Authenticity Calling Podcast

When you’re the person everyone turns to, asking for support can feel unfamiliar, uncomfortable, or even selfish. But what happens when caring for others leaves you disconnected from yourself?In this episode of the Authenticity Calling Podcast, host Ralitza Spassova, MD, welcomes Dr. Gayla Gates, The Authentically Healed Empath Coach for a conversation about burnout, boundaries, receiving support, and creating a life that honours who you are.Gayla shares her journey of leaving family medicine after ten years and moving into spiritual coaching and shamanic healing work. Reflecting on her experience as an emotional empath, she describes the exhaustion of feeling deeply affected by others’ emotions and the changes she made to find greater peace and groundedness.Together, Ralitza and Gayla explore the pressure to keep doing, giving, and holding everything together, especially for women whose identities are built around being capable and dependable. They consider what becomes possible when we give ourselves permission to receive the care we so readily offer others.Gayla also shares how Human Design, particularly identifying as a Projector, became a personal framework for understanding her energy, recognising her strengths, and approaching work differently. Their discussion explores intuition, embodied awareness, and the practice of trusting yourself through change.In this episode, we explore:- Gayla’s transition from family medicine to spiritual coaching.- The emotional demands of caring for others and holding space.- Asking for emotional support without guilt.- Human Design as a framework for personal reflection.- Moving from overdoing toward a more sustainable pace.- Creating supportive coaching relationships that allow time for integration.- Making room for pleasure, beauty, and receiving alongside meaningful work.Gayla introduces her workshop, “Asking for Emotional Support and Not Feeling Guilty,” and discusses the support she offers to empaths, physicians, coaches, facilitators, and retreat hosts navigating their own transitions.At the heart of this conversation is an invitation: You deserve to be supported while you support others.Connect with Dr. Gayla GatesFacebook https://www.facebook.com/gayla.gates.9Instagram https://www.instagram.com/gayladgates/ Email: [email protected] Gayla directly for workshop availability, pricing, and one-on-one consultation details.This episode shares personal experiences and spiritual perspectives. Human Design and shamanic practices are discussed as personal frameworks, rather than established medical explanations or treatments.

Content note: Discussion of family separation, the Sixties Scoop, intergenerational trauma, addiction, and PTSD.What does it mean to reclaim your identity after being separated from your family, culture, and community?In this episode of the Authenticity Calling Podcast, Ralitza Spassova, MD, welcomes Cynthia Paul, Indigenous-led speaker, healing circle facilitator, and founder of From Shadows to Light.Cynthia shares her experience as a Sixties Scoop survivor, from being taken from her family at birth and growing up in foster care to reconnecting with her biological family in 1995. She reflects on discovering her family’s history, finding belonging, and reconnecting with culture, Elders, and ancestral traditions.Speaking openly about addiction, PTSD, and recovery, Cynthia explores how her healing journey informs her work supporting other survivors. She shares the importance of healing circles, lateral kindness, and spaces where people feel heard, respected, and supported.Together, Cynthia and Ralitza consider how foster parents, healthcare professionals, social workers, and allies can listen more deeply and support Indigenous-led approaches to healing.At the heart of this conversation is Cynthia’s commitment to helping future generations grow with cultural connection, compassion, and hope.In this episode:• Reclaiming identity and reconnecting with family.• The role of culture and community in Cynthia’s recovery.• Healing circles as spaces for connection and support.• Practising lateral kindness.• Interrupting cycles of intergenerational trauma.• Supporting Indigenous voices and leadership.Connect with Cynthia:Instagram: @CynthiaPaul85Resources to support your journey• National Indian Residential School Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419. Available 24/7 for emotional and crisis support.• Indian Residential School Survivors Society, Lamathut Crisis Line: 1-800-721-0066. Available 24/7 for confidential crisis intervention and cultural support.• Hope for Wellness Help Line: 1-855-242-3310 or online chat at hopeforwellness.ca. Available 24/7 for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people.• KUU-US Crisis Response Service: 1-800-588-8717. Available 24/7 for Indigenous-specific crisis support in B.C.• First Nations Health Authority, Indian Residential Schools Program: 1-877-477-0775. Information about cultural support, mental health services, and assistance accessing counselling.

Forged from Chaos: Reclaiming the High Woman | With Lori EmslieAuthenticity Calling PodcastWho do we become when we stop allowing our most painful experiences to define us?Ralitza Spassova connects with Lori Emslie for an intimate conversation about reclaiming identity, trusting intuition, and finding meaning after difficult relationships. Lori shares reflections from her healing journey, including nearly two years of EMDR therapy, and her desire to help women reconnect with their agency, wisdom, and possibility.Together, they explore what it means to reclaim the “High Woman,” the part of ourselves that can hold a wider perspective while honouring our pain, boundaries, and need for safety. Their conversation invites reflection on relationship labels, shadow work, and the stories we carry about ourselves and one another.Lori also shares her vision for a gathering in Kamloops bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous women together in connection and healing. Ralitza reflects on her own journey and the shared desire to create spaces where women feel seen, supported, and free to be themselves.A conversation about vulnerability, sovereignty, and recognizing ourselves in other women, with an invitation to discover who we can become beyond the chaos.Themes explored:Reclaiming identity and agency after painful relationshipsListening to intuition and honouring boundariesFinding meaning without minimizing what happenedPersonal healing, spiritual reflection, and communityMoving from separation toward connectionTell us what your favourite parts were in the comments and share this with the High Women in your life!

