Everyday Thin Places
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.
Episodes
In this inspiring and insight-packed episode, Rachael Gallagher and Elizabeth Varaso explore themes of creativity, family, disruptions, health, resetting, and slowing down with Pennsylvania-based entrepreneur, Rich Speeney.
The conversation covers one of Rich's most challenging and surprising experiences of his life: mold exposure, which caused severe health challenges and led to starting over completely. Rich and his wife sold...
For the first time on the podcast, Rachael and Elizabeth are interviewing a third-time-guest! We're joined by author, speaker, and friend, Marla Taviano, who is on a quest to be on 50 podcasts in her 50th year. Marla tells us all about her experiences making goal lists and achieving some interesting milestones (52 zoos in 52 weeks!). Then, she shares about her love of books and her journey to read more books by people of color...
Today's episode of "Everyday Thin Places" is all about somatic experiencing! We kick off the episode with an introduction to Jim Donnelly and his path toward healing through somatic work and follow up with the role somatic work plays in addressing trauma. Then we hear from Jim about the process of becoming reacquainted with his body's sensations and how it changed his relationship with his body. Plus, we explore...
Tricia Hersey has been such an inspiration in our own lives, and having her on the podcast would be an absolute dream...but Tricia is protective of her time and really walks the walk of resting. So, we dedicate this episode to Tricia.
In this episode, Rachael and Elizabeth are going to be chatting about everything from creating space for rest, the impact of rest, and rest as personal, spiritual, and political practice.
We first aired this episode 2 years ago when the Philadelphia Eagles were preparing to meet the Kansas City Chiefs at the Super Bowl. With a rematch scheduled this Sunday, we figured a replay of one of our favorite episodes was in order.
From 2023 - Joining us for the first time is Erik Johanson, Philadelphia sports fanatic. In the last 5 months, Philly fans have gotten quite a bit of excitement with both the Phillies and the Eagl...
Rachael and Elizabeth discuss their *latest* update before diving into the timely topic of Imbolc. We talk about aligning our energy with the wheel of the year, how people have marked transitions through generations (think bonfires, planning for harvests, and slowly setting intentions), and Elizabeth shares a personal story about her sheep farm experience (spoiler alert: baby lambs can't control their bladders).
And, of course,...
Another October, another sad ending for Philadelphia Sports fans.
BUT. We were given a sweet consolation on 10/18 when Netflix released a short documentary - "The Turnaround." This 25 minute film, produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, digs deeper into the story of the man who inspired the country's most notoriously brutal sports fans to pick someone up when they were down.
Rachael & Elizabet...
We’re releasing this magical episode again to remind our steady listeners and to engage our new listeners around the amazing songs and monologues we call Elderland.
When this episode was initially published, things were looking good and we thought we were on our way to a 2023 presentation of Elderland, but we encountered so many obstacles along the way that a year has passed and it hasn't happened yet...but it WILL!
Da...
Slowly but surely making our way back into the podcast feed! Diane Manser is here to talk about being a highschool teacher and an author of the new book, I Didn't Sign Up For This: One Teacher's Journey Through Emotional Fatigue To Personal Empowerment.
Diane shares how her debut book came to be and what her goals are for who it will reach now that it's out in the world. What causes pain and difficulty in te...
We're celebrating a seven year plan coming together! Ever dreamt of seeing a solar eclipse in totality? Well, buckle up because Elizabeth and her whole family traveled to northeast Ohio and got to see a gorgeous day complete with 2024's solar eclipse.
Join us as we share our favorite things about the sun, the moon, and the stars. Imagine experiencing a 100% total solar eclipse. Elizabeth experienced it and talkin...
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...
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 p...
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 ...
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 sh...
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:
Reach Rachael and Elizabeth - everydaythinplaces@gmail.com
C...
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:
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 rig...
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 summertime
- being challenged professionally
- buying a condo on the water in "the Venice of America" and feeling "home"
- therapy
- https://e2mfitness.com/
- a sneak peek of our next episode (SPOILER ALERT: there's an am...
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 oligosaccharides
- finally welcoming a baby into the world without a mask!
- https://www.facebook.com/center.nonreligious.spirituality/
- reclaiming and redefining "bedlum" with the Philadelphia Phillies
- Better Call Saul
- Midnight Mass on Netfli...
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!
Popular Podcasts
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.