A Personal Note From Orion

Welcome to another enlightening episode of Stellar Life, where we journey through fascinating stories and perspectives on holistic well-being. In today’s episode, we are joined by Dr. Dongfeng Zhou, a renowned expert in Chinese medicine and acupuncture. Dr. Zhou shares her unique insights on the interconnectedness of the human body, the power of holistic healing, and how her upbringing in a remote village shaped her path toward Chinese medicine.

Dr. Zhou is a highly esteemed acupuncture physician and diplomat of Oriental Medicine, renowned for her expertise and compassionate care. She holds a Bachelor of Health Science and a Master of Oriental Medicine, and she graduated with high honors with a doctoral degree in acupuncture and oriental medicine. Dr. Zhou’s personal healing journey with acupuncture and herbal medicine, which helped her overcome longstanding health issues, deeply informs her practice. Known for her proficiency in acupuncture, cupping, and other healing modalities, she is celebrated as a unique gem in the field, dedicated to providing transformative health and well-being to her patients.

You’ll hear compelling personal stories, including how Dr. Zhou’s mother recovered from a severe back injury using traditional remedies, showcasing the profound impact of non-surgical approaches. We’ll delve into the benefits of acupuncture, herbal medicine, and maintaining a holistic lifestyle, and explore the deep-rooted cultural and personal connections that influence healing. Dr. Zhou also emphasizes the importance of creating a healing environment and the significant role of belief and trust in the healing process.

Join us as we uncover the principles of yin and yang, the healing power of nature, and the essence of self-care, enhanced by Dr. Zhou’s wisdom and compassionate approach to medicine. Stay tuned for an episode that promises to inspire you to embrace holistic health and well-being fully. So, without further ado, let’s dive into the show!

In This Episode

• [02:04] – Dr. Dongfeng Zhou highlights her expertise in Chinese medicine and acupuncture.
• [12:11] – Dr. Zhou narrates a personal story about her mother fracturing her back. She elaborates on how traditional Chinese medicine, including herbal medicine and acupressure, played a significant role in her recovery without the need for surgical intervention.
• [22:29] – Dr. Zhou shares her transformative experience during a night class at a Chinese medicine university in Guangzhou that sparked his passion.
• [28:20] – Dr. Zhou presents compelling examples of successful acupuncture treatments. She describes how she was able to rapidly relieve migraine headaches and treat eye floaters in just one session, demonstrating the immediate and effective results of this practice.
• [36:33] – Dr. Zhou’s adherence to Buddhist principles of doing no harm, following the path of nature, and practicing kindness highlights self-care for practitioners.
• [38:37] – Dr. Zhou advises cultivating positivity through grounding techniques, breathwork, gardening, and meditation.
• [46:09] –  Dr. Zhou describes why gardening is a holistic practice that brings happiness, stress relief, and health benefits, providing fresh produce and herbal medicines.
• [59:28] – Dr. Zhou shares the location of her wellness practice in Florida, along with her website and Instagram page for listeners who may wish to learn more or seek treatment.

Jump to Links and Resources

About Today’s Show

Hi, Dr. Zhou, and welcome to the Stellar Life podcast. It’s awesome to have you on the show. Thank you for being here.

Thank you, Orion, for inviting me. It’s my honor to be here.

Yes, I met you about a little over a month ago. I was looking for a good acupuncturist. I went to a few places, and then I found your place, and I found you, and I was like, “Oh, this is amazing. She is amazing.” You are a true healer, and I love how traditional and congruent you are in your practice. I’m just saying you are such a blessing in my life. So I invite you to the show because I want to share you with the world because you’re amazing. Before we begin, can you share one of your favorite childhood memories?

Again, thank you so much for inviting me here. I believe that everything happens for a reason. I’m here. Just connect with everybody who is around me in the air or around me on this premises. My favorite childhood memory is so funny. The rainy season started in South Florida. All my memories go back to my brother, these bare feet in the mud in the puddle, and the earthworms crawling out of the earth because they needed a breeze.

That’s my memory about how things naturally evolve. My other memories included just following around my mom regardless of whether she was cooking on a fire stove or she had bare feet in the garden farming. Or take my water buffalo feeding in a creek, then chill down.

Wait, you had a water buffalo?

We did. And he’s our family member. He did all the heavy work, plowed in the soil, tilted the land and carried heavy stock because we didn’t have any modern transportation. That’s my best memories.

Embracing both light and shadow within ourselves allows us to live a balanced and healthy life, understanding that both yin and yang are essential. Share on X

Where was that?

It’s in southeast China. We kind of just crossed the Taiwan Gorge into the mountains. We are the mountain people. My best memory always involves the hot summer with bare feet, mud in the puddle, jamming, and replanting rice. We have a water buffalo rolling in the creek and my mom’s cooking.  We still use firewood today, as if it were 20 or 30 years ago, to cook. 

At dusk, the smoke of a cooking fire goes up and chums above our entire roof, into the mountains, and far away. With me, I can see something cooking. We always hurry home. Those silent memories never fade away.

I love that you had such a beautiful childhood. So, from that remote place in the mountains, with your mom cooking and you guys working hard in the fields, how did you discover acupuncture and Chinese medicine?

