In order to step into our most authentic self and change our health in unimaginable ways, we must look at our entire being. Dr. Christy Soto-Johnson is a naturopathic doctor and the CEO of Guiding Elements Medical Center. Dr. Christy has committed her life to utilizing her ancestral gifts with naturopathic medicine that heals the individual’s mind, body, and spirit. At her practice, they emphasize an environment of warmth, comfort, and unity, giving each of her patients the opportunity to become their best self through multiple modalities of healing.
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Our minds, bodies, spirits, energies, and past experiences all shape us into the individuals we are. Being a healthy, happy, and authentic individual is a goal that many of us only dream of, but it shouldn’t have to be that way.
If we have a cold, we see our primary care doctor. If we’re struggling with our mental health, we see a therapist. If we’re dealing with high levels of stress in our daily lives, we adopt practices like yoga. There are so many facets of the human experience and a multitude of people and practices out there to help lift us up as we grow into ourselves.
However, what if there was a place that could see us in our entirety and shared our goals? A place that feels warm, loving, and safe, where the doctors can read your lab results as well as your aura, provide supplement recommendations and fill your prescriptions, adjust your diet plus your bones and meridians.
That’s exactly what Dr. Christy Soto-Johnson had in mind when she opened the Guiding Elements Medical Center, a place that understands “there is more than one way to heal, and everyone needs a community.”
Their practitioner team’s approach to your care allows you to benefit from each of their life journeys, expertise, and unique healing gifts. Guiding Elements Medical Center supports you in your journey to restore your health so you can find the motivation, balance and energy to step into your life’s purpose.
“You are the expert and active participant of your own life, which is why receiving the care you need and deserve is our top priority. Your health is in good hands, and your gift to the world is to glow, radiate, and express your authentic self. It’s easy to get lost and overwhelmed in the chaos around you. We have a map and a torch to help you find your inner light and let it shine!”
Dr. Christy Soto-Johnson is a highly sought after Naturopathic, Bioenergetic, and Spiritual Medicine healer and Co-Founder of Guiding Elements Medical Center (GEMC).
Growing up, her culture and ancestral background was always at the forefront, and she’s maintained that connection into adulthood. For the past 10 years, she’s lived on what is historically one of her father’s tribe’s ancestral lands in Arizona. She describes the joy of being surrounded by her Mexican culture and ancestry, which shaped her into the doctor and healer she is today.
Dr. Christy’s family, culture, and upbringing have made a major impact on the individual and professional she is today. Her grandmothers always emphasized the power of maintaining cultural traditions, embracing your gifts, and knowing your value.
“My past experiences with healing, community, my own health, and life struggles really molded me to become the professional I am today,” Dr. Christy stated.
“I’ve been helping people feel better since I was 3-years-old. Whether somebody would say anything or not, I could physically see if something was wrong inside them and would instinctively know what I needed to do to improve it, almost like x-ray vision.
Often, it would be massaging or applying pressure at specific points in the body, waving my hands over the person in particular patterns without touching them, or just knowing what words they needed to hear and providing genuine compassion. It brought my little heart the most fantastic sense of joy and fulfillment!
Integrated into every breath of my life was a deep connection to service. Combined with the foundation set by my dreams, gifts, and the lessons of my grandmothers throughout my childhood, I was able to serve our family, our church community, and the most vulnerable, applying these special gifts and other abilities.”
Dr. Christy also volunteered at domestic violence shelters, migrant farm workers’ camps, soup kitchens, etc. She always enjoyed the euphoric sense of compassion she felt when helping others who needed it the most, which is also a big reason why she pursued the path she did.
“At the same time, my mom’s health was rapidly deteriorating. Conventional medicine couldn’t find any answers or solutions. Nothing seemed to work, including suitcases full of prescriptions, tons of medical devices taking over her bedroom, and countless surgeries. She almost died more than once, but by the Grace of God, she survived each time.
Then, in my senior year of high school, we found hope, answers, and solutions that worked through a homeopathic doctor who utilized tools I’d never heard of before, but they made sense and felt like what I did for others as a kid. I started to learn about homeopathic medicine, rekindling the practice of my gifts, and then I suffered a severe spinal injury.
After that spinal injury, my doctor kept trying to persuade me to take a new medication to combat the pain and inflammation I was experiencing.
I had felt very strongly and intuitively that I should stay away from it, my internal voice was speaking too loudly for me to ignore, so I listened to it and found another way. That ended up being a very life changing moment, because not long after that experience with my doctor one of the medications they were trying to get me to take was pulled from the market because the side effects of it were killing people.
That was really a defining moment for me.”
