How Women Can Heal, with Founder of Festival Mná, Lorraine Hogan.

Welcome to the Intuitive Health podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Anthony Rafferty, medical doctor, PhD, Raiki, and shamanic intuitive healer. I'm here to bring you on a journey of holistic healing that explores the science of the physical body combined with mental and emotional well-being, energetic, and spiritual health. And I am so excited today to have the absolutely amazing Lorraine join us, the founder of Festival Manor and uh the wellness coach online and I am just so so grateful for your time and just for your energy and for being able to to come and talk to me today about all things women. Oh, so thank you for being here.

Yeah, really excited to be here and thanks so much for having me. So, I suppose my passion really comes down to just empowering women and and bringing women together and allowing us to have that beautiful healing space together collectively. I think it's it's hugely important for me and for what I do, you know, with the festival and with any of the work. shops that I do for women. It's all about coming together and really empowering ourselves.

Oh yes, I absolutely love this. I think um women's health is my passion. It had been all the way through kind of my medical journey. Um and when I came out the other side, I went to work in Hollister Street. I I just I just feel so passionate about women's health and especially working in a space now that integrates healing and medicine. Um and looking at how we can help women at at all stages of their their life journey because there's so many complexities on the day-to-day hormone changes, the hour to hour, the week to week, and then the year to year. And you know, the further I get in now as a more holistic practitioner, the more I'm realizing, oh my god, there are so many gaps. There is so much discrepancy. And like I could literally sit here and just talk an hour into what I've even just seen this week with what's been missed um through the medical system and the infrastructure of how care unfortunately has gone within the country and the situations women have found themselves in and it actually breaks my heart every single day some of the stories the test results I get back that should have been done kind of four years ago rather than just popping someone on a on a pill you know um so obviously that's through through my lens I would love to hear um how you found your way kind of into this space. There's so many things I want to talk to you about because I know you do all the menopause. This is what I absolutely want to explore with you, but I'd love to know kind of what led you to actually setting up the festival man and even just finding your way into the online sphere about coaching and all the wonderful things that you provide.

I suppose for me all all of the work that I do has been my own personal journey and for me um after I had my third child. Um, I really really felt that I needed, you know, to to get back to feeling like myself. I just turned 30 and I really wanted to get back to feeling like myself after having three three children. Two very close together. There's only 15 months between my last two. So, it's a huge it's a huge change in in in in not only your body, your hormones, but in in how you have to show up each and every day. So, I' I was always passionate about fitness. I was always passionate about nutrition. I always really looked after myself. So, I went went on to become a personal trainer first and foremost. And you know, I absolutely love exercise. I think it's hugely important for us to have a to lead a really healthy lifestyle, but also to know about our bodies and what what exercise suits different times of the day, the month, the week, you know. And I I always felt that coaches never really targeted that. I I was in CrossFit for years and my my coach at the time would like, you have to PB today. And I'm like, I'm not going to PB today. Like, I'm in my period. I'm definitely not going to be and my strongest. I feel tired. I feel weak. I feel drained. But they never seem to have taken that into account. Things have changed a lot, I think, since then. And there's a lot more awareness for the female body and how how we should flow differently and train differently at different parts of our cycle. But from then, I suppose I went on to become I I'd studied nutrition as well and obviously all those estrogen benefit foods that we should be taking every day and all the good amigos and fats and our magnesium, you know, and it's hugely important as well for me that we we feed and fuel fuel our bodies through food and nutrition and supplements. Um, and from there I then there was something missing. So I became a coach, a life coach. Um, and that would have been about say 13 years ago now. Still I wasn't really on the social media platform. I used to I I actually didn't have social media. I lived a very uh sheltered life, but I was being a busy mom and I I always loved learning and I was educating myself all the whole while time working full-time as a social care worker. That's my my background. I'm a social a care worker and have been for 25 years. So yeah, I just kept going on and on, I suppose, with my own learning and with my own, you know, showing up um for people. I was doing one-on- ones and I had my own um like little mini business doing um spin classes and stuff like that and coaching classes and just one-on-one PT, but there was always something missing. And it wasn't until then I began my own journey with plant medicine and um really delving deep into the healing journey. I went through a separation and um I really feel felt like I needed to get back to the core of of where my healing needed to be and where my trauma lied and it was obviously childhood a lot of childhood trauma and like and it wouldn't it's not significant childhood trauma but trauma that that did impact my life. Um so when I done my own healing work and really found I suppose cacao and I've worked with a lot of different plant medicines to allow that to unravel and then and that was the missing piece piece. It was bringing that holistic healing the heart space first before we can heal any of the physical or any of the the emotional or mental. We need to get deep down into what it is that we need to heal, I think, individually. And from there it grows.

