Welcome back to the, reverse autoimmune Disease Summit series, everybody. This is, of course, the fourth iteration of the series. And we're talking about the autoimmune detox.

And my good friend and colleague is joining me today to talk about the wisdom of the ancients. When we start talking about detoxification protocols and ways of understanding how this should be done in a functional way that matches you.

So we're gonna talk a lot about how the ancients knew how to individualize what we do in response to our body's pleas for help that we could call autoimmune disease.

So Doctor Sirica is a licensed acupuncturist and a doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine. She works closely with her patients and wellness clients using principles of Asian medicine, functional medicine, German new medicine, and a whole food nutrition.

She's the author of The Funky Kitchen, which is a primer on traditional food preparation methods for enhanced nutrient bioavailability. She's a coach for metabolic balance and a chapter leader for the Western A Price Foundation.

Doctor Sirica also teaches nutrition and a master's level coaching program at Pacific College of Health and Science, and serves as a board member for the National Association of Nutrition Professionals.

She lives with her family in the mountains of northern Arizona, and you can learn more about her at her website, Naturally Living TODAY.com, which we will also have all that information here with her talk.

Welcome, doctor Sarika. Thank you so much, doctor Keesha. So happy to be here with you and everyone. Yeah, it's it's a one of the things I love about talking this year just because of the resilience, flexibility and also wide angle lens that you view the world through and the world of course, including all of us as humans, but the humans on a larger interdependent web with all things on this planet, right?

And when I say, I remember when I gave this talk title to my team, they kept trying to put because I put the wisdom of the ancients, they were like, you mean ancient cultures?

What, like, doesn't make any sense. And I said, no, I'm talking about all of the people that have had this wide lens, right, who have created paradigms with which to look at human beings in relationship to everything that is right.

These are usually kind of ancient tribal cultures who lived in a space of interdependence rather than dominion. Correct. Yes, 100%. Yeah. And that is it.

I mean, you know, one of the best books around Chinese medicine is called The Webs. It has no weaver. I love that book. Yeah, it's such a great book. And it is.

I think that it's a perfect title. That could have been our subtitle, True Nation, because it is. It's this inner relationship, you know, what's going on cosmically?

What's going on? You know, with the physical environment where we live, you know, the weather, the topography, the foods that are in season around us, you know, and then, of course, the temperature of the people around us, how they are in relation to us and the technology and the impact of that on us there.

There are just so many factors that we need to be malleable on in that time of life we're in, and our own body composition, you know, and the time of day where in time of night, all of it right at all, actually, is something we're interior relating with at all times.

And our body is adaptive when it is adaptive and then it becomes maladaptive when it has nothing left to adapt with. Okay. Empty, I am out. I have nothing left to give you, you know.

And that's usually when the paradigm of standard American medicine kicks in, you know, like in your Vedic medicine. That said that there are these six levels of disease progression and that we start noticing around level four where there's this imbalance that's happened first, that's really mild, and then it will deepen, and then it will expand and spread.

Right. Instead. And then we get to excuse me, kind of a ICD ten diagnostic code around 5 or 6. And now we're tuned in. Right. But there's all this phase that's happened before that where the body's been trying. Like as a parent you should use the terminology it's been using.

It's indoor voice. Right. And sometimes we need to shout yeah yeah. Auto immune diseases. Outdoor voice shouting like hey, I'm trying to get your attention.

And that is you know, that is so it isn't it? I mean, in another way of saying it, when I speak with patients, I say, you know, we get to about 70% on the shenanigans level.

And at about that 70% point is where we start to have symptom presentation. Yeah. And yeah, I mean, when we live in this greater harmony that we're talking about and, you know, you and I both know that we have grown up in a culture that does not foster not awareness, doesn't doesn't nourish and honor that that navel gazing, you know, that inner reflection of of knowing what our signals are, you know, and really, we've been raised in a culture to be told, you don't know what those are, and you have to go to the doctor to be told, oh, I mean, how many times do we see this, you know, in the disclaimer related to medications or exercise, sort of check with your doctor.

Ask your doctor first every day. And so, you know, to even begin with that in our understanding. Yeah. We have to just honor that. That is something that that many of us have to do quite a lot of in our work around to understand.

I remember seeing, the movie documentary many, many years ago that kind of exploded a lot of different ways of thinking. The secret I remember coming out of the theater after seeing the part where they said, Native American tribes saw ships come across the sea toward them and didn't recognize them as ships because they'd never seen them.

And I don't I don't know if that's true or not, but but I remember running in 1998, the Portland Marathon, and running past this one part of the Portland Marathon, where on the brick walls beside the railroad tracks, there was all this graffiti.

And I remember thinking, if I were a different person or who had knowledge of those symbols, I would know what those tags said and what they were trying to convey to different people.

