I met Dr. Trish through my literary agent and love her approach to healing!! She has a private practice and also wonderful resources, including a healing course, which you can find on her website:
www.transformationalmedicine.org
Here’s Dr. Trish with her trusted sidekick, Benjamin!!
Here’s my chat with Dr. Trish!
1. What inspired you to get into this work?
Experiences that blew my mind, and totally upended everything I’d ever understood about health, illness, and even reality….
When I was in my early twenties, I started having intense psychic experiences – mind-boggling, paranormal stuff, like being able to move objects with my mind, read peoples’ thoughts, foresee the future in visions and dreams, and more. And a little later on, I bore witness to the unconventional cure that returned my dad’s speech return to normal – he’d had a stroke 19 years earlier that left him struggling to get words out.
I went to medical school knowing that healing beyond the bounds of Western medicine was possible. And that healing can happen beyond how we experience space and time. I wanted to be an MD to teach people all of that.
After my medical training, I studied Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture, mind-body medicine, Ayurveda, homeopathy, functional medicine, yoga therapy, and energy medicine. And I also got sick along the way. I became a patient, more than a couple times over, dealing with health issues and feeling chronically anxious and depressed. Those personal struggles and how I came to heal them we more inspiration for what I do today.
2. It’s so easy for patients to get overwhelmed. If you could only choose 2 things for patients to focus on for healing, what would they be?
- Be gentle with yourself. As gentle, kind, and compassionate as you are with a dear one or beloved pet. Banish the judgments, the criticism, the “shoulds.” These very thoughts, in fact, create stress in our bodies and can impede healing.
- Stop trying so hard. True healing happens simply, effortlessly. When we let go of the trying. Trying creates more stress in the bodymind. True healing involves being, not doing. Surrender, not struggle.
3. What do you wish all doctors knew about treating chronic illness?
About the mind-body connection; about what I call our “Four Primary Medicines”: Food; Lifestyle; Relationships and Community; and Purpose. About the healing potential of the “doctor-patient” relationships. (I prefer to call them “healing partnerships”!)
4. Do you have something (words of encouragement or otherwise) you tell your patients that my community could benefit from?
More of the “be gentle and stop trying” stuff….That healing can happen, simply, effortlessly. And if any doubts arise, or any other difficult thoughts and feelings – being with those difficult thoughts and feelings is our key to shifting them. And the first step to healing.
5. Finally, what are you reading and/or watching right now?
Here’s what on my bedside table….but not always reading!
- Isabel Allende Daughter of Fortune
- Catherine Ponder, The Dynamic Laws of Healing
- Peter Russell Letting Go of Nothing
- The New Yorker
Netflix favorites: Glass Onion; Knives Out; Grace and Frankie; hate to admit it, but this past year, I watched the entire Grey’s Anatomy! (Never caught it way back when!)
6. Summarize in a few sentences how you work with patients. Like do you focus on a specific thing first, integrate mind-body work, or anything else that gives us a feel for your approach?
We’ll explore the 4 Primary Medicines: Food; Lifestyle; Relationships and Community; and Purpose. Food-wise, I do constitutional nutrition. And since food is a primary medicine, I’ll do a digestive analysis. That’s a functional medicine test.
Mind-body connection is a key theme. We’ll explore any blocks to healing, emotionally. That’s really the biggest element to healing, but sometimes it can feel hard to go there. And if it’s feeling really hard to go there, I may suggest acupuncture or body work, like cranial sacral, or mindbody energy medicine techniques (like Amy does!)
Thanks to Dr. Trish for all her words of wisdom!!
