body imbalance. And so that's where I start. I start with finding how to get your body. I balance hormones and nervous system immune system. What does it take to get that functioning? Because once you have those systems working, then your body can do anything you can heal.
[00:13:22] Julie Michelson: Yes. Say it again.
[00:13:24] Shiroko Sokitch: once you have those systems working, the hormones, your nervous system and your immune system. Then your body has the tools that it needs in order to heal. And then from there with physical balance, we also look for the root cause. If we can find it, sometimes we can't and again, in Chinese medicine, the books are thousands of years old.
[00:13:46] They talk about the infectious diseases and how they can get into your body and never, and, and descend through your energy layers. And we don't know what they are back 5,000 years ago. They didn't know, viruses [00:14:00] versus bacteria or parasites. They just knew something got in there and it was going through the system.
[00:14:05] And, and so I believe that that's still true. There are probably way more viruses than we know how to diagnose way more infections and, and traumas and things like that, that we, then we know how to diagnose. And so looking for the root cause may not always happen. Although, you know, there's a lot more science now than when I first started doing what I do, but we can still. Heal the body by using this triangle of wellness, then the third key is learning or finding your own unique lifestyle. And the third and the fourth key sort of bounce back and forth. The fourth key is learning to listen to your body and in Chinese medicine there, the way the organs work and how they And how they function is different than Western medicine, but it's a great tool for [00:15:00] listening to your own body.
[00:15:00] Because for example, the liver does more than just what we know the liver to do in Western medicine. And I've always used both definitions. How the liver works in Western medicine is it helps you detox. It helps clean out systems, but also helps spread nutrients, right? In Chinese medicine, it regulates the smooth flow of energy in your whole body.
[00:15:22] Meaning. That you know, the tension that you feel in your body and the, the tightness in your shoulders and things like that. It also regulates menstrual cycles. So it's very prevalent for women. So like PMs and difficult health, things like that. It also regulates the ligaments and tendons and your eyes.
[00:15:38] So looking through your eyes and how you see things and what happens with your eyes, all connected to liver imbalance and So, if you understood all that, then when you started having symptoms, you could look at your body and go, Hmm. Some of these symptoms fit with, with what might be going on with me.
[00:15:58] Right. And so that helps you [00:16:00] listen. And then lifestyle is, you know, there's a million ways to eat a million ways to exercise a million ways to do things. And how do you find those right things? And so the chapter on li on finding your right lifestyle, Talks about reducing the noise and starting to get to a place where you can hear what your body wants, and then you bounce back and forth between listening and finding that lifestyle.
[00:16:26] And then the fifth key is emotions and in Chinese medicine, again, my favorite thing every organ has an emotional and a spiritual function. And the emotional function of, of the liver is anger and the liver and its its spiritual function is that space between your physical body and your higher self, the heart rules, your higher self, your physical body is ruled by your immune system and your lungs, which is also very interesting.
[00:16:53] And I could go on for hours, as you can tell. But, but knowing which emotion [00:17:00] fits with which organ, then you can start to kind of think, oh, okay. How do I deal with this? And what do I do with my emotions and everything. Every physical condition, even if you just sprained your ankle yesterday is connected to an emotion. And again, this is why I love Chinese medicine and it has been my own personal experience with my own body, but it has also been my experience, especially with people of difficult health issues that have gone on for a long time. There's emotion tied up in there. And so that chapter talks about how to deal with it, but also how to understand it and what to do.
[00:17:39] So, and then the, the sixth key is the hero's journey. And in my experience, when we get a physical challenge, we're used to having challenges in our lives. And movies are always dealing with challenges in our lives. We look for, you know, maybe there's a difficult coworker or some challenge in your job [00:18:00] where you have to rise up to be able to, to change yourself.
[00:18:03] We don't think of our bodies like that. We think our bodies should be like cars. They should just work. They shouldn't less a hard time. They should just do what we want. And then we get angry when they don't. But, but I believe that our bodies are our best tool for our spiritual. And so the hero's journey is when you get a challenge from your body of what to do with yourself and how to heal and, and going through a difficult health issue, you're being called to do something new, to live in a new way to change something in your life.
[00:18:39] Your body is not your enemy. Therefore, maybe this is your hero's journey of figuring out how to heal.
[00:18:46] Julie Michelson: Wow.
[00:18:48] Shiroko Sokitch: And then the seventh key is to trust the process cuz so many of my patients come to me and they go to 7, 10, 12, 50 doctors or different healers. They've gone through so much and it's [00:19:00] difficult. And to trust that that process is leading them somewhere and. Again, I've lived this myself. , I've lived this whole book, but also, but also have lived it with my clients and, and finding, you know, okay.
[00:19:19] So you went to this person who gave you this, or you went to another person and you had three surgeries and then that removed some organs. And how did that lead to, you know, so like what does it take to overcome all of. Challenges and come to a place where you trust that your life is leading you, where you wanna go.
[00:19:37] You're such a great story for that. Having done what you've done for your own healing, right. With your rheumatoid arthritis. And so you've discovered this all on your own. Congratulations.
[00:19:48] Julie Michelson: Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you. But it, it was it, it took, I mean, it took years, year, decades. You know which is why I do what I do so that it doesn't take somebody [00:20:00] decades. And so that nobody, that my ultimate goal one day is that nobody ever believed, well, no one's ever even told, you know, you won't, you can't heal from this because it's not true.
[00:20:13] But every single. Key to healing. I mean, it it's, it all is it's it's accurate. Everybody get the book read it's. But so beautifully put and I, I do, I have a, I have very, I have no education, but, but enough experience with Chinese medicine and ancient Eastern medicine to Know how amazing. I mean, when you think of how old this knowledge is, and it's like, you know, it's, it seems so new, right?
[00:20:51] They it's, it's not new , it's old. And how do they know all of this back then? It is amazing. And, and again, I, my [00:21:00] goal, I would love if one day that, you know, that was part of medical, like it just, medicine was just medicine and it wasn't. So, so divided and more practitioners were doing what you're doing by bringing it together before we dig in, because, you know, and I wanted, I wanna talk about love because I am so with you, that, that, that first key is, is essential.
[00:21:23] But I, I wanna touch on this, the, you know, idea that. Of emotion, cuz I, I can imagine. And, and again, this is, we all just put ourselves in, right. I'm thinking of myself 15, 20 years ago. And I would've been like, even if I knew I had issues that tied to like symptom physical symptoms that tied to liver say I, you know, and then you mentioned, well, that emotion is anger and I, I would've been like, no, that's not. I'm guessing when you're talking about that, that [00:22:00] these could be stuffed emotions that aren't being doesn't mean you're walking around as an, as an anger ball outwardly. Although some people do. I just wanted to touch on that for listeners that, that, you know, it can be I'm, I'm guessing stuck emotion as well as
[00:22:20] Shiroko Sokitch: Right. So we are all very emotional beings and things happen in our childhoods quite often, where we're sort of trained not to.
[00:22:30] Julie Michelson: Yep.