“As a child I knew I had the gift of knowing where people were hurting and helping them get to a place of healing. The voice of guidance within myself shifted my life’s direction. Being able to hear and see that inner voice is so integral to our health. Many people either ignore or suppress it but it’s important to confront it even when it seems scary.”
Dr. Christy went on to study anthropological, cultural, linguistic, and biological evolution at the University of California, Davis.
While working at the Sutter Health Institute for Research and Education as a public health research assistant, she continued working with the underserved, immigrants, and anyone in need.
“After six years, God called me to step into the dream of becoming a doctor and healer on a larger scale. So, I left my budding career and my family in California; I relocated with my husband to Arizona to attend the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine.
When I returned to volunteering, I focused on the most at-risk and traumatized individuals experiencing acute illness who needed mental/emotional recovery, and/or pain management. At the same time, I became certified in other therapies like Mayan Abdominal Massage, Pranic Healing Therapy, Gemstone Meridian Therapy, and Applied Kinesiology, to name a few!”
Dr. Christy completed a rigorous Residency Program at A Family Healing Center clinic in McMinnville, Oregon, after graduating from medical school. There, she received specialized training focused on Pediatrics, Family Medicine, Women’s Health, Pain Management, and nutritional management of Pyroluria Disorder.
She’s board-certified in Naturopathic Medicine, Minor Surgery, Acupuncture, and holds additional certifications in Craniosacral therapy for physical, emotional, and energetic health restoration. From 2020 to 2021, the Women In Medicine Magazine selected her as one of Phoenix’s Top Doctors in naturopathic medicine. She’s truly an inspiration and pioneer in her field.
“I’m living proof that you can overcome anything, no matter how hopeless the situation may seem! You can even find your life’s purpose along your healing journey if you don’t already know it. I will hold your hand, guide and support you as you turn your life around. Your life’s potential is boundless, and I’d be honored to be by your side as you step into your happiest, healthiest, whole self!”
“While you may have tried other naturopaths, functional medical doctors, and alternative practitioners before, we go beyond supplements and lifestyle changes. We incorporate new ways of listening, and implement a unique combination of tools like bioenergetic, intuitive, and spiritual medicine with psychology and quantum healing methods. Together, we can jumpstart the ultimate transformation for your health and life.”
Dr. Christy and the amazing staff at GEMC prioritize giving their undivided attention to every individual that walks through their door. They greet everyone with warmth and a hug.
“Our initial step for a potential patient is to have a free 15-minute consultation with myself or my clinic partner and Co-Founder Dr. Delight (Dr. Shanna Bayrd). This is when we determine if the next step should be getting them started with care in our practice, or refer them to a colleague if we’re not the best fit for their current needs.
When a patient matches with our practice, we then schedule a first visit which typically takes 60 to 90 minutes. The purpose of this appointment is to truly get to know the individual, beyond just their initial health concerns. In general, we always aim to get to the deepest root of our patients’ problems: physically, emotionally, spiritually, and beyond, so this longer consultation is very important.
The nature of your top concerns determines if the first visit may include a physical exam, prescription/supplement review, recommending bloodwork, imaging, or other lab work. If that’s already being taken care of by your main healthcare provider, then we dive right into our specialized treatment options. Either way, we take the time to listen and explore to fully understand your concerns, your story, and the potential roots of your health issues.
We bring all of this information together to understand what is happening in your body to cause dysfunction and disease, or keep you from healing. We also give you self-care and other natural suggestions in your treatment plan so you can move in the direction of resolving your most pressing health goals,” Dr. Christy explained.
Dr. Delight (Left), Dr. Christy (Center), Ashley Emery (Right)
“We dive into the individual’s whole life. Talking about their past experiences and their story is sometimes the first opportunity our patients get to release the voice that may have been suppressed for so long. That inner guidance is a crucial piece for living a healthy and authentic life, and we want to help bring that out in every person we cross paths with.”
Dr. Christy has been developing Quantum Bodywork Therapy for the past few years, with the intention of creating a treatment method that embodies the all-encompassing work that GEMC prides themselves in.
After years of training in various types of treatments and healing modalities, Dr. Christy wanted to create a therapy model that would take the most vital pieces of specific treatments along with key naturopathic healing principles, and combine them with her intuitive and energetic gifts to create a unique approach to helping patients heal.
“These experiences, the therapies I’ve learned along the way, and my faith have all come together to help me create Quantum Bodywork Therapy. I started to hone my skills, blending these approaches to healing while adding new skills, expanding my gifts, and merging them into something new. Over the years, this amalgamation and their application and my Christ-guided intuitive medicine have become Quantum Bodywork Therapy (QBT).