It’s always with us. Believe it or not, we don’t have a pharmacy or hospital nearby. The closest town center and healthcare centers are about five miles away. We have no transportation. So if you’re sick, your father carries on the back. Modern medicine is not available. When I grew up, all we had was whatever was available in the village, on the roadside, but a rice paddy on the mountain underneath the bamboo bush. 

That’s why we have all the herbs to remedy sickness. We grew up like that. It is also natural because my mom is an herbalist and a midwife. She takes care of all the pregnant ladies pre- and postpartum. It helps them give birth and gives them guidance for nutrition. That’s how I learned everything from the basics. Actually, whatever we eat in our village is very much according to the rules or principles of the natural diet and seasoning diet. We eat whatever is available and incorporate it into the cooking.

I love cooking and herbs. I think that in my past life, I was a hippie herbalist, maybe even a witch healer. I love it, but I don’t do it. My herbal capacity boils down to having a couple of books about herbalism and sometimes gardening—not a lot. What was the process of going into studying? What was the process of moving from this remote, very pure place to Florida? That must have been a very difficult transition or an overwhelming one.

Actually, it’s not that overwhelming. It’s just a long road first. I went to middle school and high school in another town, hiking away at the age of 16. I finally moved to boarding school and high school, and then, at the age of 19 or 20, I went to university. I did not want to be an herbalist or naturopath medicine because I didn’t want anything to remind me of what was behind my village. Essentially, we are very remote. We have nothing. You were shocked when you moved to the big city. 

In Chinese medicine, we don't treat the headache where it hurts. We treat the headaches on the feet and hands, understanding that our body is interconnected. It's about seeing the whole picture. Share on X

How behind can we be back in a village?  We never have access to TV or electricity until the age of 15. So shockingly, I just want to make a change so drastically. I chose international business trading as a major at university. But at the age of 23 or 24, I was doing pretty well. A friend invited me to a Chinese medicine university in Guangzhou to take a night class. I was just starting, like, “What? How could this thing ever exist?” I was just fascinated by the theory.

I went to clinical observation. I see so many things that happen in front of my eyes—miracles. I said, “Maybe something other than international business is pretty dry and boring and involves a lot of money but pretty stressful work. I probably have something else, some other weight out of this.” Doing what you naturally call for and keeping it in sync with whatever I have, I abandoned the side by pursuing something that was not me. 

So long, winding road. Later on, I moved to the United States. I still resist practicing Chinese medicine. I started looking for a Western medicine route. Then I think to myself, “Are you sure you’re going to dive into something that you’re not really leaving?” Fair enough, no. Then, as a Chinese doctor, I went back to acupuncture and finished my studies and whatever certification I needed in the United States. I got my doctoral degree about four years ago in Florida. I believe I still have more story to tell. This is a long journey, but I believe that this is the only way that I can carry on as a Chinese medicine doctor.

That’s so beautiful. I am so happy. You brought up such an important point about what happened to me. I used to live in Japan for three and a half years. Then, I moved on to study acting in the U.S. I used to wear my cool Harajuku style. It’s not really Harajuku, but it’s super cool. I like Japanese fashion. I looked and felt different. It was nice. 

I was always different in Japan because I was a foreigner. But when I came to New York City and was in acting school, everybody wore T-shirts, jeans, and black. The way I was dressing stood up. I had a heavy accent back then. I really wanted to fit in, so I started wearing black T-shirts and tried to reduce my accent as much as possible, which I have and which serves me well because I guess now my listeners can understand me a little better. Even in acting school, I wanted to be like Wonder Woman. I wanted to be a superhero. 

But when I went to casting agencies, they said, “Well, with your look and accent, you can maybe play a terrorist.” So, I believed it. And I tried to blend in, and it never worked. I was always me, and I will always be me with my heritage, culture, life experience, and trying to be someone else never, ever work. Also, listen to external voices that tell you that you can’t because, apparently, now one of the most iconic American superheroes is Gal Gadot, who is Wonder Woman.  

Not only did she not change her accent, but they also made the whole city of Tamra. They taught the other cast members to have an Israeli accent so they could match her. What a shift in perspective.

One of the things that I see about you come into your practice is that the moment you go into your office, you see beautiful plants and Zen art on the wall, and you have this room that I love. It’s the nature room. If anybody wants to check it out, go to the stellarlifepodcast.com. 

You have different rooms. One is the lotus room. One is the harmony room. One is the nature room. Nature room is my favorite. You got this little fountain theme. It’s so common. It’s so beautiful, and it’s such a lovely reflection of you. I really appreciate you coming to yourself and not being like, “Oh, poor me from the little village with no electricity.” Because I think at the end of the day, everybody in the Western world after they have gained fame and fortune, is going back to that. 

The people who have joy and happiness return to the little things, such as cooking with the family, connecting to the earth, and connecting to spiritual values. This is the real deal. Everything else is external B’s. It is about connecting to who you really are. I’m so fascinated by how you grew up and the fact that you had a water buffalo. That’s so cool. I think one of your gifts as a healer is that you grew up that way with such a beautiful mother and beautiful family, and with that connection to animals and the earth, you had nothing to block you around that. I just want to share that.

