Ep 444: Why You Don’t Need a Diagnosis to Achieve Optimal Wellness – with Dr. Shiroko Sokitch

Ever wondered if there’s a deeper meaning to your health symptoms?  Noticed that nothing seems to work for certain complaints? Curious why some people seem to have mystery illnesses and no one can figure them out? Dr. Shiroko Sokitch, is an author and medical doctor trained in general surgery, practiced in the ER before becoming the owner of Heart to Heart Medical Center in Santa Rosa, California in 1993. Dr. Shiroko specializes in helping patients heal 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.  She brings her expertise and unique comprehensive approach to her new book “Healing When It Seems Impossible – 7 Keys to Defy the Odds.  In this episode of The Health Fix Podcast, Dr. Jannine Krause interviews Dr. Sokitch on finding balance with Chinese Medicine, Energy work and other therapies to improve wellness and longevity. 

Resources From The Show:

• Web That Has No Weaver – book explaining Chinese Medicine
• Dr. Shiroko’s Book – Healing When It Seems Impossible – 7 Keys to Defy the Odds
• Heart to Heart Medical Center Website – Santa Rosa, California
• Sign up for a FREE NES energy assessment with Dr. Shiroko Sokitch – HERE

Our Partners

Podcast Transcript

3:06 – Dr. Shiroko’s story

12:58 – Treating patients with a mystery illness

16:19 – The importance of having a good balance of Vitamin D

20:09 – Dr. Shiroko’s thoughts on Chinese medicine

24:11 – Assessing a patient using Chinese medicine

30:13 – The seven layers of healing

37:21 – Tools for understanding how our energy works / NES machine

43:07 – How does the healing tool (SCENAR) work?

47:03 – Mindset

52:00 – HBOT machines / Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

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JANNINE: [Intro] Welcome to the Health Fix Podcast, where health junkies get their weekly

fix of tips, tools, and techniques to have limitless energy, sharp minds, and fit

physiques for life.

Hey Health Junkies, on this episode of the HealthFix Podcast, I’m interviewing Dr.

Shiroko Sokitch. She’s a friend of mine, but boy is she a fascinating gal.

She is a medical doctor who was in the track to go be a surgeon and decided

that maybe that wasn’t for her. So she got into Chinese medicine and here we are 30 plus years later

she is still working blending Western medicine and Eastern medicine. In this podcast we’re talking

about love and its role in your health and how you don’t need a diagnosis to heal and while it’s

so important to really think about the signs your body’s giving you as a message to you that

that things need to be switched,

that energy could be fixed,

that we could work on balance and perhaps get better

versus trying to think about how we just need a diagnosis

and then we can get better.

So nevertheless, this is a fun podcast

and I hope you enjoy it.

Dr. Shroko’s one of my great friends.

We’re also gonna be talking about her book

to Healing When It Seems Impossible,

Seven Keys to Defy the Odds.

and let’s introduce you to Dr. Shiroko Sokitch.

– Hey health junkies, I have a friend of mine on today

and I’m excited ’cause it’s always fun to bring friends on

because we can just chat and vibe and talk about health

and how we see things and what’s going on.

So you guys are gonna get a real good intro

to alternative medicine from a perspective

of medical doctor and a naturopath talking together today.

So Dr. Shiroko Sokitch ’cause I can never,

get your last name right. I’m going to try it again. We’re going to repeat. That’s how I

always mess things up. I didn’t even tell you this before, too. Don’t worry. I can edit

all this. I didn’t tell you that I’ll do like a full intro, like, of accolades and

everything’s record. Yeah. Yeah, I’ll do that. Hey, health junkies. I have Dr.

Shiroko Sokitch on and I’m laughing because I have known her for over a year and I just

to realize I couldn’t say her last name, right?

But here we are, we got it done.

And we’re gonna have a great conversation

about alternative medicine and really complicated cases

that the two of us have grown to love.

So Dr. Shiroko, welcome to Health Fix podcast.

DR. SHIROKO: Thank you for having me.

I’m so happy to be here.

JANNINE: It’s been a long time coming.

We should have done this a long time ago,

but here we are.

And as with any podcast,

I love to start the story off of how people became doctors

because I find it so fascinating

as to what led you to wanting to take care of folks

and down this pathway of fun.

Give us a scoop.

DR. SHIROKO: Well, it started when I was five years old

and my great grandmother was, when I was a little kid,

my parents split up when I was about three

And so we ended up living with my grandma

and with my mom and my grandma and my little brother

and my great-grandmother lived next door.

And because everybody was busy,

my mom being single and all that,

my great-grandmother was the person who took care of me.

And I spent every day with her.

I spent all my time with her and she just loved me.

And in my childhood and in my life,

there wasn’t a lot of that kind of love available, right?

‘Cause everybody had whatever they had as their story.

And I happened to be at her house one night

and she collapsed in front of me.

And she was right next door to my grandmother’s house.

So I ran over there and I got my grandmother

’cause I couldn’t wake her up.

And then they called an ambulance and for some reason,

I remember them taking her out through her window of her house,

I guess because the door wasn’t big enough.

But that was the last time I ever saw her.

And in that time in Germany, I lived in Germany,

little kids didn’t get to go to hospitals.

So I never got to see her.

And I think she was probably in a coma

because she had a stroke.

And then a few days later, my mom came

and told me that she had died.

