Sophia

Happy birthday, Kelly McGuire! Today on the podcast I have a very special guest, one of the people I love most in the world. She’s much more than that though: sometimes I wonder if there’s anything she doesn’t do. Kelly is a meditation teacher, interior designer, and wields brilliant and compassionate mind. She’s part of the brains behind The Birch, a local wellness / community centre that is getting off the ground here in St. John’s. Kelly has been working towards a more accessible community and she gets into her recent work in this regard on the show. We also talk about our relationship and the spiritual element of our lives together.

We kind of go all over the place on this one and it’s one of the longest episodes I’ve recorded. Also one of of my favourites. I hope you enjoy.

Please keep your eyes peeled for The Birch’s website, launching soon.

Wowee! What an episode! I was so happy to interview Priya Khajuria, author of Bollywood P.I.: California Dreaming, in anticipation of the launch of her 20-years-in-the-making lipstick detective novel debut (yes, I coined that one)! I can tell you that it was great - I had the incredible honour of being asked to write the foreword.

Aside from the book, expect a lot of laughs, discussions about the big stuff, and rebellious attitudes towards staid and dogmatic philosophies. Priya’s definitely a kindred spirit - I can’t wait for our next one.

Do yourself a favour - check out Bollywood P.I.: California Dreaming at bollywoodpi.com

Happy Easter!

Today on the show I have seasonally appropriate Moses Draper (though perhaps Valentine’s Day would have taken the chocolate cake in terms of timing). In any event, every day is a good day to enjoy cacao, which is exactly what Moses and I talk about in this episode.

Moses is the cofounder of Heartblood Cacao, purveyor of fine, ethically sourced and compensated cacao from the heart of Guatemala. Heartblood Cacao is a family run business, ten years old and going strong. I can personally attest to the deliciousness and potency of their ceremonial cacao.

Full disclosure: I recently finished Heartblood’s Into The Heart practitioner training, and I give that the old two thumbs up, too (Moses, I’ll await the forklift bearing tons of cacao for that unsolicited plug).

Check out Heartblood Cacao here: http://heartbloodcacao.com/

We’re back, baby! After a massive hiatus not unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic, here we are on the eve of the anniversary of its designation by the World Health Organization, with a fresh episode of Sophia for your ears.

I finally sat down with Zeina El Khaldi last week, a friend I met at Soltara back in September 2019. Zeina is a yoga teacher and the mind behind Yoga For Life, a program whose beta test started on March 1, 2021 with Chapter 1 - Connect. As you’ll hear on the episode, I meant to have this episode posted prior to the launch date but life got in the way. Seems to be a running theme for this past year.

Please note that the deadline for registration for Yoga For Life is March 5 - this coming Friday!

If you want more information about this awesome program, please connect with Zeina at [email protected]. I can personally attest to Zeina’s incredible gift and talent when it comes to teaching yoga so if you’re at all interested, I would highly recommend dropping Zeina a line.

If you want to connect with me, you can do so at andrewmarcrowe.com or on Facebook or Instagram.

A special episode for y’all today. I recorded the audio from the launch party for The Yoga of Pain, which occurred on Friday, January 31 in St. John’s. This includes the majority of the launch party presentation (the only thing missing is the introduction) and the three readings from The Yoga of Pain and The Unicorn.

In the presentation, I announce upcoming releases and dates from Sophic Press, including fantastical bawdy tale / epic limerick The Avalon Cycle, the rebranding of The Pleiades Remixes as Iris Ascending, my upcoming educational program called Hero Yoga, and I mention my friend Dominique Hurley’s ongoing Soul Feast online art auction (which runs until next weekend).

Get your free copy of The Amaril Company at andrewmarcrowe.com!

Check out Dominique’s auction at https://www.32auctions.com/soulfeast

In this episode, I sit down with my old friend, Tom Crosbie. Tom is one of the most unique men I know, with a palpable genius that manifests in many ways - not the least of which is a mordant sense of humour and a lightheartedness (though he claims this to be a facade - I might have exposed a demon or two with my probing questions, hahaha). Tom is a Twitter poet par excellence, and you can check him out at @VoiceOfHolyrood on Twitter. We discuss life, his artistic process, how he became a Twitter poet, parenthood, wisdom - the whole life shebang. A highly recommended listen.

Check out Tom’s twitter feed here: https://twitter.com/VoiceOfHolyrood

Get your free copy of The Amaril Company at andrewmarcrowe.com!

In this episode, I have an international chat with my friend Ana Calisto. Ana and I met at Soltara Healing Center in Costa Rica back in September - Ana was one of the facilitators who was working at the Center at the time. She and I dig into her experience with coming to spirituality, how ayahuasca changed her life, what she has learned from working with the medicine, plant dietas, life as a mother, her project Healing Beat, music - no stone was left unturned. Ana is a kind and sharing soul and she is so dedicated to helping people. A hugely inspirational podcast.

You can find Ana's Healing Beat on Facebook at facebook.com/HealingBeat.co

Get your free copy of The Amaril Company at andrewmarcrowe.com!

I sat down with Dominique Hurley, intuitive artist, lightworker, master educator, and creator of the Intuition into Action treasure map, back at the beginning of December. She is a bright soul who is dedicated to healing and following her heart. We get into a discussion of intuition, her path to where she is now, the spiritual aspects of money, as well as many other topics. She even did a divine storytelling session with me on the podcast! It was a serious treat to sit down with Dominique and I hope that you take the time to listen to our conversation.

You can find Dominique online at http://dominiquehurley.com

Get your free copy of The Amaril Company at andrewmarcrowe.com!

Pre-order your copy of The Yoga of Pain at andrewmarcrowe.com/the-yoga-of-pain

This is the end.

Of my reading of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, of course. And hot damn, does it ever go out with a bang. Like most of us folk with a beating heart, I find redemption to be a cup overflowing with a spiritual wine sweeter than the finest vintage ever produced. Everyone loves it when arseholes cease acting the damn fool, and Scrooge does it with style. What a shift from who he was at the beginning of the story.

All that it took was a decision to look inside, to wade through the wreckage of what came before and to try to gain some understanding of why we come to be the persons that we all grow into. The Ghosts of Christmas are nothing more than Scrooge’s own spirit calling to him, asking him to take scalpel to his ignorance and perform the life-saving surgery that delivers him from sorrow.

Merry Christmas, you filthy animals. Be kind to each other and give, always give what you can. It’s a heart prescription with more efficacy than all of the statins in the world.

And a Happy New Year, too!

Get your free copy of The Amaril Company at andrewmarcrowe.com!

Pre-order your copy of The Yoga of Pain at andrewmarcrowe.com/the-yoga-of-pain

Whoo, boy! This one is a chilly one. This Stave, the part of the book which deals with the Ghost of Christmas Future is not a happy one. By the time he meets this spirit, it is quite clear that Scrooge is prepared to change his ways. However, it seems like the spirits want to be extremely clear about the consequences of continuing down the despicable path of the arsehole. Scrooge dies alone, his corpse is defiled by theft, his debtors rejoice, and Tiny Tim dies. It’s almost as if the Ghost of Christmas Future is taking him by the face and saying, ‘take a good look at what you are avoiding and be grateful for the opportunity you’ve been given.’ There is wisdom, there.

The hardest lessons are usually the best ones.

Get your free copy of The Amaril Company at andrewmarcrowe.com!

Pre-order your copy of The Yoga of Pain at andrewmarcrowe.com/the-yoga-of-pain