Everyday Thin Places
Everyday Thin Places
Rachael Gallagher and Elizabeth Varaso
In each episode of Everyday Thin Places, birth doula Elizabeth Varaso and interfaith hospice chaplain Rachael Gallagher ​draw from their experiences supporting birthing people and dying people to explore with honesty, authenticity and humor how we can all become more truly-living people.​ Although birth and death are two of the only truly universal human experiences, we often think of them as painful, frightening and best kept behind closed doors. But behind those closed doors Rachael and Elizabeth have experienced the wonder and delight of “thin places” - those points in space and time where the line between known and unknown, between temporal and eternal, between the ordinary and the transcendent become beautifully blurred. No matter if you are the kind of person who finds the topics of birth and death thrilling, terrifying or just not all that interesting Rachael and Elizabeth’s conversations with each other and with guests from all walks of life will draw you in and keep you coming back for more. No topic is off-limits and every episode will have you seeking and savoring the everyday opportunities to visit life’s thin places.
We're Still Here!
We're so excited for another Everyday Thin Places episode after quite a while away! We chat about our energy coming back as we move from winter to spring. We're diving deep into all things spring! The ladies discuss Elizabeth's spring plans of the Broad Street Run, throwing the windows open, spring cleaning on Leap Day, as well as Rachael's "Elderland" update, the relativity of seasons, and connecting with Mother Nature.We're feeling a little rusty as we come out of our winter hibernati...
Mar 11, 2024
32 min
Where'd You Park Your Spaceship?: An Interplanetary Tale of Love, Loss, and Bread by Rob Bell
Rachael Gallagher and Elizabeth Varaso return with guest Rob Bell to discuss Rob's new book, "Where'd You Park Your Spaceship?". Starting with a discussion about this being a departure from Rob's previous works of nonfiction, we assure you that this sci-fi fiction book is very "Rob Bell". We're pretty sure Rob just became best friends with all of his readers as he weaves a story about other planets that helps us all to better understand Rob Bell the friend. We talk about our expectations of t...
Oct 30, 2023
55 min
Trea Turner and The Rabbit Effect
It's Red October in Philadelphia, and Phillies fever is spreading. Symptoms include yelling, cheering, and . . . kindness? Elizabeth has been gushing to Rachael about Phillie's short stop Trea Turner for weeks now, so it's only right that we share his story with our listeners and invite you all to jump on the bandwagon of postseason baseball and truly living. But we're not just talking baseball - we're talking about rabbits, cholesterol, kindness, the Green House model...
Oct 16, 2023
44 min
Psychedeladoula: Nicki Cowan
Rachael Gallagher and Elizabeth Varaso interview Nicki Cowan, psychotherapist, end-of-life doula, and co-founder of the Philly Death Doula Collective. In this special episode, Nicki discusses awe, existential intensity, and the greater-than-human world.It was very interesting for us to learn more about Nicki's perspective. In this episode we cover Nicki's apprenticeship in Botswana, her post-graduate training, how she found herself in Philadelphia, and her time in the Peruvian Amazon and the ...
Aug 28, 2023
1 hr 1 min
Healing and Learning in the Desert with Kay Bruner
Rachael and Elizabeth are back with Kay Bruner. They start the episode with some quick life updates from Kay, then begin talking about Kay's favorite aspects of life in the desert, "Agave Watch", and learning how to be okay with letting go.Featuring:Sedona, AZBroken Arrow Hiking TrailVerde RiverBitter Creek VillaThe Trevor ProjectReach Rachael and Elizabeth - [email protected] to the show at https://ko-fi.com/everydaythinplaces
Aug 14, 2023
50 min
Neighbors With No Doors featuring Josiah Haken
On this episode, our new friend Josiah Haken, CEO of City Relief in NYC shares about serving those stuggling with housing insecurity and food insecurity. Josiah skillfully walks us through how serving people experiencing homelessness is a thin place and how each of us can offer hospitality to our neighbors regardless of our context.Mentioned in today's episode:City ReliefNeighbors With No DoorsGive to City ReliefFollow City Relief on InstagramJosiah's blogThanks for listening!Follow us ...
Jul 17, 2023
1 hr 3 min
Art, Music, and Light with Dan Martin and Michael Biello
Rachael Gallagher and Elizabeth Varaso are joined by life partners and creative collaborators, Dan Martin and Michael Biello to discuss telling stories through art, music, and light.Dan and Michael skillfully walk us through how they create thin places for audiences all over the world and how they're currently working with Rachael and making new songs about growing older.They remind us that when a piece of art is right, it doesn't have to be forced. You don't want to miss this episode, and yo...
Jul 3, 2023
1 hr 8 min
Where Possibility Plays - Rachael's Year of Truly Living
Rachael Gallagher and Elizabeth Varaso reflect on this past year and catch up on what Rachael's been doing this year. Featuring:"season" in south Florida and how locals enjoy summertimebeing challenged professionallybuying a condo on the water in "the Venice of America" and feeling "home"therapyhttps://e2mfitness.com/a sneak peek of our next episode (SPOILER ALERT: there's an amazing creative project on the way!)Find us on Instagram: @everydaythinplacesSupport the show: https://ko-fi.com...
Jun 19, 2023
40 min
Come on in, the water's fine! - Elizabeth's Year of Truly Living
After being coy for a while, on this episode, Elizabeth finally shares what has kept her busy most summers, and what's been keeping her busy this year.Featuring:human milk oligosaccharidesfinally welcoming a baby into the world without a mask!https://www.facebook.com/center.nonreligious.spirituality/reclaiming and redefining "bedlum" with the Philadelphia PhilliesBetter Call SaulMidnight Mass on NetflixThe Woodlands Cemetery in West PhiladelphiaFollow Elizabeth's most recent social medi...
Jun 19, 2023
43 min
Cheers to three years! Happy Third Anniversary Everyday Thin Places!
In this episode, Rachael and Elizabeth talk through the story of calling this episode an "anniversary" and we talk about what to expect in the future from Everyday Thin Places. Thank you for listening and letting us celebrate this special occasion!
Jun 15, 2023
43 min
Load more