But it's like me and my dogs in the forest, like they're picking up so much different information than I am, you know? And we can think about that same thing with our bodies, you know?

And I learned, I read, and, and said, oh, this line on my face right here actually means something. My body's telling me it's giving me information. Oh, this tongue is giving me information instead of just quickly flushing the toilet and not paying any attention to what's in there.

Oh, you know, I actually have information from my body. All these things are information. Data points that we're not taught are the ways that our body communicates with us.

Oh, my fingernails mean something, you know? So that's so fascinating because I remember learning that and going, oh, that's kind of like the graffiti moment I had, you know, or or the ship sailing across the sea.

And I don't see it because I don't know ship, you know, it's like, yeah, yeah. So, so these ancient people documented a different way because they didn't have MRI and CT scans and X-rays and, you know, and they, they remembered things differently, probably because they didn't have phones to store everything and refer back to, you know, so there's a whole different consciousness.

It wasn't better. It just was a different way of being, you know, and I think probably more attuned to the frame that we live in. Yeah. Well, and that would be how you get your people to survive.

Yeah. You have to garner that type of information and you have to pass that on to the people around you for their self-preservation and of course, around, because it's a tribal thing.

And what's happened specifically in this last year, I don't know, I feel I know I felt like when March landed last year, I and, you know, we were all told to stay home for two weeks.

How I felt, a sense of relief. Oh my gosh. The pace I have been keeping. Now the kids and I are going to be home. Husband is going to be home. Just going to kind of hunker down here.

And I had been feeling increasingly like the pace of life was really getting out. And then when we had that pause, it was this, this time to just really whoa.

Remember what it feels like to to sleep deeply because you don't have to be up. So early the next time. So I this level of awareness in many ways was a gift, such a gift.

It's such a gift. And so I feel like we came into this last year, I think over all exhausted. I feel like the tank was pretty low for most people. The meaning is the word I've been using.

I was careening through life. You, you know, like a pinball. I was just hitting one of the corner screaming. Level through. And, you know, I know this has been such a challenging year in different ways, but, yeah, we also have had this opportunity for a little bit of self-reflection foisted upon us.

You know what I feel like I feel like it's been a year where we were all playing like a fast and hot game of musical chairs, careening from chair to chair.

And then the music stopped. Yeah. And wherever you were when that music stopped, that's what your situation was. If you had to deal with. And for a lot of people, they realized they were in relationships they were not particularly fond of.

They were living in places they didn't like. You know, I mean, it was a big revelation to people in a big way. And when you come in to that, because you've been so busy and so engaged and so distracted and you don't have this taproot to pull upon, to know how to reflect and respond in a way that that can be creative.

Because really, creativity requires a wellspring of energy to work with those. Yeah. So I don't feel that a lot of people know how to handle themselves coming into the situation that we found ourselves in.

So, you know, I, I, I consider this a time of learning how to do things better. And that's why I'm so happy that you're doing this again this year, because it's, I think we all are coming to this discussion so different than we were this time last year.

Yeah. You're you're talking a, you know, a little bit about a time detox, to use the terminology, you know, like, I, we could spend a whole hour talking about things we've learned from Covid and how it's impacted our lives.

And for sure, not being in an airport for over a year has been such a godsend. I it's so and I'm never going back to it again. You know, it's just not doing it, you know.

And so that it's just it's really interesting. Like you said, reset and and you get to look at a schedule detoxification protocol for yourself. And that will be individual to you and unique to you.

And what is it. How do you want to spend your time. And, you know, make sure that you're honoring and respecting that. So yeah, that's it's really important.

It is. And with this time and and I know it's interesting because in some ways it's been, you know, a release and then in other ways I look at my husband and me and we're busier than ever in some respects.

Yeah. Well, you're homeschooling, are you? Well, we have, in a sense, exactly. The kids. Yeah. And, but his work's been very busy. I've been very busy.

And so, you know, there's been that aspect to it. However, I think that in times like this, that creativity, when we just get a little more sleep in our lives, when we get just a little more bandwidth available to us, that this loss of really looking out for ourselves, you know, around even nutrition and being creative that way and recognizing what it is that we need on a given day, just as you said, a given meal.

Yeah. You know, it's it's not just this reactionary which I always found so fascinating when I finally, I don't know, I had this come to me one day. I thought, my gosh, you know, the word creation and reaction, they have the same letters within them.

They're the same letters. They're just configured a little bit differently. And we have been living in our reaction state. And our best expression is in a creative state.

That's a really lovely point. So let's talk about how to individualize that, because the creative state for each one of us, is going to be as different as the way we react.

You know? Yeah. And we have these patterns of how from our early childhood experiences, you know, we created nervous system pathways that react in certain ways according to what our meanings and beliefs were that we created with an undeveloped mind, you know, brain at these early ages, before the age of 26.