Amazing insight. Never look at it from that perspective. To me, life is all about coming home. On the surface, you look at it in the tombstone, always one thought to the other and a straight line to it. What’s the story behind this? Two dots in a straight line. It’s a snap of a tie. I actually watched a show about wrong dust before he passed away—a very spiritual guy. It means coming to a true sense of who you are. So, who we are really is not determined by what we do. It’s become like who you really believe and deep down within you. 

My sister was joking with me the other day when I went home a few months ago. He said, “Do you notice that you just look like our mother? You look like her, you walk like her, you talk like her, and you do things like her.” I say, “Okay, I guess that’s an honor. Thank you because I would love to become like her.” Although she never went to elementary school, she does not know how to write or read; she’s this amazing mother of eight. She’s nourishing everybody around her, within her, and the entire village. 

Who we really are is not determined by what we do. It’s who you really believe deep down within you.

She takes care of everyone around her. Her selflessness gives her a whole life. Even today, she’s still doing the same at age 81. She still fills everybody’s car with her fresh produce whenever everybody visits her. Coming home is a natural calling. It’s who I really am. I don’t hesitate to scold myself with what my heart tells me to rather than be driven by what normal society would tell me to do. 

I opened this office. You can see the name of our clinic’s tiny little woodboard in the front. Acupuncture is as simple as it is. In the office, when you walk in, you see the fountain, the plants that we are so bored with. We have no reading material and no TV on the wall. Show you the current medicine or where you should get a diagnosis. 

We have noticed that the front desk has a glass door that opens and closes, showing the strict boundary between the healthcare provider and the patient. We are not door-blocking you from going to the back. You’re free to check out whoever is on the premises. It’s all open and connected. 

It’s the place everybody should feel at ease. They should feel who they are. The moment they walk in, they already feel they are not sick. They’re actually well-being. This is a visit. It’s not a sick visit. They already feel probably 50% better just by sitting in front of the fountain and become just who they really want to be, who they really are.

Yeah, I can say that. Every time I come into the office, my body says, “Ah, thank God I’m here. This is awesome.” Life is so stressful. I’m so happy you treat me and are so kind. You take the time to talk to me and then treat me so well, and I am flying high. I need to sit near the front desk for a couple of minutes just to ground myself because I’m so beautifully relaxed, which is the opposite of my everyday life. I’m like, “Oh, what a gift. So nice.” 

My clinic is an ideal place where you can breathe, relax, and forget about the outside world. We try to mimic nature.

In a way, you have the same generosity as your mom because you bring your own produce from your garden to your clients. Every time you have abundance, you just share it, make kombucha, and offer it to your clients. Every time I come there, you’re like, “Hey, do you want herbal tea?” I think that’s amazing, also the people that work for you. Jessica is so sweet. It’s just that you created such a real place for healing, not a place for sick people. That’s a great distinction.

I really appreciate that. It is a place where you can breathe, relax, and forget about the outside world. It’s ideal. We try to mimic nature. There’s nothing else to do that needs to be done more at that moment. We always remind our patients, “If you are on your phone or still have something to take care of and gently by the door, you do not need to carry it with you in this room. You can just totally be who you are.” It’s a lot easier, too, when people really try to comply.

Sometimes, people need permission to stop, and you give them that permission. I wanted to ask you about people who haven’t tried acupuncture before. I’ve done a lot of acupuncture sessions before, and some of them were great, some of them were awesome, and some of them were just good. But I know that there is something else for me. Can you share a little bit about acupuncture and the practice and how to find the right person for you?

When I look for acupuncturists, I get treatment often. I look at the quality of who they are. The first skill is probably equal to who they really are. Do they believe in what they practice? Are they sincere about what they are coaching? Are they doing the thing that they actually tell me to do? Do they practice what they believe as well? They have to be very aligned. When I pick that person, and you feel that, you feel the energy exchange. 

For example, if I want to do the weight loss program, I will not go to the acupuncturists who are not eating well themselves, who obviously need to have a weight loss program themselves. So it’s totally contraindicated with where they bleed. Besides that, the skill set is really important too. They will have to talk not only about needling skills it’s a communication skill. How willing they have to communicate above and beyond to get to know the patient, be part of that, and know why they are in your room. 

People call you first. They really want to know whether you can help them. That’s number one. It’s not because they call you trying to find out how much you charge. They really want to know how you can help them. Communication is really important. I am always honest with them. They say, “I’m not sure. I have not promised, but how about we try this? You do this part and see how things go.” They really appreciate it. If you go to acupuncture, they don’t explain to you the causes of treatment and what your expectation and they’re really confused. I don’t think it’s a good sign or the opposite way. 

They promise, “I will cure you for a visit.” I don’t think that’s a good sign either because there’s no such thing. In full visit, you get cured. The best scenario would be for me to work as hard and give my best shot to make the patient compliant with another 50% and follow through when they’re not in a treatment room. Magics just happen very, very quickly. It’s a lot more quickly than you would think. 

