I've wondered the same thing. Someone mentioned (maybe @Troy M) scooping out some cream or soft soap or scraping off a few flakes of a hard soap, transferring that to another bowl, and then adding the M-bomb. Swirl up like normal and then go to the face. Haven't tried it but it makes sense.
I've thought about that. I ended up bowl lathering for the first time in a year. It worked out quite nicely.
I put a drop or two on top of the soap puck and work it in with my brush. Don't use it with creams as I purchase mentholated creams and don't need to add any.