About Irene
Welcome!
I believe that we can heal and grow into our fullest selves, and that this is what life's journey is all about.
I facilitate transformation for women from all walks of life who want to flow with feminine fullness, and enjoy ALL that life brings.
I support women who are tired of pushing and struggling their way through life.
I help them heal the broken connection to themselves so they can let go into flow, and move toward a greater sense of hope, joy, and connection.
By sharing my personal journey of healing and transformation, I hope it inspires you to shine your light bright, because the world needs more women to awaken and come alive.
As the founder of Alignment Journeys and a dedicated transformational coach, my mission is to empower spiritually awakened women to embrace their authentic selves and shine brightly in the world.
My journey began as a school teacher at the Ministry of Education, where I dedicated over a decade to nurturing young minds. However, a personal crisis in 2017 led me to explore coaching, and I discovered my true calling.
Combining my background in education with a passion for personal development and spiritual growth, I transitioned from energy healing to a deeper focus on coaching.
While Reiki and other healing modalities provided a foundation, I realized that the power of coaching lies in holding space to create lasting change. I facilitate this transformation by helping my clients rewire their neural pathways, release trapped emotions & stuck energy, and take actionable steps to move towards their future desired state.
This realization inspired me to establish Alignment Journeys, where I integrate intuition, deep listening, and creativity to support my clients' transformative journeys.
Since the beginning of my journey as an educator (see my professional bio below), I have been especially interested in curriculum design and pedagogy, and much of my research and work centered on refining teaching strategies to facilitate optimal learning.
Outside of work, I have also spent over two decades exploring the realms of human consciousness. In my years of study and practice, I was introduced to a plethora of technologies. These include hypnosis, Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), regression therapy, meditation, and the esoteric philosophies of the East and West (Hermeticsim and Taoism), to name a few.
I came to see the importance of a systems approach to learning - an approach that considers the various facets of a person, and not just the intellectual - when I undertook studies in energy psychology and somatic therapy. These practices address the psycho-spiritual and emotional bodies, often neglected but are now increasingly regarded as vital to growth and well-being.
In recognising that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, I grew an appreciation for how a person's development and growth necessitates an embodied experience and a maturation of one's energetic sensitivities.
Amongst the various energy medicine I'd experienced, I was drawn most to Usui Reiki, a gentle yet highly effective alternative therapy from Japan. I thus became a certified Reiki Master practitioner in 2005 (in the Usui and Karuna traditions), and am also attuned to Tantra Reiki, Kundalini Reiki, and Reiki Yggdrasil. Since then, I have also acquired skills and qualifications in other forms of energy healing, such as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), Qi Gong, Eden energy medicine, and crystal therapy.
At the same time, I explored physical modalities in yoga, martial arts, and dance, in order to become more embodied and centered in my physical being. The three main modalities I practice are Kundalini yoga, Aikido (Second dan), and belly dance. I became a certified belly dance instructor in 2017, and further deepened my proficiency by integrating somatic dance therapies from teachers like Keti Sharif and Kaouthar Darmoni into my work. I also underwent trainng to become certified as a Trauma-informed Kundalini Yoga Teacher in 2022.
After a series of initiations that began in 2012, I decided to heed my calling to teach and empower women in the Sacred Feminine. In the years that followed, I embarked on an in-depth study of feminine-based teachings, such as womb work and Menstrual Cycle Awareness (MCA), and became initiated as a Priestess in the Rose lineage. I then began to systematically consolidate my years of knowledge and experience by designing a curriculum that would be both rigorous and accessible - one that takes into consideration the physical, emotional, and psycho-spiritual parts of a person. In 2020, I attained certifications in Intentional Creativity coaching and Circle facilitation for women, and took my first steps in setting up my coaching practice. I further became an ICF certified Results Coach in 2022, and I continue to uplevel myself professionally in order to better serve my clients.
Since 2023, I have received training in becoming a trauma-informed Kundalini Yoga Teacher, an Internal Family Systems (IFS) practitioner, as well as received certification to be an Advanced NLP Master Practitioner. As an integrative thinker, I love bringing all this into my teaching and coaching.
Today, I support women all over the world to come into full alignment with themselves through private coaching, online courses, and women's circles. I developed the S.P.A.C.E. Method™ as an experiential and integrative approach to help women access their innate feminine wisdom. It brings me deep, soul-full joy to share what I have learnt and fulfill my life's dharma. Learn more about the services I offer here.