And I remember the devastation,

loss and the devastation and the feeling of, and then the next thing that happened was my brain was

like, because my mom told me her heart stopped beating, my brain started thinking, okay, how do

you fix a heart? And I started imagining it’s a heart. And, and really, that’s the day that I

decided to become a doctor, because I wanted to fix that. I wanted to bring her back. And, and you

know, my whole life and pretty much since then has been dedicated to this concept of, what does

does it take to get ill, to get well in a moment? Like, what does that take? And that

has always been my driving, my driving drive, if you will, to figure out, you know, what

does it take to make somebody well and to be well? And, and, you know, so like the first

time I got to save a life, and that was my first sort of thought was because my grandma,

great grandma died was in surgery. I was a third year medical student. I was doing a rotation in

the county hospital ER, which is a crazy place in Seattle. We had a patient that came in with a

gunshot wound and we had to take him to surgery and literally put our finger in his heart and

save his life, you know, like it was that graphic. And I was like, oh my God, I got to save a life.

And so from, you know, I had always been sort of family practice, healing, alternative medicine

thinking, because I always, there was something in me even from childhood that believed in the

healing power of plants and natural healing. I don’t know where that came from, but that was

sort of an intuitive, like, it had always been there. But then in this moment in the ER, when I

got to, it was like, Oh, I want to be a surgeon. And so, so then I went through that whole process

and I got into surgical residency. And, and two years into surgical residency, I began to realize

that I wasn’t saving lives. And I wasn’t really having the experiences that I was seeking, like,

that whole idea of helping somebody in the moment of struggle. And I had some of my own personal

things. So then I went on to, I took a month off from my residency. And during that time,

I had a dream. If you stay in surgery, you will die. And it’s a longer story, but it’s in my book.

so you can see it and read that. But I was like, whoa. So, you know, I already knew I didn’t

love surgery. You know, like they told me you got to love it more than anything else. And I didn’t

have that with surgery. I had that with Chinese medicine, which came later. But right around that

time, so I decided that I had to leave my residency. And I didn’t know what else to do. I had a big

ego of being a surgeon and going back to family practice didn’t fit my ego at the time. So

I was like in a quandary, well, I thought, okay, I’ll go work in the ER until I figure it out. And

then right in that little gap, I was given a book, the web that has no weaver about Chinese

lesson. And that is when I fell in love. And that has been the enduring love of my life is Chinese

medicine because as soon as I read all of the information about how Chinese medicine works and

what it is, it’s like I start a whole new world, a whole new life. And I decided to go to acupuncture

school. I actually decided to chase down the author of the book and learn from him. But then

I met a guy in my hospital who was a respiratory therapist but also an acupuncturist and he became

my mentor. And so one thing kind of just always led to another. And along, you know, in the end,

I, here I am, I’ve been practicing for 30 years in Santa Rosa doing Chinese and Western medicine

blended and, you know, doing both. And what I love about Chinese medicine is that whole idea that

you can get well without having a diagnosis, you know, the quote unquote diagnosis. And I think

that’s my whole why I’ve ended up and you too ended up doing what I call mystery illness or helping

people with things that nobody else has ever figured out the answers because you don’t necessarily

have to figure out the answer or the diagnosis in order to get well. You have to find balance.

So, that’s what I’ve based my practice on, and I still have that drive to help people

in an instant.

So, that’s another thing I love about Chinese medicine, because you can put a needle in

somebody, and they’ll feel better right then, in that minute, you know, so instant healing.

JANNINE: I think that’s what got me, too, about Chinese medicine.

I mean, yes, the web that has no weaver, game changer,

game changer book.

These, you guys are listening,

I’ll put what that book is in the podcast.

And it’s along with Dr. Shiroko’s book,

which we’ll get to here in a second,

in the podcast notes that doctorjkrausend.com.

But the big thing that I agree with you

is the immediate change.

I’d watched my mom, I got into this

because of my mom going through cancer.

And, you know, I was 15 years old,

going to the visits with her.

And I would see like her skin color change.

She would be pale and ashen.

All of a sudden she’s back to life.

And it’s like after an hour of having some needles

and chilling at 15, I’m like, what the–?

I wanna do that.

I’ve never seen any other doctor, you know,

turn around like that.

DR. SHIROKO: Yeah, yeah.

JANNINE: So, no, it’s cool because I’m sure you’ve seen this

to another case as someone comes in and they’re like,

I’m really anxious.

You’re like, let me put a needle right here,

here in a couple of your ears.

You’ll be good in about five minutes.

It’s so much fun.

It’s so much fun to get that immediate reaction.

Now, one of the things you were mentioning

is the complex illnesses

and this concept of they’ve been to every doctor.

I have a question for you.

You’ve probably had lots of people that have come to

that have been to millions of, not millions,

but many specialists and doctors.

Do you ever get a count on like the number

that they’ve seen before you.

And then been like, oh my god.

DR. SHIROKO: Sometimes 20, yeah.

But in the range of 10 to 12 doctors,

they usually get fed up.

JANNINE: Yeah, yeah.

And then they come to you and, you know,

usually my first thought is, oh gosh,

I’m not gonna be number 13.

I don’t wanna be the, I don’t wanna be that one.

So, you know, we’re gonna figure this out.

Now, that brings us to the energy side of things.

That brings us to the balance side of things

because it does seem to me that when someone has

a mystery illness and it’s come down to the point

where no one can give them a concrete,

this is what’s wrong, we have to look at that.

But at the same time, it’s hard to convince someone, right?

With the conventional model of I need a diagnosis

to know what we’re working with.

How much of a pain in the rear has that been for you

to try to explain?

We don’t need a diagnosis.

We just have a plan of how we’re gonna balance you back out.

DR. SHIROKO: I mean, I’ve been in practice now for 30 years,

so I have a reputation in my community.

And so to some degree, I don’t have to do that anymore.

And I seem to have people who are real interested

in understanding what’s going on with themselves energetically.

I just wanna point out this picture behind me.

I don’t know if you can see it,

but there’s a horse inside there. 

JANNINE: Ah.

