2 minutes of silence - Podcast
The Power of Community
Samira Ahale (Host): Member at World Peace Flame: worldpeaceflame.org
Lotfi M'Rad (Guest): Volunteer at Fundatia Unu si Unu (One and One Foundation): fundatia1si1.ro
Lotfi M'Rad (Guest): Volunteer at Fundatia Unu si Unu (One and One Foundation): fundatia1si1.ro
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Original recording
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Samira:
Peace be upon you and God’s mercy and blessings. Welcome, my brother Lotfi.
Lotfi:
Thank you. Thank you.
Samira:
I know quite a few Dutch people who use the peace greeting instead of “good afternoon.” It’s very funny that they say to me: “Peace.” Just “peace.” And I almost reply “good morning,” then I think: Oh wait. Because I get confused when someone greets me with “peace,” and I lose track for a moment.
Lotfi:
Well, that’s nice. It’s nice that more people do that.
Samira:
Yes. And… you live in Romania?
Lotfi:
Yes.
Samira:
So you moved there 11 years ago from the Netherlands?
Lotfi:
Eleven years ago, yes.
Samira:
And how do people greet each other there?
Lotfi:
It varies. You can say “salut,” or good morning or good evening. They don’t actually have “good afternoon.” It’s just good morning or good evening.
Samira:
Okay. And do you know the word “peace” in Romanian?
Lotfi:
No. I know a lot of words; I don’t speak the language fluently yet, but no, I haven’t come across the word for peace—or at least I don’t remember it. I was thinking of it because there are many Latin and French words in the language, but no.
Samira:
I’ll google it after this.
Lotfi:
Yes. Nice.
Samira:
We’ve known each other for a while, and how we met doesn’t matter. We crossed paths and sometimes have beautiful exchanges. For me, we’ve really been friends for a long time.
Lotfi:
Yes, for many years. I don’t even remember since when.
Samira:
Recently we spoke again, and you were so enthusiastic about what you’re doing. I think it was about expanding peace, and I shared something about the World Peace Flame. You became enthusiastic, and then you started talking, and I loved it.
Would you guide us a bit into what peace means for you — the way you work with it now?
Lotfi:
Yes. I help people through my work as a coach, but that’s not the part you mean—though it’s connected.
What you mean is peace on the level of food.
When people hear “peace,” they think peace/war.
But I feel peace also means safety.
In English, “food safety” can mean safe-to-eat food, but it can also mean having food — having enough to survive, or more than survive.
Since around 2019 I’ve been involved with an NGO that collects food that’s almost expired or no longer pretty enough to sell, and redistributes it — usually the same day — to people in need.
And “people in need” also includes families where both parents work, have children, but still don’t earn enough to make ends meet, because everything is getting more expensive or salaries are extremely low. Some families have 5, 6, 7 children.
We work in Bucharest and surrounding areas, and also in four or five major Romanian cities. Even rural villages 1.5 hours from here — including one very poor village on the Bulgarian border with a school we support.
The project was started by a priest who has since passed away. He had many connections, inspired people, brought companies together, and at one time ran a kitchen that cooked 300 meals per day. Factories donated meat and other products. Eventually that stopped, and the work moved to supermarkets, suppliers, wholesalers, and now also restaurants.
When he passed away, I could add more structure — digitizing data, organizing systems — because when you apply for funding, institutions need proof. We had 10,000 paper receipts from supermarkets that had to be digitized. That took weeks. But we did get the funding.
Now I manage the data — all the numbers, spreadsheets. And we show the supermarkets:
“You used to throw away X items per day. Now it's much less.”
Some chains improved from 200 items to 30 or 40 per day.
We work on preventing food waste everywhere.
Samira:
Is this similar to the Dutch food bank?
Lotfi:
Yes.
You could call us a food bank. The organization is called Fundația Unu și Unu — the One and One Foundation. It’s about togetherness.
We partner with the Bucharest food bank. In other cities I’m not sure.
When they lack volunteers, they assign stores to us. We have volunteers responsible for stores and chains. I coordinate some restaurants at the airport — someone must be there at 22:15 to collect bags of leftover food. I also coordinate some supermarket chains and a bakery.
