Chopra Center Staff Spotlight

Valencia Porter, MD

We are pleased to announce that Valencia Porter, MD has joined the medical staff of the Chopra Center. She is also one of our new Certified Perfect Health instructors and will be bringing her wisdom, training, and compassion to our guests attending the weekly Perfect Health program. Namasté recently sat down with Dr. Porter to learn more about her views on holistic medicine and her personal experience with mind-body healing.

Where did you grow up?
I was born in Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C. My family lived not far from the National Institutes of Health, and I remember as a girl riding my bike around their huge campus, long before I fell in love with the field of medicine and decided to become a doctor.

How did you become interested in the field of mind-body medicine?
In a way, I was introduced to holistic healing as a child. My mother is Korean and would use food as medicine when my sisters or I were sick. She also took me to acupuncturists. But I actually didn’t start out planning to be a doctor. My sister who was 8 years older than me was already a nurse, and my other sister had a career in education, so I felt like I needed to do something different.

I majored in computer programming in college and was drawn to the research being done in artificial intelligence and cognitive neuroscience. But the more I studied, the more I realized that as fascinating as artificial intelligence is, no computer could ever be as amazing or powerful as the human brain itself. Ultimately, I applied to medical school and was accepted at the University of Southern California.

I initially pursued a specialty in Pediatrics [at UCLA] and Child Neurology, which brought me to San Diego, but I ended up finishing a residency in Preventive Medicine at U.C. San Diego because I knew I wanted to focus on what people can do to stay well, rather than only looking at the pathology and disease once it has developed.

When I did my first practical training at Los Angeles County Hospital, seeing so many patients dealing with chronic illnesses fueled my desire to prevent these diseases by working with children and helping them get a good start in life.

What drew you to the Chopra Center?
Back in college, I heard Deepak Chopra speak at a lecture series on the brain and was deeply moved by what he had to say. I actually taped the lecture and went home and transcribed what he had said word for word. I continued to follow his writings as well as branching out into other areas of mind-body medicine.

Then in 2003 I came to the Chopra Center as a patient when I was recovering from back surgery. I attended the Center’s Perfect Health program (then called “Creating Health”), and it was a life-changing experience.

After years of ballet dancing, I’d suffered a major back injury when I was 25, and the doctors had wanted to perform spinal fusion surgery. I flat out refused and tried many alternative approaches – Trager therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture, and others. They helped relieve the pain but didn’t solve the underlying problem. When I finally ended up in so much pain that I couldn’t get out of bed and was having to take strong narcotic medicine just to keep the symptoms at bay, I felt that there was no other choice but to get the surgery. I was fortunate in being able to avoid the spinal fusion, since things fell into place for me to get an artificial disk replacement as part of a clinical trial.

At the Perfect Health program, I had the intense realization that while the surgery had repaired my spine, the healing I really needed was at a deep emotional level. I finally began to tune in to my own needs and listen to what made me happy.

When I was well enough to return to my fellowship training in Child Neurology, I continued to ask myself three important questions I learned during my Chopra Center experience: Who am I? What do I want? How can I help and how can I serve? Ultimately I realized that despite my intense interest in child neurology and my passion for working with children, I was not fulfilling my soul. I knew that in the end, I wouldn’t be serving myself or my patients if I continued in that specialty.

Knowing that I wanted to practice Holistic Medicine, I made arrangements to shadow David Simon to see how he was able to integrate allopathic medicine with a mind-body approach. At one point, I put out an intention that one day I’d work at the Chopra Center, and then I let it go. And now five years later I’m here! It really feels like a dream, and it shows me the power of the Law of Intention and the Law of Detachment.

How do you view the role of the doctor in healing?
I believe that doctors don’t “heal” anybody . . . their true role is educating patients to make healing choices for themselves. The word doctor actually comes from the Latin root docere, meaning “to teach.” For a long time, my goal has been to practice medicine in a way that supports the patient and not the health industry. I’d felt limited in some of the settings I’d worked in, often being unable to offer a treatment I knew could probably help, simply because my patients couldn’t afford it and insurance wouldn’t cover it.

I wanted to work at the Chopra Center to have the freedom to support patients in their needs. Also, those who come here are making a commitment to themselves, so I can partner with them in creating health. I love to teach people who are open to listening and making changes to work for their own healing. It’s truly a holistic approach. We’re not just substituting an herb for a pill, but are looking at the roots of disease so that healing can take place at the deepest level.

What is your primary dosha?
I’m tridoshic, with just slightly more Pitta tendencies than Vata and Kapha.

How do you keep your doshas in balance?
I try to stay in tune with myself and I can tell when I’m getting out of balance – Vata is always the first one to go! When I feel myself getting imbalanced, I put extra attention on making myself a priority. I have a daily meditation practice, enjoy yoga, and find it very healing to be out in nature. I like to garden and compost and have a small area where we grow organic fruits, vegetables, and herbs. It is so amazing to eat the harvest that you helped nurture, and my four-year-old daughter loves the snap peas and strawberries fresh from our garden.

Who are your archetypes?
One is Kwan Yin, the goddess of compassion. She embodies empathy and unconditional love – the most important qualities for me. I also resonate with her because she is a healer.

My other archetype is Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom and science . . . she represents my own passion for learning. I joke that I have an addiction to it – and I really do have an insatiable desire to keep learning. I keep going back to school for more!

What was your most transcendent moment?
Meditating under the descendent of the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, India. I was there in January 2008 with my husband, and it happened to be just before the Dalai Lama was coming to visit there. Many monks had already gathered and I remember meditating amongst the vast sea of maroon robes, feeling the peace and energy of that special place.

What are your favorite books and why? I love reading spiritual books and autobiographies. One of my all-time favorites is Return to Love, by Marianne Williamson. It came to me at a dark time in my life and helped me to reconnect. Another favorite is The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman.

In the humorous category, I love David Sedaris. His book Naked sent me into snorting laughter – and I was just reading it by myself at home. Laughter is such great medicine and I have given this book as a gift many times.

Who would you most like to invite to a dinner party?
The Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Emerson, Einstein, Bob Marley, Leonardo da Vinci, and Joan of Arc.

Do you have a favorite quotation?
“See all things through the eyes of compassion,” from the Heart Sutra. This is what I want – to live from my heart and be compassionate with others. My other favorite is the well-known saying by Gandhi, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”