My Professional Bio
My inspiration to develop the Aligned Woman’s Way was born out of a desire to fill the gaps in knowledge that aren't readily available in conventional education systems. I started out as a school teacher in Singapore after I graduated with a First Class Honours and a Distinction in my MA, both in Literature. I also hold a Diploma in Education, and have taught in classrooms for over a decade.
My experience in the education industry spans over 10 years, in which I have taken on a range of roles across a wide spectrum of curriculum.
Educator
I have a depth of experience and passion in mentoring young women from top girls' schools as part of their holistic development. In teaching and nurturing young female leaders, I developed competencies in creating and coordinating purposeful educational programmes from such diverse curricula as the GCE 'O' Levels, the Integrated Programme, and the International Baccalaureate (IB).
Schools I have taught in include Raffles Girls' Secondary, CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh), and School of the Arts (SOTA). Some of the topics I have taught include global issues and context, post-colonial narratives, and Feminism.
Curriculum Planning Officer
I served at the Ministry of Education to design and conduct training programmes for teachers in Singapore. Besides developing pedagogical resources that were used nation-wide, I also engaged in policy formulation and strategic planning, and contributed to the design and dissemination of school-based syllabuses in Literature.
Head of Department
As an educational leader, I led my team to redesign curriculum and align assessments, as well as managed the performance of my teachers. Additionally, I co-created a multi-disciplinary annual festival for the Arts, and spearheaded a Literature enrichment programme for higher-ability students.
"Irene’s gentleness, her grace and elegance, somehow held me in such a nurturing way... she has a natural and well trained teaching style about her."
jo, artist, australia
My PersonalJourney
Childhood Beginnings
I was born a highly sensitive and empathic child, and my life lessons started at home, with my family. My parents did the best they could, but they were ill equipped to handle the challenges in their lives. There was much ancestral trauma that they'd inherited, and they also carried many of their own woundings, which all trickled down to their children.
As the middle child in a family of sisters, a key thread in my life was feeling stuck in between. My parents had a tumultuous marriage, and I found myself constantly being forced to take sides. It was a confusing time for me and, for much of my childhood, I experienced the distress of holding divided loyalties.
Growing up in a volatile household, I did the best I could to cope and survive. My growing up years were rife with domestic violence, neglect, and abuse - the stuff you'd read about in newspaper headlines, only in this instance they were kept secret and hidden within our family.
My sisters and I also had a troubled relationship, not surprising given the dysfunctional dynamics in our home. Though we were all enveloped together in a complicit silence of shame, I felt very much alone and isolated in my pain.
At that young age, all I really knew was to 'keep calm and carry on,' to push on despite the stress and fear. Though I had many violent and traumatising experiences, my body somehow had a natural resilience that enabled me to bounce back. What I didn't know was that it was all still stored inside my cellular memory, and that one day, I would need to address the pain there.
The real PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) hit me when I left home at 17, to pursue my university education overseas. I had managed to gain financial independence and leave my family home, but all the suppressed pain and repressed trauma now started to come to the surface in a wild, uncontrollable torrent.
I was thrown into a bewildering storm of emotions that I didn't know how to handle, and so I fell into a deep, dark depression. Alone by myself in a foreign land, it was a particularly low moment where I felt that all was hopeless; despite everything I had done to cope and survive, I still hadn't escaped the weight of trauma stored inside me.
In the depths of despair, amidst the blackness I had sunk into, my heart called out for help. The universe responded, and the real work began. I had to slowly pick up the shattered pieces of the illusory reality I had carried with me, and build my world from the ground up again.
My Path to Healing
As a sensitive child growing up in an abusive environment, and not having many of my physical and emotional needs met, I developed a protective cocoon, a stiff armour of preservation that kept others out so I would not feel hurt or betrayed. I had layered on masks that showed the world I was ok, but I'd ended up burying my real self underneath.
In the year I spent overseas, I’d shared with my then-partner: “I feel like I’m dying. There’s something wrong with me, and I can’t figure out what it is.” What I hadn’t realised was that, by keeping my heart walls so stiff and tight, I had isolated everyone, including me, from my true self till I felt completely and utterly alone.