We manage it through WhatsApp groups: “Please sign up for Sunday; we’re missing people.”
Volunteers join through other volunteers — friends, coworkers, church members. Catholics, Orthodox — they all know each other. That means when someone gets an unusually large amount of food, they call their own network first.
I have a contact in a church community. We agreed: if I get more than 100 items from airport restaurants, I call him. At 22:30 we meet, transfer food from one car to another, and deliver it to a central family who distributes further.
That creates community.
The recipients also create community — neighbors help neighbors, refugees help refugees.
Someone picks up food on the way home from their daughter’s dance class and stops at a tram stop where others come to collect.
Samira:
That’s beautiful. Earlier we spoke about community — I'm exploring it now after my TriYoga training. Normally I do everything alone; I’m not part of a community. But in TriYoga I discovered something beautiful:
All teachers teaching us do so voluntarily.
The tuition money goes to the community and to help people medically and educationally in India.
TriYoga is not only for yourself — not about your awakening or enlightenment.
Your spiritual enlightenment means nothing if you don’t help others concretely.
Lotfi:
I love that. My spiritual path also started with someone helping me purely from the heart — for 10 years, free of charge. My mentor and trainer. Later I understood from visions that he was repaying something from a past life.
But it made me feel:
“I cannot keep this to myself. I must share it.”
So I became a coach.
Through the NGO work, I met refugees at a center where they collected food. I started giving weekly workshops there for a year — to help Ukrainian refugees relax.
And I was shocked to learn that some had lived in 100% tension for 6 months. Constant stress. Unimaginable.
It was deeply meaningful work. That’s also how I met my partner.
You could see people slowly shifting from surviving to living. And at the end of each workshop they received food we brought.
My partner actually worked full-time for the organization — transporting food, medicine, people.
We taught refugees to relax and to look at:
“What can I influence right now?”
Instead of being angry at Putin — which doesn’t help anything.
Some started dancing again, even if their husbands previously forbid it. Some started studying again. Some started working again.
They even joked: “Thank you, Putin,” meaning that something terrible pushed them into a new life.
I also went through a difficult time. I got involved with this organization because a friend — now the president — brought me food. She works entirely voluntarily too.
Life brings certain situations. If you want to create something good out of them, you can — and you find people who help.
One plus one doesn’t become two — it becomes eleven.
Seeing the gratitude on people’s faces when they receive food — and children glowing over cookies — it melts your heart.
Volunteer gatherings are also heartwarming.
Samira:
Yes, I find it moving when people gather for a good cause. I experienced that last year in France on Mont Ventoux. My son walked 20 km to raise money for ALS. The father of my children has ALS and can no longer do anything.
Seeing all those volunteers working so hard — it feels miraculous. Heavy work, long hours — and often unnoticed.
Lotfi:
Exactly. Suddenly there’s so much energy available for meaningful action — and people receive energy from doing it.
I’ve spent entire days dismantling office furniture during the lockdowns — carrying heavy desks, loading trucks, then unloading again — to sell the furniture and use the money to buy school supplies or food. Physically exhausting. But emotionally fulfilling.
You bond with people, too. You become brothers and sisters.
Samira:
Yes. Beautiful.
It reminds me again of A Course in Miracles: “No one is not my brother.”
And Mandela’s famous quote about Palestinians:
“Without the freedom of the Palestinians, none of us is free.”
And that applies to every oppressed group. Even perpetrators are not free — they live in fear, in a mental prison.
Lotfi:
Yes. Your conscience eats at you, even if you’ve only hurt someone emotionally. If you don’t deal with it, you numb it with alcohol or drugs.
That’s why I tell people: go within. Work on it. If you can’t, come to me. If you have no money, we’ll find a way.
I’ve done €2 sessions for refugees who were extremely motivated.
I still have contact with one woman — now living in Canada, doing much better.
She needed to pay something — for the energy exchange.
And I learn from them — new cultures, real stories of war. It hits differently when someone sits in front of you.
Samira:
Yes. Unknown makes unloved.
Lotfi:
Exactly.
Through the One and One Foundation I experience deep connection.
No one should be excluded.