Yes. I love that. You know, it's so wild because I think this heart centred approach to things is just such a key in people's journey, you know, and we're leading a retreat in May specifically centered on the heart to in order to help women tap into actually well what are the shadows in the heart first of all that I'm holding that maybe I haven't fully let go of that are blocking my full expression of what needs to come through my heart you know the heart is such an amazing center and you know when you're training in raiki the light or the cha the chi or the prana energy it moves down through your crown chakra into the heart and out through through your hands and even through the shamanic journey, it was awakening the heart so that actually you can live authentically from a very heart-c centered space. And when you allow the authenticity to flow through your heart by following what your your heart is telling you, the joy and the love and all that, it just leads you on the path of your destiny. And you know, I think we're so conditioned by society these days, aren't we? Really, to to kind of show up in a way that isn't in alignment with what our heart is telling us like and this is what blocks people fulfilling their destinies from tapping into their gifts and you know even I even found on this journey when I was starting I was like oh god should I be doing it this way or that way and I was like well what is my heart telling me what do I love to do like what type of client do I love to work with what fills my heart with joy because when we live from that space actually you just radiate the most magical energy don't you

yeah and and for me I I just really feel Especially for women, you know, we take on so much and we're always always meeting everybody else's needs. And if we're doing this to the extent for so many years, you know, and parents and jobs and homes and, you know, all of the all of the list that women have to take on, which like no offense to our male counterparts, they're incredible, but we do take on a lot more, you know, of of the day-to-day taste living and running of homes and children and like that and emotional needs as well.

Um, If we if we're not taking care of ourselves and if we're not filling our own cup, then the resentment starts to to kick in and then, you know, there's resentment and there's a lack mentality and then there's the, you know, there's the anger and, you know, the bitterness. So, if we're feeling those emotions in our heart space because we're just overworked and just, you know, the the rushing woman, the busy woman. We're overworked. We're too tired to take care of ourselves. You know, this is where the problems begin and these little seeds can get planted within us where we're just then living out of just firefighting really and and that's that's not a good space to be in because that's when you're going to you're totally switched off from listening to your heart and your true heart's desires. So filling your own cup first is is a huge huge part of what I do and how I share my message with women because then we can make space for okay I've gave myself 15 minutes today or I've sat with my couple kit cow or I've done a little few breathing exercise now I can actually tap into how do I feel how does Lorraine actually feel right now you know know, tired, stressed, busy, you know, overwhelmed, maybe whatever it is, just checking in and and and just noticing, you know, without judgment, okay, this is where I'm at today. Let's let's see how I can get on because it's busy. Life is busy, you know, and you want to to, you know, make sure that the people that you love are taken care of. As a woman, you know, this is our first protocol to nurture and to to really care for the people that we love. But if we're not caring for ourselves, you know, that's when the problems begin.

Yes. this pouring from an empty cup, you know?

Yeah. Do you know it's so crazy so much was re resonating with me as you were speaking there um from the lovely women that come to work with me and it's almost like this journey with um with fire. I find it fascinating and I'm seeing so much of it at the moment. It's almost like the two extremes of fire. Now the thing is fire can be so amazing. It can like fire can be the anger you know that rises through us that actually encoura is a change to occur in our life. We're not putting up with people's s*** anymore, you know? We're like, that's it. I'm reaching breakup point.

Yes. Oh my god. Yes. It's like the phoenix rising from the flames essentially.

But, you know, when there's an imbalance in how the the fire is channeled, you either get the people who their throat chakras are so pinched, the steam that's rising, the smoke that's rising from the fire that's not being expressed through the throat chakra, and then you get an explosion. Or else you get complete suppression of the fire and that that fire is it's in the body you know and this is the thing that I'm seeing when I'm doing a lot of energetic work around the womb things like endometriosis fibroids it's fire it's fire that's there it's disgust it's rage that's not even just your rage it's stuff coming down through the lineage that hasn't been felt you know so it will find a path it will find somewhere to rest unless it's it's being felt and expressed. And I just love that you're kind of talking into this um this energy of well actually how can we how can we use that fire to to make positive changes for for the lives of of women that are on this journey.

Yeah.

And like funny that you speak about the fire because our festival man logo is the phoenix rising from the ashes.

I love it.

Yeah. That was so for me it was really important when I was when I was thinking of the logo and when I was tapping into that energy it was the phoenix rising from the ashes. And it was it was it was that's how I felt. I had completely come to the lowest point of my life that there was no other way up but to to rise and to to rise and to rise together and to bring everybody together. And the the image is actually um an amazing um sculpture imaging Stafford her name is. She's an amazing sculpture who was at an Ishn festival and that image was burnt that image of the woman was actually burnt in the Ishnach fire. Okay. And when I seen I was like Oh my god, that's that's the image for Festival Man. And I had to go through so many ways to try and use her image and re re um get it repainted the image and it's it's it's just re means so lot so much to me and that's where it comes from. It's the phoenix rising from the ashes. But not only that we're rising alone like it's we're rising together and and all of that ancestral energy that women have especially in our womb space especially the the the fear the the the hurt the trauma you know the the shame, you know, from for Manny Manny Manny, our grandparents, our grandparents' grandparents. And when I do a lot of work like over the weekend, we don't we worked a lot with Bridget's flame and Bridget's fire. Like so such a powerful I just lit her flame just there before I came on with you like so really feeling that energy so strongly all week. But it's it's

like I always go back the ancestral route and and um channel that energy to heal. Obviously my my grandmother who's who was born on St. Bridget say her name is Bridget to heal. heal her mother's energy to, you know, to go back the seven years previous and the seven years forward for our children, for my daughters, my daughter's daughter, you know, and because it's not just about healing ourselves. It's about a a ripple effect of healing. I think that's that's really going to help the women living in Ireland today because it's such a a deep deep, you know, emotion that we hold, especially in our womb space, you know.