DR. SHIROKO: And I love that picture because it’s kind of like

what we’re doing with a person who has a mystery illness

is, you know, there’s all this grass in the front

and you can’t really see its face very well,

but you can.

I mean, if it didn’t have glare from my window,

you would see the beautiful face.

And that’s kind of what this process of healing

from something undiagnosed or, you know,

is there’s all this stuff in the way

that keeps us from being able to get to the root.

And when we start to remove the things that are in the way,

the natural health can shine, right?

And that is what we’re doing, both of us is,

is we’re removing the blockages.

We’re removing the, even the emotional blockages,

and things that cause chronic health problems,

have emotional components and physical components

and spiritual components.

And to begin to unwrap that package and look

and heal those different elements.

And yeah, that’s what we’re doing.

We’re just taking away the blockages

and we’re helping that person get to balance.

– And I have a theory, you know,

’cause things can get complicated in this world,

but I have a theory called the triangle of wellness,

which is one of the physical component of getting well,

which is your hormones, your nervous system

and your immune system are the triangle,

that if these things are functioning,

then your body will have the tools

that it needs in order to heal.

So often, if I can’t find a diagnosis,

will start to balance hormones, work on the nervous system. Usually I use acupuncture for

the nervous system and the immune system, various different things. What’s cool, I always love

when things come together, but what’s cool is that certain things will help all three,

like vitamin D or omega, things like that that are fairly simple, will help all three of these

legs of the triangle, and then digging down further to find various other things that keep it from

getting, keeping that person from getting well. It’s no– 

JANNINE: it’s

incredible how much vitamin D has a huge impact, right? 

DR. SHIROKO: Yeah.

JANNINE: Mind blowing, mind blowing. 

DR. SHIROKO: Yeah. It is. 

JANNINE: What’s– you know, I

think a lot of people always want to know a little more about

vitamin D in terms of frequencies of what you see in terms of

issues with absorption compared to subsorption from the sun

being able to get vitamin D from the sun. Some folks sometimes will even have a struggle to get

the vitamin D that they take in orally to the body, you know, to the tissues, things of that

nature. Have you found that as a whole, folks do better when they’ve got the vitamin D supplementation

at a higher range than what’s kind of recommended, you know, with the RDA kind of stuff and the

thousand. I know a lot of people and supplements have like the 1,000 IU as being the basic. Have

you found that most people need maybe at least two to three times that, you know, based on

testing and things of that nature? 

DR. SHIROKO: Yeah, I have. 

JANNINE: And even in California,

that’s what I want to know. 

DR. SHIROKO: Well, here’s what’s funny is there are people who take no vitamin D

and don’t get outside that much who have high vitamin D levels. Yeah, I have one person that is

like that and I never understand how she gets her vitamin D. She goes outside, maybe twice a week

or something, but she has high vitamin D levels, but then there’s other people who will take 10,000

I use a day and still have low levels and you know there is a SNP that regulates how your body

handles vitamin D, a genetic, so a SNP you guys, for those of you who don’t know, is a little

tiny program in your genes that tells your body how to do certain things. And there’s been a lot

of research on genes and figuring out what they do. And so one is that vitamin D doesn’t,

some people can’t absorb vitamin D or they can’t use it in a certain way. And so there’s all these

different individual factors, right? And what’s stupid is that insurance companies have stopped

letting people measure their vitamin D, which is just like, why? You can get toxic on it if you

take too much. If you don’t have enough, you can be sick. Like, there’s a reason that we should be

able to measure vitamin D because it needs to be known. Anyway, I could spend this whole time

that we’re talking about what insurance companies do, but I won’t because that’s not what we’re about.

JANNINE: I will just say the vitamin D thing and getting kickbacks this year in 2024,

I am not happy with. And then when I say kickbacks, guys,

I’m like kickbacks from an insurance company not wanting to pay the vitamin

D when you run it on the web. Not cool. I agree. I agree. Not cool.

So definitely vitamin D, you know, if we switch it back to the game changing

effect, I think that a lot of people who are depleted, you know,

obviously we test, but a lot of people who are depleted in life,

They’ve got something going on.

Oddly enough, I do find the vitamin D most of the time

tends to be a factor.

Is that kind of what you’ve seen too?

Those are all minus your gallows.

DR. SHIROKO: It’s part of it, yeah.

It’s part of it, you know, interestingly,

I’ve also had patients who couldn’t tolerate taking it

as a supplement.

And one in particular, I remember that she had

pretty complex health issues for like a year,

and she’s been my patient for years and years,

but she couldn’t tolerate Vitamin D,

and then somehow she figured out how to tolerate it.

And now she has higher levels, and now she feels better.

So, again, Vitamin D is not the end all, be all,

and definitely that’s not the subject of our conversation,

but it is one of the things that affects

all three legs of this triangle,

the hormones, the nervous system, and the immune system.

So, and I like things, but I like, I like crossovers from Chinese medicine to Western medicine.

I like, you know, the things that come around in a way where there’s this synchronicity.

I love synchronicity.

So those are some of the things I pay attention to is the things that crossover and the things

that make a difference on many levels.

