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Pedram: Hi, everybody. I'm here with my good friend, Dr. Grace Suh. Hi, Grace.
Grace: Hi, how are you, Pedram? Pedram: Nice to see you. You guys, I went
to school with Grace and I didn't see her for a few years. Then I come back, looking
around, saying who's this celebrity acupuncturist everyone's talking about. She really blew
up in her career and I'm proud of you. Grace: Oh, thank you. You know, it's been
14 years. Can you believe it? Pedram: Oh, my goodness. No, I know. I've
got proof right here. I'm losing hair. You look just as pretty as ever. I don't know
how you do it, but guys, let me just give you a little background on Grace. She's the
founder of Body as Medicine. She specializes in stress and weight management. She's got
a really interesting history which I'm going to jump into with her because she's really
kind of an alchemist in that way. She's busy! She's one of these busy doctors where people
fly from all over the world to see her, and she has been just instrumental in helping
a lot of people, really famous in the Los Angeles area, and is kind of a go-to person
in the realm of acupuncture and Oriental medicine. Love to see you doing so well because you're
out there doing it. She's been speaking, blogging at the HuffPo. She's an animal lover, passionate,
helps rescue dogs all the time, and she lives with her lovely husband, Anthony, over in
Venice Beach, which is where I used to hail from. He's an architect and he does some amazing
work, and their dog, Hudson, lives with them. She's just got this great thing going, so
I want to share Grace with you guys, because she's actually been doing some cool work and
I want to get into what really got you into this, because when we went to school together,
I didn't really know your history, and you've got an interesting one, so just tell us what
drives you, Grace. What got you into doing what you do?
Grace: Compassion for my patients. I love my patients, and I hear them walking in saying
things like, "Grace, I don't like my body. I'm worried about what to eat. I don't like
my belly. I don't like my hips. Help me," and what I'm seeing are kids that are as young
as 14, 15, 16 coming into my offices because their parents bring them to me, saying these
things, and I have such a great empathy and also, it hits very true to home for me because
as a teenager, I really didn't like my body changing. I remember starving myself. I remember
wearing girdles to bed and bras, thinking that was going to stop my body from changing,
and I really empathize with my patients. That started this whole crazy journey of binging,
starving, trying all the diets that celebrity people that I used to follow because in college,
that's what I was interested … what celebrities were doing, and I wanted to have my body look
like them, so I would starve, binge. I was a vegan. I was a raw food. I was into microbiotic.
I was into counting calories, over-exercising, and I just exhausted everything out there
to a point where I had no energy and completely emotionally wrecked.
I was worried about everything I was eating, and I was in this prison of hell in my body.
I wanted to figure this out. I wanted to figure this out because I knew that this was insane
and everything that I was following, that these celebrity fitness, nutrition, diet experts
were telling me, weren't working, and I was just at the end.
That's when I decided to figure out what I wanted to do. I knew there was something about
our physiology and food, so I wanted to learn about nutrition. I wanted to learn about our
bodies and so I was looking at medical school and I was also, interestingly, looking into
acupuncture school, but back when you and I started acupuncture school, it was still
one of those things where you don't really do that if you're thinking about western medicine.
You go to western medicine. What intrigued me about eastern medicine was
this concept, an integration of mind, body and spirit. That's what really attracted me
because I knew, with all my struggles since a very young age, that it wasn't just about
diet and exercise because I know, I struggled. I over-exercised even 9,000 hours of my life
away because I was working out, doing everything, and so I knew that there was more. I took
the road less traveled. That's one of my favorite poems from Robert Frost. That is, I took the
road less traveled and that has made all the difference in the world.
Pedram: Which is amazing to me, because you chose to be the renegade, kind of alternative
doctor, and now all the doctors that I deal with are having troubles with Blue Cross and
all these people invading their practice space and here you are with a line out the door,
people trying to come in and see you because your patients are doing great and you're thriving.
You're definitely in the right corner of the universe in health care right now, and where
things are going, and I know that you've done a lot of stuff with weight management.
I know that your own struggles have been very heavy and have influenced your path, and so
I know that you've been working on a formula. It's really been working in the mind/body/spirit
connection with this weight management protocol, and so I just … what do you want to share
with my viewers? What's the takeaway in this interview, so people know what it is that
Grace is sharing? Grace: What's so great is, I discovered this
not because I was looking out to find the exact thing, but what I noticed is when I
started managing my stress, and now that of my patients, the wonderful side effect is
that your body just finds its balance so the excess weight drops off, your energy gets
boosted, and you're walking around feeling pretty good throughout the day.