Oh, I love it. Oh, I'm just so excited. I'm getting all my crazy spirit tingles. I call them my tingles. I love just speaking about this. Do you know it's so wild because I had a huge um uh Bridget's womb healing ceremony here on Saturday. Um and it it was just so so gorgeous. I work with the energy of the goddess for my womb healing sessions. And it's so funny because I've had a couple of women through to me over the last couple of days. They're like, "Oh, I went to see my reflexologist after you did a womb healing." And they were a bit of concern because there was a bit of fire in my womb when they're doing reflex audio. I was like, that's good. You need to leave that energy there. That's Bridgette's energy coming to support your womb, you know,

healing and protective energy as well.

Yes, absolutely. But for me as well, the fire also represents that fire in your belly, the passion. So, when I'm working with Bridget's energy, it is about burning away all of that, the shame, the fear, you know, all of that. But it's also about tapping into our creativity and our passion, our fire in our belly, because it is in our womb, but it's also if we don't go after what it is we want, you know, in life, we are going to feel depleted. We are going to feel like that, you know, that resentful as well. And that comes back into the heart space. So, they're all so connected, you know, and even our our throat chakra, as you said earlier, you know, to be able to say what we mean and say how we feel and connect it to our heart. But that fire in the belly energy, I love working with that because I'm such a go after, you know, forget about other people, forget about the fear. You know what? We only have a short time on this earth. Let's live it to our best, you know, our maximum potential and just really go after what it is you want. Because I spent so many years not being able to speak my truth and so many years living in the shadow, whereas now it's like, you know, I am actually I don't care anymore. I don't care. It's it's real f*** f*** everything energy. No f***** given to me.

Yeah, I'm here for it. I'm here for it as well. But it's it's experience and age is like I don't care anymore. I'm just gonna I'm gonna be me and I'm gonna do it.

Well, this is the thing like you Know the womb is such a beautiful space like it it obviously it can create life but that energy can be channeled into creating your destiny and you know it is such a powerful energy that fire in the womb that fire in the belly and then like you say when you go on a journey with the throat chakra and you can use it to actually express the creative force express yourself in a very creative energy to actually follow your your journey. Uh and it's so wild because a lot of the women that I work with actually I I tend to find that when there's a lot of fear within the lineage there tends to be a lot of uh kind of disturbance of the energetics within the kidney space and um even within the bladder I tend to find so it's almost like well actually what's happening there are are women getting kind of recurrent UTI are there is there disturbance in the in the energy there even within the womb or the vaginal flora and it's all kind of signs to me that actually is there fear that's bubbling through the body that's preventing the creative expression of this energy, you know, and I love what you were saying there, like can you lean in and actually work through that fear to fully become and embody this absolutely powerful woman on your path of destiny. You know,

I think it's a very Irish thing to, you know, just especially for women to stand back and, you know, don't be seen, you know, don't be heard. be seen, you know, and as we were growing up, we would have always been told, you know, ladies should be seen, not heard. And, you know, to voice even even in marriages going back um like even my my mother might maybe wouldn't have had as much freedom as I would and definitely my grandparents, you know, the women were almost, you know, the the second the second voice of the family like the the man was definitely the mo most prominent voice of the family, you know, traditionally, but that's changing now. And I think that that women, you know, should be heard and they should support each other in in shining and rising together, you know, and it's like the our one of our mottos for festival, one of the mods that's really strong for me is like it's collaboration over competition all the time. And I think when we come together that we are just so much stronger together and you know, we don't need to compete against each other anymore. And that's a real b***** uh, you know, 90s 80s kind of energy, you know, where women, you know, had to fight for for the limelight or whatever. I think coming more into where we're at now and into into maybe it's just this stage of my life, it's it's like actually no, I don't want to just do all this on my own. I want I want us all to do this together because there's enough women in the world for us all, you know, and we if we can help and heal one woman, aren't we doing the job that we set out to do, you know? Well, for me, 100% that's what I want to do. If I can inspire one woman to change or to go after her dream or to maybe give herself 15 minutes a day, you know, that ripple effects through of our family. Well, then we're doing we're doing right, you know, and the more of us that can do it, the better. Yeah. And that's why I love to promote women on my page. Like, I promote other women that does the exact same work as me on my page because I'm not threatened by anyone else because I know that my gift is unique and special, but I also know that their gift is unique and special, you know? So, I think that's true feminine energy when you can truly stand in your own and and allow other people to stand in their own and support them on that journey as well, which is it's amazing to be able to do.