And so we also have beyond that component, we also have our own metabolic state, doja state, you know, Chinese medicine balance, right? Yep. Yeah. So let's let's talk about that because not only does this individualized nervous system reactivity and those pathways according to your own belief patterns and behaviors impact your individual genetics, right?

And your individual microbiome and gut health. And, you know, all of that goes together. But then you're also starting with the frame that you're in that is also unique.

And these ancient peoples had a way of helping you decipher. Yeah, right. How to feed water and take care of yourself. That's right. You actually do have an owner's manual. You guys.

You do. And I just realized you guys is not very politically correct anymore. My apologies. Yeah, I forget about these things sometimes. So all you beings.

There, there actually is. Right. This owner's manual. So let's talk about that from, you know, what you're looking at on the zoom right now are two different beings frames.

Yes, yes. Kasia and Sarika have very different owner manuals. Yeah. What what? Yeah. It's. And it's true. And, you know, from a social perspective, there's another one that we could bring on here just to have that trifecta.

Right. But yes. And, you know, even coming from the perspective of five elements, in Chinese medicine, that's going to be my guest, you know, for your presentation. Yes.

It's helping people to see what that looks like, because I think folks are pretty accustomed to, well, I don't want to say all the way across the board, but people are, I think, more familiar with the doses that, you know, the concept is about, but the five element kind of, threads that out just a little bit more into five times.

And it's true. I mean, what works for your time is, is really different than mine. And I've hung out with Sarika, Selena Kumar of unsalted organic butter in a day as a way of feeding her nervous system, keeping the myelin sheath intact.

If I did that right, such a good way for my I. That's a really good way to enter into this discussion. If I did that, I would be an enormous, enormous and have fatty liver disease.

I mean, there just would now be no way for my body to manage a cube of butter a day in your cells. Can I have three cubes, please? Exactly. Yeah. No. I've been at events where people actually bring me butter because I know what I have.

It square with the table for. Us. So. Yeah. So let's talk about that. Like how does that what what makes that different. Because right now out in the functional medicine world, there are very famous functional medicine providers saying, well, if you eat the right kinds of fats, you can have as much as you want.

Completely inaccurate, by the way, everyone completely inaccurate. Accurate. And it's and it is it's this cookie cutter. Yeah. Way of attempting to put everyone into that box and it's harmful.

It really it's a way of, demonizing fat. Yeah, I'm down with that. That's great. Yes. I'm a child of the 80s and the 70s. You know, we did too. Yeah. Saturated fat was demonized.

We know that that's untrue for a vast portion of the population. But it's not untrue for me. Yeah, exactly. And thank God, you know. What about you. Yeah. Yeah.

And have that awareness. The thing that is nice about the time that we live in is that this, capacity to, to really dive in without getting degrees like you and I have done to understanding what your constitutional type is, it's available for people.

And, you know, there are lots of fun little quizzes to help you sort that out. But then I think it's really nice to work with a practitioner who is versed in this, who is who, who just it's so second nature to them that, you know, they when they see you coming, they've already kind of got it in their mind, you know.

What's that. And that's very helpful. You know when we really want to step into this more. But you know I like actually working with the three doses. So I'm more brought to and this is this windy airy thin dry.

Right. How I ended up living at 7000ft in Arizona, the driest place in America, I'm sure is kind of beyond me. And it's an interesting thing because from a Chinese medicine perspective, I just turned 50 and, you know, the whole perimenopausal thing in Chinese medicine, we talk about yin and yang.

And as a woman ages and she just goes through the aging process, that nascent yin, the more fluid, female nourishing aspect, it goes into decline. It's just part of the normal aging process.

And so 15 years ago, this environment felt more comfortable to me than I find it feeling now, at this point in my life, I'm really starting to Florida looks pretty great.

Well, you and I ought to be trading places. We should be trading. That's exactly right. I go to the coastal places or the Midwest, and I'm like, I go from feeling like a raisin to a grape.

Yeah. And so but as you and I were talking before the program, you know, forgot to type to toss someone like me with a constitution like mine directly into, you know, just a deep cleansing program that can be tremendously problematic.

I mean, like, flat out dangerous. So we're talking about detoxification protocols now everybody. And and what Doctor Suica, you know, pointing to that we were saying is we have to help all of all beings understand that going in with all guns blazing to detox, whether it's mold or heavy metals or your liver or your colon or whatever, anyone's telling you, you need to detox.

There's so much. There's so much you have to get ready and look at before you embark on that. So, Doctor Rica, what are those things that need to be evaluated and audit before those things happen?

Right. Well, again, it depends on the constitution of the person in front of you. But I one of the biggest things is making sure that the person has the, the, the yin and chee to be able to support those processes.

You know, a water type person, that windy, dry, airy type of person. Those reserves are not real great. You know, they're needed for metabolic processes.

