The Flow of Coherence: Cynthia Li

The Flow of Coherence: Cynthia Li

From Sounds of SAND by Science and Nonduality

September 3, 2026 · 1h 3m

About this episode

Dr. Cynthia Li discusses her journey from internist to patient and her insights on coherence and healing.

Dr. Cynthia Li joins us to talk about her new book, The Medicine of Flow . Trained as an internist, Cynthia developed an autoimmune condition and then chronic fatigue and dysautonomia, illnesses largely dismissed at the time as being in her head. Her own body pushed her out of the paradigm she was trained in and into functional medicine, qigong, and intuitive healing. A decade later, a second crisis took her back to housebound and taught her what all her effort hadn't: coherence, and what she calls embodied flow. We talk about surrender that isn't passivity, why nervous system regulation is only part of the picture, and how coherence moves between bodies. Guest Cynthia Li, MD, is a physician who moved from public health to integrative medicine and intuitive healing, with earlier work at Kaiser Permanente's HIV/AIDS group, San Francisco General Hospital, St. Anthony Clinic, and Doctors Without Borders in rural China. A certified qigong teacher and healer since 2014, she has served as faculty for Rachel Remen's Healer's Art program at UCSF, and her story appeared in Dr. Kelly Turner's Radical Remission documentary. She is the author of Brave New Medicine and The Medicine of Flow…

People in this episode

Guest: Cynthia Li

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Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Science and Nonduality, Kaiser Permanente, Doctors Without Borders

Books & works: The Medicine of Flow, Brave New Medicine

Places: San Francisco, China

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