Ep 18. Sovereign Health: Beyond Systems
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Hello and welcome to the Radiance Podcast. This is a sacred space where mysticism, embodiment, and modern wisdom meet. My name is Doctor Irene, and I'm your host.
Today, the subject I want to bring into this space is sovereign health and the theme of pain in the body. This is something very personal to me because I live with chronic pain. I’ve been very blessed to have had a full life where I’ve enjoyed my body through sports. Since I was a little kid, I’ve done horseback riding, tennis, water skiing, surfing, snowboarding, climbing, and mountain biking.
And as many of you know—my fellow sporty friends—you get hurt. A lot. But I truly believe everything is interconnected. Yes, accidents happen. But why do they happen? For example, in 2012 I had a surfing accident in Taiwan and amputated the tip of my finger. Looking back, I can see how I ignored the signs my body was giving me. I was tired from traveling and had already surfed a lot, but I went out anyway—because I only had one day.
That pattern repeated recently while snowboarding. I’d been out for several days, my body was tired, but powder was coming and the season was ending. I thought, "I need to go get that pow!" That energy—scarcity, grasping, pushing—is a programming we carry. And it left me with a serious back and leg injury. The universe was like: you can’t work, you have to be still. You have to go into the pain and see what’s there.
So I did. I allowed myself to go into my body, into the pain, to connect with the emotions and stories living there. For me, my back represents the masculine. Our back is what holds us—our backbone, our strength. And in my life, my father—my pillar—is aging. That structure is shifting. At the same time, I have this go-go-go personality. I’m so devoted to my work, but my feminine keeps saying: slow down, stop, receive.
And that’s such an important conversation for women—how can we allow ourselves to receive more? Receiving is our blueprint. It’s our birthright. Feminine energy is about receptivity. Of course, energy transcends gender, but when we live from one extreme—like constant yang—the yin gets depleted. It gets scorched. And we need to replenish that yin, that fluidity, that nourishment.
If you’re on a path of self-knowledge and consciousness expansion, you know what I mean. We are more than this physical body. Pain in the body isn’t just physical. There’s always an energetic, emotional, or spiritual layer to it. True healing comes from integrating all parts of ourselves. Sometimes physical pain lingers because we haven’t gotten to the root. And the root can be ancestral—or even from another lifetime.
We carry trauma in our tissues. Some of it isn’t even ours. It belongs to our mothers, our grandmothers, our lineage. But we can transform it. We are the ones who can shift that awareness.
And this brings me to our health systems. I studied Western medicine in Mexico. I was immersed in that world for many years, and it broke my spirit. There were parts I loved—like learning about the body, anatomy, biochemistry, how the systems connect. In essence, doctors are magicians. But the truth is—we’re all magicians. We’re all healers. We all have an intrinsic healer within us. We’ve just been conditioned to outsource that power.
That’s what I want to plant in your heart: your body holds the answers. You just need to remember. You need to tap in and be in intimate relationship with your own body. What works, what doesn’t. You’re the alchemist. You experiment. Try a supplement, try an herb, stop sugar, avoid violent content—see how it feels.
Doctors absolutely hold wisdom. But I believe healthcare needs to become more collaborative. Not a hierarchy of "I know better," but a true relationship of support. In Mexico, we have both public and private systems. Private care is amazing—but not everyone has access. In Canada, it’s socialized—but appointments are so rushed, and doctors often can’t see the whole picture. Not because they don’t care—but because the system is broken.
I remember being in hospitals in Mexico and hearing patients referred to only by their diagnosis. No names. Just “patient 35 with cardiomyopathy.” I always made it a point to touch the person’s hand, to thank them for letting us learn from them. That human connection matters. And that’s what drove me to do things differently.
So I moved to Canada, studied Chinese medicine—a beautiful system that sees the whole person. But even that felt too clinical. So I dove deeper into spiritual and esoteric traditions—Tantra, Daoism, magic, shamanism, yoga. I walked my own path of healing. I saw naturopaths, took herbs, tried acupuncture—really listening to what worked for me.
And that’s the thing. Your medicine might be my poison. That’s why panaceas don’t make sense to me. Each body is unique. So I began asking: what’s the alternative? If it’s not public or private medicine, what is it?
And the answer I keep coming back to is: sovereignty. Knowing yourself so deeply that you become your own authority. That you work with a team of trusted providers, but always from a place of self-knowledge and advocacy.
What if, as women, we designed our lives around our cycles? Around our moon, our pleasure, our play? What if you knew what foods, what practices, what energies to align with each phase of your menstrual cycle?
In Taoism and Chinese medicine, it’s all about effortless effort—about keeping the flow of life force open, keeping the meridians clear so we can give and receive love freely. That requires boundaries. Containers. Reciprocity. A balance between holding and softening.
I was talking to a friend, a health coach, about my masculine energy and how I always build strong structures so I can feel safe to play. And she said, “What if you play first, and let the structure form around that?” I loved that. Let the feminine lead. Let joy lead.
So how can we reimagine health and wellness in this way—based on cycles, pleasure, and self-knowing?
One way is to start by coming home to your body. If you’re wondering how, it’s through practice. Through action. There’s no transformation without action. And that’s where I come in. One of my gifts is translating abstract spiritual wisdom into practical, day-to-day tools you can actually use.
If you want to go deeper—if you want to reconnect with your body and womb—I’m creating a program called Womb Awakening. It’s a deep pilgrimage through the energetic and spiritual blueprint of your womb. A remembrance of who we are—fully, in the body.
To start, I’m offering a free workshop on May 29. It’s a taste of what’s to come and a space to connect. You can find the link in the show notes. Please share it with any sisters who need this.
Let’s reclaim our sovereignty. Let’s heal from the inside out.
Sending you many blessings. I’ll see you soon.