That's why I do eat butter, like candy bars, you know, I mean, it's it's something that really helps to keep you nourished. So to be able to do that type of movement and to direct that type of activity to doing that sort of clearing, supporting the function of the liver, the lymph, the kidneys, all of that that really needs to be supplanted before beginning to slowly, slowly work into those detoxification processes, because the bandwidth just isn't quite as broad as it would be for someone who's a the time.

So do you think this is related at all to all of the histamine intolerance and mast cell activation syndrome we've seen these days? I think that's a huge part of it, she said, leading the witness.

Yeah. And you know that it. And what were we doing? I mean, that's what we were just talking about, right? I mean, before we got into this year, you couldn't have moved any faster.

Like, life could not have moved faster. That requires this key engine. And it was already in what were people doing? And I'm not trying to toss concepts under the bus, but I mean, you know, people were doing, you know, intermittent fasting, starting, you know, with coffee, you know, I'm sure we're going to throw some MCT oil in your coffee, and that makes a good breakfast.

Which, by the way, for mine does, if I can manage it when balanced. But but I can manage that. No, I can't, I certainly can't, I can't, you know, like my body, I get hemorrhoids if I have something like that for breakfast.

Yeah. Because it's too much acidity, too inflammatory. It's like, oh yeah, that's that, that's such a good, a good, example of this is the whole bulletproof, era, you know, because it really was an era, and still happening happening.

It is still happening. So we we have been at this cranking, you know, energy output this way and then. Yes, it in Chinese medicine, it makes the liver hot.

You know, because the liver. Yes, is going to be processing the caffeine that's there. It's going to be processing the hormones that are really having a hard time finding a root in the body because of all the cellular inflammation that's going on, because we have had such stressful, sympathetic, dominant lives where we don't go into rest and repair.

I mean, there are so many factors that were going into play in this. And then, yes, when you say to that, okay, now we're going to do a big old detox on top of this, and you already have this hot liver that is not pliable and capable of handling the the magnitude of change that some of these programs, honestly, they might have been.

Okay, 25 years ago. It's amazing what has happened to the human experience in the last 25 years. And you think about like shows like Mad Men, right? Where they are drinking Highballs whiskey every night and and it and during the day, during social times.

And and then you think about doing that today. Yeah. It's sort of makes my mind go, you know, like smoking cigarets, drinking whiskey and being so functional and being so functional, looking good.

Like it. It just shows you how threadbare yeah, we are now. Yeah, yeah. And the level of toxicity that's unseen in our air, soil and water that our poor bodies are having to filter that wasn't present in that era I know, I know, and then that doesn't even get into, of course, the electromagnetic fields.

Well it does. Those are part of the things. And they're, you know, in our system that are there, that are unseen and they're so high now, you know. Oh, hi.

So hi. And before we go any further, I want to make a plug for every person. Please just turn off your Wi-Fi at night. Just leave it out. That just. If that's the only thing, and get your phone away from your hand. Turn it off and stop wearing the wearables.

You don't have to know. Oh no, you don't play. I know that keeps you engaged with it, doesn't it? I mean, it's like another thing to stress about. I know it's data chasing or, information, and I'm only getting 20 minutes at REM sleep.

That then creates more anxiety. And then instead of having that point to, well, maybe you should cut out the caffeine and stop putting the pot in your body at night in the lime.

It's instead, I'm only getting 20 minutes of REM sleep, so what can I take for that? I know, you know, it just doesn't make any sense. No, it's a prescriptive band aid for the mandates that we're using for the emotion and the energy and, you know, all of these things.

And it's a whack a mole game. It is. Whack a mole is what I call it, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So so back to then, yin and yang. Right. And and we have to have a balance of both.

And it's going to change at any given time of day and also time of life and circumstances. And so being able to assess whether or not, let's say you do discover.

So one of the things I talk about, and I know this is also in line with. With what, the way that you practice, Doctor Rekha, is that it's always critical mass.

There's never one thing that's sent to your body out of balance. Ever, ever, ever. There is no smoking gun. Yeah, no, it's not right. It's not. I've seen by providers, everybody.

It doesn't matter how many books are sold that say it is the Epstein-Barr virus. It's not that is a part of it. Right. And it's not Covid. Yeah. No, we are 45% viruses like that.

And you know, they are the important but fatty envelope that tells us how to adapt in our environment and how the environment should adapt with us. Like it's just an exchange of information.

These viruses, they're so important. There are some important. And the thing that I really come to appreciate is how the the exosomes, the viral matter is really a response within us.

That's that's what it is. And, it's it's not that it is something to inherently be afraid of. And I and I say that I'm not telling people to go run willy nilly and, yeah, be insane with your health at all.

I really the the longer the more years I'm in practice, more the truth of the terrain theory. And and what we show up to each day adds is the most important thing.

Not really. Is it? You know, we have, evolved to within us. I mean, when we look at the genetic matter of the microbiome within and on us, that genetic matter outnumbers our human cells by about 8 to 1 or so.