Oh, I love That's why I love training. That's why I love training other women, you know, with my cacao cre facilitator training. Like I will teach them everything that I know and I want to support them to go out and to to hold space and I will share them and I will bring them on my journey with me because even though I do the same thing, it's not competition. This is the more people that and Cacao wants to be shared. She wants to be able to heal. She's a beautiful feminine energy, you know. So this is why it's so important for me to be able to do that.

Yeah. Oh, I love it. I love it. You're lighting the fire. my belly. And you know, it's so amazing because actually if you think back traditionally how things have changed like in shamanic tribes previously, um there used to be like elder grandmothers and the no matter what was happening, what wars were being fought, uh even though the men were going out to fight these wars, all decisions had to be made through the the elders, through the the group of women that held the tribe in their best interests. And I just love that. I was like, "This is how things should be getting done around here."

I think it's changing. I think we're going back that way.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I I agree. There's definitely like, and we spoke into this actually with Laura Murphy um in a previous episode. She's such a powerful, beautiful soul

and it's almost like this collective rise of the divine fe. It's almost like the phoenix rising from the flames

and the stuff that's kind of burning down around um the architecture and the infrastructure of what used to be the way it's being challenged now. I think that's why we're seeing so many crazy things happening um in the world around us, you know.

I do and I do think that it's it I do think it's still kind of only the beginning of the change that is happening, you know, and we're only in the age of Aquarius recently and I think it's going to take a good like I'd say in five years time this this holistic space is going to be how we're going to lead and even 10 years time I think we're going to come back to more community um spaces with throughout Ireland and you know people will come back to to older trai traditions like I do definitely think that that's all coming back in and just coming back to our roots of who we are as people and not having this like explosion of of of I suppose between IIA and everything that's changed you know in in society at the moment to put in how we show up and even within our like my children. I look at my children and what what they have now, you know, compared to what I would have had growing up. It's it's it's insane. I don't think we can continue at this pace. And I don't think we should continue at this pace. So, I think there's going to be a stall in energy and a stall in speed going forward. Even though this year is very, very fast already. Last year was speedy Gonzalez.

Yes.

But I I'm trying to just rein it in, you know, and and slow down a little bit because I think that's when it's it's you feel more I suppose at ease with with everything that's happening especially in the world. It's it's can be scary at times.

Well, I think we had kind of entered into such an era of being dominantly within kind of wounded yang or wounded masculine energy that actually trying to even pull back from that

in a society that demands us to constantly give and to constantly be productive and to constantly show up. And even it's so interesting because I work with a lot of people from all different kind of large corporates across Dublin. And although there's some lovely offerings sprinkled around the top to entice people in the energetics of large corporation generally speaking tends to be one of doing what can we have from you? You know, so even trying to pull back into the more yin feminine aspect of that beautiful sticky honey things moving at a slower pace. pace, the intuitive creative aspect of our being, it causes disturbance because society is not set up around that and we ourselves are so conditioned. Like if you look at how the pace at which we live our lives, it's actually bonkers, isn't it?

It's insane. And like what did we learn from from lockdown like we had this opportunity to to stop to pause to reflect and we actually went twofold as soon as we came out of it. So I think we need another opportunity to actually bring the learnings from from lockdown into what we're doing now. And you know, I I know a lot of people and in the organization that I work in, um it's very much it's very much a high cortisol energy. It's it's it's a detention center. So, you know, it's I've always worked in that kind of a dynamic environment and that's why it's so easy for me to run a festival and and organize stuff like that because that's that's what I've always done. Um but to in in order to slow things down, I think we organizations are looking at like shorter work and we and you know more options to be able to work from home and I think when that all comes into place and even a lot of people just traveling around and working and stuff like that I think that will change things you know because it's not always all about doing because we will burn out yeah

from doing doing we need to receive we need to allow we need to get creative we need that balance the ying the yang the masculine the feminine we need that little bit of balance do when we need to show up on a Monday and a Friday whenever the productive meetings are on but then during the week taking that time to just reflect and and come back and I I I do a lot of corporate work as well and I know a lot more corporate work uh industries are looking for uh like I do a blissful break so I do yoga a one hour yoga or breath work and even cacao in corporate companies which is incredible like it's incredible to be able to do that and bring that to corporate spaces because it is such a masculine uh you know highly driven energy you know so to bring in the feminine

it's so import Yeah. Well, the thing is I think it can be tricky in some senses because as as healers on the journey, I think people can be quite nervous going into corporate spaces because of the dominant energy. But there's so much healing that's needed within those spaces. And I always feel that when I go in,

obviously you know yourself when you work energetically, like it's a big energy when you're in the space, but actually to act to to bring people on a journey of connection and like you say, some of the the energetics of what I work with with some of the women that that I work with. It's like actually being at the top and leading and kind of the dance in the energetics of kind of how that impacts their life when when there's a competitive nature running through the team rather than this feeling of let's come together. Let's let's get heart-c centered and connect here about how we can actually work as a hive. It's almost like the the the hive mind with the bees collectively working together um rather than actually trying to go out there and do it alone and compete you know

and I think with co it was so wild because actually it gave people the opportunity to step back but the pivotal part of the actual the stepping back which was the community wasn't there to hold people within that would it be so amazing if we could step back into being held

within this community Yeah, I I do I I do yearn for it. I do think it will. It will because I loved co I loved lockdown. I'm not going to lie. I thought it was it was brilliant, you know. Um I just I loved the whole less less busy, less driven um time. Uh even traffic, you know, it really triggers me now. Now they're changing the speed limits. It's like what? We're going to be even slower. It's like they're forcing us to slow down a little bit and I'm a Gemini. I'm like everything is 20 20 miles an hour.