The director of the poor village school — she comes with her teenage daughter who translates. We communicate via Google Translate; we understand each other. We even help financially sometimes, though we have little.
In Romania you can redirect 3.5% of your income tax to an NGO — but that means people don’t donate from their own pocket. Companies too. And I tell people:
“This way at least some of your tax money goes to something good instead of corrupt politicians.”
But it’s hard to find new donors. We’re working on a social media campaign — but you need money to make money.
Volunteers pay for fuel themselves. Fuel is expensive, incomes are low. You need a car to deliver food quickly.
Some volunteers also receive food. I was one of them.
But culturally, the giving habit isn’t strong yet. In the Netherlands, automatic monthly donations are common. Here not yet. We’re trying to shift that. Even small amounts help if many people give.
I want to do a podcast locally, so locals hear the message in Romanian.
And the reason I’m sitting with you is that what we do here can be done anywhere.
When I lived in the Netherlands, I only saw the food bank once in 10 years. I didn’t have much money, but I still took €30–€40 and bought pasta, toothbrushes, children’s toothpaste. It felt good.
But once in 10 years is not enough.
People can do more.
You don’t need a food bank.
Start a small initiative. Supermarkets are open to it.
Ask people: “Add one extra item for someone in need.”
That can help a child go to bed with a full stomach.
Samira:
Yes. I sometimes see collection boxes in winter, but not much otherwise. And yes — the food bank’s growth was shocking.
I also wanted to comment on what you said: people who work full time can still live in poverty. Everything looks fine on the outside, but it’s not enough.
Lotfi:
Exactly. Poverty is not just homelessness. It’s also the silent struggle.
And it can affect your health — mental and physical.
I’ve been there.
I’ve felt the shame of picking up food.
The first time I went to a store to collect food — because back then beneficiaries still collected directly — I almost walked home three times out of shame.
But a few weeks later, I was helping others.
I teamed up with someone with a car, collected food, sorted it, delivered it. And slowly the shame faded. I worked on myself.
So if you’re in such a situation:
It’s normal to need help.
Life has phases where something ends and something new begins.
Community is essential.
The most successful people always asked for help.
I asked for help. That’s why I now have a good apartment for my children, my pets, and space to work.
You must ask from the heart — and be willing to act.
When people come to me with no money for coaching, I look them deeply in the eyes and ask critical questions. If they’re motivated, I help them symbolically or for free.
And those people often end up helping others.
If you need help, ask.
If you lack food, create a mini-food-bank.
One person collects, one distributes, another shares. A chain forms.
This also works with books, clothes, school supplies.
Clothes in donation containers often get destroyed or resold. But in a community, clothes circulate beautifully.
We’ve received a lot of second-hand clothes for our son and passed things on. Sometimes we find beautiful items — like an orange sweater, my favorite color, brand new. It felt like angels left it for me.
Or a children’s table and chair set that went to a child who had nothing to draw on.
It reduces waste, reduces pollution.
Samira:
Funny you say that. October is my clearing month — inside and outside. I clean my home, clear inner space, plant seeds for the next year. I brought little toys to Pilates class — placed them next to my mat. After meditation I said: “In the spirit of clearing — take what you want; pass it on later.” And people did. It was fun.
Lotfi:
Yes. I once got two desks from a friend from Arcadis. They moved with me to Romania. One went to a friend who needed it. Later, the other went to another friend. They’re still in use.
This table was my aunt and uncle’s. I restored it.
A friend I gave speakers to — those speakers are now with someone else. Knowing someone is enjoying them is lovely.
Music is essential — food nourishes the body, but music nourishes the soul.
Samira:
Exactly.
I wanted to ask about your background — literally the wall behind you.
Lotfi:
Yes. In my previous apartment I had a dark blue IKEA roller blind. The camera made me look pale. I painted it yellow — then the camera made me look too dark. I tried effects — eventually the blind collapsed.
So when I moved here, I bought decorative panels. I thought: the seven chakras. But I didn’t manage the correct order, so I arranged them for camera balance.
Green screen works too, but this is more fun. Zoom backgrounds never work for me — sometimes only my eyes were visible. Creepy.