JANNINE: Let’s talk about Chinese medicine a little bit because it’s one of the things I haven’t

had anyone really talk too much about on the podcast and really how it is helping your triad

there in terms of the hormones immune system, you know, and the body as a whole. What have you seen

be the most effective? Give us the whole story. What have you seen? DR. SHIROKO: Oh my God, I love Chinese,

I still love Chinese medicine. I could talk about it for, you know, the cool thing is it is based

on the idea and I feel this to be so advanced and it’s been around for 5,000 years but when

the idea that we’re made of energy and energy travels through our bodies in certain patterns

and there are things like in my 30 years of doing this now that I have seen western science

catch up with you know like that we have 12 organs and the pathways of energy of those organs

travel across the surface of our body, but also on the inside. It’s such a beautiful, like, I just

I’m in love with it. It’s such a beautiful way of looking at health and the answers in the ancient

texts, like one of the style of acupuncture that I do is based on this woman who is from Japan who

has studied the ancient texts. And she has found little keys, you know, like where you can test a

point on your body to find out if there’s an imbalance in that part of the body or in

that organ. And then you can correct it with another point. And like literally I can fix

the headache in a minute. Like they can have a headache now and it won’t have it within

five minutes of coming and laying down on the table. Things like that or digestive problems

or hormone problems take a little longer because they’re more chronic, but literally you can

access a person’s energy and help them be balanced. And the whole principle in Chinese medicine is

that when your energy is out of balance, there are problems. And there are pathways of that energy

traveling and all of that. And I think because I was so young when I started because I started

studying, like I left my surgery residency and I went to

acupuncture school. And I started working in the ER. So I

went to work in the ER and acupuncture school at the same

time. So in some ways, I was learning Zen and Chinese medicine

at the same time. And so for me, I worked with both together all

at once. And I have the understanding of both together. And

So, but I love using Chinese medicine because when you look at the bigger picture, the energy,

that’s where you find the root cause, right, is where is the energy imbalance? Where is the

imbalance in this person’s body? And being able to ask that question and then being able to find it

by feeling the pulse and looking at the tongue and feeling the belly and, you know, like literally

checking the places in the body without using a lab, but

feeling where that imbalances. And then I use labs as a

secondary to like confirm, okay, so this is what I feel. This is

where the imbalance is. And this is what we’re going to test to

see, you know, what, how can we get that. Connected. 

JANNINE: Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

That’s the beauty of it. We’re taking some of the old school

methods that have been kind of forgotten about. I was just talking about this with a friend day

other day that you know we we treat unfortunately in the medical field a lot so heavily on labs now

that we’re missing what’s going on with the person and that’s part of why I still do not stop going

back to Tacoma because I need to get my hands on people. I need to see them. I need to you know

like the screen is one thing but I don’t get I don’t get it all from this. I mean yeah I need

You know, there’s like that touch.

I need to, it’s not so creepy.

I need to touch my people, but it really is.

And you were talking about belly diagnosis.

And so this is hara type of belly?

Or is this a different type of training

that you’ve had for looking at the abdomen?

DR. SHIROKO: So there are certain points on the abdomen

that correspond to different parts of the body.

So like you can palpate in the epigastric region

right above the belly button, that is connected

to the Don Tien.

Then the Don Tien is that deep, like the Hada, okay?

But if you’re, if there’s another point to the left side

of the belly button, kind of below the belly button,

that’s connected to detox.

And then another point connected to the immune system

and points connected to the liver.

And you can touch these points.

And either if there’s tension there or tenderness

or a difference between how it feels everywhere else,

that you can see, oh, there’s a detox issue right now

or your immune system is out of balance

or your liver is out of balance

and I can get that feedback from your body directly.

And then of course, the pulses, you know,

is not just how fast is your pulse

but what it feels like.

So what organs are out of balance when an organ

and then I have a whole connection to like,

okay, this organ does this and this and this and this

in this, and every organ in Chinese medicine is much more complicated than Western medicine.

Because we, each organ has an emotional function, a spiritual function, and many physical functions

beyond what we know in Western medicine. I’ll give an example. The liver, the liver is my, my organ.

I’m very familiar with it. So the liver regulates the smooth flow of energy in your whole body.

So that means like if you have muscle tension or certain kinds of headaches or or ligaments that

get injured easily, the liver regulates the ligaments and tendons, the smooth flow of energy in your

whole body, your menstrual cycles, the emotion of anger. And it’s the master sergeant of getting

things done and and spiritually, it is the space between your physical body and your higher self.

And so, and that was a big learning for me, that understanding of what does that mean going from

your physical body to your higher self and being able to connect to your higher self. But we can’t

go into that this too long. But anyway, when you have problems with your menstrual cycles,

most of the time, it delivers out of balance. Or if you get migraines, or with perimenopause,

a lot of people get high blood pressure or things like that, that’s all connected to the liver.

And so then to, and oh, and the liver also regulates your sight and your eyes.

And so if you have problems with your eyes that could be connected to liver and balance,

and that is not what you would learn in Western medicine.

But then when you start talking, and that’s why it’s so beautiful to have two tools like that,

when you start talking is like, okay, this system is out of balance.

This is how we’re going to understand it better.

and you know depending on the person when they come in or what is going on with them we can see

okay eye problems might have something to do with anger about something way long ago or maybe

something going on right now but you know like what would and nobody would put it together like

like your eyes might reflect anger on some other level, right?

But that is what is so beautiful

about like the levels of understanding.

And that’s part of what’s in my book is like,

I actually give all this like, I have two chapters,

one that’s about listening to your body

to ask it what it’s wants to tell you.

And the other chapter is about choosing

your own unique lifestyle.

The listening to your body, a lot of it

is connected to this whole concept of Chinese medicine

and what the organs do in Chinese medicine

because depending on where your symptoms are,

you actually get a clue of what’s out of balance

in your body and you get to listen to that.

And then I provide the tools for how you use that information.

– Yeah, I think they’re the exciting part soon.

JANNINE: It’s fun, and I think, you know, on some levels,

and this is how I tell people a lot,

especially women, when I’m going about talking

about the periods, or talking about menopause.

I mean, Chinese medicine is a beautiful way

of explaining things that Western medicine really doesn’t

because the hormones all in the liver,

so we’re making those guys right.

