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Browse published articles attributed to Shiroko Sokitch, with full-archive search.
Mary’s son died in Afghanistan a few years ago. Not much later she developed a painful ovarian cyst. She did not want to have surgery. When she came into my office, she was skeptical about the possibility of her son’s death and her cyst being related.
How many times have you decided that you need to stop smoking or eating sugar and find that you can't? It becomes even more difficult to quit once you've decided that you have to. The internal saboteur takes over and tells you that, "just one more won't hurt." One in every twelve adults abuse alcohol or are dependent on it. One in five Americans die from cigarette smoking every year. One in three Americans is suffering from obesity. It is clear our society is saturated with addictions.
The other day I was talking to my chiropractor friend about a man he had been treating for low back pain. John, was having surgery on his low back because of a ruptured disc. I asked Dr. DC why he hadn’t referred him for acupuncture. He said he didn’t realize that it would help. He had give John tens and laser treatments, which he thought would be the same as acupuncture or better.
Memory and Nutrition Have you walked into a room clear that you had a purpose and then suddenly can’t remember why? Did you put that ring down somewhere and can’t find it now? Are you worried that you’re not going to remember your name next week? Not all memory issues mean that you’re heading down the road to dementia. Some things that look like severe memory loss can be treated with simple solutions. Your brain is capable of making new cells at any age.
Binge eating, not eating, heavily sleeping - we do what we can when we are trying to feed challenging emotions. If you are feeling excessive fatigue, hopelessness, or have lost interest or pleasure in your life, you may be experiencing depression. You’re not alone. According to the CDC, 1 in 10 Americans are depressed.
Have you spent nights tossing and turning without being able to rest? Some people spend every night that way. I’m amazed at how many people tell me that they sleep only one to four hours a night. Sleep is necessary for a healthy immune system, normal hormonal function, and recovery of your body and mind. Not sleeping causes your sleep hormones to become imbalanced, and as they get more imbalanced your sleep gets worse. It becomes a vicious cycle. Lack of sleep can lower your serotonin and raise your cortisol levels. It can also contribute to fibromyalgia and other chronic pain problems.r
Years ago, Juliette divorced her husband. She felt hurt by the experience and wanted revenge. To make matters worse, during the divorce, he came to her home and took a diamond necklace that was hers. She had a lien put against his car, which she had also paid for. A year after the divorce was final, he wanted to sell the car but couldn't because of the lien. He asked her to release it without offering to return the necklace. She felt torn. Should she just let it go, or force him to return the necklace?
Last year on Valentines Day, I went with three girlfriends to Santa Rosa dressed to the nines. We were headed to a Professional Singles Society event. Within three feet of walking into the Flamingo Resort in Santa Rosa, we saw that there were only ten people there, all over the age of sixty, and only one male. I left the premise depressed as we headed towards Petaluma.
Everyone has a body. Many people are terrified when their body starts to act up. As life has become more complicated in the last one hundred years, we have gotten further and further away from being in touch with our bodies. We have made doctors the high priests of the temples of our bodies thinking they can help us be in touch with what is going on inside ourselves.r
Solving the Sleep Dilemma Have you spent nights tossing and turning without being able to rest? Some people spend every night that way. I’m amazed at how many people tell me that they sleep only one to four hours a night. When a person doesn’t get enough sleep at night nothing works right. Sleep is necessary for a healthy immune system, normal hormonal function and recovery of the body and mind. Lack of sleep is even connected to an inability to lose weight.
“The first person to live to be 1,000 years old is certainly alive today …whether they realize it or not, barring accidents and suicide, most people now 40 years or younger can expect to live for centuries.” Aubrey DeGray, Cambridge Geneticist Like death and taxes, getting older is inevitable for those of us who survive our youth.
The SF Giants aren't the only athletes using Chinese medicine and acupuncture for injuries and chronic pain treatment. Former San Francisco 49ers players, Jerry Rice and Steve Young, received regular acupuncture treatments for sports related injuries. So too has NBA’s star, Shaquille O'Neal. The word is out that if you are looking for treatment with lasting results, Chinese medicine knocks it out of the park.
I was at the Farmers Market with a friend the other day. We were having a great time, laughing, talking, hanging out, when she suddenly began to look as though a cloud had come over her face. She looked like she was angry and sad. I thought she might cry at any moment. I asked her what was wrong and she couldn't tell me. Then I realized that although we'd been there for a while, she hadn't eaten anything yet. I asked her when she last had any food. Her breakfast was plain toast, 4 hours before.
