Latest / SkyTalkDoc / E272 Is the Umbilical Cord the Key to Longevity?
Transcript
- Dr. Michaela: Good morning, Dr. Song. We are going to talk about one of my favorite subjects, ⁓ all things ⁓ Eastern medicine, including acupuncture, holistic health, ⁓ just the very best of of all the things in my opinion. Could you share with our listeners a little bit about who you are and how you got into the world you're in? Yi Song: Sure, I am so happy to be here. I came from Beijing, China. I grew up in Beijing and I came to United States in 1997 to study pathology at Brown University. but I got disenchanted after studying that for six years. So then I went back to my family's root in 17 generations practicing Chinese medicine. ⁓ that's when I started my holistic health clinic in Boston. In 2005. So it's been more than 20 years. around 2018, I also ⁓ started a retreat center in Colombia because I really love the energy and the weather there. And then in 2021 I got introduced into stem cell clinic, actually stem cell lab in Colombia. So that's when I also started offering stem cell treatment. in my retreat in Colombia. Dr. Michaela: It's so fantastic and there's so much synergy ⁓ between us. I'm really big in the s Central American world and have been a lot of studies on the Mayends and all of the incredible medicine that they had ahead of their time using, you know, plant-based modalities. ⁓ why Columbia? I mean, I get it, but but why Columbia? Share with me some of the ⁓ of the insights that you might have to why that's a special place. Yi Song: Mm. Yeah, so I really never thought about Colombia on my radar before I actually stumbled upon Colombia because I got introduced into some kind of agriculture investment in Colombia. That's why I went there the first time. But I got ⁓ Dr. Michaela: ⁓ you got suckered into the did you get suckered into the a hundred acres of palm trees? Yi Song: Actually, it was something r similar to that. It was like coconut trees. So you know, palm tree co is similar. But I I didn't do anything, but they had this trip, you can see what they were doing. So I went there, I I was just fascinated. So I went there and then looked at it. But meanwhile, I actually went to five different places in that first trip just to see what Colombia is like. the after that I fell in love with Medaging because it Dr. Michaela: Yeah Yeah, we can get it. Yi Song: It just feels so energetically invigorating to my body and the weather there is year-round 70 Fahrenheit because the other places I went to in Colombia either it's too hot because it's in tropical area, very low elevation, ⁓ it's too hot ⁓ too cold. Like even in Bogota sometimes it can get really cold in the 50s because of the high elevation. So the managing, the elevation is just perfect in the middle and also the area just outside of airport is really 70 Fahrenheit all year long. So that's just perfect. But on the other hand, I really feel the energy there. So that's the reason I s went back myself after that to look for properties. And I didn't do any investment in the coconut tree anyway. Dr. Michaela: You you you ended up you ended up just going full full Monty and like buying property and starting a retreat center instead. I love that. so talk to me about the stem cell stuff. Let's let's get right into the heart of that because I know so many listeners are gonna be excited to hear about this work. ⁓ obviously ⁓ on the very forefront of everything that we're seeing in terms of, ⁓ know, I really I explained on this podcast the pendulum has swung, right? We went from ⁓ having really holistic practices all the way to full Western, you know, pharmaceuticals. And now the pendulum is coming back. And in the process of coming back, we're seeing some really neat blending of modern technology, modern research with ancient studies and insights. So share with me a little bit about your stem cell side of things. Yi Song: Yeah, so I actually never really was looking for stem cells because I didn't know about stem cell treatment that much. But by accident again I was introduced into this lab in Colombia. And the other reason like I didn't mention the reason Colombia actually is a very ideal place is also because around the time I purchased the property I saw a lot of articles talking about people retiring in Colombia because it's very affordable. And the health care quality is very good. So I've been there since 2018, and I can tell you, I do feel the hair health care quality in Colombia is better than what we have in the United States and more efficient as well. So you don't have to wait for three months to get appointments, you don't have to like see multiple different specialists to get even a lab order or MRI. so Dr. Michaela: Mm-hmm. Yi Song: I was basically introduced into this lab and they have been growing ⁓ mesenchemous stem cells from umbilical cord maybe for around two or three years when I met them back in 2021. then I tested their product on my mom because my mom at that time really was suffering certain conditions that we couldn't resolve and it worked like wonder for her. And even up till now she is eighty-two years old. she still doesn't have any problems that we were originally treating with the stem cells. That problem basically was resolved. So that's I got into ⁓ the cell treatment because I saw the powerful result if efficacy ⁓ in some conditions that we couldn't find any solutions for. ⁓ And really has been improving my mother's quality of life in her eighties because she usually gets stem cell treatment maybe once or twice a year since twenty twenty one. Dr. Michaela: So tell me, I I mean, the things that I've heard that stem cell treatments can assist with is ⁓ neurological disorders, various cancers. not so much like I haven't heard anything about diabetes or some of those more disease-oriented processes, but I've definitely heard about ⁓ that has to do with you the spinal the the spinal environment and and disorders that arise from that. Share with me what you've seen. Yi Song: Yeah, so actually the most powerful ⁓ treatment using stem cells is to reduce the inflammation in your body. And as we age, everybody has more chronic inflammation. It's one of the hallmarks of aging. It's proven in many studies, and that's why we develop ⁓ degenerative conditions because our body cannot keep up regenerating the tissue. damaged by our daily activity or even damaged by our ⁓ you know if we do a lot of exercises very active. So ⁓ body needs constant regeneration but our stem cells when we age become exhausted. the number is going down, decreasing, and also the capability of the stem cells to do the repair and regeneration decreases too. ⁓ So why To the slow decaying of this imbalance in regeneration and repair, we need to stimulate our own body stem cells to be better in repairing, then that's how we can prevent the accumulation of the damage and also the damage that's causing the chronic inflammation associated with aging. So this idea, yeah. Dr. Michaela: So So is it replacing the stem cells you already have or is it awakening the stem cells you already have? Yi Song: It is actually awakening your own body stem cells. So it's not like you inject or get intravenous infusion of umbilical core stem cells, then they're replacing your body stem cells. And there are many, many research studies that have shown that when these cells enter your body, they are actually transferring their young mitochondria to your own body's. Dr. Michaela: Got it. Yi Song: stem cells and also they're transferring a lot of cell signaling molecules and cytokines to stimulate your own body stem cells to regenerate better, function better. So again, yeah. Dr. Michaela: Well it it's funny that you bring up the cytokines because I just read an incredibly fascinating study that was conducted, I believe it was in Japan. it they they studied ⁓ population, I think it was sixty-five plus. ⁓ had ⁓ the the control group did not do any resistance based exercises, and then they had another group that did just very, very basic three times a week resistance based exercises. there was some sleep that was involved in that as well that was tracked. ⁓ they showed that, you know the way that it affected the body wasn't just in terms of muscle definement and or, you know, anything like that. It it affected the skin, the collagen, everything to do with all the components to aging. And it was just from minor just minor shift in reducing inflammation and increasing resistance in the body, which I found to be so fascinating. I just read a study. And the cytokines were the the big kind of you know thing that was discussed in the study. And what I immediately thought about was what what was everybody experiencing during the COVID pandemic? It was the cytokine storm. And so essentially a cytokine storm in your body ages you like 20 years instantly. Yi Song: Right. Dr. Michaela: And so I think that's why all of a sudden we have people that have, you know, i issues with needing reading glasses that never needed reading glasses before and issues with, you know, I've I've got suddenly I've got, you know, cellulite on my legs that I didn't have before and all these different things. Like, you know, we're seeing a population that was dramatically aged by that experience, I think. So this is fascinating stuff. And to and to explain that it it impacts the cytokine, in particular the cytokines is really fascinating. Yi Song: Yeah, you can have cytokines that actually pro inflammatory. So those are the cytokines like can be caused by COVID infection and bad lifestyle, all these things and aging related degenerative conditions. But then you also have cytokines that can stimulate your own body's cells to function better. And those cytokines actually are the ones introduced from the umbilical cords themselves because there are also plenty of research showing If you grow your own body stem cells ⁓ outside of the body in the lab with the extracellular matrix from the umbilical cord, because those matrix has a lot of cell signaling molecules, cytokines, a lot of things to stimulate your own body stem cells. If you grow that in three generations, your own body stem cells actually can show the property as if they were young again. So it is proven that You know, your if you introduce young stem cells to stimulate your own body stem cells, you can actually enhance the function of your own body stem cells. And this concept is actually now new. It has already been talked about in Chinese medicine from thousands of years ago because thousands of years ago people were also looking into immortality. And they were practicing alchemy, trying to find the elixir to make us live forever. So nothing, all these