Yes, we’re signaling other places,

but really we’re creating them in the liver

and looking at the hot and cold side of things,

so yin and yang, and we’re looking at, you know,

if we have excess or deficiency kind of things.

And so it’s quite fun to really be like,

okay, menopause is often a deficiency

of your cooling energy.

And so like you’re just not having,

you just don’t have enough water, put out your fires.

So, you know, and if we can,

we can expand on that so much in the liver

and the emotions and things, but it’s fun,

especially, I don’t know if you do this,

do draw pictures for people of the energy balance

and how they’re, where they’re at in that.

DR. SHIROKO: No, I feel like this is my hand’s like,

but I like that idea.

JANNINE: I’ve drawn, I’ve drawn a lot more than I ever thought

I ever would in my practice.

And then handed people drawings of this is what I,

well, this is what’s going on.

I’m sure they’re like, first time they meet,

you’re like, okay, this chick’s kind of weird.

But nevertheless, it is something fun.

Now, you had mentioned in your book,

you were talking about connecting, you know,

and really being able to connect to yourself

and seeing those symptoms for what they are

and helping you to interpret.

Now, the hard to diagnose symptoms,

the hard to diagnose conditions.

What do you find Chinese medicine wise

tends to be more prevalent in folks?

Do you find liver, do you find kidney?

What do you tend to see in terms of trends?

Gut?

DR. SHIROKO: Well, so to me, gut is so–  the way I layer it.

I’m just going to lay out the chapters of the book real quick

so that people understand the layers of what I

believe about healing.

So there’s seven keys.

And the first key is love.

And love is important since we’re doing this interview

in February, which maybe won’t air then.

But love is important because love is what holds our whole

entire being together.

So our existence is comes from love.

And it’s the most healing power of the universe.

And there’s many ways to utilize love in healing,

which that’s what that whole chapter is about,

including a bunch of science about it.

The second key is the physical diagnosis,

so the physical element of healing,

which is partly the triangle of wellness,

but also the gut.

So I have the triangle of wellness,

which means the immune system,

the hormones and the nervous system,

but then there’s a thing called the root cause.

And the root cause is maybe something

that comes from underneath

and disrupts those three systems.

JANNINE: Okay.

DR. SHIROKO: The lower piece gut or hidden infections

or toxins in our environment

or those kinds of things that would disrupt the energy.

And one of the most important things of course

is emotions in Chinese medicine

because having anger underlying everything that we do,

we may not be aware of it,

but that is what’s affecting our organs,

or having, you know, childhood issues

that maybe we didn’t know about,

that could be affecting our whole organ systems.

So that’s the second chapter.

The third chapter is finding your own unique lifestyle

And there’s all these different ways to play with that,

like taking away certain things from your diet

and doing certain exercises, finding what works.

And that dances with the other chapter,

which is listening to your body.

And so how do you learn to listen to your body?

How do you learn to use the information your body gives you?

And as time goes on and those things change,

like what foods you tolerate change,

what exercises you tolerate change,

with all of that stuff,

and how do you use all that information?

So that’s three and four,

and then five is emotions,

and understanding what emotions play a role

in what part of your body,

and why is that important,

and what can you do about it?

And then the sixth chapter is never give up.

Six and seven are the spiritually oriented ones.

So the idea is that we are used to thinking

about other humans as a lesson in our lives, you know, we know where many people have evolved

to know their spiritual people and that they’re learning lessons and they’re learning stuff

by being here. And so we know that our relationships with other people and our relationships with

our work and things like that, that they’re a lesson. What we often forget or it hasn’t

been brought to the forefront is our bodies are our biggest school. And we are spirits

living in bodies and our spirit is always talking to us and that is what’s happening when your

body’s giving you something difficult is your body’s giving you something difficult

your body’s trying to tell you something it’s not your enemy and that’s the other element of love

is your body is not your enemy it is your best friend it is talking to you all the time it’s

just like though when you have a baby or a puppy and it’s talking to you you don’t understand that

that language. Like, so this book is kind of an interpretation of the language of the body, you

know, is like, how do you tune into that language? And then the last key is trusting the process. So

if you have been to 12 doctors, how do you feel okay about seeing number 13, you know, lucky number

13. And how do you trust that journey, you know, like, because healing is a journey. And especially

when you’ve had something difficult, it’s not, you know, I used to love this Dilbert cartoon that

said, just give me a pill you quack. Well, honestly, we can’t just give you a pill for anything

difficult. It’s not about the pill. It’s about something deeper inside of you that wants to heal

at a level that you have not experienced before. And so in that chapter, I talk about what does it

take to trust that the journey you’re on is the right journey. It’s not always easy.

JANNINE: No, not at all. I think when people come to you after seeing that many doctors, they’re desperate.

And unfortunately, we do live in a paradigm of here’s the pill, and here’s the solution.

and unfortunately it’s another thing I’m sure you see a lot of the time and I know I’m guilty of it

myself is sometimes I will be like okay this is the herbal alternative to the pill that you would get

you know western wise but it’s not going to solve the problem you know I always tell people it’s not

going to solve the problem or bandaining at this point I’m sure that’s happened in your case too

DR. SHIROKO: Many times. Yeah. And you know, by the time somebody’s seen 13 doctors, their trust is another

issue. And here comes this weirdo says, you know, this is a complicated issue and there are many

layers. And you know, sometimes it takes, it took many years to get to this place and it’s going to

take maybe a year or a year and a half or two to get to a place where you don’t feel that way.

JANNINE: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Absolutely. Absolutely. And now you found something that is an amazing

energetic tool that I asked system. Yes. To help kind of translate this a little because

I think when, you know, we’re working to gain trust, it is kind of difficult to be like,

okay, here’s the deal. You know, we have some energy work to do. We have some energetic

levels to work down. And, you know, ultimately for folks, it’s, it’s work to get healthy.