Samira:
I thought it was related to your logo.
Lotfi:
No. My logo is round, in orange, white, and grey.
This background is functional and cheerful.
I also installed ceiling lights — two up, two down — and another lamp to avoid dark shadows under the eyes. I’m practical and technical.
Samira:
I thought it was symbolic.
Lotfi:
Well, they are chakra colors, just not in order.
The second chakra — orange — is my favorite. Life force, sexual energy.
Once someone measured my chakras with a pendulum and at the second chakra it spun intensely. I thought: “Oh no, not again,” because I struggled with sexual addiction in the past. But my heart chakra spun strongly too.
Sexual energy is also creative, life energy.
That’s why I attract many people with sexual trauma. A very large number of Romanian women have been assaulted. It’s terrible.
Samira:
This is a topic for another podcast — very relevant. Let’s save it.
Lotfi:
Yes, let’s not confuse people — they’ll wonder how we got from food safety to this.
Samira:
You mentioned orange, so it was my fault.
Lotfi:
Yes. Everything is connected — safety in all areas. If someone doesn’t want to work with food, they can still help in many ways, like your yoga work.
Samira:
We should do another Two Minutes of Silence episode about this.
I’m also starting a World Peace Flame group — these candles come from the TriYoga community, lit from the main flame on every continent. I’ll add the link in the description.
People can join online to talk about peace — what it means, how to express it. And that’s why we’re meeting today — from the feeling of community.
Lotfi, we will now hold two minutes of silence. You may say a few words to open it.
Lotfi:
For everyone who feels lonely.
For everyone who feels a sense of lack.
We have come together today to show that there is hope and possibility.
These two minutes of silence can help that feeling settle in, so afterward you can truly act from it.
Let us begin.
(Two minutes of silence)
Samira:
Lotfi, thank you for this conversation and for your contribution — especially to food safety in Romania, in Bucharest. We will speak again soon.
Lotfi:
One more thing. During the two minutes of silence, one word kept coming to me: gratitude. Gratitude. Gratitude. Gratitude.
Samira:
Beautiful. We’ll talk about that next time — what gratitude can do and what it nourishes. Thank you for this beautiful podcast and for all the good work you do. It strengthens my determination to continue here as well.
Lotfi:
Yes. “No one is not my brother.”
Peace be upon you.
Peace be upon you and God’s mercy and blessings. Welcome, my brother Lotfi.
Lotfi:
Thank you. Thank you.
Samira:
I know quite a few Dutch people who use the peace greeting instead of “good afternoon.” It’s very funny that they say to me: “Peace.” Just “peace.” And I almost reply “good morning,” then I think: Oh wait. Because I get confused when someone greets me with “peace,” and I lose track for a moment.
Lotfi:
Well, that’s nice. It’s nice that more people do that.
Samira:
Yes. And… you live in Romania?
Lotfi:
Yes.
Samira:
So you moved there 11 years ago from the Netherlands?
Lotfi:
Eleven years ago, yes.
Samira:
And how do people greet each other there?
Lotfi:
It varies. You can say “salut,” or good morning or good evening. They don’t actually have “good afternoon.” It’s just good morning or good evening.
Samira:
Okay. And do you know the word “peace” in Romanian?
Lotfi:
No. I know a lot of words; I don’t speak the language fluently yet, but no, I haven’t come across the word for peace—or at least I don’t remember it. I was thinking of it because there are many Latin and French words in the language, but no.
Samira:
I’ll google it after this.
Lotfi:
Yes. Nice.
Samira:
We’ve known each other for a while, and how we met doesn’t matter. We crossed paths and sometimes have beautiful exchanges. For me, we’ve really been friends for a long time.
Lotfi:
Yes, for many years. I don’t even remember since when.
Samira:
Recently we spoke again, and you were so enthusiastic about what you’re doing. I think it was about expanding peace, and I shared something about the World Peace Flame. You became enthusiastic, and then you started talking, and I loved it.
Would you guide us a bit into what peace means for you — the way you work with it now?
Lotfi:
Yes. I help people through my work as a coach, but that’s not the part you mean—though it’s connected.
What you mean is peace on the level of food.