things were also similar to our current day, don't die movement, or biohacking, or people trying to look for ⁓ to live to 150 years old, 200 years old, 500 years old, all these you know things we cannot imagine. But but basically Dr. Michaela: Yeah. Yi Song: People even looking for immortality thousands of years ago, they already discovered using young kids, urine, all these things can help enhance your own body's ⁓ aging, and can of course at that time they didn't know about cells or molecules, they didn't have the technology, but the concept they already knew when you introduce the newer energy from the younger body, then actually you're introducing like introducing the new firewood into the fireplace because when we age our fire actually is diminishing. Dr. Michaela: that's a great analogy. Actually years ago I had a an a golden retriever that was starting to really age and show his age. And we got a puppy. And overnight he was like a puppy again. So it's it's kind of like a similar concept, right? Like what you introduce to your sphere, you start to emulate. how what does the treatment look like? What is the stem cell treatment? It sounds scary. So what does it actually look like? Yi Song: Yeah, the problem is because all these concepts ⁓ of using umbilical course themselves, the concepts is not new but the technology, the practice is new. And then because all these regulatory issues that have not been proven by most regulatory agencies all over the world, I think there are a few countries like in Japan or Korea, they approved a few things. Like in Japan, they approved using ambulacord stem cells, misenchemal stem cells to treat host versus graft versus host disease in organ transplant when people fail with all the immunosuppressive drugs for rejection of the transplanted organs. ⁓ then ⁓ in Korea they actually approved using mesocomal stem cells to treat osteoarthritis of the knees. So ⁓ Other than that, right now a lot of treatments are not approved. So that's why it sounds to a lot of people very scary because they think, you know, this is is it going to grow cancer in me when that you introduce these cells? But so basically you need to understand these type of stem cells, mycenchomal stem cells, they are non-tumorogenic. So if you hear any research or published incidences of people growing s cancer after having stem cell treatment. That's because they got stem cells either contaminated with other types of stem cells that are tumorogenic they just get the wrong type of treatment. So you use non-contaminated mysencomal cells, they're not going to cause cancer because they are non-tumorogenic. And the other thing is people worry about, is my body going to reject? The stem cells from the donor, not the cells that are now from myself. actually mycin chemical stem cells, like I already mentioned earlier, even in Japan, ⁓ already approved to treat graft versus host disease in organ transplant. ⁓ that means it's very good at modulating your own body's immune system. That's why it works in a lot of cases to reduce inflammation, because the inflammation either caused by ⁓ lack of repair, so you accumulate damage, then your own body's immune system responds to these damaged tissue, and then that's what the inflammation is. Like even osteoarthritis of joints, it's the same thing because you have wear ⁓ your you have worn your joint out, you have wear and tear, and then your body cannot keep up with the repair and your lack of cartilage, so that's why it's causing inflammation. So these types of stem cells are very good at reducing inflammation. And that is why my mom had very good results with it because her problem with her leg was also chronic inflammation. But there was no sufficient Western medicine treatment to treat that. And a lot of people suffering from similar cases eventually they had to have amputation because of ulcer and now healing. But my mom didn't go down there y'all because she had. the chance of trying stem cells and now her legs are still fine. Dr. Michaela: That's an incredible case study. So so how do people find out about this? So you're conducting these this these transplants in Colombia? Yi Song: most times we do it in Colombia because of the regulation ⁓ also depending on the procedure. sometimes if you only ⁓ need to do some intravenous infusion, we certainly there are already places who where you can get the intravenous infusion of mesenchymal stem cells in the United States. Of course all these ⁓ are approved procedures by FDA. But there are still people who are willing to try, and there are some states like in yeah. Dr. Michaela: Well, I mean I have some thoughts on that. there are systems in that make money by people not being one hundred percent healed. Let's just put it that way. Yi Song: I know. It's just you know that's why I became very disenchanted with pathology when I was studying it because I originally thought I would be able to really study the mechanism of disease and solve the root cause of disease. But then the Western medicine system is not trying to treat the root cause of condition. They're just trying to treat your symptoms when you have symptoms and then try to put band-aid on your conditions so that you know maybe your condition gets a little bit better on the medication or doing the surgery, but because they're now treating the root cause, so