In this episode, you are learning about Laughter Yoga and a bit of Sophie and Marianne’s history with this practice.

Sophie wrote an excellent article explaining the practice and the benefits of Laughter Yoga, which you can find on our Patreon Page.

Please join us there, read all about it, and become part of our community.

Great news!

You all can laugh with us. We are offering a free virtual Laughter Yoga session on November 23, 2024 at 10 AM Pacific Time.

Find details on how to join on our Patreon Page.

The session has limited participants. Please make sure to secure your reservation.

Sophie and Marianne both learned Laughter Yoga as envisioned by Madan Kataria. Here is his website with lots and lots of information.

Linda Leclerc is a well-known Laughter Teacher presence, and Marianne had the pleasure of interviewing her for her former podcast.

Linda is very active in the World of Laughter, and we encourage you to check her out.

If you are inspired to give a Laughter Club a try, you will find many in person Laughter Clubs all over the world, as well as a large number of online opportunities.

We hope to see you on the 23rd of November at out Laughter gathering or, if that date doesn’t work for you, that you laugh with any laughter friend anywhere in the world.

Ho Ho Ha Ha Ha.

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We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Sophie & Marianne

Come and join our Explore Soma Patreon community to take part in further conversations about the topics we discuss on the podcast - or whatever is on your mind.

AND! We have free memberships. Of course, there are more perks to all who support us but plenty of fun to be had for our free members.

In today’s episode, we start in the world of knitting and end up exploring the meanings of symbols and how much power we give them - or maybe we shouldn’t?

Tell us what you think!

And if you are wondering about the Placebo Effect we are referring to, join us on Patreon and listen to that part of our convo.

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We are looking forward to hearing from you.

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Did you know that you could be the proud owner of a pair of hand-knit socks simply by supporting us on Patreon?

We are holding a raffle on June 12th and one lucky winner will get a pair of awesome socks made to order.

Not into Patreon? You still can get a raffle ticked. Contact as at exploresomepod @ gmail.com to find out how.

In this episode, Sophie tries to find out why Marianne loves knitting so much.

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Sophie & Marianne

Hope and Fear

Quote by Maya Angelou: “Hope and Fear can not occupy the same space. Invite one to stay.”

Before we dive into the content of this episode - we are having a raffle on Patreon for all of our supporters!

This time, the prize will be a custom hand-knit pair of socks!

Find out more here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/who-wants-pair-99863064

Sophie asked Marianne why this quote is resonating with her at this time.

Marianne speaks about her feelings and fear regarding the climate crisis, which is manifesting in many unusual and often dangerous weather events, and her anger that most everyone doesn’t seem to care.

Sophie shares that she saw an almost identical quote in a book about Ayurveda she recently read.

Sophie emphasizes that we can only impact the present moment and need to do the best we can without any expectations.

We touch on many examples of how behavior impacts others. How to deal with it - or not.

Quite a few times, we disagree as well.

Many topics SoMa are touching on in this conversation were also explored in depth in this episode: Find Good News

Sophie reminds Marianne of a time when they studied the methods of Byron Katie. Here is a link to her website.

One of the questions we have for you, our listeners, is this.

How do you deal with frustrations in your life?

What helps you to find inner peace?

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or meet us on the following platforms

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Sophie has studied Ayurveda for many years now and has a website all about the art of living the Ayurvedic way.

On this website, she has a link to a test Marianne took.

In this conversation, Sophie is going over some of the basics of Ayurveda and how to apply the principles to our daily lives.

You can find the test here if you are curious about your doshas.

Sophie explains what Doshas are.

If you are interested in a detailed example of how the results can be interpreted - or, for that matter, how to determine your answers to the question, we have a detailed analysis of Marianne’s results on our Patreon page.

And good news for all Patrons supporting us on any level - Sophie offers a 20% discount on her online course.

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We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Sophie & Marianne

Join us and be part of a beautiful community on Patreon. We have many plans for this year.

Learn something new no matter your age.

Sophie’s friend had a drum and it was love at first sight.

Before you know it, Sophie also had a drum.

This is the story of a girl and her drum lol

After exploring the usual channels we learn these days - YouTube and other internet resources, Sophie decided to find a teacher.