You have to put the work in, right? And so for a lot of people, they’re like, Oh my gosh,

can I have a boost on this? Is there, is there a hack? Is there something that can help?

And so the NES system, and so I’m going to have you explain it because guys, this is

a really cool energetic way of treating folks. And I think like kind of like a little booster

to the work that you have, that you do have to put in yourself, but it’s a booster. So,

I’m going to let you take it away on this one and give us kind of the explanation on the NES

and how it works. 

DR. SHIROKO: So, again, I love to give big, long explanations, so pardon me. But again,

we are made of energy. And so, the whole principle, like, there are many different tools available

understanding how our energy works. And in Europe and in Russia, in the maybe even as early as the

50s, people were exploring how do we understand energy in our bodies and developed tools. And of

course, I love that Chinese medicine is like the beginning of that whole thing because that whole

system of energy is, you know, there are meridians that end that all your fingers and toes. And so

So, the first ways of studying energy were really by measuring the ends of your fingers

and toes to see how much electrical potential was running through that pathway.

And some, I think, was a German guy in Voll, and it was a Voll system, but there have been

systems developed that study the energy of the body.

And they have become very comprehensive and very advanced.

And so now I’m using a system that actually can listen to your voice and read your entire

energy, including your physical, emotional, spiritual, and possibly even toxins and environmental

and food things that are involved.

This is a complicate like it’s, and it took 30 years to develop this system, but a guy

named Peter Fraser and Harry Massey or kind of the guys who did it and Harry Massey had

chronic illness and he came along and met Peter Fraser and they put this together, but a lot of

it is based on Chinese medicine again and about how to clue into what your energy imprint is telling

the machine. I love it because it’s like Star Trek and there is a device you know like for me it’s

like can you read your like you know and those of you who watch Star Trek because because there’s

that tricorder thing that reads the person and says oh this is out of balance and then fixes it

and there even they have it there is a device that actually fixes the energy and it’s just like

oh my god gone so excited and the explanations within that are all based are based on Chinese

medicine, but also on quantum physics. And so that’s the advancement, right? When you start to use

quantum physics and you understand that energy isn’t just an ancient Chinese hootie-doo thing,

it is actually explained in quantum physics. And that quantum physics and Chinese medicine

go together. It’s like, whoa. And if you want, I can give you a link and you can do a scan on

yourself for free, and I’ll give you the information and you can go do a scan and you can learn about

it. But the idea is that not only do we all have energy at any given moment in time but that that

can be measured and then then that information which goes deeper than acupuncture even goes to

help correct imbalances that are in your deep core of the imprint of who you are, which is pretty

wild. 

JANNINE: Yeah, I mean, she had me try it, guys. And it was spot on in terms of the symptoms I was

experiencing. I didn’t tell Dr. Shiroko anything. I was like, yeah, let’s just try this. And then

it came out and I was like, Oh my gosh, it hit every single thing that I had had little symptoms

of my body telling me that are happening.

Mind blowing, mind blowing so so when people get this information right so we’ve got the information

from that NES machine then the next step is using little more or less like homeopathic

remedies and and so you’re taking these drops so let’s tell folks how this is happening on the

underlying level as you’re working on acupuncture as you’re working on diet and lifestyle and all

the other things. 

DR. SHIROKO: So, what they did with all their research is figure out remedies that would

help correct the energetic imbalances. And basically, and you’d have to read all the science because

there’s a lot of science behind this. This is not just made up. But they use saltwater and imprint it

with a blueprint of energy. So you’re basically drinking

saltwater. But it, but it acts like homeopathy in the sense

that some people like if you just take one or two drops, your

symptoms will get worse and homeopathy often you’ll get

worse before you get better. 

JANNINE: Mm hmm. 

DR. SHIROKO: That’s how this sometimes

works. And it’s, it’s impressive what can happen with

these infosuticals are called infosuticals. And then there’s

There’s also a healing device that has like three tools for helping heal, which is like

that.

The super duper healing device.

So there’s a lot to this whole system, but yeah, and it is just another tool in a big

tool chest that I have of ways to help people get better.

JANNINE: What’s the energetic tool?

Is it kind of like they hold on to it?

Give us the scoop.

would you use that in the office so folks can have a visual of what what that would be like like

they’re taking– 

DR. SHIROKO: Well I don’t have it at my desk oddly enough but it’s about as big as my phone.

JANNINE: Okay. 

DR. SHIROKO: And it has three healing modalities. It has what’s called PEMF so that’s pulse electromagnetic

frequency and so it it emits healing frequencies and there’s a whole bunch of different programs

in this device that, like, when you do a scan,

it says what your energy imbalances are,

and then it gives recommendations as to what settings

you should use in order to correct those imbalances.

So it’s PEMF, and then there’s tens,

and tens is a way of sending a signal to an area

that’s painful to override the pain.

And then the third thing,

which is maybe the coolest of all,

is that it actually, like when you put it on an area

where you have pain or an imbalance,

it actually reads the electrical energy across your skin

and then it inputs a signal to help correct the imbalance

that it sends to the brain

so that there’s this brain to skin communication

that helps correct imbalances.

And I didn’t know about this,

like when I heard about it, you know, when I bought the machine,

I was just like, Oh my God, and this is the coolest machine ever.

But then I learned it was even cooler than I thought.

And the technology is called SCENAR, self correcting, energetic nerve, something.

Anyway, like literally it reads what’s going on because we are electrical beings.

So you can read across the skin what is going on.

So it reads it, and then it sends a signal to your nervous system.

And then the nervous system sends a signal back to correct that problem.