[00:22:30] Shiroko Sokitch: To emote, right? So a baby screaming and crying about something. You wanna shut that baby up as fast as possible. Right. And, and because first of all, you're not getting any sleep.
[00:22:40] And second of all, you don't understand why that baby's crying. you can kind of think about your body in the same way you like, we don't understand why our body's crying, why it's screaming, what, like what, why is it doing that? But also. There's emotion behind that. And we're taught [00:23:00] to shut those things down, to shut them down so that we don't have cause discomfort for other people so that we don't, you know, and, and nobody teaches children how to have the emotion or not.
[00:23:12] I mean, people are more enlightened today than they used to be, but still we
[00:23:16] Julie Michelson: nobody taught us.
[00:23:18] Shiroko Sokitch: to. how to deal with anger and how to deal with pain and how to deal with sadness. Nobody helped me deal when my great-grandmother died,
[00:23:28] Julie Michelson: yeah.
[00:23:29] Shiroko Sokitch: nobody talked to me about it. Nobody said anything to me about it.
[00:23:31] I just, she just disappeared from my life one day, same with my dad. They disappeared from my life. Never saw them again. What does that mean to a child? Right. And then you have that, that stays inside cuz you don't even know that it's there. Right? So.
[00:23:46] Julie Michelson: that was, thank you. That's exactly what I wanted to get to is, you know, and it, but it, the, I love this idea of it. It gives you this kind of specific. Kind of [00:24:00] roadmap of like where to look, you know which I think is, is amazing. I wish, I wish I had, I wish I had your book 15 years ago. I really do so let's talk about the power of love and, and and the, and the magic of.
[00:24:20] Shiroko Sokitch: Cool. Love to talk about love. So first of all, the heart is the most amazing organ beyond what we know about the heart. So in Chinese medicine, we say the, the spirit is the, she, which is the spirit is stored in the heart. There's the, and. I could go on and on. And I know we don't have much time, but the heart actually produces certain chemicals that help us and, and the heart sends more signals to the brain than the brain sends to the heart.
[00:24:50] So that's important to know because literally the
[00:24:53] Julie Michelson: I know, we all think that our brain is in charge of everything. Yeah.
[00:24:58] Shiroko Sokitch: exactly. Yeah. [00:25:00] The heart literally runs the show. And in Chinese medicine it's called the emperor because it rules all of the emotions. Not just so each individual organ has specific emotions, but the heart is the emperor. It oversees everything and it sits in the center of your body, which we call the chest.
[00:25:18] And so there's so many things about it that are amazing, but the, the. Specific thing is that it produces oxytocin and oxytocin is the hormone of love. And you get oxytocin when you hug someone when you laugh, when you're happy, when you have a baby, when you fall in love, like oxytocin is, is a specific hormone and it counteracts cortisol, which is the hormone of fear. And it, so when you have love, you have cortisol, I mean, sorry, oxytocin and you can counter that, that stress hormone, the, the cortisol. So there's a [00:26:00] physiological reason that love is important is my point. There's a ton of science. There's science that show like the, the heart math Institute has been in practice for as long as I have.
[00:26:15] And they have done so much research things like when you direct love and a strand of DNA, you can alter the DNA, you know? So like,
[00:26:25] Julie Michelson: right?
[00:26:25] Shiroko Sokitch: Talk about powerful, right? There's stories of people, you know, not just stories, but research that shows that prayer, which is to me, directed love
[00:26:35] Julie Michelson: sure.
[00:26:36] Shiroko Sokitch: that's that you can send across the world, that it can change something for a human, for one person or for a group of people.
[00:26:45] So, so that's just some of the science behind love. And then there's the, just knowing like so many people that, that are patients of mine or clients of mine who have felt unloved in their lives. [00:27:00] And then you can see that the trace of that through their health.
[00:27:05] Julie Michelson: Guess.
[00:27:07] Shiroko Sokitch: So I wanna give you a, how do I how do you build love?
[00:27:12] Right. So I want you to be able to leave with something so that you can really use this information. So, so how do you build love when you feel desperately miserable and you don't feel good? So first of all, start thinking about love and where is love in your life. So like, Is there a food that you love to eat?
[00:27:34] Is there a person that you love to spend time with? Are there people that you, you know, you've dedicated your life to yourself and have you let them know how much you love them? In the last few days, you know, a lot of husbands and wives lived together for a long time and, and. And over time, you get into certain habits where you start to take someone for granted and I've been married.
[00:27:57] I know this as I've done it myself. [00:28:00] And you don't wanna take anybody that you love for granted ever. You know, we're sometimes the meanest to the people that we love the most. Try not to do that. Try to bring love to every part of your life, as much as you can. And if you can't bring love to yourself,
[00:28:16] Julie Michelson: Hm,
[00:28:17] Shiroko Sokitch: bring it to the people that you love.
[00:28:19] Or even if you don't have a person that you love, let's say you have a dog or a cat or a flower. I love flowers and you see 'em back there. these are my paintings actually. And this is how I express some of my love is to paint or used to, you know, especially at the beginning of COVID I, I started painting and, and so to bring love in any way that you can to your life, if you give love to something or someone else. You will feel more love. It's this [00:29:00] beautiful boomerang, or even if you can't love yourself and you're mad at your body and you can't stand, whatever is happening in your body. Give some love to somebody.
[00:29:10] Julie Michelson: Yes.
[00:29:11] Shiroko Sokitch: Even if it's a stranger in the grocery store, sometimes I'll just stand in the grocery store line and I'll buy the checker a, a chocolate, you know, here, this is for you.
[00:29:21] just like something to give love to somebody or something else, and you will start to feel better.
[00:29:31] Julie Michelson: Yes.
[00:29:32] Shiroko Sokitch: is, to me, one of the most powerful things about love.
[00:29:36] Julie Michelson: It is amazing. And I often start there with my clients. So often, you know, this idea of love yourself, you know, they, they may get it in their head, but the they're so far away from that in the beginning. And so when we are doing exercises to get in touch with that, that's. That's where we start, especially, you know, moms.
[00:29:56] I mean, it's easy to, to say, okay,
[00:29:59] Shiroko Sokitch: Yeah.
[00:29:59] Julie Michelson: you [00:30:00] know, feel the love you feel for your child and we're working on then you're, you know, getting you to where you can feel that for yourself. But it is, it sounds like a greeting card, but it is so true. I mean, the more love you give, the more you get back not transactionally exponentially, you know?
[00:30:15] And so that is, that is key. So key.
[00:30:20] Shiroko Sokitch: Yeah.
[00:30:21] Julie Michelson: oh my gosh. We could talk for hours and hours and hours on each one on each one of these. And I, I wanna cuz I'm just so naughty when it comes to holding time. I also wanna touch on, I love people ask me all the time and I'm sure you get this. Just tell me what to do.