most people really do not get long-term, long lasting benefit and they don't get the quality of life into later ages because they're on all these medications just treating the symptoms now treating the root cause of the condition. Dr. Michaela: Yes. So where can people find out about your retreats and what you're doing? Yi Song: they can go to stem cell therapy experts dot com and also we're on YouTube as Stem Cell Therapy Experts and on all the social medias ⁓ and have been doing a lot of podcasts ⁓ and ⁓ instructional videos, educational videos, telling people, teaching people to understand how the mycinchamal stem cells work ⁓ and they can benefit from them. Dr. Michaela: Wow, this is all just so exciting. I mean, there's just so much to this, and I know it is it is a little scary, but it is also like you said, the the research is there and the studies are showing the success. And there's also all these indiv individual case studies I'm hearing about. I've had quite a few people on the podcast they were in the lobby, talking about their own, you know, journey with this, because I have a lot of holistic health people. And ⁓ it's been incredible some of the stories that I've heard behind the scenes. So yeah, it's it's just you're right there and that's so exciting. tell me a little bit about the retreat facility where you conduct the the stem cell exchange. Yi Song: Yeah, so the other thing about stem cell treatment is a lot of people they think it's a magic bullet. It is not. So stem cells powerful. They can give very powerful inflammatory reduction, modulating your immune system, they have all these effects. But on the other hand, you cannot just say, ⁓ I just have I just wait till my body breaks down, then I have one stem cell magic bullet, then everything will be fixed. It doesn't work that way. And I have been doing stem cell treatment myself and I don't have a lot of problems. So that's what I'm writing in my book, Regeneration Effect. There are actually six principles, and all these six principles are from the ancient Chinese practices for health and longevity. Like I mentioned, even 6,000 years ago, people were looking into immortality or having healthy long life. Living to the maximum lifespan of 120 years. So I actually get into the stem cell because I was introduced and I saw the potential and I saw the benefit. And I myself also experienced it because I'm doing it for the anti-aging purpose. So I want to do early prevention instead of waiting until I already accumulate so much damage from aging-related conditions that I have to. seek some aggressive treatment. So I start doing this very early before I even have symptoms. So that's the concept that Western medicine most times don't even address because they only treat your symptoms when they arise. It's reactive system. They don't really treat before you even show symptoms. And a lot of times they don't even they cannot even see your body has imbalance leading to that development of certain conditions because in eastern philosophy we actually look at your body as a garden so we actually look at the imbalance in early stage before you even have symptoms. So that's one thing. And the other thing is you have to combine all the treatments together suitable for your body. You're not just following certain social media trend or some fads ⁓ going on, some hype like If you see people are doing stem cell or people are doing ⁓ cryotherapy or red light therapy, then you think, okay, I just need to do that. But then you do it for a while and then you don't do it consistently, that's the problem because you also need to do it in the way that's suitable to your body. And then most times people don't really realize what their body type is and what is the best practice for their body. And then also you don't just wait until your problem is already so severe after you know you already tried steroid injection surgery for your joint, and then you say, ⁓ the last resort is to do joint replacement. So now let me try stem cell. Sometimes it still can give you good result, but you don't want to wait until that point that, you know, the best time to treat is 20, the best time to plant the tree is 20 years ago. But of course if you didn't plant twenty years ago you want to plant now, it's still better than now planting the tree. Dr. Michaela: I love that. I love that so much. ⁓ folks, you know we always include all the links to where you can find Doctor Yi Song in the show notes. And thank you so much for coming on today and sharing a little bit of your wisdom and experience with this pretty legendary research, really. Yi Song: Yeah, and also the other thing is ⁓ because it's unapproved, so people also need to be very alert on doing their research, don't getting trapped into some scammers. So there are scammers about stem cell treatment out there, so that's the other reason why it's a little bit scary to a lot of people. Dr. Michaela: Such a good disclaimer. Make sure you are doing your research. You know, it is fascinating to me how many people don't ⁓ like for example, I'm seeing on all these tortilla chips in the market, it says, maize, maize tortilla chips. And I'm like, that like literally is the Mayan corn, right? Like it know, so there's there okay, ⁓ still a corn tortilla chip. It's j you know, and it's just kind of fascinating how people don't They're