So we are a walking, talking, but, yeah, a horse carrying all of this information. That's Trojan horses. It's all we are. Are Trojan horses. And all the little microbes inside of us are using us as the Trojan horse.

That it works. That's exactly. Yeah. You know, they were here before us. They're here. They'll be here after us. And they are part of who and what we are internally and externally.

Right. And they are part of our expression of healing. When something has happened, whether it's been emotionally or it's been something physical. And to move away from this languaging of fear of invasion and that there is something inherently wrong with me, rather to reframe that because you're still looking at the same body of information, you're just reframing it.

It's recognizing what is the message that my but like you were saying earlier, you know, what is the message here using the outside voice at this time to say, I need a shift here.

And what is where is it showing up on my body? What's that trying to tell me? What is the thing that I have not been honoring in the message coming to me?

Yeah. So it's it is something that that requires that we don't continue to Band-Aid it with the things recently on the menu. You know, whether it's the wine of pot, or the caffeine or, there are just so many ways, you know, cooking drugs.

Yes. Sugar, over-the-counter painkillers, all of these things. Rather than running toward these things when we begin to have a little discomfort, I tell you.

And so I really began to embrace this. When a symptom comes up. Now, it has been such a mental shift, of celebrating an awareness and, and helping to support my body to clear what that is and then helping my patients to see that in themselves, too.

Because what that does is that takes us out of fear, right? It takes us out of fear. Let's listen to a space of recognizing, actually, I'm working in harmony with the message that's being sent here so I can help the support get through this healing process so I can I don't need to continue to go through this process any longer and get into greater vitality.

And we're not talking about blaming, you know, that's when you're in that developmental state as a child, you are being told if you're good or bad, if you're growing up with siblings, there is somebody to blame.

If someone's in trouble, you know, and so we can get kind of stuck in that very black and white thinking. So like, I've just spent the last week on ice with my back.

And when it went out, I started asking questions like, thank you back. You know, I'm hurting, but at the same time I can hold. Okay, so what's going on?

And it took me about five days to really understand what it was trying to tell me, oh, this zoom life that you're leading and not getting up in between patients is is not good for me.

Yeah. So, you know, yesterday now, this is the first interview I've done on this summit series. Everyone can maybe notice there's a different background because now I have a standing treadmill desk.

And just one day at this desk yesterday, and no more back pain in my body is saying thank you for getting the message right. Yeah, yeah. So so it's it's a it's important to keep with it too.

Yeah. It's well that's the thing every day is in every I mean yes this morning I've always it's coming back to me. When I first started waking up I was like oh my gosh, I want to keep sleeping for having a good day.

And then about five minutes later I was like, okay, ready to get up. It was amazing. The shift that happened while I'm still lying in bed within a five minute period in 20 minutes later, I was fully active and in the morning.

It's amazing how dynamic we are through a day. Yeah, so we do. We have to have this awareness where we we stay. Just gently alert what it is that we're needed.

And I will say to anyone, who knows Doctor Keesha, she needs to walk. And, she's about the only person I know who has totally walked. Well, more than me. I mean, she can walk.

And so for her to take on this newly sedentary lifestyle, more or less, you know, working with patients this way, that's not what your body is calling for.

And I love well, I wasn't sedentary. I was walking two hours every single morning. Exactly. But so then sitting still for five hours at a time, you know, so so even when somebody wouldn't identify themselves as sedentary, the reason I'm making the distinction is because if you're listening and you're going, well, I work out two hours a day, that if you're sitting for five hours at a time, your body says you're sitting there right in that five hour period.

You are. And so it's it's learning to adapt whatever that workout is or that movement that you're doing to to be in concert with what this frame is requesting, you know.

And so, yeah, I think that's that's important because, I mean, I do adrenal and hormone testing when people ask me how much should I exercise and what kind is well, let's ask your body, because if you're doing CrossFit and you're which a lot of other people seem to love and, and and you have nothing in your adrenal like you will be injured, you will be injured.

Perfect prescription for injury, you know. Yeah. I didn't you see that again before this last year. Yeah. It was like I had about set my clock on every, you know, middle aged person I saw who was going into CrossFit.

It was like, okay, let me let's just see how long it's going to take. And I'm not I wouldn't say that to them. I would just kind of watch it because it's exactly that.

There just wasn't the reserve for that. Or every spring when gardening season started or every, you know, okay, every first snow, every exactly. You have to work in concert with the system.

It's really important. Yeah. It's very important. Yeah, yeah. So this has and I'd want to just say this has been a year where I think people have been a lot more sedentary.

Yeah. Again I think that's good at the beginning. But then you've got to get up and get moving to the to the limit that's appropriate for you. Yeah. So I read this thing called creep.