Lotus Home Activation Retreat & Integration: A Return to the Body, the Heart, and the Truth of Who You AreIn this powerful episode, Ralitza Spassova and Melissa Crawford, MD come together to announce the Lotus Home Activation Retreat & Integration, a deeply restorative six-week experience beginning with a three-day retreat on the Sunshine Coast in Gibsons, BC, followed by five weeks of guided integration.This conversation is more than a retreat announcement. It is an invitation into a new way of healing.Melissa shares her courageous journey from family medicine into transformational soul work after serious health challenges, including spine and brain injuries in 2017, forced her to reevaluate the limits of conventional medicine and listen more deeply to the wisdom of the body. Through somatic-based energy work, nervous system healing, and core wound transformation, Melissa now supports people in releasing the subconscious patterns, emotional imprints, and protective layers that keep them disconnected from their truth.Ralitza shares her own evolution from medical education and traditional systems into deeper healing work, speaking openly about the unseen energetic burden carried by physicians, caregivers, leaders, and high-functioning people who absorb so much from others while often abandoning themselves.Together, Ralitza and Melissa explore the bridge between modern medicine, ancient wisdom, emotional alchemy, energy work, somatic healing, and embodied self-love. They speak to the deeper roots of dis-ease, the importance of returning to the body, and the power of being held in community, nature, beauty, and truth.The Lotus Home Activation Retreat is designed for men and women who feel called to restore balance, release old patterns, reconnect with their body, soften into self-love, and activate more purpose, passion, power, and authentic expression.Hosted in a luxury private home on the Sunshine Coast, the retreat includes nature-based practices, emotional and somatic alchemy, meditation, shared meals, community connection, elemental healing, and accommodations for different comfort levels, including both camping and indoor options.This is not just a retreat.It is a return to your body.A return to your truth.A return to the part of you that has been waiting underneath survival, protection, performance, and old conditioning.Spaces are intentionally limited, and the energy of this experience is already moving. If you feel the call, do not wait. Registration is open now, and early sign-up is strongly encouraged so you can secure your place, plan your ferry travel, and begin preparing for the transformation before you even arrive.Retreat dates: August 16–18 (weekday) or August 21-23 (weekend).Location: Lotus Home, Sunshine Coast, Gibsons, BC.Includes: Three-day retreat experience plus five weeks of integration support.If this conversation stirs something in you, trust that. Your body already knows.Register as soon as possible and join us at Lotus Home.https://www.authenticitymd.com/book-online

Authenticity Calling PodcastWhat if your greatest calling wasn't something you had to find, but something you simply had to remember?In this deeply human conversation, Ralitza Spassova, Medical Doctor (MD) turned Life Alchemist, sits down with Dr. Minhas, physician, educator, and founder of the Beyond Bias Foundation, to explore what happens when purpose meets courage.What began as a childhood dream of becoming a doctor evolved into something far greater: a mission to transform the lives of vulnerable children in rural Nigeria through education, healthcare, mental health support, and community empowerment. But this isn't simply a story about charity - it's about authenticity and fulfilling our divine assignment.Together they unpack:Why treating people means seeing the whole human, not just the diagnosis.How one unexpected invitation to Africa completely changed the trajectory of Dr. Minhas' life.The surprising power of indirect leadership - building people instead of controlling them.Why the best leaders create space for others to rise, make mistakes, and become leaders themselves.How rejection often becomes redirection toward something even greater.The hidden cost of chasing instant gratification in a culture that has forgotten patience.What medical school, entrepreneurship, nonprofit leadership, and personal transformation all have in common.Ralitza also shares her own unconventional path - from returning to teach medicine after graduation to helping reshape medical education through early clinical integration, along with the word guiding her year:Audacity.Because sometimes changing the world simply requires the audacity to remain faithful to a vision before anyone else can see it.This conversation is an invitation to reconnect with the dreams you had before the world told you who you should become.Ask yourself:What did you know about yourself as a child that you've forgotten?Perhaps your purpose has been waiting patiently for you all along.In this episode you'll discover:✨ The mindset shifts that transform setbacks into opportunities.✨ Why authentic leadership isn't about power, it's about creating more leaders.✨ How holistic medicine extends far beyond healthcare.✨ The role of faith, surrender, persistence, and consistency in creating meaningful impact.✨ Practical wisdom for anyone building a business, leading a team, serving a community, or simply trying to live with greater purpose.Some conversations give you information.This one may remind you who you were always meant to become.Find Dr. Minhas and Beyond Bias Foundation here