I love that you brought up that point. Also, I think this is good advice for Western doctors as well. Even though Western doctors don’t have the time because of the way the system is. Some people go to doctor’s offices, and it is always like, “Oh, they put the doctors on the pedestal,” and they’re even afraid to speak their minds because, “Oh, if I speak my mind, they might not heal me well,” or some kind of not great subconscious belief. 

But this is also great advice for finding a homeopathic practitioner or anyone, such as a massage therapist. Anybody supposed to aid in your healing needs to be aligned with you. They’re not above you, and they’re not below you. You guys are co-creating the healing together. I think something about you and how sweet you are to people helps. I opened up to you, and you really are creating a safe space for healing. 

Communication is really important. I am always honest with the patients.

The container is important. It’s not the medicine; it’s not the herbs. It is, but it’s not only that: the container, the environment, the human connection, the eye connection, the soul connection. Having somebody who will believe in you is the most important thing. What is acupuncture, and why does it work?

It’s a very complicated answer, but let me be as brief as possible. The keywords about the connection it’s going to lead through the entire explanation. We are part of the universe, and the grass, the tree and everything else are to a label—grass’s universe itself. The human body is the universe itself, too. A grain of sand is a universe in itself. In an autonomic space, you look deep down. We’re not much different at all. 99% of us are empty space. Even a solid desk, it’s not as solid as you think. 

War is between these hollow spaces beyond the atoms, the fibers, and the tissues. It’s actually energy. Energy moves through everything—every tree and every grass looks like there is no life, desk in the air. Our human body is like the entire universe, with a river through which energy flows oftentimes. Because of our human behavior, we overindulge in anything. It can be overexercising, overeating, overthinking, worrying, or anything that could stop energy flow. You suddenly become staticky, and nothing is working; nothing’s flowing, so it’s backflowing to other channels, like rivers all through your body, like rivers all around the earth’s surface. 

One area gets blocked, the other gets flooded, and the other drowns. The other area has no life. So, as acupuncturists, our job is to remove these obstacles, allow the river to flow by just inserting certain areas, and remove this and that. You recover the balance of the river. You cover the entire ground surface, internal or external. But that’s purely the energy world in Western medicine’s way of explanation. 

How acupuncture works that acupuncture works by inserting a certain needle increases the cortex activity in a certain reflecting area. For example, if you insert one needle in your liver, your large intestine floor right behind your thumb, and your index finger in functional MRI actually lit up in your frontal area, which means a lot of activity going on and moving. So, how do we discover this point for relieving headaches, congestion, and stress? 

Our human body is like the entire universe, with a river through which energy flows oftentimes.

It’s all because the moment you insert a needle, you activate the parasympathetic nerve system, and your cortisol level naturally drops. Now, endorphin is released abundantly, and serotonin is released amazingly. All the anti-inflammatory factors are sent to the target tissue. By inserting certain coins in your body, the whole system is connected. It’s not because of your headache; we put a needle here. Oftentimes, we don’t tree headaches here; we tree headaches on the feet and on the hand. 

For Western medicine, they don’t do that. They have a head doctor, an EMT, a hand doctor, and podiatrists in Chinese, but we don’t. We rarely treat headaches on the head and sinuses on the forehead. We see things as a whole, all connected. Everything is interconnected within you and without you: the entire environment, how you eat, where you eat, where your food comes from, and how the local food affects your body.

That’s a really beautiful way to describe it.

Western medicine often forgets the connection. They give you certain medicine, just address one thing, but they forget how the other organ will react and function. In Chinese medicine, you have to really think through the following: if you fix this as affecting others, or you might fix the other organ, and indirectly, you will fix any other organ system as well. It’s all balance. We never really go in to treat one issue only. Even this one issue always correlated with many other factors behind it. 

We had to make dots, a map, and a 3D image of what would happen at the moment in the patient’s life rather than just go in there poking one dot and cutting it open and fixing it and stitching it up, which never worked. We have to connect all the dots, mold them, and shape them in the 3D print. Now we know we have a whole picture, we start going in, and we undo this, notify this, give this the boost, give this the list, and give this little outlet to go. Now, everything is just back to the natural flow.

You told me a story about your mom being 60, climbing a tree, falling off of the tree and breaking her back, basically. Can you share a little about that story and how you helped heal her?

As acupuncturists, our job is to remove obstacles in your body.

It was heartbreaking. About 22 years ago, I was still in college. My mom broke her back. We had to pick fruit from probably a story-tall tree. She stepped on a rotten branch, and she fell off at the age of 62. We have no hospital nearby. So we sent her to the town center. There’s no MRI or X-ray; there’s an x-ray machine that I believe never worked. The x-ray showed clearly she had dislocated her spine. She cannot move from her bottom down. They say you had to go to a bigger show.

So she was paralyzed from the waist down?

She couldn’t walk, couldn’t do anything. They say, “You have to go to a big hospital. We don’t do anything here. You need her surgery. Otherwise, be pale the rest of your life.” My mom is as stubborn as I am. She says, “I don’t want to go through surgery. I don’t believe in surgery.” She said, “Look, I can.” No, she wasn’t paralyzed. I’m sorry. But her nerve is totally compressed. She said, “I can still move my toe. I cannot walk or stand anymore, but let me see what happens.” She refused to go for surgery. 