Have you heard of this term before in terms of musculoskeletal or musculoskeletal system? When, when I was researching like look at what's happening because in the evening I'm fine after a chiropractor works on me and I get in my detox bath and I get up in the morning and I'm great, I go for my walk, I'm still fine.

And then at lunchtime at one, when I have sat there from 9 to 1, I'm bent over at a 45 degree angle and I can't get myself back up and I'm hurting and it just gets worse and worse as the day progresses.

So I started looking that up at that timing and everything. And and there's this thing called creep. And it happens as your back muscles because you are walking and hiking and working out.

Your back muscles are elongating. But because of sitting at the computer, the front side is contracting. Right. So then it's harder to get that to spring back, as you said, middle aged people that you know are entering into these places as that nourishing, moisturizing in and starting to diminish, right.

Watch your vaginal lubrication, ladies. It's also going on inside the rest of your systems. Right, right. And and that that creep would create this contracture around all of that.

And so, there's something called a yoga wheel that a friend told me about that's coming today. And I put five minutes in between on my patients now, and I'm just going to lay myself across that wheel.

And they're they talk about pumping your system about that. But, you know, before you get up out of your chair after you've been sitting, that you allow for sand.

So like kind of pumping fluid, lymphatic, you know, all of that gets kind of circulated really well. I think that's a really good idea. But I didn't know where there was a term called creep by this slide.

Share that with everyone. And I think that's great. It's it's nice to have that because it helps you to compartmentalize okay. That's what's going on.

Yeah I'm for it. And you know what is happening. Also of course when we're seeing it all day like this, is this contracture that's happening in the psoas muscles, you know, when you see these and the so has muscles from, a psychosomatic, perspective, they really carry a lot of emotion for us.

And that is what we do when we have been afraid or if we are feeling sick, we go into a contracted psoas position or your dad dies or your dad. That's why all this popped, right?

That that was the critical mass part of everything was probably at the very edge. And then that, you know, and so that's why, I mean, there's no smoking gun.

Everybody, there's like this, there's the feather that just nailing dab. That's exactly it. And I love that you just strung those pearls because we all have those experiences.

Yeah. We're we're just at the precipice and it's the one little bit. And then and then and then the body says, I can't write. You're going to have to just go lay down now and just take me the way that I've been really trying to get your attention on.

Yeah. And and it's, it's so when we are in that contracted space that way. My goodness, it is so important when we stand up right, that we really allow those shoulders to come down the back, really let that that body engage for us and let that natural S-curve show up on the backside of us.

There's, this hunching forward. You know, we live in a I live in a town where people walk a lot and, I will see folks that you just see this. They've just been in this constant contracture of the psoas muscle, and now they are bent forward like this with rocking.

You know, and then they're having to do this with their necks in their head. And it just it's it just looks so darn painful. So the sooner we can honor that, that so as muscle for us to feel safe and secure in our body, that needs to shine brightly for us.

It also needs to have a time of reclose and recovery. And you know, when we're sleeping, oftentimes we'll sleep on our sides a little bit that way. So that's a great time for that.

But remember staying in that contracted position you know being seated for seven eight hours as our kids have been you know, and yeah, you know, oh gosh.

And then certainly us in all of our zoom meetings and whatnot, you have got to get up and let that shine brightly. We got to counteract that because at a psychosomatic level, what that also does, we're like a little clam them.

Right. You know, it's like we're shut down. We need to remember to open. So what are some ways you mean? I don't know if you remember when I read Doctor Sabrina's bio.

She's an acupuncturist. So in in our Vedic medicine, we call these Marma points that, you know, all the places where a nerve cross, 72,000 points in the body, right?

That these wonderful nervous system pathways that innervate everything. And and so are there points that people can work with physically on their own that don't have to be needled?

Yeah, that can provide some relief for sure. I think one of the nicest things we can do for ourselves is, a lot of the yin channels. So these, these kind of more feminine aspects, this deeper, nourishing energy, they, they're at the feet.

And so massaging the feet, the bottom of the tea is really a delicious, nourishing thing we can do for ourselves because I am going to I come and I know I've got a little bit of internal prejudice because I am so wrapped up, but I really do tend to come from the perspective that most people are hanging out on the side of the gas tank a little bit more empty than it is full.

Yeah. And so even if a person is more of a comfort type, I, I think that we all could use a little more nurturing and nourishment. And one of the things that is, is think of that when someone massages your feet with warm.

Well, I mean, it's between having the feet massage that way in your head, right? Yeah. I mean, these are like delicious things. Now the head rubbing. We can do that ourselves too. It's a wonderful thing to do.

I use I'll use a little tool for that, you know, that has some fingers on it that I'll put into a plastic bag. So and there's so many acupuncture points that are on the scalp so we can just, you know, gently massage.

And this can stimulate lymphatic drainage up here too. It's fabulous for your brain. Yeah. Oh good. And you'll be so surprised at what it does for your complexion.