When people hear “peace,” they think peace/war.
But I feel peace also means safety.
In English, “food safety” can mean safe-to-eat food, but it can also mean having food — having enough to survive, or more than survive.
Since around 2019 I’ve been involved with an NGO that collects food that’s almost expired or no longer pretty enough to sell, and redistributes it — usually the same day — to people in need.
And “people in need” also includes families where both parents work, have children, but still don’t earn enough to make ends meet, because everything is getting more expensive or salaries are extremely low. Some families have 5, 6, 7 children.
We work in Bucharest and surrounding areas, and also in four or five major Romanian cities. Even rural villages 1.5 hours from here — including one very poor village on the Bulgarian border with a school we support.
The project was started by a priest who has since passed away. He had many connections, inspired people, brought companies together, and at one time ran a kitchen that cooked 300 meals per day. Factories donated meat and other products. Eventually that stopped, and the work moved to supermarkets, suppliers, wholesalers, and now also restaurants.
When he passed away, I could add more structure — digitizing data, organizing systems — because when you apply for funding, institutions need proof. We had 10,000 paper receipts from supermarkets that had to be digitized. That took weeks. But we did get the funding.
Now I manage the data — all the numbers, spreadsheets. And we show the supermarkets:
“You used to throw away X items per day. Now it's much less.”
Some chains improved from 200 items to 30 or 40 per day.
We work on preventing food waste everywhere.
Samira:
Is this similar to the Dutch food bank?
Lotfi:
Yes.
You could call us a food bank. The organization is called Fundația Unu și Unu — the One and One Foundation. It’s about togetherness.
We partner with the Bucharest food bank. In other cities I’m not sure.
When they lack volunteers, they assign stores to us. We have volunteers responsible for stores and chains. I coordinate some restaurants at the airport — someone must be there at 22:15 to collect bags of leftover food. I also coordinate some supermarket chains and a bakery.
We manage it through WhatsApp groups: “Please sign up for Sunday; we’re missing people.”
Volunteers join through other volunteers — friends, coworkers, church members. Catholics, Orthodox — they all know each other. That means when someone gets an unusually large amount of food, they call their own network first.
I have a contact in a church community. We agreed: if I get more than 100 items from airport restaurants, I call him. At 22:30 we meet, transfer food from one car to another, and deliver it to a central family who distributes further.
That creates community.
The recipients also create community — neighbors help neighbors, refugees help refugees.
Someone picks up food on the way home from their daughter’s dance class and stops at a tram stop where others come to collect.
Samira:
That’s beautiful. Earlier we spoke about community — I'm exploring it now after my TriYoga training. Normally I do everything alone; I’m not part of a community. But in TriYoga I discovered something beautiful:
All teachers teaching us do so voluntarily.
The tuition money goes to the community and to help people medically and educationally in India.
TriYoga is not only for yourself — not about your awakening or enlightenment.
Your spiritual enlightenment means nothing if you don’t help others concretely.
Lotfi:
I love that. My spiritual path also started with someone helping me purely from the heart — for 10 years, free of charge. My mentor and trainer. Later I understood from visions that he was repaying something from a past life.
But it made me feel:
“I cannot keep this to myself. I must share it.”
So I became a coach.
Through the NGO work, I met refugees at a center where they collected food. I started giving weekly workshops there for a year — to help Ukrainian refugees relax.
And I was shocked to learn that some had lived in 100% tension for 6 months. Constant stress. Unimaginable.
It was deeply meaningful work. That’s also how I met my partner.
You could see people slowly shifting from surviving to living. And at the end of each workshop they received food we brought.
My partner actually worked full-time for the organization — transporting food, medicine, people.
We taught refugees to relax and to look at:
“What can I influence right now?”
Instead of being angry at Putin — which doesn’t help anything.
Some started dancing again, even if their husbands previously forbid it. Some started studying again. Some started working again.
They even joked: “Thank you, Putin,” meaning that something terrible pushed them into a new life.
I also went through a difficult time. I got involved with this organization because a friend — now the president — brought me food. She works entirely voluntarily too.
Life brings certain situations. If you want to create something good out of them, you can — and you find people who help.