But um yeah, it's it's it's really interesting to see I think how how it's going to unfold over the next um couple of years, especially within the holistic um space, you know, and I think marrying the the medical like there's a lot of the another doctor, Jennifer, that I work with with the menopause stuff like she she's now marrying the the medical um with the holistic and you know she's going to bring together her own clinics which is incredible.

I'm actually doing a diploma on women's hormonal health and menopause. So couple of weeks

really looking forward to that. So it's again it's just the the real dark

are the real background into the hormones and the effect of the hormones on the body and just understand a lot more. You know I've done a lot of research myself but

you know there's so much to learn and there's so much more to know and it's it's as you know it's not a one fits all working with hormones with any woman, you know, it's it's really working it with those individuals and and finding the the perfect fit for them through lifestyle, through medication, whatever it is, true nutrition, you know, um but ultimately it's it's finding what balance what hormone is out of sync.

Yeah.

And address Oh my god, you're so right. And I love that you're you're on this journey. The So, it's so fascinating because I think the the menstrual cycle in and of itself is so complex.

You know, the changes that we were talking about there with regard to actually expected to be showing up in a certain way every day or like you say working out in a certain way every day but actually there's such huge fluctuations even from morning to night um at certain stages in the cycle. It's like actually what's it like to flow with the flow of hormones within the body and what does that look like to to do the dance with it

and with I'm finding a fascinate now because I always had a fascination with blood work because I I love the numbers. It it appeals to my logical mind, you know. Um

but what I'm finding fascinating now is actually taking the numbers and the hormonal levels into context in relation to the energy and symptoms.

Oh my god. Well, the thing is for me, I feel like the physical body is a manifestation of stuff that's happen. happening on a mental, emotional, and energetic level.

So when I kind of trace back like if something's going on on a physiological level in the body, I'm kind of thinking, well, actually, what are the other what's the other dominoes that have led to this tipping over here?

And now that I'm doing all the blood work in tandem with the energy and all the other bits and pieces, it's actually quite wild when you interpret hormone levels in relation to energy. It

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. So, with all of my panels, I've started doing just full panels looking at uh for women, obviously looking at androgens like your testosterone and looking at all the classic hormones, obviously estrogen, progesterone, your FSH, your LH, all these things, but even slight discrepancies in that when you actually look at how people live their lives,

you can actually link the hormone discrepancy to their lifestyle um or just the energetics of how they're showing up on the dayto day. It's mad.

This is This really blows my mind because this is such uh recent data that has never been collected. Why are we coming to this point in our lives and none of this research or da d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d da is available for us as women? You know, we should be taught this in school. Yeah.

You know, we should be taught like there's an ad that goes out every, you know, winter, you know, take your vitamin D because the sun's not going to be shining, blah, blah, blah, blah. Why are they not saying women from this age to that age, go get their bloods checked, you know, go check your estrogen level, check your testosterone, like how are you feeling, you know, and but that doesn't happen, you know, it's not until the amount of it's not until you actually feel the symptoms yourselves and I have went through it myself and I it was really really really dark at times. You know, I was struggling to come to terms with what is going on. I I reached 40. I felt incredible at the age of 40, the fittest I'd probably been in my life. And then it kind of just went downhill from that because I was obviously permenopausal at the time but didn't realize it and you know I I went and got the blood work done and the bloods came back normal and because of my age you know

normal it's normal drives me mad

it's normal you know but because my age like the symptoms were really kicking in the sleep the like kind of night terrors I'd say really dark intrusive thoughts during the night which was really frightening my skin really acted up my scalp got really irritated and it was all hormonal and then the the pain of my period every like for two to three weeks out of every month I was taken over by this really heavy pain in my womb space and and you know I got a lot of healing and I done a lot of work myself with it but um it was really wasn't until I started taking the HRT to actually balance out the hormones that were you know depleted

which was e started with progesterone that eased a little bit then I went with estrogen and then testosterone was the the winner for me that was the missing link and I actually feel I feel like teenager again almost. I feel amazing and I'm so happy that I'm able to feel like this. And there's so many women that I help out there now that are their doctors are putting them on anti-depressants. You know, there's no they're not getting the help. And like I'd always say the the British Menopause Society, I go to that for everything. It has like so much recent data and research you should out and like even the research and data that you're doing now that should be available for, you know,

for women to be able to say, you know, let's look at your bloods, but let's look at your energy, but let's look at your symptoms and let's look at everything together, your whole lifestyle, you know. Yes. Because

the whole thing with breast cancer and that research that was done many years ago that put a lot of women off like Gay Burn came on in the 80s and said, "Do not take HRT." Most of our Irish women stopped taking HRT because of that one program and that was the result. Like how crazy of a society that we live in. Yeah.