People don't realize how much tension we hold in our cell. I mean, we hold a lot of here, so that type of massage of the head, and then. Yes, like warm oil, maybe an essential oil.

That's appropriate. More for your constitution. You know, maybe if it's summertime, something a little bit more cooling, like a supplement. If it's winter time, maybe a little drop, a clove, maybe a little ginger or something like that, and just massaging the bottom of the feet there is, the that's where the kidney.

And of course, when we're talking about people being tapped out, it's you know, we are thinking, oh my gosh, your kidney adrenal system, it's, you know, tapped out.

That's where the kidney channel begins, is right there at the ball of the foot. And so to just massage through that area, release places of stagnation and you'll feel a little crystals in the feet and, you know, just gently break those up.

Because what I see what Chinese medicine and I know our vet is similar is that, you know, we've been talking about depletion, depletion, depletion. Well, similar to like, a river there if it's if there are places where it has been dammed, it's not the rest of the river is not replete.

It's just stuck somewhere. And once that dam, it's open, then that can go. Yeah. Yeah. We just let it go. And that's how we are too. And so these places in our body where we feel this stagnation, if we can gently love on them and allow them to move, that can allow a greater flow of the energy and again, nourishment that is within the body.

And so top and bottom are really great places to work on without thinking, oh my gosh, am I hitting the acupuncture point? Yeah, but what you could do that would be very nice would be, with that oil if you were to come up into the hollow of the ankle right there.

On the inner portion, you're going to be working with a very important point related to the kidney. And on the exterior portion, you're going to be working at very important points related to the urinary bladder, which will have impact on the lower back.

Which is nice. Yeah. So I've had a lot of back work in the last month and my massage therapist told me about and so I'm not here to promote product or anything but and so I'm and, and I'm not even gonna know the name of these, but I don't know if you've heard about them, toe socks that have some of those reflexology points on the bottom of them.

And so as you're walking around your house, because we don't really need to wear shoes in our houses, probably we could put those little toe socks on with I have the little and I haven't gone looking for them yet. I need to do it.

Your your our conversations reminded me of what he said to me. Yeah. And so that that seems like that might be a good idea. Yeah. I think that's a lovely thing.

That's wonderful. Just that mental stimulation that way. You might want to start on the carpet, you know, because mind of intent and to your point about that too, you know, because we do spend so much time seated, and, and that's really what we do in the West.

You know, we're not people who sit on the ground cross-legged or anything like that. So, these muscles on the back side of our body, from our feet to our calves or hamstrings, these can become quite contracted because they're in that 90 degree position. Yeah, yeah.

That line that runs the back side of the body that way, can become very tense. And that can, of course, yank on the, the spaces of the lower back at the vertebrae right there.

So, one of the, the, the really simple, but it's going to be painful for a lot of people. Things you can do is to sit down on the ground and, and kneel position, but with your toes tucked under you to stretch out your foot.

So I think when most people sit, if they can get down into that position, you know, they'll sit with their toes tucked back, right when I'm talking is making them this way so that you're resting on your toes.

And what you'll begin to do is begin to open up that fashion in the feet. There. Even to do that for 10s, it is really you will be amazed at how that begins to give you more freedom in your back, body.

So you're doing the same thing with your hands, right? Is leaning forward with having them back this way? That always is surprising to me. It's like, oh, I need to do this more.

Naturally. Exactly. And that's exactly what this really comes down to, is looking at what your patterns are of how you generally hold yourself, and then doing a counterpoint.

Yep, yep. Like last night, I was I was doing a quick little online Bathory class and they started working with, from rollers. And, we were doing a plank with our shins on the foam roller and kind of rolling back, and I thought, oh my Lord, I am going to lose my mind.

This is so uncomfortable on this fascia over my bones here. And I thought, I need to do this more because this is this is uncomfortable. It means my body needs me to do this again.

Sets. And these are all detoxification things, everyone, this isn't taking a ton of supplements. It's not, you know, like it's not doing ivcc lation. These are detoxification points of your body.

The places like Doctor Stricker said, that are dammed up that have stagnation, in the words of Chinese medicine that need to be released and so that your cheek and flow right, your lifeforce energy is huge.

And, you know, they're just these simple things. You know, in the northern Hemisphere, we have moved into the spring equinox just beyond it. Right? And so our days are getting longer.

We are moving in to a season of sunshine, and we are these creatures of the solar system. And there is, there is, theory that actually we are designed to get most of our nutrition from the sun and that food is such a secondary component of what nourishes the human body.

And we we were already a lot that spent way too much time indoors. And then this year we were told to stay in all the time. And, you have to get out in the sun without sunglasses.

Let your let your brain let your pineal gland interface directly through your eyes with this incredible star of our solar system and be out without sunscreen, without a hat.