[00:30:42] Like give me . You know the outline and I'll follow the steps and I'll do it. And so I, I love the fact that, you know, your six and seven play with each other because I do believe as well, that that part of how we [00:31:00] end up so sick is because we're not listening to our bodies where we can't hear it. We're not understanding that the symptoms are information.
[00:31:10] And, and, and but also there's no one right way for anybody to eat or live or do. And even once we think we have it down, like you said, we're always changing. We're not cars. And so it could be like, I have this diet that's working for me. Great. And my exercise routine that I love, I. Feel a little off, I feel like maybe I better not push my body so hard.
[00:31:38] And maybe instead of my hit training, I need to do a gentle yoga today or and so I, I just wanted to highlight this. We are all unique. We all have different paths that got us to where we are and, and therefore there's no one single solution.
[00:31:57] Shiroko Sokitch: Right and healing when it [00:32:00] occurs. So you may have a diet that's very, very strict at one point of your healing path. And then you might be able to ease up on that over time as your digestion heals as your body heals, as you get healthier. Certainly that has happened for me over time and, and same with exercise.
[00:32:19] I cannot do kickboxing anymore.
[00:32:22] Julie Michelson: right? Yeah.
[00:32:23] Shiroko Sokitch: used to Kickbox and get that anger out on that, you know, whatever. But, but now I do more gentle yoga and I do walking and hiking and. Kickboxing is not in my routine anymore, although I still love to dance. And so I can get up in the dancing world and, and have fun with that.
[00:32:44] So, and, and knowing or discovering that can be so much fun.
[00:32:52] Julie Michelson: It can be fun and it, and it leads us to activities. You know, things we may not have thought about doing [00:33:00] or, and sometimes it's revisiting, like I used to have a really dedicated yoga routine. And then as I got better and better, I started doing other. Higher intensity or just different, you know, life shifts, different things.
[00:33:15] And now I'm, I'm really excited to be revisiting my yoga routine. I'm like, I, and I've always known like, oh, I love yoga, but it's like, oh, this is great. And so a again, there's no, you can't just pick up, do take one chapter. . And, and have that be the end all be y'all. But I, I cannot encourage listeners enough to, to get the book.
[00:33:42] And but if they, I, I love that if you do one thing, work on giving, giving love, it, that's so much easier than even just all the way at the, at the step of turning it towards yourself. Cuz that that takes. [00:34:00] Takes time
[00:34:02] Shiroko Sokitch: right, right. Yeah.
[00:34:04] Julie Michelson: takes time
[00:34:05] Shiroko Sokitch: Moms are particularly good at this. Although they forget it, honestly, you know, like, cuz there's this whole telling your kids what to do and, and regulating their lives and whatever, but ringy, when you boil it down to what's happening, think about the love,
[00:34:22] Julie Michelson: yeah.
[00:34:23] Shiroko Sokitch: you know, the dedicated love that you have for your child and how much, what you would do for.
[00:34:31] And, and come from that place of how much you love that person, you know? And, and, and then, and then use that to one guide your life. You know, that's a different way to, to approach life altogether.
[00:34:48] Julie Michelson: it's a, it's a beautiful, healthy, Incredibly magical way to approach life and it it's healing, which is the whole point. It, it really is [00:35:00] healing. And I, I love that you gave us some of the science behind it. I I've experienced it. You know, and, and it's kind of a running joke. The. I know I have experienced the in, in my family and in my relationship, you know, everybody watched how healing, the deep love relationship was for me.
[00:35:21] And it it's then makes it undeniable, you know? And it's like, well, how, how do you prescribe that? And I guess you found a way to do it. that's fantastic.
[00:35:34] Shiroko Sokitch: Yeah. You know, I have one little story. If you have a minute,
[00:35:37] Julie Michelson: I do.
[00:35:38] Shiroko Sokitch: I, I have a patient who was in her late sixties, who she had diabetes and she had various other health issues. And she always used to come in and see me and, and lots of complaining, lots of unhappiness, lots of discomfort in her body all the time.
[00:35:54] And then she fell in love. And like, she got the gift of falling in love in her late [00:36:00] sixties, right. With a man. And she, her whole life changed, like just being in love. The, the blood sugar issues got better. The, her weight fell off her, her physical symptoms, a lot of which she had like the neuropathy and various aches and pains and, and blood pressure issues.
[00:36:21] All of it went away because she fell in.
[00:36:24] Julie Michelson: I believe it
[00:36:26] Shiroko Sokitch: Yeah.
[00:36:27] Julie Michelson: Yeah.
[00:36:27] Shiroko Sokitch: And, and, you know, that's a, that's a remarkable thing, but when you, like, if you could fall in love with your own life in that way, and you know, sadly it's harder to do that. But if you could then think of what's possible with that oxytocin causing through your veins.
[00:36:47] Julie Michelson: It is it's, it's amazing. It really is. I had, my neck was hurting the other day and, and it's, it's interesting. And my guy also has a, has a, we both have in [00:37:00] congenitally. Fused vertebrae in our neck. And once in a while they'll act up and we both were, we had just come off a long road trip, which was probably why they, we were both a little aggravated and, and, but, and we're so in tune and aware, You know, like one good hug and it's like, oh, my neck doesn't hurt anymore.
[00:37:22] Thank you. , you know, thank you for fixing that. And so yes, it is remarkable when you, I got to experience the latent life love starting in my fifties. And, and it is, it is remarkable, but like you said, it doesn't have to be a romantic love. It can just be this heightened awareness of. And you can't show too much.
[00:37:47] Love. Like we have this story that, you know, people don't wanna hear you say, I love you all the time, or it's not true, but like, no, nobody says, Ugh, like keep your love to [00:38:00] yourself. Right. I'm sure nobody has said, you know, how dare you buy me a chocolate bar or, you know, I, one of my favorite things to do is, is, you know, on the rare occasion that I go through, like a drive through coffee place, I always just pick up the tab for the guy behind me or the people.
[00:38:20] The last one, it was this older couple in a pickup truck. They were so cute. I, I don't even get to see. The react I'm gone by the time they know somebody, but someone did that for me once I remember how it feels, you know, you just, it's connecting with, with humans, with flowers, animals, nature, the universe.
[00:38:41] And that's where the healing is.
[00:38:43] Shiroko Sokitch: right. Wonderful. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:38:48] Julie Michelson: I, so I, I, I always ask you already gave it to us. But now it's your opportunity. If you wanna choose another one or we can when circle back and, and, and the how to, because my [00:39:00] ending question is always, what is that one step? And so we can even just highlight it again if you want. Or like I said, sometimes people like to sneak another one in there that, that people can do today.
[00:39:12] You know, other than I'm telling you guys get the book . But, but in addition to that, you know, that, that one thing.
[00:39:20] Shiroko Sokitch: Yeah, well, focusing on love. Again is if you cannot find any way to calm your body down, give yourself a hug. So, like you said with your partner, you gave each other a hug and your neck felt better. Well, there is actually science that proves that if you take your hands and you put them in the upper part of your arms, you take both hands and cross.