We have to carry her home and put her on the first floor of our house. What we did was this herbal medicine. My sister is a massage therapist. She was trained very well, so I gave her a set of acupressure points and a set of herbal formulas. I wasn’t even living in a village or even nearby. I just wanted to visit her. From time to time, I monitored her progress under my sister’s care and my teacher’s formula and a settled point. Gradually, after six months, she started walking little by little. Now she’s age 81. She walked a little bit crooked, but not a huge difference. She still carries 50 pounds of soil, walking 2 miles on her shoulder. At 81, she’s still doing her gardening.

That’s so beautiful. That’s an incredible story. Sometimes, homeopathic medicine is obviously needed, and there are always different ways to heal. I’m so glad because she had basically the same recovery she would have had if she had done the surgery. It probably would have been even more agonizing because she would wait for the surgery and have to drive and travel and come back and have her back cut open and all that. And I know that when you cut the tissues with Chinese medicine, you block the chi, right? You block the energy.

Any tissue you cut brutally eventually affects the energy flow. In Western medicine, you either cut a vessel or a sudden nerve in the tendon. It’s always different. Back to my mom, she’s fascinated by self-healing in the process, and she believes in natural medicine as well. She is really my inspiration. Everything she does, it makes perfect sense. I admire her so much. I went back twice last year to see her. Each time that she complained, “Mom is getting old. You should come more often to visit me as a mom.” No. Are you still providing food for all your eight kids? We wish you lived to 125.

So beautiful. How sweet. Can you share a bit about some of the miracles that happened in your office or cases where you’re like, “I’m not sure I can do it, but I’m going to try.” That even surprised you, or that you saw it, because I know you interned with your 80-something-year-old acupuncture master in China every once in a while, till today. What type of things do you see, and what miracles do you see in your office that beat the odds or created the impossible?

For the miracle, it’s actually very common now after you practice for a while, you say, “Okay, I kind of got this.” But at the beginning, when I first practiced, it was like, “Oh, my God, this work.” You’re so excited. You call your coworker or teacher and say, “Oh, my gosh, say, this work.” Some of these miracles I witnessed this year, like a patient covered up with a head, shivering, and migraine headache, are ten out of ten pounding headaches. It was carried in by husband in five minutes. 

We put two needles, one needle in the head and one in the foot, and then some electricity goes through the whole body. They say, “Oh, what is that? It hurt.” “How’s your headache now?” “It’s gone.” It’s like within five minutes, they already feel the release of humongous micro headaches caused them. They had to call out for work, and of course, an hour later, they could drive home by themselves. It’s a very fast release. 

In other cases, for example, I have a patient coming with an eye floater. She said her eye floater was so ignorant. It looks like an airplane shape covered on her right ear, and her right eye cannot go away. I said, “Okay, I never treated this before, but let me do it.” So we pulled out a needle, and I said, “You have to close your eyes for this needle.” She said, “Why?” I said, “Because this needle is gonna be in your eyes.” She was freaking out. “It’s okay, let’s try.” So I put one needle in the corner of her eyes, two inches deep. It doesn’t hurt at all. There’s an empty space between your eyes before you touch the nerve. Her floater recovered this one visit, just one visit that had been bothered for years.

That’s incredible. How often do you think one should get acupuncture?

Faith is correlated with who you really are.

In an ideal world, I think we should live like Jada. We should have an acupuncturist massage therapist with us 24/7. Some people radiate now overthinking. Can you put one needle here? And I think as a lifestyle reminder, probably once a week, it’s going to lead your body into a state of harmonization that way, that disease that’s likely going to bother you, and you live life a lot happier, more productive.

How does faith and lifestyle affect one’s healing?

Faith does. It’s correlated with who you really are. It’s not only what you believe i; you apply actions based on your faith. It’s very powerful for a patient or practitioner both ways.

Do you see a difference between clients who come and they don’t believe in practice and don’t believe in themselves to ones who do?

People sometimes come in very skeptical. Cases like this are more difficult because they do not believe in themselves, and they have no trust in me. They have no trust in any surroundings. They probably have no trust in everything they do in their real life. So, for people like that, it’s a little tougher, but we can always meet at that level as well. We provide a bridge, let them crawl over once they cross over, and then they’re all yours. You make them believers. 

But for some people, it’s not your time to heal them. They will again, as you say, you will need permission to heal them, and they will have to give you permission at that moment. If they so guard it, there’s no permission. You knock, and the door is not opening. It’s nothing you can do. They will come at that time.

It’s divine timing. Sometimes people say they want to heal, but there is something about being a sick person or having that problem that subconsciously it’s not a conscious thing. Usually, they subconsciously serve them because they get more love and attention when they’re that. Or they don’t have to go and do some things because they have a certain condition, or it becomes a part of their identity to a degree where they don’t want to change it. Because if I see myself as a healed person, who am I? I don’t know myself.  I’m going to be a completely different person. 