like, ⁓ it's the maze, you know, like no, it's it's the same. It's just slightly yeah. But it but people don't. They just kind of take face value or they the especially with the social media, right? Like the latest type, make sure you are doing your research, especially before you put anything in your body. I think that is a great disclaimer for life in general. your critical thinking mind, it that was ⁓ you know, granted to you by by this incredible wisdom of the universe and the creator. So thank you so much again. It was lovely conversation and ⁓ I'm actually gonna learn about this retreat center myself because I think that I need to plant the tree. Yi Song: also, you know, without doing any expensive treatment, actually there are many, many s simple, free daily habits you can s ⁓ that can help your health and longevity tremendously before you even spend any big amount of money on doing all these treatments. So what I'm trying to advocate is trying to have people understand their body and then try to do the right thing for their body. And then it doesn't matter what your budget is, you can always find the right things to do to help your health and longevity. Dr. Michaela: Well, for the first time in my life, I'm looking at a home It's like a cable system. It's called the Speedience Gym Monster. And it like has a little coach built in. And but I'm like, am I g is this gonna be a unitasker that winds up in the garage? Am I actually gonna use it? But the reviews are pretty good. And it's like, okay, it's probably time that I start doing some resistance training. I Capital H hate the gym, but I've always been an outdoor person. So I'm with the shovels in the yard or I'm carrying chicken feet or whatever. So this is ⁓ this is gonna be a big shift for me to kind of move into that. But I also feel like I've been a little bit more sedentary than normal, so I need to really add it back in. Yi Song: And also the most important thing is to connect your body to nature too. So if you like outdoors, you like interacting with animals on your property, in your house, and then that's actually a very therapeutic practice, and if you do it consistently over a long period of time, it will help your body connect to the nature better. So that's the other reason why I have the retreat in Colombia because I feel Dr. Michaela: Love that. Yi Song: people can actually connect their body to nature better over there instead of in their own city, old cement buildings, just daily grinder hustle and then really never had the chance to let their body to connect to nature. Dr. Michaela: We were recently on a a friend's property in Belize and we were barefoot raking and cleaning things up and rowing the kayaks. It's like, yep, this is exactly where my heart is happy. Yi Song: So do you travel to ⁓ Mexico or other countries? Dr. Michaela: I I usually bypass Mexico. I've I've had the fortune in my life to be to to go to twenty five countries, including China. Actually I think I'm up to twenty seven now. But ⁓ I'm just really in this headspace feeling very drawn and connected to the Central American, South American region. I was in Panama a couple of years ago. but I have not made it all the way to Colombia. That so Panama's about the furthest south I've been, but Colombia and Brazil are on my list, so Yi Song: Okay. Okay. All right. And I heard that you do a lot of flying too, right? Dr. Michaela: My friend just got back from Yeah Yeah. Yep. We do a lot of flying. So we're we're really blessed in that way to ⁓ get to see things from a totally different perspective than the average person, which we don't take for granted. Yi Song: So, do you also fly your own airplane to Central America or anything like that? Dr. Michaela: We actually have had quite a few experiences with people having aircraft stolen. So we have not brought our own. I have not, I should say. ⁓ my partner has flown aircraft ⁓ down to as far as Peru, I believe. So ⁓ has been, yeah, down there. But I I have not. I'm a little bit of a chicken, I guess, that way. I to be there when I go to leave. So, you know. ⁓ Yi Song: Okay. Yeah. Okay. Dr. Michaela: But we are looking at some options for that in the next couple of years. So I do hope to be doing that here really soon. Yi Song: Okay. So ⁓ so you mostly fly within like your home to some other states or something like that? Dr. Michaela: Yeah, we we go up to Alaska. That's probably about the furthest in terms of the United States. But ⁓ there's a lot of paperwork that you have to fill out actually to cross international. And then you have to stop and clear customs and do all the same things kind of that the the big airliners do. So there's a lot of moving parts that goes into it. So that's why it becomes a little bit more challenging, especially when you want to have a relaxing vacation, you know? ⁓ And it's it's always the choice. Yi Song: Yes. Yeah, too many logistics. It's better just to fly the commercial airline than you don't have to worry about these things. Dr. Michaela: Sit in the back, read a book. Yep, exactly. Yep. Then kind of we we call it the tube, but sometimes we just like to take the tube, eat the pretzels, you know. it's wonderful talking with you and I will connect with you offline for sure. Thank you so much again, Doctor Song. This was fantastic. Yi Song: Ha ha. Very nice talking to you. So