[00:39:46] Over your chest and, and hug and give yourself a hug basically, but touching the upper part of your arms. And there's some acupuncture points there. They're called the window of the sky points.
[00:39:56] So if you're holding your arms you know one hand on [00:40:00] each shoulder, crossing your arms and then taking a few deep breaths, doesn't even have to be a minute. First of all deep breathing, relaxes your body. And then this position of holding your hands actually releases anxiety.
[00:40:15] So it's a great way to release some anxiety and to calm your body down. And of course, it's a loving act for yourself. And you don't even have to have any good thoughts. You can just hold your arm, you know, just give yourself that hug and take some deep breaths and it will, it will produce some of that oxytocin and it'll help calm your nervous system.
[00:40:40] Julie Michelson: I love that. I. Just love that practice period. like, you know, for, for all of us, like why not do that? And I love the fact that it can it's, there's got this purely physical basis to it too, so we don't need to get our head in a [00:41:00] certain place or our heart in a certain place. It'll help do that for us.
[00:41:05] Shiroko Sokitch: Right.
[00:41:06] Julie Michelson: amazing.
[00:41:06] See, I knew you were gonna come up with another tip. I just had had a feeling there
[00:41:12] Shiroko Sokitch: Yeah, exactly.
[00:41:14] Julie Michelson: for listeners that like I do listen on the go and may not dig into the show notes to grab all the links. Where's the, the best place for them to find you.
[00:41:27] Shiroko Sokitch: So my website is hearttoheartmedicalcenter.com. My book is there all my information is there
[00:41:34] Julie Michelson: And I cannot encourage listeners enough to do that. I thank you so so much you have shared. Amazing gold with us today
[00:41:47] Shiroko Sokitch: Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to have been here.
[00:41:50] Julie Michelson: for everyone listening. Remember you can get the show notes and transcripts by visiting inspired living.show. I hope you had a great time and enjoyed this [00:42:00] episode as much as I did. I will see you all next week.
[00:01:03] We're talking about the healing power of love and how you can take steps today to start to tap into that magic.
[00:01:12] Dr. Shiroko welcome to the podcast.
[00:01:15] Shiroko Sokitch: Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to be talking to you today.
[00:01:18] Julie Michelson: We're excited to have you here. I always love to start with, you know, how did you get to be doing what you're doing? I cheated. I asked you a little bit before I hit record. But I would love if you chair some of your journey with us.
[00:01:33] Shiroko Sokitch: Sure. I'll try to make it short.
[00:01:36] Julie Michelson: Yeah
[00:01:36] Shiroko Sokitch: you know, it all kind of started when I was five years old that my great-grandmother was my very best friend in the world. And she was the person, my mom was a single mom and she was working and and my grandma was busy with her own business and we lived right next door to my great-grandmother.
[00:01:54] And so she would take care of me during the. And one day I was hanging out with her. It was in, [00:02:00] in the evening. And suddenly she collapsed and I couldn't get her up. So I ran over and got my grandma and my mom and they called the ambulance and they took her away. And I lived in Germany at the time and, and they didn't take kids to the hospital.
[00:02:15] So I never got to see her again. And one day, a few days later, my mom came and told me that her heart had stopped beating and that I would never see her again. And that was devastating to me because I already had lost my dad. He had left and I never saw him again as a child. And so I was like, wait, what does that mean?
[00:02:37] And I started trying to imagine. Like first there's the, the, you know, disbelief and devastation, but then there was this like, well, how can I solve this problem? You know? So I started immediately thinking of, well, what could I do to, to change that situation? So I started imagining a heart. Machine that would make her heart start [00:03:00] beating again so that she would come back to me.
[00:03:02] And that was kind of the day that I decided to become a doctor and I've basically spent my whole life wanting to be a doctor. And then once I finally got to medical school, the first time that I got to save a life was when we had a patient come in with a gunshot wound and I was in the ER. As a third year medical student and, and they brought in this patient who had a gunshot wound and I got to go and we literally, we saved his life in a moment and it was so thrilling.
[00:03:29] So I was like, okay, surgery's the specialty for me, obviously. So I went into surgery and then, and then of course, you know, when you've heard of the, the. That time in your late twenties, where you start questioning your life. And so of course, everything coincided. I achieved my lifelong goal, becoming a doctor and, and.
[00:03:53] Here I am doing a surgical residency. And then I started questioning things because patients [00:04:00] surgery didn't always save their lives one and two, they, they still didn't feel well. And I didn't feel well with various things in my life story. And so I was like, what's going on? What, why am I doing this? If I'm not saving people in the way that I wanted to be saving them.
[00:04:17] And so I took a month off for my residency. And and during that month off, I got sick and I was laying in bed with, so I had a mystery illness and, and I was laying in bed and my mom was the kind of person that she would just leave me alone. She didn't que she didn't believe in medicine so I, a little bit of an odd duck for her, I think.
[00:04:37] And during the night, one night I had this dream. If you stay in surgery, you will die. And it was this like what, what, and I didn. I was like, I was used to those kinds of experiences, you know? So like if, if I heard a little voice in my head like that, I would listen to it. So I did, I listened to it. [00:05:00] And I decided at the end of my second year residency that I was gonna leave, but I didn't know what else to do,
[00:05:07] Julie Michelson: Wow.
[00:05:08] Shiroko Sokitch: then somewhere in the.
[00:05:10] In one of my rotations, I was working in the ICU at one of the county hospital in Seattle. Somebody gave me this book called the web that has no Weaver. And I read it and I just fell in love with a concept. And it's about Chinese medicine. I'd never even heard of Chinese medicine before that.
[00:05:30] And, but it was. It was about doing acupuncture and about how the, the magic of energy and the idea of energy and healing and all of this stuff. And, and, you know, it's many years later now, and I still am in love with Chinese medicine. So I decided right then I, I met a guy in my, during my rotations in the hospital who was a respiratory therapist who had just finished acupuncture school.
[00:05:56] And he kind of became my mentor, cuz he was a few years ahead of [00:06:00] me and he, he had a great connection with Chinese medicine too. So I started studying Chinese medicine. I left my residency at the end of my second year and went to work in the ER. So I had this training, you know, as a young physician, I was doing ER, at the same time that I was studying Chinese medicine.
[00:06:17] So I evolved
[00:06:19] Julie Michelson: Mm-hmm
[00:06:19] Shiroko Sokitch: a way that maybe not a lot of people do, cuz both of them are integral to how I work. And so, and so at the end of my training in Chinese medicine, I began to dream of having a center where you, where we're both Western and Eastern medicine were blended. So that's how I got to pretty much where I am today.
[00:06:41] There's more, but , but that's a quick version.
[00:06:45] Julie Michelson: That's that's amazing. And that's my, I, I just, you know, the, the blend of the two is the answer. It is totally the answer for anybody who's experienced, you know, mystery illness, [00:07:00] chronic illness. And I say all the time is people that are listeners are familiar with my story. And one might think I'm, you know, anti-Western medicine.