I was sitting in my office with a new client who was showing me her bag of supplements. As I dug into her bag, the first supplement I pulled out was a popular brand of multivitamin. Without looking at the label, I already knew what it would say – a list of vitamins, their quality- and various other poisonous ingredients that most people aren’t informed about. Ingredients like ethylene glycol (anti-freeze), titanium dioxide (a white color dye) carnauba wax (undigestible), red dye number 5 (may be cancer causing), and magnesium stearate (prevents pills from sticking in machine).
The average American is spending 4x more on their health per year than anyone else in the world, and yet almost 1 out of every 2 adults have at least one chronic illness. Seven out of 10 deaths among Americans are from chronic disease. The good news is that most of the leading causes of diseases are preventable. According to the CDC(Center for Disease Control), “In addition to being among the most prevalent and costly health conditions, chronic diseases are also among the most preventable of all health problems.”
For many people approaching middle age, weight gain becomes a very difficult problem. As we get older, it seems to be harder and harder to lose those extra pounds that accumulated last Christmas, and maybe even this Christmas.
Carla woke up on New Years day not feeling like she was going to have a good day. She didn't want to start the new year feeling badly because it might be an omen of things to come. What if we treated every day as a new year? Today is just another day on the calendar. In fact, for much of the world, today is just an ordinary day. The Chinese celebrate New Year in February. My Persian friends celebrate it in the spring. For me, New Year starts in September because I spent so many years in school and that's when school always started.
I don’t know about you, but my family is crazy during the holidays. Their worst attributes seem to find a way to show up. It doesn’t matter that my mom is German and she didn’t even grow up in the states, she seems to develop a weird mood at the onset of Thanksgiving or any other holiday. Suddenly, people who never get along are supposed to behave, dress a certain way, eat with people they’re mad at, and in general be cheerful and content.
Anna was enjoying a beautiful day playing golf. She was determined to beat her opponent today. In order to win she had to make a hole in one. She made a big swing and felt a sudden pain in her shoulder. Suddenly she couldn’t move her arm to complete the swing. The pain didn’t last long and she was able to start playing again in ten minutes. A week later, she woke up in the morning unable to move her shoulder at all. She went to her orthopedist after a few weeks to find out what was wrong with her arm.
Why You Shouldn’t Get the Flu Shot Jane had the flu for three weeks. She got it after standing in line outside for six hours to get the flu shot. Modern medicine says that environment doesn’t matter; a virus causes the flu. Chinese medicine says that cold weather, wind, and rain enter the body via points on the neck just below the ear. Grandmother was right - you can prevent illness by staying warm and covering your neck. Its not quite as simple as that but being aware of the environment you are in is the basic premise of maintaining your health in any season.
Getting the flu is probably the last thing you want right now. Debilitating headaches, nausea, cough, sore throats and fever can really mess with your life. But what if the flu also served a purpose for improving your health? In this article I am going to pose the question of – “Why would it ever be good to get sick?” As uncomfortable and annoying as it is to get sick, have you ever experienced being relieved by getting sick? As if you are getting permission to let go? Well guess what, there is a health reason for that.
What aren’t we allergic to these days? According to a report by ABC news, people can be allergic to water, cell phones, allergy medications, the heat or the cold, chocolate, exercise (Yes, I did say that. The condition is called exercise-induced anaphylaxis), and the laundry list continues. According to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology, “More than half (54.6%) of all U.S. citizens test positive to one or more allergens.”
How would you feel if your doctor told you that you had adult-onset diabetes? What would it mean to you? Jackie said she was numb at first. Mick initially felt sad and angry with himself. He regretted the wake-up calls he’d ignored in the past. He was sure it would change his life for the worse.
Have you ever felt like you just don’t have enough time? Do you stress about getting where you need to go in the day and keep feeling like you are never going to get done? It's not uncommon for us to feel that way, especially in these times where things seem to be moving faster and faster.
Everyone knows that stress is bad, but does anyone really know what to do about it? We come to accept a certain level of stress in our every day lives because we think its just part of how modern life is meant to be. In a certain way, that's true, there are certain things that we live with now which won't change just because we wish they would be different.r