55% of women say they've felt gaslit by a doctor. 80% delay care rather than walk into an appointment where they know they won't be heard.

In this Luminescence LA conversation, Dr. Mindy Pelz (Fast Like a Girl, The Menopause Reset) and Dr. Robin Berzin, founder and CEO of Parsley Health, talk about why the medical system is built for medicine, not health, and what it actually looks like to walk into a doctor's office as an equal instead of a patient.

What you'll hear, and when:

[00:00] Mindy's origin story: misdiagnosed at 19, and the homeopathic doctor who changed her life

[03:00] The stats behind why healthcare feels broken right now

[08:00] The patriarchal medical model, and why chronic disease keeps winning

[13:00] "The body heals itself" — the principle Robin says conventional medicine forgot

[16:00] Walking in as an equal: treating your doctor like an employee, not an authority

[21:00] Why "I don't know" is the hardest thing for a doctor to say, and where GLP-1s fit into our quick-fix culture

[26:00] Why only 8% of women get preventive testing

[30:00] The closing message: you are the hero of your own health story

This episode is for anyone who has left a doctor's office feeling dismissed, and anyone ready to take an active role in their own healthcare.

Menopause is usually talked about in terms of hot flashes and mood swings. But beneath those symptoms are silent, system-wide changes and one of the most important ones happens in the heart.

Cardiovascular disease doubles after menopause, and most women aren't told why, when it starts, or what they can do about it. The truth is, perimenopause can begin in your mid-thirties, and the decisions you make in the decade that follows shape the next third of your life.

The Heart of Menopause is a master class bringing together four of the leading voices in women's health: journalist and filmmaker Tamsen Fadal, Harvard-trained physician Dr. Sara Szal, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Vonda Wright, and board-certified OB-GYN Dr. Mary Claire Haver.

Together, they unpack the science of estrogen and the cardiovascular system, the window of opportunity for hormone therapy, and the practical tools — from biomarker testing to nutrition to resistance training — that protect your heart for the long run.

You are not invisible. Let's change the conversation together.

For decades, almost everything we knew about sexual desire and arousal was based on research done on men — and simply assumed to apply to women too.

In this conversation, Dr. Cindy Meston, professor of clinical psychology and director of the Female Sexual Psychophysiology Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin, breaks down thirty years of research into how women's desire and arousal actually work, and why the male template got it wrong.

Two women, one shared reckoning: perimenopause and menopause arrived and rewrote everything they thought they knew about their bodies, their sex lives, and themselves.

In this episode, board-certified gynecologist and sexual health expert Dr. Somi Javaid — founder of HerMD, who raised $40 million after being told she had "less than a half percent chance" — breaks down exactly what's been missing from women's health care, and what's finally starting to change. She walks through the real gender gap in FDA drug approval (six months for Viagra, six years for the first female libido drug), the black box warning that scared a generation of women off hormone therapy, and why testosterone — not just estrogen — matters for female sexual function and almost nobody gets properly tested for it.

If this episode landed for you: watch Sex in Menopause, the free documentary with Naomi Watts, at sexinmenopause.com. For more conversations like this — plus live events, retreats, and past seasons — head to Luminescence.health.

You came into this season navigating a transition. You're leaving with a different relationship to what's on the other side of it.

This is the season finale of the Luminescence Podcast. Schuyler Grant, Dr. Somi Javaid, Dr. Sarah de la Torre, and Elena Brower close out by looking forward — to grandchildren, creative reinvention, travel, radical career pivots, and the profound privilege of becoming a wise woman elder.

They discuss:

For any woman ready to see this transition not as decline, but as preparation for what might be the most powerful chapter yet.

For information on our upcoming events, retreats, and to connect with specialists and other women in our online community, visit www.luminescence.health. 

Presented by our sponsors:

Stripes:

Visit stripesbeauty.com and use the code COMMUNE20 for 20% off the entire product line.

Genova Connect:

Save 20% on testing with code COMMUNE20 so you can stop guessing and make adjustments to support what matters. Visit connect.gdx.net.

LivOn Labs:

Get 15% off your first order of elite-absorption, foundational supplements that fit into your routine with code COMMUNE15 (valid through 6.30.26) at LivOnLabs.com.

BiOptimizers:

Go to bioptimizers.com/luminescence and use code LUMINESCENCE for 15% off.

Try Schuyler's new personalized yoga app: https://schuylergrant.com/app

Somewhere in your mid-forties, you realize that the compromises you made in your thirties stop sitting right. The relationships that used to feel necessary start feeling optional. The drive to be everything to everyone, quietly or not so quietly, starts to dissolve.

In this episode of the Luminescence Podcast, Schuyler Grant sits down with Dr. Somi Javaid, Dr. Sarah de la Torre, and Elena Brower to get into the liberating, complicated, and sometimes messy reality of giving fewer f*cks in midlife. What does it actually look like when women stop performing and start choosing?