So, there is some fear around the change, which can prevent healing. Because we are co-creating. When patients and doctors come together, they co-create with universal energy. They co-create between the both and with the higher power, innate power. Because God, the universe, that energy is the watchmaker, right? It created us so it can fix everything. If we open up enough for somebody who’s going through a hard time right now and wants to heal and have a hard time believing they can heal and find success stories. 

Find people who have done the impossible and tell yourself, “I’m going to be a part of that small group of people that own their healing, and I’m going to be the one who will heal. I’m going to be a part of that group, not a part of statistics that are usually incorrect, not a part of other people’s opinions or even my own opinion about my healing, because my desire to heal is more, is greater than my desire to suffer or my desire to be locked into my identity or to be right about being a sick person.”

Agree. In your field of healing, you have to meet a practitioner halfway, and you will have to be able to connect and willing to share and heal.

Everything is interconnected within you and without you.

Yes, absolutely. Are we really willing to heal? Healing can be healing not only physically but also limiting beliefs and healing the way we see ourselves because sometimes we see ourselves through a distorted mirror. We just need to heal how we see the world and heal our relationships. There is so much healing to be done, and it’s available. I just heard this definition of miracle as focused intention. 

When you have focused intention about something, it’s going to be a miracle. You will create a miracle because that’s how we work with the matrix, with focus and intention. That’s how you create miracles. You’re a Buddhist. What are some important Buddhist principles that you live by that serve you? Or do you have any mental rituals that you do to elevate yourself, to ground yourself, and to live your best life ever?

I do live in as much as I can as a Buddhist principle. As the Dalai Lama always said, the number one principle I think all humans should adopt is “Do no harm.” It means do no harm to yourself, to everybody around you, to anything, or any animal.” That’s number one. If you feel like you are not going to be beneficial, but do no harm. If you come from that perspective, everything, I think, will be a lot easier. The other principle I follow is the Rule of Tao rather than Buddhism. Tao and Buddhism are slightly different, and they all follow nature. 

Tao means the way, the truth, the path of the universe. To follow the universe’s way and truth, you have to observe and respect nature. In everything we do, we try to mimic the power of nature, including in daily life and work. If anything is against nature, it’s not going to work. That’s the second thing that others are saying. Above all of that, be kind, be nice, and be generous because whoever we see on the road is your true reflection. Who does always say you only meet yourself along the road? 

Adapting our lifestyle to the rhythms of nature—resting, exercising, working, and eating locally—is essential for cultivating a harmonious life. Share on X

If you don’t like something in another person, well, ask yourself what triggers you. Maybe you’ll have that in you, too. So self-reflection is by being nice and kind because we’re all connected, or everything goes back to one higher power, one creator, whoever is retreating, everybody else. Kindness means you treat yourself kindly. So, I think all three laws of principle should be the rest of my life. I try to adapt, exercise, and practice every day above anything else.

Please share a little bit about your gardening and your garden. And I know that you cook most of your products from your garden. What’s your lifestyle as far as nutrition and gardening?

Funny enough, when you get older, you become your mom again. Just trying to be like her. Way to grow old like her. Have a gray hair and a beautiful face. I try to live a life that harmonizes with my surroundings. I believe in what I’m doing, what I’m coaching, and what I’m practicing. I try to walk the talk. By living the life I always wanted and showing people I am actually doing it, it’s very powerful and affects everybody. They start doing gardening, and they all go to the same nursery I go to. 

Self-reflection is being nice and kind because we’re all connected; everything goes back to one higher power.

Now, we bump into each other very often. Gardening just makes you happier. More than 10%, though. I think it’s not only very good for your hormone level, for your stress, for your focus, for your sleep quality, but also you provide a bundle of produce for yourself, for your family, for your neighbors, and for my patients. I always bring the fresh produce that overwhelms me in my garden to share the herbs for them too, for anti-inflammatory teas, and I can provide all that. 

One time, I brought in a fresco and pineapple. People were passing around and smelled. I said, “Oh, take it home. You can eat it and grow it again.” They were just so happy. Many herbs are trying to show examples here in South Florida, such as what’s available to grow and very easy to grow and share. Whoever I encounter, tell them, you need a cutting. “Come to me, I give you a cutting. This is good for your scenario. You should grow this, and you should grow that. You have a blood pressure issue. I will give you a moringa tree. That seed was gifted to me by other patients. Now I give it to you.”

So, it becomes a circle of support for a community by gardening. I suddenly opened up another wave of connection to the community around me. Now, you are not only providing nutrition, you’re providing your health to yourself and your family. You influence everybody around you. You learn and grow as a community and a family.

That’s such a special thing about your office—all the greenery, the teas, the kombuchas, and the fresh produce. It’s really magical. The value of community is as important as sharing. We’re meant to be herd animals. We’re meant to live together. We’re meant to live in community. Unfortunately, the Western lifestyle promotes individualism, which is great. We can be individuals yet not so isolated. 

In everything we do, we try to mimic the power of nature, including in daily life and work.

This lifestyle of social media and this illusion of connecting to other people through screens is not a true connection. Like you said, a true connection is when you come together, share a bite to eat, and grow things together. And gardening can be very healing because just putting your feet on the earth or touching a plant, you get all the electricity to balance your body, ground you, and center you. Whenever I feel like I’m spinning out of control, I go outside and just put my bare feet on the grass, or I’ll hug a tree, which helps. 