This is a technique that I've discovered using eastern medicine and what I would love for
people watching this is to know that you have far more control when it comes to our bodies
and what it does, because I've been teaching my patients how to take care of themselves
at home with self pressure points, and they love it because it's so simple to use.
Anyone could do it, anytime, anywhere, and it's just so empowering to have what I call
a walking medicine cabinet, our bodies, just knowing simple things to do and so I would
love for people to realize that you can regain control of your bodies, and if you feel like
your body's out of control or feeling like nothing's worked for you, I want you to know
that there is a way. Pedram: Cool, hallelujah, so it's not bariatric
surgery, which is kind of the go-to now, right? People are really frustrated. People tried
diets left and right, and all this kind of stuff, so you're talking about harnessing
the power of the energetic system of the meridians that run through the body. Give us a little
background on what that is. What are the meridians and how can people tap into that with what
you're talking about? Grace: Meridians, boy, when I first heard
of that and I first started learning about it, I was like, wow, what is this stuff that
they discovered 5,000 years ago that mapped out the body? It was this small little earth
or universe and there's all these pathways that run through our bodies that allows us
to communicate with our bodies by pressing certain points in areas of the body where
energy gets collected and obstructed, and simply by pressing these points, you could
move things along because circulation is where answer is at.
Pedram: Beautiful. You guys, 6,000 years in the making, millions upon millions, I'd say
maybe even billions of people have gone through these systems effectively over the years,
so it's time-tested and true. Acupuncture, acupressure, this stuff works. It's irrefutable.
It works amazingly and so what you're talking about is a self acupressure technique that
you're teaching people so that they can have less cravings, lose weight … what is it
specifically doing for people? Grace: It helps de-stress, boost energy, and
therefore help you lose the weight, so this is going at it from a holistic standpoint
because stress is really one of the key issues that we have with weight.
Pedram: Amen on that. Grace: Yeah, and so how do we deal with that?
There are some awesome methods out there and today, I want to show you one of the ways
that you can do at home for yourself to start de-stressing and to therefore direct your
body, communicate with your body, to find that homeostasis.
Pedram: Love it. Love it. Can we do a demo? Is that something you could show us right
here? Grace: Yes.
Pedram: Okay, one condition. One condition. Anyone who's watching this, get up and do
it yourselves too. This isn't just myself and Dr. Grace hanging out. You guys try this
with us. Let's see how we feel. Okay, Doc, show us what to do.
Grace: [Inaudible 00:09:15] is a simple point, and it's a very important point. It's on the
top of the shoulder. This point is called Jian Jing. It means shoulder well point. I
call this point … it's located right on the highest part of the shoulder … you take
your hand, put it on your opposite chest below your collarbone and allow your fingertips
just to gently find the top part of your shoulder where your neck meets your shoulders.
What I was going to say, before I got into the location and press and rub back and forth,
is that I call this point detox shoulder point in my office. My patients know this is detox
shoulder point because it helps our bodies de-stress, but when this point is pressed,
you release your neck and your shoulders. When you do that, you start to relax your
vagal nerve. Not to get too technical, but when we do that, we allow our digestion to
go along, metabolism, and helps our bodies to relax, so that's why I want to show you
this point. When you press, I want you to rub back and
forth. That tenderness is your guide, your guide that you're harnessing the meridian.
Now, what I want to do is, use the breath. Take a deep breath in with me, and out. Let's
do this one more time with a deep breath in, in through your nose, and out. Great. Let's
switch to the other side. Take the other hand, put it on the opposite shoulder right below
the collarbone. Acupressure the top of your shoulder with your second, third and fourth
fingers and press firmly enough so you feel that tenderness. Rub back and forth. Let's
take a deep breath in through our nose and out. Take a deep breath in, and out. Great.
Pedram: Feels great. Grace: Feels great. What I really love about
this technique is what I want to show you next, is how to de-stress for any stress you
might be going through, so I recommend for you watching, pick one stress that you're
dealing with right now, and rate that between a scale of one to ten. One is no stress. Ten
is you're stressed out to the max. I'll give you a moment to quickly rate that.
Pedram: Okay, so find something you're stressed out about right now and rate it one to ten,
ten being your head's blowing off, one means it's not a problem.