They discuss:

For every woman who has spent decades making herself smaller and is ready to understand what happens when you stop.

For information on our upcoming events, retreats, and to connect with specialists and other women in our online community, visit www.luminescence.health. 

Presented by our sponsors:

Stripes:

Visit stripesbeauty.com and use the code COMMUNE20 for 20% off the entire product line.

Genova Connect:

Save 20% on testing with code COMMUNE20 so you can stop guessing and make adjustments to support what matters. Visit connect.gdx.net.

LivOn Labs:

Get 15% off your first order of elite-absorption, foundational supplements that fit into your routine with code COMMUNE15 (valid through 6.30.26) at LivOnLabs.com.

BiOptimizers:

Go to bioptimizers.com/luminescence and use code LUMINESCENCE for 15% off.

Try Schuyler's new personalized yoga app: https://schuylergrant.com/app

We're all coping with something. The question is whether what we're reaching for is actually helping, or just numbing us from the discomfort we're too busy to sit with.

This is part two of the conversation on coping in midlife. Schuyler Grant, Dr. Somi Javaid, Dr. Sarah de la Torre, and Elena Brower dig into the deeper current running beneath perimenopause: the old traumas that float to the surface when the busyness of building a life no longer keeps them submerged.

They discuss:

For any woman who's tired of just getting through and ready to address what's underneath — midlife has a way of surfacing what you've been too busy to deal with.

For information on our upcoming events, retreats, and to connect with specialists and other women in our online community, visit www.luminescence.health. 

Presented by our sponsors:

Stripes:

Visit stripesbeauty.com and use the code COMMUNE20 for 20% off the entire product line.

Genova Connect:

Save 20% on testing with code COMMUNE20 so you can stop guessing and make adjustments to support what matters. Visit connect.gdx.net.

LivOn Labs:

Get 15% off your first order of elite-absorption, foundational supplements that fit into your routine with code COMMUNE15 (valid through 6.30.26) at LivOnLabs.com.

BiOptimizers:

Go to bioptimizers.com/luminescence and use code LUMINESCENCE for 15% off.

Try Schuyler's new personalized yoga app: https://schuylergrant.com/app

Your favorite coping mechanisms — wine, edibles, even your go-to SSRI — might suddenly betray you in midlife.

In this episode of the Luminescence Podcast, Schuyler Grant sits down with Dr. Sarah de la Torre, Elena Brower, and Dr. Somi Javaid to dig into why alcohol hits harder after 40, antidepressants become less reliable, and the things that used to take the edge off start creating new problems instead. They explore the neuroscience of why your old stress relievers stop working as hormones shift.

They discuss:

For any woman whose go-to stress relief isn't working anymore and wants to understand why — before figuring out what comes next.

For information on our upcoming events, retreats, and to connect with specialists and other women in our online community, visit www.luminescence.health. 

Presented by our sponsors:

Stripes:

Visit stripesbeauty.com and use the code COMMUNE20 for 20% off the entire product line.

Genova Connect:

Save 20% on testing with code COMMUNE20 so you can stop guessing and make adjustments to support what matters. Visit connect.gdx.net.

LivOn Labs:

Get 15% off your first order of elite-absorption, foundational supplements that fit into your routine with code COMMUNE15 (valid through 6.30.26) at LivOnLabs.com.

BiOptimizers:

Go to bioptimizers.com/luminescence and use code LUMINESCENCE for 15% off.

Try Schuyler's new personalized yoga app: https://schuylergrant.com/app

Why does perimenopause feel like you're losing your edge?

This is part two of the conversation on your brain during hormonal transitions. Schuyler Grant, Dr. Sarah de la Torre, Dr. Somi Javaid, and Elena Brower get into what's actually happening in your brain and nervous system as estrogen shifts — and what you can do to feel like yourself again, including one of the most underreported findings in menopause research.

They discuss:

For any woman who wants to understand that what feels like decline might actually be rewiring — and how to work with your brain instead of against it.

For information on our upcoming events, retreats, and to connect with specialists and other women in our online community, visit www.luminescence.health. 

Presented by our sponsors:

Stripes:

Visit stripesbeauty.com and use the code COMMUNE20 for 20% off the entire product line.

Genova Connect:

Save 20% on testing with code COMMUNE20 so you can stop guessing and make adjustments to support what matters. Visit connect.gdx.net.

LivOn Labs:

Get 15% off your first order of elite-absorption, foundational supplements that fit into your routine with code COMMUNE15 (valid through 6.30.26) at LivOnLabs.com.

BiOptimizers:

Go to bioptimizers.com/luminescence and use code LUMINESCENCE for 15% off.

Try Schuyler's new personalized yoga app: https://schuylergrant.com/app