[00:07:11] I'm absolutely not. It just wasn't the answer for, you know, they didn't didn't there was never the question of why, why do you have RA, why do you have one after another autoimmune condition? And so this blend is. The key and I hope the future for everybody. And so I know that, you know, your patients and clients are blessed to have you bringing that to the world.
[00:07:38] And then that's amazing. Talk about commitment and faith. To listen to the voice and leave. I mean, I know what it takes to get to your second year residency. And so that is unbelievable that you were strong enough to just listen and follow. So yeah. Amazing. Amazing.
[00:07:59] Shiroko Sokitch: that was [00:08:00] in the eighties and I was the only doctor in the state of Washington studying Chinese medicine at the time.
[00:08:06] Julie Michelson: Wow.
[00:08:07] Shiroko Sokitch: so yeah, that was, it was at that time, even more of a. Thing. All my friends were like, is it like being a voodoo doll? And
[00:08:15] Julie Michelson: you? Yeah. Are
[00:08:17] Shiroko Sokitch: So,
[00:08:19] Julie Michelson: you crazy? I'm sure there was a lot of that. A lot of questioning So your specialty is healing when it seems impossible, which is why I wanted to have you on the podcast, because I remember when I thought. Just even for my own self, that healing was impossible. You know, a, I was told that and then unfortunately believed it for, for a long time.
[00:08:49] So I know you have seven keys to healing. And I know we only have a short time together and so share those with us and then we're gonna dig [00:09:00] into to some particular ones.
[00:09:03] Shiroko Sokitch: Cool. Okay. So that's all based. On my many years of experience, I've been in practice in my own clinic for almost 30 years.
[00:09:11] Julie Michelson: And she looks, she looks like she's 30 for anyone. Who's just listening and not watching so there's, there's something to it. That's all I can say.
[00:09:22] Shiroko Sokitch: Thank you. Oh my goodness. But anyway, so it it's based on, so there are many, of course there's this parallel of my own life versus the practice that I've had over the years. And it evolved in helping people with difficult health issues and very much blended with Chinese and Western medicine. So the first key is love and the I, and. And and it comes out of the several experiences that I had personally, but also out of the, because when you feel ill and you're not feeling well in your body, you will usually feel betrayed. [00:10:00] You usually feel angry and frustrated and upset. And why did your body do this? And especially for many people who have chronic conditions, they sort of start all of a sudden, you know, or it appears like they started all of a sudden and you don't, maybe haven't noticed.
[00:10:16] The progression over time, as, as things were getting worse. And many people that I've seen are functional, highly functional people who ha who have done everything and are really good at what they do. And, and then suddenly not able to do anything. And so so they feel betrayed. So love is the first key because.
[00:10:39] If you imagine that your body is your best friend, then it wouldn't betray you. It wouldn't do something to you that was, you know, wrong. So if this happened, why did it, you know, what is the root of that condition? And. And so that's where I start is thinking about your body as your best friend, thinking [00:11:00] about love as the most powerful healing force in the universe.
[00:11:04] And thinking about what would you do if your body was your best friend? How would you look at things? Did you have a question? I saw you move your mouth.
[00:11:15] Julie Michelson: I my, my dog was trying to chime in
[00:11:18] It is, it is. I. You know, this is how and why we do what we do, right? This is I've experienced the exact same and then see the pattern and everybody else. And so that is I it's such an essential first step to integrate again. And how can we expect our body to heal if we're thinking it's our enemy or we're betrayed by it.
[00:11:41] So Yeah, I could not, I will shout it from the rooftops. take step one, everybody. It's it's essential.
[00:11:50] Shiroko Sokitch: Yeah. So, and then the second key is the physical balance, which is what I have done for the, the whole of my career, which is, you know, [00:12:00] finding finding how to heal the physical body. And so from my, again, blending of Chinese medicine for so many years, and the thing about mysterious illnesses or illnesses that people don't understand or, or.
[00:12:14] They may have a diagnosis like you did, but there's not really an answer that solves the problem. Right? So the first element that I work with is what I call the triangle of wellness, which is a hormones nervous system and immune system. Quite often, when you get a chronic or ongoing difficult health situation, it's these systems have gone offline for some reason.
[00:12:39] And You know, again, I see people who either don't have a diagnosis or who feel crummy and have been told to take an antidepressant or whatever, you know, like long term uncomfortable. Maybe they have a diagnosis, like what, what you did, but no answer really except take these drugs to suppress your immune system.
[00:12:58] So in Chinese medicine, it's [00:13:00] very important to. Your body imbalance. And so that's where I start. I start with finding how to get your body. I balance hormones and nervous system immune system. What does it take to get that functioning? Because once you have those systems working, then your body can do anything you can heal.
[00:13:22] Julie Michelson: Yes. Say it again.
[00:13:24] Shiroko Sokitch: once you have those systems working, the hormones, your nervous system and your immune system. Then your body has the tools that it needs in order to heal. And then from there with physical balance, we also look for the root cause. If we can find it, sometimes we can't and again, in Chinese medicine, the books are thousands of years old.
[00:13:46] They talk about the infectious diseases and how they can get into your body and never, and, and descend through your energy layers. And we don't know what they are back 5,000 years ago. They didn't know, viruses [00:14:00] versus bacteria or parasites. They just knew something got in there and it was going through the system.
[00:14:05] And, and so I believe that that's still true. There are probably way more viruses than we know how to diagnose way more infections and, and traumas and things like that, that we, then we know how to diagnose. And so looking for the root cause may not always happen. Although, you know, there's a lot more science now than when I first started doing what I do, but we can still. Heal the body by using this triangle of wellness, then the third key is learning or finding your own unique lifestyle. And the third and the fourth key sort of bounce back and forth. The fourth key is learning to listen to your body and in Chinese medicine there, the way the organs work and how they And how they function is different than Western medicine, but it's a great tool for [00:15:00] listening to your own body.
[00:15:00] Because for example, the liver does more than just what we know the liver to do in Western medicine. And I've always used both definitions. How the liver works in Western medicine is it helps you detox. It helps clean out systems, but also helps spread nutrients, right? In Chinese medicine, it regulates the smooth flow of energy in your whole body.
[00:15:22] Meaning. That you know, the tension that you feel in your body and the, the tightness in your shoulders and things like that. It also regulates menstrual cycles. So it's very prevalent for women. So like PMs and difficult health, things like that. It also regulates the ligaments and tendons and your eyes.
[00:15:38] So looking through your eyes and how you see things and what happens with your eyes, all connected to liver imbalance and So, if you understood all that, then when you started having symptoms, you could look at your body and go, Hmm. Some of these symptoms fit with, with what might be going on with me.
[00:15:58] Right. And so that helps you [00:16:00] listen. And then lifestyle is, you know, there's a million ways to eat a million ways to exercise a million ways to do things. And how do you find those right things? And so the chapter on li on finding your right lifestyle, Talks about reducing the noise and starting to get to a place where you can hear what your body wants, and then you bounce back and forth between listening and finding that lifestyle.