I talked about it.

She’s from Russia and this, the science for this is from Russia.

More than 20 years ago, they’ve been doing this kind of stuff for years.

You know, and, and like she showed a video, her husband had dropped a 40 pound

weight on his foot and he had this huge swelling and wound and she worked on him.

And she showed how the swelling went down in less than a day,

and he was able to walk on his foot in two days.

And you know, like, this is an injury

that would have taken weeks.

JANNINE: Yeah yeah– 

DR. SHIROKO: so pretty amazing, pretty amazing.

JANNINE: There’s so many things out there

that I feel like, unfortunately,

we’ve just not been, let’s say, introduced to

maybe because of the way the medical model is here in the US.

Whatever it may be, there’s politics,

a lot behind it, you know, big pharma, you name it. But the reality is, is that, guys, there are

some really cool things out there. And I can’t wait to try to get out and see Dr. Shiroko, so I can

try the machine out in person, because the the infosuticals were great. You know, I actually, I

felt really calm from them. I felt like, okay, and, and really honestly, my symptoms did go away. I,

I did feel better. And you think to yourself, like salt water imprinted with energy, like,

we’re just not programmed to think that that’s going to be a solution for you. And you know,

am I saying is it everybody’s solution? No. And this is where I would love for you to weigh in on

like you were saying, going back to the self, your chapters of diving into the mind and diving into

working on your mindset and things of that nature. I love acupuncture because we can almost talk

someone threw something while having the needles in and helping to just kind of get that process

started. What are you doing in your office when you’re working with someone on mindset? Do you set

out different intentions with them? Are you providing different tools for them to read?

DR. SHIROKO: Depends on who they are when they come in, you know, and, you know, sometimes I hold

the mindset for them, you know, and that’s a part of that agreement that you have with

your healer is, you know, if you don’t have the mindset at the moment, maybe I’ll hold

it for you, you know, and I think that that’s a part of why we are essential, you know,

the relationship because a lot of people think, “Oh, I can just go to Dr. Google and I can look

all this stuff up and I can do it all on my own.” And yes, you can. You’re only going to get so far

because you cannot dig into your unconscious in the way that I can. Or you can. I see you.

I see you from here. And so, yes, there’s certain things I don’t know. I don’t know your story. I

don’t know, you know, a whole bunch of stuff, but I have this 35 years of being a doctor and

and the 30 years of acupuncture and all the tools that I have and my own health issues that I have

played with for, you know, ever and and that willingness to explore. And so when a person like

that comes into your life, there the opportunity is to hold the space for you to get well.

Not that I am the wellness.

You are the wellness, but I hold the space until you’re ready to use your mind in the

right direction to do whatever, right?

So that’s, I think that’s a part of what is, you know, essential in terms of it’s that

healing relationship.

This is why I call my website or why my office is called a Heart to Heart Medical center.

It’s because it’s from one heart to another.

And that allows the biggest opportunity of healing because there’s love in that relationship.

There’s caring in that relationship.

And there’s an openness that allows the energy to be passed through.

And you know, I don’t know about you, but I can do acupuncture on myself.

But it’s not the same as when I get acupuncture from someone else.

Because their energy is contributing to mine.

And I’ve had experiences when I’m having an acumen, which I have one friend that gives

me acupuncture.

And I swear, not only is she giving me acupuncture, but her guides or my guide, something else

is in the room.

And sometimes I’ll feel points that she didn’t put in, but so that there’s this electrical

whole quantum physics relationship that comes from the relationship of working with a healer

or working with somebody who can help you.

And I think that’s an important piece too.

JANNINE: I absolutely agree.

I mean, I think we need guides, but I also think, you know, in the stay and age with

AI and different things coming into the medical space, we’re going to realize how important

it is to have a connection with someone to guide you for your

health. Because I don’t know if anyone else has tried out some

of the AI medical things. It’s a whole different ballgame. It’s

interesting. You know, now that you can get your medicine

taking care of on Amazon, you know, it’s, it’s great. And you

know, two a.m, you need something in a pinch or whatever. And

it’s gonna, you know, be droned to your house or whatever in the

future. But but the the point being here is like, if we want

true change within our body, we need to be willing to to have

someone guide us. I think that’s that’s the bottom line. Now,

within your booking, you tell us the chapters do the chapters

correspond to the seven keys to defy the gods? 

DR. SHIROKO: Yes. 

JANNINE: So so we’ve

kind of went through those seven keys. Now we do have some new

things. And this is where I wanted to bring the conversation

something cool that you’re embarking on with HBOT. And so Hyperbaric Chambers guys is kind of the

HBOT the the cool kids term or the short term for it. Now we all need things to just help boost us

along the way. We also, you know, I shouldn’t say we all need, but it’s beneficial to have things

that can boost us along the way. And with HBOT and those different things that you’re going to be

offering. I’d love to hear like what you’re thinking in terms of translating it into some

of your acupuncture patients. How would you mix it in? What’s your thought process for your

future using your HBOT machines? 

DR. SHIROKO: You know, again, I’m always looking for what will make

somebody feel better. 

JANNINE: Yeah. 

DR. SHIROKO: So there’s temporary feel better and healing feel better where you stay

better, right? And unraveling all those patterns. And there’s so many layers to getting to a place

of staying better. And even that is a journey, right? Like you want it on because living is really a

journey of healing. But HBOT is hyperbaric oxygen therapy. And the idea is that you enter a physical

space where you get put under a certain amount of pressure. So the space is sealed and then they

pump it full of air or oxygen. And then it’s the same as when you go diving. So the original thing

is when people had the bends after they went diving because they came up too quick. Their

systems filled up with nitrogen and they got real sick. So they had to go in their high pressure

oxygen in order to pump out the nitrogen that was in their system. But then we began to study

that whole thing and there’s so many ways that high pressure oxygen can help your body. So one is

there are lots of places that all of us have poor circulation and chronic illness and aging

and all kinds of health problems have to do with how our cells are functioning. So by giving high

pressure oxygen in a contained environment for a certain length of time you increase the circulation

in a places that don’t always have good circulation,

you provide oxygen to tissues

that maybe don’t have oxygenation.