Suddenly, I’m going from my crazy monkey mind to just being here in the present moment. “Just take a deep breath. Breathe. Put your feet on the ground. Everything’s okay.” We create so many stories in our minds. Sometimes, we’re so locked in the future or attached to the past that we forget to live. I like watching animals.  I have a lot of animals in my backyard. 

From a feral cat that we feed to a bird that keeps chasing it all the time and attacking it, to different kinds of ducks and water birds and frogs and toads and squirrels and just so beautiful to just sit outside and be in nature and forget about all those. It’s like disconnecting from a negative illusion of the collective mind that we sometimes engage in.

It’s amazing. That picture you showed me about the lake in your backyard the other day.

I’m very blessed to have that.

When you watch the duck or watch the clouds passing by at that moment, do you think about anything negative? Do you think in the last fight with your husband or your co-worker? No. Everything is pure attention at that moment. You live in the moment of now. The moment of now means there’s no trouble, there’s no problem. You truly just want with surroundings. 

You live in the moment of now. The moment of now means there’s no trouble, there’s no problem.

There’s no space for negativity. So gardening is 100%. It’s a meditation in action. When you both spare feet in the soil and touch the plants, grass, or ground, that’s no negative space. When I tell my boyfriend, “I’ll be out there for half an hour,” he looks at me and says, “Yeah, right. I know you’ll be gone for a whole day.” When I put my farmer’s hat on, “Got any food out for a whole 5 hours until dinner time? Come home to cook.”

“I’m just going to take my time for five minutes. Bye. See ya!” This is so important because you cannot be this phenomenal, exceptional practitioner you are and show up for your clients on this super high level. If you didn’t take those 5 hours outside in nature because you work your ass off and you work so many hours and you are present with every freaking patient, you share a lot of yourself. You give so much. 

So, if you didn’t think that, this is a recommendation for other practitioners, like, “Go outside, take care of yourself,” and then you can be like Dr. Joe for your patience. You need those 4 hours to be completely disconnected from everything and be in nature or do something that you love or spend great time with your family and do something that feeds your heart, soul, and body for you to show up on the highest level. I know that, as a coach and a hypnotherapist, I am constantly working on myself to be better. 

Just like I took a breath work session, the day before, I do many things to take care of myself because if I’m not, I can’t take care of myself. I won’t show up for my friends and family, and I have the luxury to come to your office and do acupuncture. And this is so important. This is my lifeline. I am being in nature, doing breath work, moving my body. If I don’t do that, I disappear under all the pressure. The little dark, shadowy Orion that can be mean and aggressive, shows up, and it’s not good for anyone. 

I have to do this to balance and be there for myself and the world. That said, I also embrace my shadow part. “Okay. I love you.” I love myself even when I’m not 100% exactly like the person I’m supposed to be. And also, this is important for everybody that is listening. Nobody is perfect. We all have our shadow parts. Shadow parts mean the things we don’t like about ourselves, the things that we get triggered from behaviors we don’t like. So don’t dismiss. Like, “This is not who I am.” 

This is the part of you. You’re everything. You’re good, and you’re bad. Your light and darkness, yin and yang. Embrace all of it. Because if you don’t embrace that shadow part, it’s in the way. You actually cannot shine your light bright because, without a shadow, there is no light. This is also a part of the path to be kind and gentle and loving to yourself, regardless of whatever’s going on in your life or behaviors you don’t like about yourself or things that you say that you regret. 

Faith is a cornerstone in the healing process. It influences our actions, our belief in our ability to heal, and our trust in the practitioner, paving the way for extraordinary recoveries. Share on X

Put blame and shame aside and hug yourself and say, “Hey, you’re okay. I love you.” Louise Hay says that when something good happens, you go to the mirror and say, “I love you.” When something bad happens, look at yourself in the mirror and say, “I love you. I love you no matter what.” So, just love yourself no matter what. As Dr. Demartini says, “Whatever you did or did not do, you are worthy of love.” A part of love is putting your bare foot on the grass and taking whatever healing modality serves you. 

I highly recommend acupuncture. It’s amazing. Dr. Joe is phenomenal. Do whatever you want to do to really take care of yourself. Because in our busy lives, we think that, “Oh, we’re too busy.” We don’t have time to meditate, breathe, or take, like, “I’m too busy for that.” When you take a break, it could be even a whole day. Take a break and do whatever you need to do because then you’re going to be ten times more productive, and you’re going to do everything that you do in a more efficient way that is healthier for you. So, Dr. Zhou, what are your three top tips for living a stellar life?

You already summarized all of them, didn’t you? You grasp all the true elements of living healthy lives. First, embrace whoever you are. Darkness and brightness are all within us. It’s not oppositional, and it’s not black and white. It’s always constantly moving and interchanging. Nourish the darkness. That’s a brightness within. You see the yin and yang symbol, right?

The logo of your office. I love that.