[00:16:26] And then the fifth key is emotions and in Chinese medicine, again, my favorite thing every organ has an emotional and a spiritual function. And the emotional function of, of the liver is anger and the liver and its its spiritual function is that space between your physical body and your higher self, the heart rules, your higher self, your physical body is ruled by your immune system and your lungs, which is also very interesting.
[00:16:53] And I could go on for hours, as you can tell. But, but knowing which emotion [00:17:00] fits with which organ, then you can start to kind of think, oh, okay. How do I deal with this? And what do I do with my emotions and everything. Every physical condition, even if you just sprained your ankle yesterday is connected to an emotion. And again, this is why I love Chinese medicine and it has been my own personal experience with my own body, but it has also been my experience, especially with people of difficult health issues that have gone on for a long time. There's emotion tied up in there. And so that chapter talks about how to deal with it, but also how to understand it and what to do.
[00:17:39] So, and then the, the sixth key is the hero's journey. And in my experience, when we get a physical challenge, we're used to having challenges in our lives. And movies are always dealing with challenges in our lives. We look for, you know, maybe there's a difficult coworker or some challenge in your job [00:18:00] where you have to rise up to be able to, to change yourself.
[00:18:03] We don't think of our bodies like that. We think our bodies should be like cars. They should just work. They shouldn't less a hard time. They should just do what we want. And then we get angry when they don't. But, but I believe that our bodies are our best tool for our spiritual. And so the hero's journey is when you get a challenge from your body of what to do with yourself and how to heal and, and going through a difficult health issue, you're being called to do something new, to live in a new way to change something in your life.
[00:18:39] Your body is not your enemy. Therefore, maybe this is your hero's journey of figuring out how to heal.
[00:18:46] Julie Michelson: Wow.
[00:18:48] Shiroko Sokitch: And then the seventh key is to trust the process cuz so many of my patients come to me and they go to 7, 10, 12, 50 doctors or different healers. They've gone through so much and it's [00:19:00] difficult. And to trust that that process is leading them somewhere and. Again, I've lived this myself. , I've lived this whole book, but also, but also have lived it with my clients and, and finding, you know, okay.
[00:19:19] So you went to this person who gave you this, or you went to another person and you had three surgeries and then that removed some organs. And how did that lead to, you know, so like what does it take to overcome all of. Challenges and come to a place where you trust that your life is leading you, where you wanna go.
[00:19:37] You're such a great story for that. Having done what you've done for your own healing, right. With your rheumatoid arthritis. And so you've discovered this all on your own. Congratulations.
[00:19:48] Julie Michelson: Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you. But it, it was it, it took, I mean, it took years, year, decades. You know which is why I do what I do so that it doesn't take somebody [00:20:00] decades. And so that nobody, that my ultimate goal one day is that nobody ever believed, well, no one's ever even told, you know, you won't, you can't heal from this because it's not true.
[00:20:13] But every single. Key to healing. I mean, it it's, it all is it's it's accurate. Everybody get the book read it's. But so beautifully put and I, I do, I have a, I have very, I have no education, but, but enough experience with Chinese medicine and ancient Eastern medicine to Know how amazing. I mean, when you think of how old this knowledge is, and it's like, you know, it's, it seems so new, right?
[00:20:51] They it's, it's not new , it's old. And how do they know all of this back then? It is amazing. And, and again, I, my [00:21:00] goal, I would love if one day that, you know, that was part of medical, like it just, medicine was just medicine and it wasn't. So, so divided and more practitioners were doing what you're doing by bringing it together before we dig in, because, you know, and I wanted, I wanna talk about love because I am so with you, that, that, that first key is, is essential.
[00:21:23] But I, I wanna touch on this, the, you know, idea that. Of emotion, cuz I, I can imagine. And, and again, this is, we all just put ourselves in, right. I'm thinking of myself 15, 20 years ago. And I would've been like, even if I knew I had issues that tied to like symptom physical symptoms that tied to liver say I, you know, and then you mentioned, well, that emotion is anger and I, I would've been like, no, that's not. I'm guessing when you're talking about that, that [00:22:00] these could be stuffed emotions that aren't being doesn't mean you're walking around as an, as an anger ball outwardly. Although some people do. I just wanted to touch on that for listeners that, that, you know, it can be I'm, I'm guessing stuck emotion as well as
[00:22:20] Shiroko Sokitch: Right. So we are all very emotional beings and things happen in our childhoods quite often, where we're sort of trained not to.
[00:22:30] Julie Michelson: Yep.
[00:22:30] Shiroko Sokitch: To emote, right? So a baby screaming and crying about something. You wanna shut that baby up as fast as possible. Right. And, and because first of all, you're not getting any sleep.
[00:22:40] And second of all, you don't understand why that baby's crying. you can kind of think about your body in the same way you like, we don't understand why our body's crying, why it's screaming, what, like what, why is it doing that? But also. There's emotion behind that. And we're taught [00:23:00] to shut those things down, to shut them down so that we don't have cause discomfort for other people so that we don't, you know, and, and nobody teaches children how to have the emotion or not.
[00:23:12] I mean, people are more enlightened today than they used to be, but still we
[00:23:16] Julie Michelson: nobody taught us.
[00:23:18] Shiroko Sokitch: to. how to deal with anger and how to deal with pain and how to deal with sadness. Nobody helped me deal when my great-grandmother died,
[00:23:28] Julie Michelson: yeah.
[00:23:29] Shiroko Sokitch: nobody talked to me about it. Nobody said anything to me about it.
[00:23:31] I just, she just disappeared from my life one day, same with my dad. They disappeared from my life. Never saw them again. What does that mean to a child? Right. And then you have that, that stays inside cuz you don't even know that it's there. Right? So.
[00:23:46] Julie Michelson: that was, thank you. That's exactly what I wanted to get to is, you know, and it, but it, the, I love this idea of it. It gives you this kind of specific. Kind of [00:24:00] roadmap of like where to look, you know which I think is, is amazing. I wish, I wish I had, I wish I had your book 15 years ago. I really do so let's talk about the power of love and, and and the, and the magic of.
[00:24:20] Shiroko Sokitch: Cool. Love to talk about love. So first of all, the heart is the most amazing organ beyond what we know about the heart. So in Chinese medicine, we say the, the spirit is the, she, which is the spirit is stored in the heart. There's the, and. I could go on and on. And I know we don't have much time, but the heart actually produces certain chemicals that help us and, and the heart sends more signals to the brain than the brain sends to the heart.
[00:24:50] So that's important to know because literally the
[00:24:53] Julie Michelson: I know, we all think that our brain is in charge of everything. Yeah.
[00:24:58] Shiroko Sokitch: exactly. Yeah. [00:25:00] The heart literally runs the show. And in Chinese medicine it's called the emperor because it rules all of the emotions. Not just so each individual organ has specific emotions, but the heart is the emperor. It oversees everything and it sits in the center of your body, which we call the chest.