And most importantly, it has a direct effect

on the mitochondria and the mitochondria

are the powerhouse of your cells.

That’s where your body gets power.

So it can help with fatigue,

head injuries, brain problems, you know, like places,

chronic gut issues.

have a couple patients who have ulcerative colitis that hasn’t responded to any other thing.

And there’s a lot of research that shows that it can help with ulcerative colitis because there’s

a theory that there might be not enough oxygenation in the colon. So all kinds of health conditions.

And you know, the big one right now is longevity and healthy aging. So the people who want to stay

young and look young and be healthy forever. That is, you know, like the big, the big all like I

went to the longevity fest in December and and and you know probably 10 vendors out of a whole

bunch of vendors but a lot of vendors who who were selling hyperbaric oxygen therapy machines.

So there’s many ways to raise your energy.

So there’s many ways to access your energy

and there’s many ways to raise your energy level,

many tools available.

And finding the right one is, you know,

I think one of the biggest clues is

if you suddenly one day wake up

and you read an article about HBOT therapy

or you hear this conversation that we’re having,

Oh, and then it tweaks your interest.

That’s a clue, your body’s giving you a clue, you know?

So like this, simple tools for listening to your body

so that you go away from this conversation with something

is if you hear something in a conversation

or you read something on the internet

or you, you know, like, you’re in this mode of frustration

and I’m not getting well and you just hear something

and you go, oh, wait, what is that?

then you go after that and you look into it and you see, does it resonate? Is that something that

would work for you? And you ask the people you trust? Would this be something that would be good

for me or would it not be good for me? And that’s how you, one, learn to listen to your body. It’s

one to one clue. If your body says, Oh, what’s that?

JANNINE: That’s I mean, that’s incredibly insightful, because I think a lot of people

will think, you know, Oh, maybe I’m being, you know, to spur of the moment on on

this. But really, I do agree with you that something energetically brought it

to you, to your attention, to be able to pay attention for sure, for sure.

And– 

DR. SHIROKO:  Just like when, you know, 35 years ago, somebody gave me this book, The Web That Has No Weaver,

I wasn’t looking for a book. I didn’t even know anything about Chinese medicine at the time,

you know, like I was totally Western trained, I was totally Western oriented, never even heard

of acupuncture. And this book appears in my hands, you know, like, and then what made me open it,

what made me read it, you know, it began a lifelong love affair.

not with the human, with a concept, but okay.

JANNINE: I understand. I completely understand. I mean, Chinese medicine just made sense to me on

a level that nothing else had made sense before. And the concept like you were saying of what

we can do to raise our energy and then circulation. I really do think that circulation and raising

our energetic vibe are two of the really foundational things to helping with longevity,

health in general, things of that nature. 

DR. SHIROKO: Right. And the big point what you just said,

Chinese medicine, if you don’t have any energy, there’s no place to go. You got to have energy.

So there might be other tools like hormones or supplements or diet or hyperbaric that give you a

little bit of energy so that you can then play with how to move your energy. You know, like,

so when you’re running on empty, you got to do something. 

JANNINE: Yep, the boosters to help things move,

you know, synergistic effect, booster effect, you know, all of these things are just kind of

layers and added layers and in the scheme of things. And boy, I just if we can pass the information

anyway that there’s more out there than just what meets the eye, there’s a lot of really cool

things out there that can be incredibly helpful. And definitely if folks are in the Santa Rosa

area, they can come see you in person. So let’s give folks like, guys, she’s got her book Healing

When It Seems Impossible, Seven Keys to Defy the Odds.

You can find that on Amazon easily,

you can get it in paperback, you can get it in Kindle.

I mean, good stuff here.

I definitely recommend you guys check it out,

but she also can be seen in person in Santa Rosa.

Give us a scoop on how folks can find you.

I know you said your website, Heart to Heart.

DR. SHIROKO: Yeah, my website is Heart to Heart Medical Center,

and there’s all the information really.

How you find me, if you’re in California,

you can come see me in person or I do remote work as well. So you can do telemedicine if you want to

and yeah there’s all kinds of tools available to help you get well. JANNINE: Absolutely and I hope that

we’ve given you guys who are listening who are kind of thinking you know I’ve been through all

these different docs I’ve seen all these different things or maybe you know someone that’s in that

category, that there are solutions, there are ways to tap into your body’s intelligence

to help you to heal once and for all. 

DR. SHIROKO: Yeah. 

JANNINE: Yes. Amen. Right. All right. So Dr. Shiroko,

thank you for coming on. Finally, after all these years, I appreciate it. And I look forward

to hearing how the HBOT goes in the office. And I can’t wait to try out the NES. So folks,

we’ll do a repeat podcast when I’m in her office and we get the little the NES energy machine on

me so that you guys can see what that’s all about. So cool. 

DR. SHIROKO: I can’t wait. That means you’re

coming to visit me. 

JANNINE: That’s what that means. That’s what that means. So folks stay tuned for another

episode here sometime in the near future. Dr. Shiroko, thanks again. I appreciate it.

DR. SHIROKO: Thank you so much for having me. 

JANNINE: [Outro] (Upbeat music) Hey fellow health junkie. Thanks for listening to the

health fix podcast. If you enjoy tuning in, please help support me to get the word out about the

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