All too often, we stay in situations that don't always have our best interests at heart, but there was now a deep knowing that I couldn’t ignore. I saw how I had cut my core, essential Being off for many years now, and I could not lie to myself any more. So I packed my bags with the stern resolve to confront my inner demons, and called upon the universe to show me the way Home.
Again and again, I underwent a series of spiritual initiations that led to powerful soul awakenings. After healing my energetic body, which had become scarred and lacerated from trauma, I undertook an intensive 2 year training to become a Reiki Master Practitioner. Because of my own journey, I found that I had developed a heightened sensitivity, which enabled me to offer my clients healing that allowed for gentle yet effective transformation.
In my personal process, I began to walk the bridge between the material, 3D world, and the magickal, unseen realms. Whilst completing my Honours degree and my Masters, I also enrolled in an esoteric school that deepened my meditation practice. Later on, I found that my training in Literature and as a school teacher helped me make sense of, and articulate into clear language, how I could work with the seemingly invisible and quantum world of Spirit in concrete, systematic steps.
As a woman navigating very human challenges in my career and relationships, I felt that the personal development world lacked an integral, all-encompassing system in supporting me to balance my personal and spiritual life. I would come across female wisdom teachers who had rejected their femininity and operated in an over-masculinised way, or guides who flowed with the feminine, but lacked a steady container that made their teachings accessible. Or, I would find mentors that only focused on the physical body, but neglected the energetics of the whole self, and vice versa.
Frustrated by all the walls I was bumping up against, and all the time and money I had invested in my learning, I decided that it was time to put my two decades worth of hard won knowledge and experience into a systemised curriculum. I was inspired to do this for myself, and once I did so, synchronicities flowed in like magic. To my delight, I began to encounter mentors like me who are devoted to the upliftment of the Sacred Feminine, and gained confidence that I had something valuable to share and teach. Their work has continued to inspire me and, in 2018, I committed to living my soul's purpose by serving in the most effective way I knew how.
Giving Back
I loved the work I was doing as a school teacher, but no longer felt that it aligned with the larger Soul purpose I was being called to step into. Though I wasn’t sure of the HOW, I decided to listen to my inner voice, and trust my WHY.
It strikes me that we are always held and guided when we align with our true Soul’s path; it does not mean that the journey will be smooth-sailing, but it certainly means that it will be worth the while. Once I'd said YES, the Universe miraculously guided me each step of the way: From enrolling in a magickal summer school, to being selected for a prestigious leadership programme in Japan, I simply committed to saying Yes and showing up.
In spite of internal and external challenges, or perhaps because of them, I further refined and honed the skills I needed to set up my own business and heart offerings. For instance, I learnt to partner with my strong inner critic to come up with a meticulous curriculum and programme. And during 2020-2022, when travel restrictions delayed my life plans, I doubled down on my professional training so I could deliver greater value when I fully rolled out my services.
In over 2 decades of devoted inner work, I had developed a precise vocabulary to navigate the visible and hidden worlds, and which empowered me to effectively integrate my spiritual learnings into my normal, daily existence. As a polymath, my curiosity and eagerness for learning enabled me to connect the dots amongst disparate areas, particularly between the scientific and esoteric.
Having the capacity to hold both the masculine structure and the feminine flow - factual, detail-oriented action steps and processes, as well as intuitive, non-linear, creative downloads - is a key strength that continues to inform my teaching and practice.
For instance, I began to unpack how my training in Oriental dance and Aikido, a Japanese martial art form, helped with grounding and centering. When I combined this knowledge with my Reiki and Qigong practice, I further refined and distilled key movements that I now teach in my work with feminine energetics, to support my clients flow with more grace and ease in their lives.
As a formally trained teacher, I appreciate the rigour and specialised knowledge needed when it comes to structuring growth and facilitating transformation for clients with different needs and learning styles. Over the course of 5 years, I deepened my research so as to craft and curate an elegant programme that would satisfy my stringent requirements - real results, impactful change, and clear, deliverable outcomes.
I did not want my offerings to be piecemeal products that would not serve my clients fully, and neither did I want to pad them with superfluous subject matter. I mapped out the core content of my offerings, designed my course blueprint to meet clear objectives, and streamlined all that I had learnt into quality services that would best meet my clients’ needs.
Welcome to the Aligned Woman’s Way. 
"Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the Light that is you."
L.R. Knost