One plus one doesn’t become two — it becomes eleven.
Seeing the gratitude on people’s faces when they receive food — and children glowing over cookies — it melts your heart.
Volunteer gatherings are also heartwarming.
Samira:
Yes, I find it moving when people gather for a good cause. I experienced that last year in France on Mont Ventoux. My son walked 20 km to raise money for ALS. The father of my children has ALS and can no longer do anything.
Seeing all those volunteers working so hard — it feels miraculous. Heavy work, long hours — and often unnoticed.
Lotfi:
Exactly. Suddenly there’s so much energy available for meaningful action — and people receive energy from doing it.
I’ve spent entire days dismantling office furniture during the lockdowns — carrying heavy desks, loading trucks, then unloading again — to sell the furniture and use the money to buy school supplies or food. Physically exhausting. But emotionally fulfilling.
You bond with people, too. You become brothers and sisters.
Samira:
Yes. Beautiful.
It reminds me again of A Course in Miracles: “No one is not my brother.”
And Mandela’s famous quote about Palestinians:
“Without the freedom of the Palestinians, none of us is free.”
And that applies to every oppressed group. Even perpetrators are not free — they live in fear, in a mental prison.
Lotfi:
Yes. Your conscience eats at you, even if you’ve only hurt someone emotionally. If you don’t deal with it, you numb it with alcohol or drugs.
That’s why I tell people: go within. Work on it. If you can’t, come to me. If you have no money, we’ll find a way.
I’ve done €2 sessions for refugees who were extremely motivated.
I still have contact with one woman — now living in Canada, doing much better.
She needed to pay something — for the energy exchange.
And I learn from them — new cultures, real stories of war. It hits differently when someone sits in front of you.
Samira:
Yes. Unknown makes unloved.
Lotfi:
Exactly.
Through the One and One Foundation I experience deep connection.
No one should be excluded.
The director of the poor village school — she comes with her teenage daughter who translates. We communicate via Google Translate; we understand each other. We even help financially sometimes, though we have little.
In Romania you can redirect 3.5% of your income tax to an NGO — but that means people don’t donate from their own pocket. Companies too. And I tell people:
“This way at least some of your tax money goes to something good instead of corrupt politicians.”
But it’s hard to find new donors. We’re working on a social media campaign — but you need money to make money.
Volunteers pay for fuel themselves. Fuel is expensive, incomes are low. You need a car to deliver food quickly.
Some volunteers also receive food. I was one of them.
But culturally, the giving habit isn’t strong yet. In the Netherlands, automatic monthly donations are common. Here not yet. We’re trying to shift that. Even small amounts help if many people give.
I want to do a podcast locally, so locals hear the message in Romanian.
And the reason I’m sitting with you is that what we do here can be done anywhere.
When I lived in the Netherlands, I only saw the food bank once in 10 years. I didn’t have much money, but I still took €30–€40 and bought pasta, toothbrushes, children’s toothpaste. It felt good.
But once in 10 years is not enough.
People can do more.
You don’t need a food bank.
Start a small initiative. Supermarkets are open to it.
Ask people: “Add one extra item for someone in need.”
That can help a child go to bed with a full stomach.
Samira:
Yes. I sometimes see collection boxes in winter, but not much otherwise. And yes — the food bank’s growth was shocking.
I also wanted to comment on what you said: people who work full time can still live in poverty. Everything looks fine on the outside, but it’s not enough.
Lotfi:
Exactly. Poverty is not just homelessness. It’s also the silent struggle.
And it can affect your health — mental and physical.
I’ve been there.
I’ve felt the shame of picking up food.
The first time I went to a store to collect food — because back then beneficiaries still collected directly — I almost walked home three times out of shame.
But a few weeks later, I was helping others.
I teamed up with someone with a car, collected food, sorted it, delivered it. And slowly the shame faded. I worked on myself.
So if you’re in such a situation:
It’s normal to need help.
Life has phases where something ends and something new begins.
Community is essential.
The most successful people always asked for help.
I asked for help. That’s why I now have a good apartment for my children, my pets, and space to work.
You must ask from the heart — and be willing to act.
