This is the final episode of the Soul Path Parenting podcast and it's a special one!  The catalyst for the podcast was a simple yet powerful question that Amy's daughter Ayla asked when she was 3. "Mommy, what's going to happen to me when I die?"  Now, as we complete our podcast journey, we are joined by Larry Cooper, Ayla's grandpa and Amy's father-in-law, to gain perspective from what he learned from multiple near death experiences.  Also joining the conversation are Ayla, now 7, and Axel, 5 at the time of this recording.

In our penultimate episode, Lauren and Amy talk about the various ways people handle endings and transitions, the transformations that have taken place throughout their podcasting & parenting journeys, and what's next after co-creating Soul Path Parenting.

This is a topic that we've been planning to talk about for quite some time and (ironically!) it finally became very alive for us.  In our chat about Lauren's "love affair with death" (her words!) we talk about the role of death in transformation  -- what it means to allow our old stories and beliefs to die.  We also talk about our relationship with our own eventual physical death and what that means for how we live.  Join us for a lively conversation about death!

We're back!  After a Covid-induced hiatus, we're back and talking about aliveness.  What happens when we follow our sense of what's most alive in the moment and create from that space?  What does this mean for our work, our passion projects, our family life?  How does this idea of "aliveness" interact with our relationship with time?  And, how might we learn from and with our children about this?  

This episode has been a long time coming! Two years ago in Episode 16, we had our first conversation on education with Dr. William Spady, the father of outcome based education. He said that only a quarter of learners learn best in the traditional academic way, which is truly astonishing how few of us are thriving in the school setting. This sparked the question, what about the rest of learners? How do people learn and how can we better support them in schools? 

We’ve done a whole series on Reimagining Education and explored some of the groundbreaking new approaches to schooling. However, at its most fundamental, we’ve been trying to understand what the learning styles are, and that time is finally here! Joining us as we explore these questions and delve into the 8 learning styles is one of our favorite returning guests - parenting coach, long time educator, and self-proclaimed joyous parent - Sivanne Lieber.

In this episode we talk about:

• The 8 learning styles and how they can be used in the classroom and at home.
• Why some people consider learning styles to be a “myth” or “debunked” and why this isn’t necessarily true. 
• How understanding the learning styles can help us empower our children and ourselves in our learning.
• Resources for discovering more about the different learning styles and where different learners can shine.
• How learning and playing are often one and the same!

Links so you can explore more:

Get Sivanne’s Learning Styles Guide at www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Learning-Styles-Guide-6646024 and check out the rest of her store at www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Joyous-Journey-Learning-Hub.

For more on Sivanne and the Play Revolution, visit www.thejoyousparent.com!

To explore more topics on education, listen to our Reimagining Education Series and our first episode on education, Episode 16: Powerful Possibilities in Transforming Education and Empowering Our Kids.

For beginners, the act of meditating can feel intimidating and complicated. You might feel like you can’t quite get it right or are doing it “wrong”, but this week’s guest helps us rethink the notion that there’s a right and a wrong way to meditate. Helping us demystify meditation is Gloria Gonzalez, Certified Meditation and Mindfulness Teacher, and Lauren’s good friend! Join us as we explore the art of mediation and we hope you find some inspiration for how to start or expand your practice. 

In this episode we talk about:

• How Gloria found meditation and became a certified mediation teacher.
• Meditation’s connection to the body.
• How to allow the judgment that can come up in our mediation practice to pass through us and not let it impede us.
• The simplicity in sitting, observing, and surrendering.
• How your meditation practice is yours to create and that’s there’s no right or wrong way to do it.

About Gloria Gonzalez

Gloria Gonzalez lives near Houston, TX with her four greatest teachers, her two boys and her two cats. Self-discovery has been a life-long passion for Gloria. She has practiced meditation on and off for 25 years, even spending 7 weeks at an ashram in India. She became a certified meditation teacher during the 2020 Covid lockdown, and her passion is demystifying meditation. You can find her, the lessons she is learning, and links to her social media accounts at sitobservesurrender.com.

Grief, death, and loss can be such painful subjects to discuss, understand, and live with. We may struggle under the weight and pain to process our grief, as well as that of those around us, but life cannot exist without death. 

This week we are honored to once again be in the presence of Sherri Doucette, yogi, lifespan doula, and founder of Litehouse Wellness, as she shares her professional and personal wisdom surrounding grief. When we last spoke to Sherri in Episode 69, we intended to discuss grief and gratitude, but found ourselves centering solely around gratitude instead. Now, we return to the conversation around grief, and as we so perfectly demonstrated in our last conversation, the struggle we can have as individuals and a society to hold space for it.

In this episode we talk about:

• The importance of embracing grief and creating space for it so we can thrive along our life’s journey.
• How we can be there and support others in their grief and pain.
• The difference between sympathy and empathy
• How when we compartmentalize ourselves, we hide away parts of our humanity.
• The beauty in allowing ourselves to be held and to hold others through our pain and suffering.

About Sherri Doucette

Sherri Doucette, founder of Litehouse Wellness, as featured on ABC’s/WFAA Daybreak at 8 and Good Morning Texas, NBC and BET, is a native of Los Angeles, CA and a long-time resident of Dallas, TX. 

Litehouse Wellness is a 501c3 non-profit purposed to strengthen the African American family & community by bridging the wellness accessibility gap for underserved communities, particularly Black men, using contemplative practices and preventative health education.

Sherri recognizes that implementing these scientifically proven, resiliency-building restorative practices is key to healing ongoing trauma and building sustainable resistance against oppressive systems and institutions. 

Sherri is a certified yoga & meditation teacher (200Hr RYT / 300Hr MTT), reiki II practitioner, mindfulness consultant, life-span doula and speaker.

She studied social work at Clark Atlanta University and trained with international master yoga and meditation teachers.

In 2020, the critically acclaimed WFAA feature on Litehouse Wellness, Broga = Yoga for the Brothers was nominated for an Emmy award and won the National Association of Black Journalism (NABJ) Excellence Award.

Links so you can explore more:

Learn more about Litehouse Wellness  and Sherri at www.litehousewellness.org on Facebook and Instagram @litehousewellness and Twitter @litehouseheals.

Check out our first episode with Sherri, Episode 69: Healing, Slowing Down, and Giving from Our Overflow!

Inspired by Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, Amy and Lauren explore the idea of authentic connection. We discuss how the roles we inhabit and the stories we construct around who we are “supposed” to be can hold us back from deeper connection. Joined by Lauren’s husband and life partner, Brett, we delve into what it means to be truly authentic, in our relationships and within ourselves.

In this episode we talk about:

• Lauren and Brett’s love story, their struggles along the way, and the transformation inside their relationship towards more authentic connection. 
• How our relationships with others also includes our relationship with ourselves.
• How we can let go of the mental constructs and false stories we develop around our relationships and the roles we are “supposed to” play, by giving ourselves permission to choose what we want rather than what we think we have to.
• That showing up authentically isn’t always a happy or easy conversation, but ultimately can lead to deeper, more fulfilling relationships. 
• That when you’re disconnected from yourself and your truth, you’re also disconnected from others.