You know, and they suffered. Imagine this suffering that went on because they weren't getting their HRT. And it's only one replacement therapy just like that vitamin D when the sun isn't out we're just replacing the vitamin D that we need in our body. Yeah. You know, so

I would I was always like, you know, I'm going to be holistic and and not go for HRT. But when I done my own research and how I feel now, it's I'm so glad I made that choice, you know. Yeah. To to help myself and just the amount of women that are out there suffering alone or suffering and they're not getting what they need from their GP, you know. What would what would be your advice from a medical background for these women. You know,

I love like thank you so much for your vulnerability just sharing your experience. It's so important for women to speak about this and to for other women to hear, oh my god, I'm not on this journey alone. Like this frustration isn't just me here, you know, because I think for change to happen, there has to be discussions around what's not being said. And this all to do with the expression piece and the burden that women carry silently. You know, and actually it's time that that isn't part of our culture anymore. That actually women are speaking about their experiences that it's normal to talk about your period, you know, and it's normal to talk about symptoms and your body like

Exactly.

And I'm finding so, you know, it's quite interesting because when I moved into the holistic space, I like I swung very heavily into the energy can heal everything. Um,

but

which it can it is so much like

well that's a I absolutely adore it. But the thing is the more now that I'm I'm kind of deep into the blood work um aspect of it and I I'm referring for investigations and kind of putting all the pieces together with regard to all aspects of who we are. The stuff that I'm seeing is quite shocking. Like I got five ultrasound reports back from women that I'd referred on to an absolutely exceptional uh synographer for women's health. She's specialized infertility and four out of five of those ladies have had symptoms for up to a decade and four out of five of them had polycystic ovaries. Two of them had evidence on ultrasound of endometriosis. One of them had been put on a pill back to back hasn't had a bleed in three years feeling very emotionally fragile, very unheard and with deep pelvic pain and has never been referred for any imaging. There's never been a discussion around around it. And that to me is heartbreaking like but if you look at the bloods there is so much inflammation in the body like the inflammation markers are up and I'm thinking the impact that this has in the long term for this lady like because I do so much fertility work. It isn't about just bringing women on women on journeys now with their fertility. It's actually fertility preserving for the future

and actually helping women to to come out the other side. of of a journey of having had babies or maybe deciding not to have babies at all. All of these things have implications for the body, you know,

and yeah,

and even I suppose going through that journey. Um, obviously then it's it's it's counterintuitive as in you're you're you're stressed, you're not finding answers, you're feeling like overwhelmed and and almost depleted because you're not getting what you need. You're not get you feel like there's no help out there, which is really really frustrating.

Yeah.

You know, and then that's triggering your cortisol level. So, you're like in a high cortisol, which is

knocking all of the any hormones that that were working or doing what they were supposed to be doing, knocking them out of, you know, sink then as well. So, it's it's it's like this hamster wheel of and and nothing is happening, nothing is changing, but but you're feeling worse and worse and worse and worse, and it's just like very frustrating. It's very frustrating for women.

Well, do you know, it's so interesting you speak about cortisol. So, Obviously, society pushes women into this very dominant kind of um doing energy. And you know, when cortisol rises through the body, no problem. When cortisol rises through the body, cortisol needs building blocks. It needs Lego blocks to be constructed. It's all like all these little things come together to to create these molecules. And one of the building blocks that's used to create cortisol, that is also the building block that's used to create estrogen and testosterone. So, actually, if your body is like, "Holy s***, we need that. Give us that because we need to produce cortisol here because we need to keep this person in a in a state of fight or flight because if she needs to le it away from what danger, which could be a text message or an email these days, that's how much the body is triggered. That building block gets diverted to cortisol production away from the generation of estrogen and away from the generation of testosterone. Now, you know, when we actually think about that, no wonder there's so much hormone imbalance. Actually, if you're thinking, well, actually, the building blocks of what I need to generate estrogen and testosterone are getting shifted to cortisol production. What? No wonder we're seeing such huge changes.

Yeah.

And the thing is, estrogen is so important for women.

It's so important for bones, for every tissue, every cell in the body thrives

has an estrogen receptor. Every cell in our body and every organ has estrogen receptors.

totally and even with the so we don't pay enough attention to testosterone for women unless women have polycystic ovaries and you're getting surges of this this testosterone. But actually

it's very hard to get prescribed testosterone like it's very hard.

Well, usually what I tend to work with now is um with women that come through something you can get over the the counter now providing that we've had a look at the bloods and everything like that. is DHEA which is one of the precursors. So actually taking that under guidance obviously I'm seeing a lovely um support with the testosterone and it actually gives your estrogen a lovely natural boost as well and it doesn't need to be prescribed. So seeing someone that can guide you. Yeah.