When people come to me with no money for coaching, I look them deeply in the eyes and ask critical questions. If they’re motivated, I help them symbolically or for free.
And those people often end up helping others.
If you need help, ask.
If you lack food, create a mini-food-bank.
One person collects, one distributes, another shares. A chain forms.
This also works with books, clothes, school supplies.
Clothes in donation containers often get destroyed or resold. But in a community, clothes circulate beautifully.
We’ve received a lot of second-hand clothes for our son and passed things on. Sometimes we find beautiful items — like an orange sweater, my favorite color, brand new. It felt like angels left it for me.
Or a children’s table and chair set that went to a child who had nothing to draw on.
It reduces waste, reduces pollution.
Samira:
Funny you say that. October is my clearing month — inside and outside. I clean my home, clear inner space, plant seeds for the next year. I brought little toys to Pilates class — placed them next to my mat. After meditation I said: “In the spirit of clearing — take what you want; pass it on later.” And people did. It was fun.
Lotfi:
Yes. I once got two desks from a friend from Arcadis. They moved with me to Romania. One went to a friend who needed it. Later, the other went to another friend. They’re still in use.
This table was my aunt and uncle’s. I restored it.
A friend I gave speakers to — those speakers are now with someone else. Knowing someone is enjoying them is lovely.
Music is essential — food nourishes the body, but music nourishes the soul.
Samira:
Exactly.
I wanted to ask about your background — literally the wall behind you.
Lotfi:
Yes. In my previous apartment I had a dark blue IKEA roller blind. The camera made me look pale. I painted it yellow — then the camera made me look too dark. I tried effects — eventually the blind collapsed.
So when I moved here, I bought decorative panels. I thought: the seven chakras. But I didn’t manage the correct order, so I arranged them for camera balance.
Green screen works too, but this is more fun. Zoom backgrounds never work for me — sometimes only my eyes were visible. Creepy.
Samira:
I thought it was related to your logo.
Lotfi:
No. My logo is round, in orange, white, and grey.
This background is functional and cheerful.
I also installed ceiling lights — two up, two down — and another lamp to avoid dark shadows under the eyes. I’m practical and technical.
Samira:
I thought it was symbolic.
Lotfi:
Well, they are chakra colors, just not in order.
The second chakra — orange — is my favorite. Life force, sexual energy.
Once someone measured my chakras with a pendulum and at the second chakra it spun intensely. I thought: “Oh no, not again,” because I struggled with sexual addiction in the past. But my heart chakra spun strongly too.
Sexual energy is also creative, life energy.
That’s why I attract many people with sexual trauma. A very large number of Romanian women have been assaulted. It’s terrible.
Samira:
This is a topic for another podcast — very relevant. Let’s save it.
Lotfi:
Yes, let’s not confuse people — they’ll wonder how we got from food safety to this.
Samira:
You mentioned orange, so it was my fault.
Lotfi:
Yes. Everything is connected — safety in all areas. If someone doesn’t want to work with food, they can still help in many ways, like your yoga work.
Samira:
We should do another Two Minutes of Silence episode about this.
I’m also starting a World Peace Flame group — these candles come from the TriYoga community, lit from the main flame on every continent. I’ll add the link in the description.
People can join online to talk about peace — what it means, how to express it. And that’s why we’re meeting today — from the feeling of community.
Lotfi, we will now hold two minutes of silence. You may say a few words to open it.
Lotfi:
For everyone who feels lonely.
For everyone who feels a sense of lack.
We have come together today to show that there is hope and possibility.
These two minutes of silence can help that feeling settle in, so afterward you can truly act from it.
Let us begin.
(Two minutes of silence)
Samira:
Lotfi, thank you for this conversation and for your contribution — especially to food safety in Romania, in Bucharest. We will speak again soon.
Lotfi:
One more thing. During the two minutes of silence, one word kept coming to me: gratitude. Gratitude. Gratitude. Gratitude.
Samira:
Beautiful. We’ll talk about that next time — what gratitude can do and what it nourishes. Thank you for this beautiful podcast and for all the good work you do. It strengthens my determination to continue here as well.
Lotfi:
Yes. “No one is not my brother.”
Peace be upon you.