Throughout my career I’ve often found that individuals experience a major disconnect between their minds and bodies. Often one’s health ailments/symptoms are your body’s way of screaming at you for attention, while your mind is so focused on doing its own thing that it’s not listening.
Whether it’s because of trauma, medications, cultural situations, and so on, people can become ‘trained,’ or taught, to be so mind dominant that they don’t necessarily know how to feel the different things going on in their body. So sometimes the symptoms are ‘screaming’ while other times they can feel a sense of numbness. Regardless, the body is not working as a whole unit, which we’re actively working to change.
QBT also introduces ways to heal those imbalances, injuries, or blockages. It clears the traumas from the tissues within the body so that the person can start getting some forward movement in healing in those areas.”
“QBT is a way of combining all of the different ways we listen to and feel our bodies while integrating bioenergetic methods and intuitive skills all in one session. This way if your mind and body are disconnected, not communicating, or totally numbed, I can still find the different areas where blockages, imbalances, and root causes are present, so that your mind doesn’t take over and mask it.”
At Guiding Elements Medical Center, they’ve created the physical space with the patients in mind. They wanted patients to feel comfortable and as if they were home. The space itself represents the compassion, energy, safety, and open-mindedness that they provide for their patients with every visit.
“We designed and cultivated our space with YOUR healing in mind! When you sign up as a patient, you join the GEMC family. GEMC is a place where space will be held for you, where you as a person will be seen, heard, and fully acknowledged as the gift you truly are. We already love you.”
GEMC provides a full sensory experience from the moment you walk through the door. Dr. Christy discussed her own identity as a neurodivergent individual, and the many patients that she works with who also experience thinking and viewing the world differently than neurotypical individuals.
“I’ve always been aware that people walk through life differently. They experience the same conversations, activities, and rooms differently. Dr Shanna Bayrd, aka Dr. Delight, my business partner, is also aware of people’s different sensitivities, traumas and has a background in psychology, so between the two of us, we knew we wanted to create a loving and warm space.
When creating the office itself, we wanted to make sure everyone who walked in could immediately feel our heart and love. We all have such a passion for what we do, and we wanted that to be evident.
We strive for our patients to feel welcome, comfortable, and confident that they’re walking into a positive, peaceful, and powerful energetic experience, regardless of how their bodies and brains work.”
Like Dr. Christy mentioned, GEMC is a full sensory experience to promote a sense of safety and peace. They play relaxing music/soundscapes, have the rooms decorated with warm and vibrant colors that represent feeling alive, cleanse the space with sage and other plant medicines, and pray within the space to ensure energetically everyone feels at peace.
“A lot of people know about smudging with sage, but aren’t aware of the many other plant medicines, that each have different purposes to help shift a person’s mental and energetic state.”
“It’s an environment engulfed with peace, beauty, and serenity that is safe and filled with love.”
GEMC wants you to live your best life. They have a multitude of referrals for doctors and care teams all across the healthcare system, to ensure that they can provide their patients with the best and most amount of information as possible to better themselves.
Looking towards the future, Dr. Christy and the amazing staff at GEMC want to spread their extensive knowledge of naturopathic, bioenergetic, intuitive, and spiritual medicine with psychology and quantum healing methods.
“We’re in the process of taking our philosophy and our foundational approach of The Seven Components of the Whole Person, and the Components of the Bioenergetic Field, and turn it into a new framework/model for a new paradigm in medicine. A new way of moving forward in health and healing.
Whether you look at conventional, alternative, natural or integrative medicine, experts within those fields are focusing on their specific component(s) when it comes to the whole person, but we have not come across anybody who has a model that brings all of them into a single picture, plus some areas are altogether missed. That’s the foundation of our practice, however, and we want more healthcare professionals to bring them all together in a collaborative effort to treat the entire person utilizing specific techniques from each model.
Our long-term goal here is to create a teaching clinic to accomplish that vision, so we can teach other healers and doctors how to utilize this robust approach, and how to work together. It’s also a great way for ys to keep learning, refining, and growing in our own therapies too!
First, we are in the process of creating a non-profit organization whose purpose is to provide funding and connection to people in need so they can access other alternative or underrepresented health, healing, and wellness modalities in their community. It will be a resource center for people needing help in any context, whether it be with their health, daily living, job, family, etc. We also hope it will further grow the support networks and in-person community so many people out there need.”
Dr. Christy said that the team is hoping the non-profit to be fully operational by early 2025, and in the meantime will continue to provide a safe haven for patients looking to better themselves through the practices they utilize at the Guiding Elements Medical Center.
To learn more about Dr. Christy Soto-Johnson, the amazing staff at Guiding Elements Medical Center, and the multitudes of practices and philosophy they utilize to successfully help people find new heights of healing, check out their website by clicking here!
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