Yeah. I've heard actually Dr. Jennifer speaks about that a lot. Um you know and magnesium I know is another really important one but it's magnesium you have to take the vitamin K isn't it with it.

Yeah. to the absorption. Like I mean you really need you need a Mims book, you know, when when you go like what do I need to take? And like I laugh at some of them Instagram things. It's like you have about a million things before you get normal. That's almost how it's how it is these days, which is insane. But like

that's why I don't think we can sustain this for for for very much longer. Like how many more decades can we actually sustain this kind of living?

Oh, I 100 % agree with you and actually it's so important to recognize and I hope everybody listened to this um is just getting a flavor of actually in order to heal from the societal wounds of what women have experienced for decades and generations. It's important that actually we take a very holistic approach with it. How can you optimize the physical body and and optimize your physiology and your hormones but also what does it mean to heal on an emotional level, a mental level, an energetic level. What does it look like to connect with spirit and actually receive some guidance for the path that you need to take? You know,

there's so many different ways that that healing actually needs to occur to be meaningful, I think, in order to heal the whole

whole part of who we are. Would you agree?

100%. Like it it it is on so many levels like holistically, energetically, like emotionally, but then also the physical body, but lifestyle as well a huge part to play in it and you know I think it's it's given ourselves that respect that our body needs as women you know to really feel feel more in our feminine and more empowered like feminine energy isn't always just about you know sitting back and and receiving receiving it's also very very powerful energy when you when you truly understand it when you truly feel it so it's it's the most powerful energy I I would say and and to be able to experience that and just know that you're you're you're whole. You are whole. You know, obviously we all have imperfections and nobody there's no such thing as perfection. Perfectness or perfectionness, is that the right word? I don't know. But to be um feel to feel whole as a woman. I think that is the most important and that is the ultimate goal that we just feel regardless of everything else that we feel that we're doing the best for ourselves and that we feel

yeah,

you know, that I definitely think that um society has brought women on a journey where it's actually vilified their bodies. I think like and this is something that I see and a lot of the healing that happens with the womb work. It's actually bringing women on a journey to actually fall back in love with their womb, to fall back in love with their bodies. Because I think the way if you kind of look at how how it's worked through the infrastructure of the church in Ireland, this kind of the dance with shame and and kind of the things that went unsaid for women

banishing of Sheila in a gig,

you know, the banishing of that because it was a vulva and you know it was shameful and and dirty and you know whereas we're we're we're reigniting Sheila Sheila in a gig and Sheila's day. Um and I think that that's really important and and stepping back into loving our bodies and loving all parts of our bodies is so beautiful.

Yeah,

I think it comes a lot with age though as well. So when I was in my 20s and 30s, I would have been very insecure and you know I think now it's just like I don't care. I absolutely love my body.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm proud of my body and I'm proud of every part of it, you know, and I think that's a nice face.

Well, if you think about it kind of um going on a journey with uh with some of the the work that I do with the women um you know on a fertility journey, a lot of them uh that come to see me. Some of them have have experienced losses which is heartbreaking. But it's almost like this dance then comes in of you're not doing what you're supposed to do. Woo

and actually I'm really annoyed with you. And then that causes further discrepancy within the body and then I start to see kind of disturbances within the cell types that occur within the body. So it's almost like this kind of autoimmune picture starts to form with like and this even the name of the cell cells that we that we screen for with some of the autoimmune pictures. It's like natural killer cells. Like there's certain types of cells that rise through the body. And you know, it's if you think about it, they're inflammatory cells flame, but it's the flame of anger and disgust with the with the actual body and the womb because it's perceived to not be doing the job that it should be. And actually part of the the journey is to fall back in love with the and be like, "I trust you. I trust you. I love you." And maybe you were told for so many years during your teenage years, you better not get pregnant. So, actually, there's this limiting belief and you're telling your body like, you know, what was the arrangement like in your psyche with the relationship you had with the womb? Did you hate having a bleed? Did you hate your your womb because you were bleeding? Or perhaps you were relieved every time you bled because it meant you weren't pregnant.

You know, all of these subconscious programming things. They're also important when you're actually on a journey sometimes with this stuff that we all need to tease out, you know.

Yeah.

So, just um to recap as we're finishing up, um tell us um just a little bit about when Festival Manor is and how the beautiful women of Ireland can connect with you about that and kind of what you do and also about the work you're doing with all the the menopause aspect which is also so important.

Okay. So, festival not we've just had it. It was on the 4th of January this year and it celebrates Null Naman. So, um the next one probably we may have a summer one, but it'll probably be more of a man meet up, a gathering. Um but the the next one will be on in 2026.

Oh my god.