Grace: Great way to [Inaudible 00:11:47], Pedram. I'm going to give you an example.
What we want to do it set an intention to tell our bodies to de-stress for that stress,
so let's say that you're waiting for an important phone call from your boss or your co-worker
that is going to make a huge impact in your business and your work, but you haven't heard
back from them. You're getting stressed out and worried that it's not going to happen,
so this is to clear yourself for the stress related to waiting, doubting and anxiety.
With that, you press this point and you take a deep breath in, and out. When you're breathing
out, imagine you're breathing out the doubt, the anxiety and the worry. One more time,
take a deep breath in, and breathe out the anxiety, the worry. Good, and let's switch
to the other side. Take a deep breath in, and breathe out that stress. Take a deep breath
in, and breathe out. Great. This is what I recommend people to do, not only to release
the neck and the shoulder, but to also help them de-stress for something that they may
be going through. Now, check in with yourself. If you notice
that your stress level is just as high, then do this again until your stress level comes
down. Your stress should feel more distant and a little further away, and not so overwhelming.
That's when you know that you've really helped your body let go.
Pedram: Love it. Love it. What I like about this particular one is, it looks like hey,
my neck's a little stiff. I'm kind of doing what I'm doing at my desk, but really where
the magic is happening is you're focused on the thought field, you're breathing in and
out, your awareness is coming to it, and you're releasing the point in a way where it's not
like you look like you're doing some sort of weird thing at your desk either. It's just
a quick little … yeah, exactly. People get really apprehensive about that stuff.
Grace: I hear you. Pedram: All you've really got to do is hit
the point and do it with intention and hell, I already feel better. It feels great, so
now, I know that you have a bunch of these different points that you teach people and
that you have taught this in the system. If someone wants to learn this, how long does
it take? What's all the effort in to really pick up the system and know what to do with
it and run with it? Grace: More and more, my patients are coming
to me with stress and with weight issues, so I've put together an awesome, simple program
where I take you through step by step, and people are loving this because it's so easy
to follow, and they're getting the positive effects of feeling more relaxed and letting
their bodies get to that place of homeostasis, and so this is something that I've created
and for our viewers here today, I've put together an awesome three training videos to give you
the basics and run you through the essentials of this, so that you could go for it and have
fun with me with these videos. I can't wait to share those with you.
Pedram: Awesome, so you made three videos where you're showing people how to do this
and it's like a do-it-yourself, do-it-at-home type of thing.
Grace: Yes, and it's a comprehensive three series of videos which I take you through
the auricular therapy in the first video. The second is actually …
Pedram: The ear, guys. Grace: Yeah, the ear, guys. Sorry, I'm so
used to saying auricular, but the ear … we're going to use a microsystem of the body. It's
an awesome exercise. Second, I'm going to take you into my kitchen which I love. I love
eating. Pedram: Now you do.
Grace: Now I do, my God. I know, I enjoy my food now, and the worry has left. I take you
into my kitchen. I give you the five things you must have in your kitchen that's going
to make every food taste savory and delicious, and the last is about my ten-minute workout
to make you burn fat faster in less than ten minutes, so I want to share that with you.
Pedram: Love it. Love it. You guys, Dr. Grace Suh, a dear friend of mine from back in our
school days, who's been doing some wonderful work and is now sharing it with the world.
Grace, I'm really proud of what you've done. I keep hearing about people ranting and raving
about you. I say, "I know her!" It makes me feel like I get to nestle up next to a celebrity
and say I used to know them and we used to hang out and now we're hanging out again.
Grace: Big hug. Pedram: Big hug, so you guys, we'll share
your links with the tribe so everyone can try to get in. You guys know that acupuncture,
acupressure, all this stuff, is near and dear to my heart, and Grace has got a good thing
going here, so anything else you'd like to share with our tribe here?
Grace: I just want to thank you and thank you, Pedram, for creating this amazing community.
Pedram: Thank you, and you know what, these things need to be said and we have a lot of
wonderful people out in our tribe who are just like, we thank you for bringing this
content, so my job is just to go out and find people that are doing great work and share
them with the world and say, here are the good guys. Listen to what the good guys say
and they'll help you thrive in the world. You guys, this is been Dr. Grace Suh. We love
her. She's one of our favorite friends of mine from back in the day and we look forward
to maybe having you back and doing some more stuff on well.org.
Grace: Thank you. Pedram: Okay, thanks.