So, always see brightness in the darkest spot. Something is generalizing, it’s changing, it’s moving. So Buddhism says that nothing is permanent. So do not hold on to whatever you think you cannot shake off or something you dislike. That’s not going to last. Either love or hate or positive or negative, it’s okay. It’s all part of us. So embracement is the number one priority for who you are. 

Number two, try to generate as much positivity as possible by grounding, breathing, gardening, and meditating. Then, the other one, on a practical level, is trying to adapt to the lifestyle according to nature. You rest, exercise, and work the rhythm for nature; do not overindulge. Don’t go to bed at 2 in the morning. Do not indulge in food that is not supposed to be a human body. Try to eat locally. You’re trying to eat local right there in your backyard, if you can. Just a smaller planter for herbs could change your life for your whole family. That’s the beginning of living with harmony, with the universe within, without or beyond your human body.

That’s amazing. Yes, little herbs, little changes, baby steps. I have never done golfing, but I heard that metaphor from Tony Robbins that when you hit a golf ball, even when you move a millimeter, it will change the trajectory of where it will fall far, far away in the future. So, if you start with little changes like that, those insignificant things that may look insignificant can change your life. It’s just a baby step. One more thing at a time. 

I started because of you. I’m drinking now instead of the first thing I drink, which is coffee or hot chocolate. I’m drinking water with lime. I’ve been doing it. It’s now six limes later. I count my limes. So, after six days of doing it, it feels awesome. It’s just a little change, and it makes my morning better. So thank you for that. Appreciate that. Where can people find you and attend your practice or go on? What’s your website? What’s your social media?

We are located in Plantation, Florida and very easy to access. Our website is zhouwellness.net. We also have an Instagram page. We often share a lot of inspiration, short stories, and real cases. You can follow me in the treatment room, put some needles in the patient, and share seasonal cooking recipes and all that stuff. Hope to see you soon.

Dr. Zhou, this was amazing. As always, every interaction I have with you is phenomenal. Thank you for being here. Thank you for taking the time to share your wisdom with us. And thank you, everybody, for listening. Remember to embrace the whole of you and generate as much positivity as you can through gardening, breath work, meditating, whatever makes you feel amazing, adapt your lifestyle according to nature and have a stellar life. This is Orion till next time.

Your Checklist of Actions to Take

{✓}Embrace the power of nature’s remedies by incorporating herbal treatments such as moringa into your daily routine. 

{✓}Cultivate confidence and trust in your treatment process. Believing in both yourself and your practitioner enhances the efficacy of healing practices, making them more successful.

{✓}Regular sessions of acupuncture and massage therapy can significantly harmonize your body. These practices are part of maintaining a holistic lifestyle that keeps you balanced and in tune with your body’s needs.

{✓}Learn about the significance of energy flow within your body. Techniques like acupuncture restore this flow, activating the parasympathetic nervous system and releasing hormones that support healing and relaxation.

{✓}Engage actively with your community. A supportive network facilitates mutual well-being, providing emotional and sometimes even physical support which is crucial for holistic health.

{✓}Consider starting a garden to reap its countless benefits. Gardening not only relieves stress and brings happiness but also provides fresh produce and herbs that enhance your health.

{✓}Stay connected to your cultural and personal roots. Embracing your identity and traditions can foster a more fulfilling, genuine life, reducing the stress of trying to fit in and enabling true self-expression.

{✓}Implement small, actionable changes in your lifestyle. For instance, replacing your morning coffee with water infused with lime can make a significant difference in your overall health without drastic alterations.

{✓}Make self-care a priority with practices like grounding, breathwork, and meditation. These activities help maintain balance, reduce stress, and promote overall well-being in a harmonious way.

{✓}Book an appointment with Dr. Dongfeng Zhou at zhouwellness.net at her wellness practice in Florida. This personalized session will allow you to discuss your health concerns, explore the benefits of Chinese medicine and acupuncture, and determine a tailored treatment plan.

Links and Resources

Connect with Dr. Dongfeng Zhou

Film

People

Previous Get Yourself Optimized Episodes

YouTube Videos

About Dr. Dongfeng Zhou

Dr. Dongfeng Zhou  is a highly esteemed acupuncture physician and diplomat of Oriental Medicine, renowned for her expertise and compassionate care. She holds a Bachelor of Health Science and a Master of Oriental Medicine, and she graduated with high honors with a doctoral degree in acupuncture and oriental medicine. Dr. Zhou’s personal healing journey with acupuncture and herbal medicine, which helped her overcome longstanding health issues, deeply informs her practice. Known for her proficiency in acupuncture, cupping, and other healing modalities, she is celebrated as a unique gem in the field, dedicated to providing transformative health and well-being to her patients.

Disclaimer: The medical, fitness, psychological, mindset, lifestyle, and nutritional information provided on this website and through any materials, downloads, videos, webinars, podcasts, or emails are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical/fitness/nutritional advice, diagnoses, or treatment. Always seek the help of your physician, psychologist, psychiatrist, therapist, certified trainer, or dietitian with any questions regarding starting any new programs or treatments or stopping any current programs or treatments. This website is for information purposes only, and the creators and editors, including Orion Talmay, accept no liability for any injury or illness arising out of the use of the material contained herein, and make no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the contents of this website and affiliated materials.