And I'm not saying be out there all day. The out there for ten and not at 1:00 in the afternoon, you know. Yeah, but the morning sun, all of it. We need that.

And if you have darker skin, then you need it more. This is sun bathing in a way that isn't about making you tan. This is what it was meant to do. This is a detoxification bath and a rejuvenation bath, you know.

Yeah, forest bathing is the same idea. So if you can get out in the sun and the forest and have your feet on that ground, it's so good. It's so good. Yeah.

I interviewed Doctor Gerald, you know, Pollock for the series. And anyone that listened to Doctor Jerry's, interview will know what we just described as why that's health promoting is it's creating structured water in your body.

Right? Yeah. It's why your mood lifts. It's why your little microbiota say, well, maybe I don't need sugar. Okay. I'm good now. And it is it is it. You let your body start talking to you.

But don't don't shy away from those messages, you know. Then what do we do? We are funding status and we don't pay attention. Right now. We have so many distractions.

We've been in trying to forgive yourself. Let's list. So sometimes you'll get asked by your body for an Oreo cookie or or wine or a joint, or shopping a lot, or gambling or sex or, you know, so the this request that we're pointing to is something quite different than, than, oh, I'm trying to numb out from an uncomfortable feeling.

It's it's the actual request of the system, rather than the ego trying to run away from a painful irritant. Yes. Those are different. Yeah. Really different.

And, you know, I remember when because I had to teach myself these things and I'm still learning. And when I remember when I would crave something like hamburger.

Yeah. You know, which hamburgers can be very nourishing. But or or fries or whatever. Yeah. Here's the salty. I, I gave the sweet examples. And in America, it tends to be one or the other.

Okay. You know, you're dealing with someone from another country and they say, oh, bitter. I'm like, but you know, part of me, let me hear, let me craving curry.

Yeah. So, you know, that's where you say, okay, look, I know that those ruffles potato chips, they really are rough on my system. So what is that in the ruffles potato chip that I'm looking for?

And where can I find that? In a different place that that actually will nourish me. What am I looking for? They are not nourishment. So that we learn to to honor what those requests are.

But but to reframe it into a framework that is actually beneficial for us rather than, something that's going to be full of various excitatory axons and other things that are going to be challenging to our system.

Yeah, I feel like we could go forever, but we've we've spent a whole hour talking about this. I thought, we need to wrap it up in respect of your time in our viewers time.

What in you know, when we think about again the title of the what the ancients used to know about proper detoxification for each individual. What did we not talk about that you think needs to round this out or complete it?

You know what we didn't really hit on with sleep. Okay. And again, I think that's another one that is it is people I don't think folks recognize how rough sleepers these days.

You know, from the light pollution, to, of course, these electromagnetic fields and the pinging that comes from them. We have a talk on Emfs and we have a talk on sleep.

Oh, good. Okay, excellent. So folks scam these things because. And then listen to it a second time. Yeah. What you're seeing stated there because that is where your body does such tremendous detoxification and it has impact.

The next day on the types of foods you're going to be drawn to eating and the behaviors you're going to be drawn to doing. And so really sleep well. I have a personal question, but I'm going to wind up with that.

I'm going to end it when I was talking about acupuncture earlier, since I'm talking to my favorite acupuncturist, why is it that I hate acupuncture? That when I get needle, no matter what it is, I get this like pure electricity?

I don't like tens units either. Now and that appeals to some people. And then there are others that they don't like that type of acupuncture. Yeah, I'm in your team.

I don't like that kind of acupuncture either. And so that's not how I practice. I practice working with like a millimeter insertion gym. And so you're not getting into what is called the starchy, which is that kind of, more, electric.

So that's good to know. Okay. Talking about and it's very interesting because I've done some research around this very superficial Japanese sound needling, which is what I do.

Where, that, the message pathway, through this other network that is so superficial is actually faster to the brain than actually sensation that's calling on a totally different part of the body in a different communication.

In that way. So it depends on finding the practitioner who style and personality you like, you know, to work with in, in. That makes complete sense. Yeah.

What a marvelous answer to something that's puzzled me for over a decade. Thank you. So Gigachad know, Japanese style practitioner. Yeah. Okay. That's that makes so much sense.

I'm very intolerant of the electrical thing, so, I don't like it. It's a wonder I made it for four years of school that way, because that's how we were taught.

And I almost dropped out of school because I'm like, I really don't like this. And and I thankfully found someone very early on who I was able to friends.

Beautiful. Yeah. Thank you Doctor Straker I so appreciate you spending this time to even share a fraction of your wisdom with us on this subject. It's so important.

Thank you so much everybody. Let's take good care of me. Excited for you to check out the five. Yeah. We will have all of that in your free gift. You all right, everybody, until next time, be well.

Sarica Cernohous, LAc, DACM

Ancient Wisdom for Proper Detox