As with everything, practice is the most important way to improvement. But a drum is loud and when your partner works from home, other places must be found to get the daily 15 minutes of practice in.

Where there is a will - there is a way. 

Marianne shared how she made a drum many years ago, and you will hear that drum while she tells you about it.

Then, we get into the joys of knitting and how Ravelry changed her knitting life forever - and for the better.

We talk about the different positive impacts of knitting - it can be a mindless activity to keep the hands busy and the mind free to concentrate on a lecture, or anything we want to take in - or, it can be a complicated thing that requires our full attention.

Sophie and Marianne’s Yoga teacher Sashi always said that any activity can be a meditation as long as we fully concentrate on what we are doing.

Sophie points out the similarities of such different activities as drumming and knitting.

Having a passion is very important in our lives and gives us a feeling of wholeness.

Sophie’s recipe to open yourself to new experiences. Anything you are interested in and have thought or are thinking now that it is too complicated - just add to the end of the thought - until now.

Now, it is different, and the new thought can be, let’s give it a try.

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We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Sophie & Marianne

Marianne is sitting on the sofa with her foot up, looking at a mess all around her.

Why, oh why, is she just sitting there?

Because she didn’t listen!! Didn’t listen to her body.

While packing the car for a trip, she dropped a full metal water bottle on her foot. While it hurt like hell in the moment, she soon forgot about it while sitting in the car, not using her foot at all, and filling her mind and soul by drinking in the beautiful countryside.

A week spend with family, friends, walking, talking, and being happy added to suppressing the memory of that heavy bottle falling on her foot.

Yes, there was pain - but first, she was too busy ignoring that pain. Then, her mind went to exploring (and getting paranoid about) the different possible causes of said pain.

Back on the Rez, on her way to the doctor, the water bottle incident came back to her. 

The cure the doctor recommended was elevate, ice, compress - stay off your feet for a week.

Hence, Marianne is sitting on the sofa with her feet up, waiting for better days.

Sophie, timely as ever, just read a book on how sometimes our mind plays tricks on us. In this case, Marianne did not listen to her body telling her to take care of that foot, which made the situation worse.

As always, Sophie has pearls of wisdom to share.

• We create our own stress in our mind
• If the house gets cleaned later, it is not that much more work.
• Adjust the mind to make healing the first priority, and such make peace with everything else that will have to wait.

And let’s be honest. The minute something was cleaned, it gets dirty again….

Adjusting your mental agitate is not a one-time thing. We have to remind ourselves over and over again what we want to think and feel instead of the negative thoughts that pop up.

While Marianne came back full of energy to jump into action to reorganize and adjust life for another year away from home - only to find herself on the couch, Sophie invites her to use that time for planning, clarity work, and of course, some knitting. 

A Sophie wisdom: All experiences are there for us to grow.

We are working on some awesome rewards for our Patrons on Patreon!

Make sure to check that out!

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We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Sophie & Marianne

Marianne is sharing with Sophie how a change of weather seems to impact her mood and even her body. She gets very tired and runs out of energy.

Sophie explains some of the theories of Ayurveda. For example, if a person has a lot of air element and a strong wind is blowing, maybe some grounding is in order. That can be as simple as placing feet firmly on the ground. 

People with lots of air element also tend to be cold. So, keeping warm and drinking warming drinks is important.

Did you know that even hot mint tea is cooling?

Try a mixture of cumin, coriander, and fennel instead. Or ginger tea is always a delight.

Our conversation touches on macrobiotics, fermenting and more.

If you search for Sandor Katz, many articles on fermentation and his journey will pop up. I highly recommend his books. You probably can get them at your local library. Or purchase them from an independent book store.

This is an excellent article comparing different fermentation lids for mason jars. 

https://www.makesauerkraut.com/fermentation-lids/

If you search for Gärtopf, many beautiful examples will come up for your viewing pleasure. Many articles are in German  and of course, in the US the usual online order business comes up. The pot comes in handy if you have a huge garden and eat lots of fermented products. For purchase, I highly recommend buying from a smaller company.

An example of preserving food. Marianne was gifted a full bag of small, unripe peaches. She made different variants of green peach preserves with vinegar. In a month, we know how it turned out and will talk about it then.

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We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Sophie & Marianne