But we do have Manup. So we had our St. Bridgets nationwide man meet up where we meet in different parts of the like generally Belfast Cork. I love working in Belfast. The energy is incredible. I love working in different parts. to the country. It's absolutely so fascinating how the energies are so different. It really blows my mind. I absolutely love it. So I we work in Gway, Cork, Belfast, and Dublin and Mid. Um so our our St. Bridget's one was absolutely incredible. Like there was over 300 women I think in total and it was just the energy was electric. It really really was. It really brought me through this week. Our next one is going to be for Sheila's weekend. So that's again going to be Cork uh Dublin for me, sorry, Gway and Belfast. Um, so I'll be uh sharing links for that probably this week. Um, and then we'll have another meet up in June. It'll be around the solstice time. Now, whether it's going to be a full-on festival or just a meetup um and then we have a an autumn, an autumn equinox meetup, and then the festival. So, we kind of meet four times a year and then we have the festival. So, it's amazing. It's just really about empowering women, bringing us together. We connect to the beautiful heart space. With cacao, we connect to ourselves through movement, through the energies of whatever it is, whether it's Bridget's energy or whether it's Sheila's energy. We will always be connecting to an energy and really connecting to each other and the energy is always incredible. We have so much fun and we practice breath work, cacao, uh yoga, everything. So, it's it's brilliant. So, check them out. Um, for my Zenopause journey, so this is something that I'd say it was this time last year, I was really really struggling to come to terms with everything with with my hormones. everything, you know, all the changes that were happening. And I it just came to me one day. I just sat in meditation. It was like, right, okay, Lor, how can how can you bring this forward? How can you actually help other women? Because that's always ultimately what I want to do is to be of service and to help and empower other women. And it just came to me, my my zenopause journey. I'm going to share my journey and just came my zenopause journey. So, I love I love what it's called. And it's really about marrying like your yoga, your breath work, your check in with yourself. your nutrition, your lifestyle, your exercise, looking at all of those factors as well as looking at how we can help balance our hormones, getting the bloods done, linking up with the likes of yourself and linking up with the likes of Dr. Jennifer and really going deep into helping yourself and not doing this alone and coming together, you know, as a community using our voice, talking about it. You know, we still have there's a lot of shame still, I don't know why, attached to menopause. Like I had a woman that was coming to my workshop, which is tomorrow, and she was like, Oh god, I wouldn't go to that now because it's in my local community. I wouldn't have anyone seeing me go to a menopause uh workshop. And I was just like, oh my god. So, it's still there. That shocked me, but it's still there. So, you're talking about women my age from the age of 40, 35 all the way up to 60, you know. Um, and we have a great network of women that meet. We meet monthly on Zoom and just chat and share. I just think the whole thing about menopause is it's not going to be a onefits all for anyone. And the more or we can share and talk about well I had that symptom well I had that and I experienced this and I'm going through this and like women are like really really struggling you know to come to terms with it you know and it's it's that stage in your life where you should be shining and you should be rising but then you get hit with this menopause journey that you have to then embrace so you know there's so much help out there I think we need to do more um I think what you the work you're doing is incredible as well and the more we can speak about it and the more we can try and get women the help that they actually need to to take control of of their own health. You know, even in this day and age that you have to actually take the ownership and take control and be very proactive about Yeah. your your treatment and and how

You're so right. And this is this is the whole thing about finding your voice, being able to really find yourself in your sense of expression to advocate for yourself in and like the thing is it's so hard because after training in the medical system, you know, people in the system. They have kind hearts that are got into doing what they did to help people, but it's the system that's broken, you know. So, it's so tricky because when you go to see someone, they only have 10 minutes to to spend with you.

And we're not actually trained in medical school to ask any questions about nutrition. Energy is a foreign concept. Like, and even the holistic space is kind of considered woowoo. But actually, to be honest with you, it's a a primary chunk of who we are outside of just the physical body. So, it's about actually empowering yourself to to reach out, look for all the answers that you can, but not focusing maybe on just one site or just relying on on someone within a system that just doesn't have the capacity to hold you in all those spaces. And going out and trying to find people like what you're doing is just so amazing for the women of Ireland. And um you know, I all these beautiful, beautiful kind of healers for women on this nation um or in this nation. It's it's just so important to ask the questions, to speak, to network, and to find, like you say, the the the different tools that are going to work within your toolbox. That might not necessarily be the same as someone else's toolbox, but actually, it's just about finding what works to you. There's trial and error in that. You're going to find some practitioners that are going to support you, and you will absolutely learn so much and go on a journey with. Um, but it might be you have four or five different people that you're working with to give you what you need on that journey. And that's so so important. So, I love what you're saying. I love what you're doing and I it's been such a privilege to chat to you. Um, and hopefully we'll be able to connect for many many more um deep chats about everything and I'm just so excited.

Yes. come in. We'll do some womb work. Oh, it'll be such a privilege and such a pleasure to work with you. And thank you so much for coming on the podcast. It like Oh, it's been lovely.

Thank you so much for having me.

And um if if if you'd like to connect um we will uh in the show notes, we'll include some links to your to your work and your bits and pieces. And I encourage you to absolutely reach out all the lovely um folks that are listening to this podcast. Please reach out to either of us if there's any support that you need on your journey in this world. Um there are people out there to help you and to hear you and see you with everything. And we love you and we will chat to you again soon. So thank you so much