[00:25:18] And so there's so many things about it that are amazing, but the, the. Specific thing is that it produces oxytocin and oxytocin is the hormone of love. And you get oxytocin when you hug someone when you laugh, when you're happy, when you have a baby, when you fall in love, like oxytocin is, is a specific hormone and it counteracts cortisol, which is the hormone of fear. And it, so when you have love, you have cortisol, I mean, sorry, oxytocin and you can counter that, that stress hormone, the, the cortisol. So there's a [00:26:00] physiological reason that love is important is my point. There's a ton of science. There's science that show like the, the heart math Institute has been in practice for as long as I have.
[00:26:15] And they have done so much research things like when you direct love and a strand of DNA, you can alter the DNA, you know? So like,
[00:26:25] Julie Michelson: right?
[00:26:25] Shiroko Sokitch: Talk about powerful, right? There's stories of people, you know, not just stories, but research that shows that prayer, which is to me, directed love
[00:26:35] Julie Michelson: sure.
[00:26:36] Shiroko Sokitch: that's that you can send across the world, that it can change something for a human, for one person or for a group of people.
[00:26:45] So, so that's just some of the science behind love. And then there's the, just knowing like so many people that, that are patients of mine or clients of mine who have felt unloved in their lives. [00:27:00] And then you can see that the trace of that through their health.
[00:27:05] Julie Michelson: Guess.
[00:27:07] Shiroko Sokitch: So I wanna give you a, how do I how do you build love?
[00:27:12] Right. So I want you to be able to leave with something so that you can really use this information. So, so how do you build love when you feel desperately miserable and you don't feel good? So first of all, start thinking about love and where is love in your life. So like, Is there a food that you love to eat?
[00:27:34] Is there a person that you love to spend time with? Are there people that you, you know, you've dedicated your life to yourself and have you let them know how much you love them? In the last few days, you know, a lot of husbands and wives lived together for a long time and, and. And over time, you get into certain habits where you start to take someone for granted and I've been married.
[00:27:57] I know this as I've done it myself. [00:28:00] And you don't wanna take anybody that you love for granted ever. You know, we're sometimes the meanest to the people that we love the most. Try not to do that. Try to bring love to every part of your life, as much as you can. And if you can't bring love to yourself,
[00:28:16] Julie Michelson: Hm,
[00:28:17] Shiroko Sokitch: bring it to the people that you love.
[00:28:19] Or even if you don't have a person that you love, let's say you have a dog or a cat or a flower. I love flowers and you see 'em back there. these are my paintings actually. And this is how I express some of my love is to paint or used to, you know, especially at the beginning of COVID I, I started painting and, and so to bring love in any way that you can to your life, if you give love to something or someone else. You will feel more love. It's this [00:29:00] beautiful boomerang, or even if you can't love yourself and you're mad at your body and you can't stand, whatever is happening in your body. Give some love to somebody.
[00:29:10] Julie Michelson: Yes.
[00:29:11] Shiroko Sokitch: Even if it's a stranger in the grocery store, sometimes I'll just stand in the grocery store line and I'll buy the checker a, a chocolate, you know, here, this is for you.
[00:29:21] just like something to give love to somebody or something else, and you will start to feel better.
[00:29:31] Julie Michelson: Yes.
[00:29:32] Shiroko Sokitch: is, to me, one of the most powerful things about love.
[00:29:36] Julie Michelson: It is amazing. And I often start there with my clients. So often, you know, this idea of love yourself, you know, they, they may get it in their head, but the they're so far away from that in the beginning. And so when we are doing exercises to get in touch with that, that's. That's where we start, especially, you know, moms.
[00:29:56] I mean, it's easy to, to say, okay,
[00:29:59] Shiroko Sokitch: Yeah.
[00:29:59] Julie Michelson: you [00:30:00] know, feel the love you feel for your child and we're working on then you're, you know, getting you to where you can feel that for yourself. But it is, it sounds like a greeting card, but it is so true. I mean, the more love you give, the more you get back not transactionally exponentially, you know?
[00:30:15] And so that is, that is key. So key.
[00:30:20] Shiroko Sokitch: Yeah.
[00:30:21] Julie Michelson: oh my gosh. We could talk for hours and hours and hours on each one on each one of these. And I, I wanna cuz I'm just so naughty when it comes to holding time. I also wanna touch on, I love people ask me all the time and I'm sure you get this. Just tell me what to do.
[00:30:42] Like give me . You know the outline and I'll follow the steps and I'll do it. And so I, I love the fact that, you know, your six and seven play with each other because I do believe as well, that that part of how we [00:31:00] end up so sick is because we're not listening to our bodies where we can't hear it. We're not understanding that the symptoms are information.
[00:31:10] And, and, and but also there's no one right way for anybody to eat or live or do. And even once we think we have it down, like you said, we're always changing. We're not cars. And so it could be like, I have this diet that's working for me. Great. And my exercise routine that I love, I. Feel a little off, I feel like maybe I better not push my body so hard.
[00:31:38] And maybe instead of my hit training, I need to do a gentle yoga today or and so I, I just wanted to highlight this. We are all unique. We all have different paths that got us to where we are and, and therefore there's no one single solution.
[00:31:57] Shiroko Sokitch: Right and healing when it [00:32:00] occurs. So you may have a diet that's very, very strict at one point of your healing path. And then you might be able to ease up on that over time as your digestion heals as your body heals, as you get healthier. Certainly that has happened for me over time and, and same with exercise.
[00:32:19] I cannot do kickboxing anymore.
[00:32:22] Julie Michelson: right? Yeah.
[00:32:23] Shiroko Sokitch: used to Kickbox and get that anger out on that, you know, whatever. But, but now I do more gentle yoga and I do walking and hiking and. Kickboxing is not in my routine anymore, although I still love to dance. And so I can get up in the dancing world and, and have fun with that.
[00:32:44] So, and, and knowing or discovering that can be so much fun.
[00:32:52] Julie Michelson: It can be fun and it, and it leads us to activities. You know, things we may not have thought about doing [00:33:00] or, and sometimes it's revisiting, like I used to have a really dedicated yoga routine. And then as I got better and better, I started doing other. Higher intensity or just different, you know, life shifts, different things.
[00:33:15] And now I'm, I'm really excited to be revisiting my yoga routine. I'm like, I, and I've always known like, oh, I love yoga, but it's like, oh, this is great. And so a again, there's no, you can't just pick up, do take one chapter. . And, and have that be the end all be y'all. But I, I cannot encourage listeners enough to, to get the book.
[00:33:42] And but if they, I, I love that if you do one thing, work on giving, giving love, it, that's so much easier than even just all the way at the, at the step of turning it towards yourself. Cuz that that takes. [00:34:00] Takes time
[00:34:02] Shiroko Sokitch: right, right. Yeah.
[00:34:04] Julie Michelson: takes time
[00:34:05] Shiroko Sokitch: Moms are particularly good at this. Although they forget it, honestly, you know, like, cuz there's this whole telling your kids what to do and, and regulating their lives and whatever, but ringy, when you boil it down to what's happening, think about the love,
[00:34:22] Julie Michelson: yeah.
