Why I do What I do.
I AM FREQUENTLY ASKED HOW I BECAME AN ACUPUNCTURIST & BIRTH DOULA, SO I THOUGHT I WOULD SHARE MY STORY HERE. I HAVE TO SAY ITS BEEN AN AMAZING JOURNEY!
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Hello! My name is Irene, I was born in Mexico, but I have been living in Canada for the past 11 yrs. My journey in the healing arts started when I was 18 yrs old when I finished high school and it was time for me to choose a career. To be honest I really didn't have clarity of what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, so I chose Medicine because I loved science & biology, and it was the last test available, but I didn't really know if I wanted to become a doctor. But I said to my self, "why not, give it a try, if you don't like it, you can always change your mind!." So at 18 yrs old, I started the path to becoming a western medical doctor. This experience transformed me in many ways, but I can say that the first real lesson was facing death. As a medical student you are assigned a cadaver to work with to learn anatomy. Also, you learn how to perform autopsies and inevitably you witness a human's death. All of this made me start questioning the meaning of life. I then started my exploration in the areas of psychodelics, Yoga & energy healing, knowing in my gut that there was more to human experience then what I was being taught in medical school.
The last year of school, you have to do one year of social service in a rural area of Mexico. I was very lucky to have been placed in Chiapas, in an indigenous community called Oxchuc. This area of Mexico is where the Mayan civilization was established and it has a very rich herbal medicine. During this year I found that my patients where not getting better with the drugs I was prescribing and many of the times they came to see me with a herbal formula their local healer had given them, asking if they could take them. I told them yes, because my drugs where not working. And suprise, suprise, many of them, did not return. I sent people to look for them at home, and the news where they were feeling good, that is why they had not come back. I felt uninspired by western medicine and I started to question the western medical paradigm. I also became very curious about herbal medicine. I found a local healer that used herbs to help me balance my hormones and to help me ease my menstrual cramps. I was amazed by the results and started researching alternative types of medicine. This is when I came across with Chinese medicine. I found a book and it was an instant love affair! I felt how this perspective of medicine made so much sense.
When I finished my social service and got my license to practice western medicine, I decided to change paths and come to Canada to study Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in Vancouver. While in this beautiful Sea to Sky City, the universe brought my spiritual teachers into my life. That first year, I met Gretchen Anderson and Dr. Carlos de Leon, who have been my main teachers for the past decade. I have studied with them: Shamanism, Dzogchen, Shaivism Tantra, Buddhism Tantra, Taoism, Chi Kung, Mahamudra and Body-Mind Therapy. I also encountered amazing teachers in the areas of Yoga and 5 Rythm's Dance in Vancouver. So for the next decade I dove deeply into a beautiful journey of self & spiritual development.
During that time all of my girlfriends suddenly started to get pregnant and they wanted me to be their doula because they knew I had experience with birth. In Mexico, during my social service, I attended more than 50 births, just me and a nurse. I remember being in awe of women birthing and knew that I wanted birth to be part of my practice always. Years later, this desire manifested for me by becoming a Birth Doula. I love this part of my practice, I believe birthing is sacred and such a powerful moment to witness. In spanish, the translation of birth is "to give light" (dar a luz). Which I feel is pretty bang on! Birthing is bringing into light another human, but also yourself and the people around your! So I feel very lucky and grateful that I get to be part of this sacred moment in people's lives.
All in all, I feel life has gifted me an amazing fun magical path in the healing arts, this is my passion, this is my calling, and I am following it with an open heart and an open mind, hoping that my medicine will bring more love, light and freedom to my patients, clients, community, family and planet!
LOKAH SAMASTAH SUKHINO BHAVANTU