[00:34:23] Shiroko Sokitch: you know, the dedicated love that you have for your child and how much, what you would do for.
[00:34:31] And, and come from that place of how much you love that person, you know? And, and, and then, and then use that to one guide your life. You know, that's a different way to, to approach life altogether.
[00:34:48] Julie Michelson: it's a, it's a beautiful, healthy, Incredibly magical way to approach life and it it's healing, which is the whole point. It, it really is [00:35:00] healing. And I, I love that you gave us some of the science behind it. I I've experienced it. You know, and, and it's kind of a running joke. The. I know I have experienced the in, in my family and in my relationship, you know, everybody watched how healing, the deep love relationship was for me.
[00:35:21] And it it's then makes it undeniable, you know? And it's like, well, how, how do you prescribe that? And I guess you found a way to do it. that's fantastic.
[00:35:34] Shiroko Sokitch: Yeah. You know, I have one little story. If you have a minute,
[00:35:37] Julie Michelson: I do.
[00:35:38] Shiroko Sokitch: I, I have a patient who was in her late sixties, who she had diabetes and she had various other health issues. And she always used to come in and see me and, and lots of complaining, lots of unhappiness, lots of discomfort in her body all the time.
[00:35:54] And then she fell in love. And like, she got the gift of falling in love in her late [00:36:00] sixties, right. With a man. And she, her whole life changed, like just being in love. The, the blood sugar issues got better. The, her weight fell off her, her physical symptoms, a lot of which she had like the neuropathy and various aches and pains and, and blood pressure issues.
[00:36:21] All of it went away because she fell in.
[00:36:24] Julie Michelson: I believe it
[00:36:26] Shiroko Sokitch: Yeah.
[00:36:27] Julie Michelson: Yeah.
[00:36:27] Shiroko Sokitch: And, and, you know, that's a, that's a remarkable thing, but when you, like, if you could fall in love with your own life in that way, and you know, sadly it's harder to do that. But if you could then think of what's possible with that oxytocin causing through your veins.
[00:36:47] Julie Michelson: It is it's, it's amazing. It really is. I had, my neck was hurting the other day and, and it's, it's interesting. And my guy also has a, has a, we both have in [00:37:00] congenitally. Fused vertebrae in our neck. And once in a while they'll act up and we both were, we had just come off a long road trip, which was probably why they, we were both a little aggravated and, and, but, and we're so in tune and aware, You know, like one good hug and it's like, oh, my neck doesn't hurt anymore.
[00:37:22] Thank you. , you know, thank you for fixing that. And so yes, it is remarkable when you, I got to experience the latent life love starting in my fifties. And, and it is, it is remarkable, but like you said, it doesn't have to be a romantic love. It can just be this heightened awareness of. And you can't show too much.
[00:37:47] Love. Like we have this story that, you know, people don't wanna hear you say, I love you all the time, or it's not true, but like, no, nobody says, Ugh, like keep your love to [00:38:00] yourself. Right. I'm sure nobody has said, you know, how dare you buy me a chocolate bar or, you know, I, one of my favorite things to do is, is, you know, on the rare occasion that I go through, like a drive through coffee place, I always just pick up the tab for the guy behind me or the people.
[00:38:20] The last one, it was this older couple in a pickup truck. They were so cute. I, I don't even get to see. The react I'm gone by the time they know somebody, but someone did that for me once I remember how it feels, you know, you just, it's connecting with, with humans, with flowers, animals, nature, the universe.
[00:38:41] And that's where the healing is.
[00:38:43] Shiroko Sokitch: right. Wonderful. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:38:48] Julie Michelson: I, so I, I, I always ask you already gave it to us. But now it's your opportunity. If you wanna choose another one or we can when circle back and, and, and the how to, because my [00:39:00] ending question is always, what is that one step? And so we can even just highlight it again if you want. Or like I said, sometimes people like to sneak another one in there that, that people can do today.
[00:39:12] You know, other than I'm telling you guys get the book . But, but in addition to that, you know, that, that one thing.
[00:39:20] Shiroko Sokitch: Yeah, well, focusing on love. Again is if you cannot find any way to calm your body down, give yourself a hug. So, like you said with your partner, you gave each other a hug and your neck felt better. Well, there is actually science that proves that if you take your hands and you put them in the upper part of your arms, you take both hands and cross.
[00:39:46] Over your chest and, and hug and give yourself a hug basically, but touching the upper part of your arms. And there's some acupuncture points there. They're called the window of the sky points.
[00:39:56] So if you're holding your arms you know one hand on [00:40:00] each shoulder, crossing your arms and then taking a few deep breaths, doesn't even have to be a minute. First of all deep breathing, relaxes your body. And then this position of holding your hands actually releases anxiety.
[00:40:15] So it's a great way to release some anxiety and to calm your body down. And of course, it's a loving act for yourself. And you don't even have to have any good thoughts. You can just hold your arm, you know, just give yourself that hug and take some deep breaths and it will, it will produce some of that oxytocin and it'll help calm your nervous system.
[00:40:40] Julie Michelson: I love that. I. Just love that practice period. like, you know, for, for all of us, like why not do that? And I love the fact that it can it's, there's got this purely physical basis to it too, so we don't need to get our head in a [00:41:00] certain place or our heart in a certain place. It'll help do that for us.
[00:41:05] Shiroko Sokitch: Right.
[00:41:06] Julie Michelson: amazing.
[00:41:06] See, I knew you were gonna come up with another tip. I just had had a feeling there
[00:41:12] Shiroko Sokitch: Yeah, exactly.
[00:41:14] Julie Michelson: for listeners that like I do listen on the go and may not dig into the show notes to grab all the links. Where's the, the best place for them to find you.
[00:41:27] Shiroko Sokitch: So my website is hearttoheartmedicalcenter.com. My book is there all my information is there
[00:41:34] Julie Michelson: And I cannot encourage listeners enough to do that. I thank you so so much you have shared. Amazing gold with us today
[00:41:47] Shiroko Sokitch: Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to have been here.
[00:41:50] Julie Michelson: for everyone listening. Remember you can get the show notes and transcripts by visiting inspired living.show. I hope you had a great time and enjoyed this [00:42:00] episode as much as I did. I will see you all next week.
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Shiroko Sokitch
Shiroko Sokitch MD is a doctor who cares about you!
The owner of Heart to Heart Medical Center in Santa Rosa, California, since 1993, Dr. Shiroko 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 Dr. Shiroko a broad range of medical experience. Her new book – Healing When It Seems Impossible – 7 Keys to Defy the Odds a book about her unique and comprehensive healing approach is available on Amazon.
The owner of Heart to Heart Medical Center in Santa Rosa, California, since 1993 and author of, Dr. Shiroko is an expert at using many modalities to bring your body to balance and wholeness. Her specialty is Healing When It Seems Im
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