Alexandra Franzen is a best-selling author, award-winning editor, and entrepreneur based in Hawaii. She has written seven books including two novels. She has written articles for Time, Forbes, Newsweek, The Huffington Post, and Lifehacker. Her work has been mentioned in The New York Times Small Business Blog, The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, Fast Company, BuzzFeed, Inc., in Tim Ferriss’ newsletter, and she has appeared on the Peabody Award-winning radio show, Marketplace.

She’s the co-founder of a company called Get It Done and a brick and mortar bookstore called One Idea Books and Gifts.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How she became a self-employed creative
• Her decision for getting off social media
• How to market without social media
• Her daily routine
• Why she instituted a 4 day work week for her company
• Working on projects for clients vs yourself
• Self publishing vs Traditional Publishing

Creative Resources:

• Alphabetizer
• The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Connect with Alex:

Website: www.alexandrafranzen.com

www.youcangetitdone.com

Amy Green Smith is a certified and credentialed life coach and hypnotherapist, masterful speaker, and personal empowerment expert. Amy uses her roles as coach, writer, podcaster, and speaker to move individuals to a place of radical personal empowerment and self-worth. With acute focus on helping people “find their voice”, she is highly sought after for her uncommon style of irreverence, wisdom, and humor and has been a featured expert in Inspired Coach Magazine and on Fox 5 San Diego.

In this episode we talk about:

• Having difficult conversations with grace
• Being in relationship with people you disagree with
• Setting boundaries
• How to have better communication with your coworkers, family, and friends
• Regulating your nervous system to not be triggered during conflict
• Cultivating Emotional Intelligence
• Why hypnotherapy can help

Creative resources:

• Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown

Connect with Amy:

• Website: www.amygreensmith.com
• Podcast: The Bold Faced Truth

Joi is a multi-passionate, educator, community builder, and content creator. She believes having many passions is a gift, not a burden and she’s on a mission to rewrite the narrative around “choosing one thing” being the only path to success. Through her e-book, signature course, and podcast, Joi teaches creatives how to make friends with focus, overcome overwhelm, and step into their Multi-Passionate Mastery.

In this episode we talk about:

• How to know if you're a multi-passionate creative
• Finding focus as a multi-passionate creative
• Prioritizing different creative projects
• Tips for following through on your creative projects
• Building structure for your creativity to flow
• Marketing as a spiritual practice

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• Libby
• Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
• Finding Me by Viola Davis

Connect with Joi:

Website: www.joi-knows-how.com

Priority Mapping Method Free Training Here

Podcast: Multi-Passionate Mastery

Tune into this special episode to celebrate 100 episodes of The Creative Soul Podcast. Leya shares a prayer and offering from her heart and sings for the very first time on the podcast.

Song begins at 5:25

Song: Please Prepare Me by Beautiful Chorus

Take a moment to pause, integrate, and celebrate how far you've come.

Leave a rating and review on the podcast and receive a free guided writing meditation.

Connect with Leya: @leyavandoren

Kat Daou is a Family Constellation Therapy Facilitator helping people clean up intergenerational trauma and support them back to their innate wholeness. She is trauma informed and utilizes parts work, inner child work, felt sense bodily awareness, and intuitive guidance to support clients in moving from "what's wrong with me" to "what happened to me". With a philosophy of one foot in the spiritual world and one foot in the physical 3D, FCT brings life force energy back into the family system and creates healing for 14 generations backwards, and forwards.

We talk about:

• How to Face Negative Emotions
• How she went from an Eating Disorder, Toxic Relationships, Depression, to Healing and Empowered
• Family Constellations Therapy for Healing Generational Trauma
• Why You May Be Called to Heal Ancestral Trauma
• Millennial’s Current Role in Society
• Epigenetics
• Systems of Support for Processing Trauma

Resources Mentioned:

• What Happened To You? By Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey
• @the.holistic.psychologist
• @mindfulmft
• Gabor Maté

Connect with Kat:

@heal_with_kat

healwithkat.com

Nadia is a Human Design teacher, spiritual mentor, and host of The Current podcast, a show unpacking the changing energetic tides of our collective consciousness. Nadia also assists psychedelic therapy retreats and is currently a therapist-in-training.

In this episode we talk about:

• How to use your human design type to rest
• Navigating dark nights of the soul
• Growing up religious and finding spirituality later in life
• Masculine/feminine energies in the chart
• Using human design to understand your life path

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• The Book of Destinies by Chetan Parkyn & Carola Eastwood
• Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
• The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron

Connect with Nadia:

nadialast.com

@nadialast_

Megan Leatherman is a career coach, mother, writer, podcast host and amateur ecologist living in the Pacific Northwest. Through her nature-based and seasonal perspectives, she’s helped thousands of professionals reconnect to their strengths and to what deeply matters to them. She has a Master’s degree in conflict resolution, a background in Human Resources, and believes that our work can be a spiritual practice.

In this episode we talk about:

• Aligning your work and life according to the different seasons
• Holding all of Earth’s Season to where you are
• Internalized Capitalism and How it Shows up in our Nervous System
• Being A Highly Sensitive Person In A Work Environment
• What to do If You Hate Your Job

Creative Resources Mentioned:

Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Circle Round by Starhawk

Meditation Teacher: Jessica Snow

Martin Shaw

The Living Myth Podcast by Michael Meade

Connect with Megan:

Website: www.awildnewwork.com

Order her book: Winter at Work: Navigate Mystery and Cultivate New Vitality on your Vocational Journey

Podcast: A Wild New Work

@awildnewwork

Can you believe it's already 2023?

Tune into the first solo episode of 2023 where Leya share some of the lessons and learnings from the last year.

We talk about:

• The themes of 2022: Home, Grounding, Grief
• Experiencing burnout and overwhelm
• Experiencing abuse at a personal and collective level
• Ways to practice self-care
• Why millennials need extra self-care right now
• Why truth is love

+ Leya shares a reading from a poem she wrote, a sacred offering and expression of her heart.

Connect with Leya:

@leyavandoren

The perfect solo episode to kick off Sagittarius season - this one's all about travel, new experiences, expansion, and joy. I share about my recent once in a lifetime trip going on a safari in South Africa and the stories and lessons it taught me.

In this episode we talk about:

• Traveling solo vs traveling with friends - pros and cons!
• A scary close encounter with an elephant!
• The daily schedule of our safari and some of the animals we saw
• Sharkdiving in Capetown
• Discovering my Leo Moon
• Western Astrology vs. Vedic Astrology
• Connecting to animal medicine
• Why Africa feels like the birthplace of God
• The importance of joy during the healing journey

Resources Mentioned:

• Zulu Nyala
• Spirit of the Animals Oracle
• The Last Gift of the Master Artists by Ben Okri

Connect with Leya:

@leyavandoren

Leya shares an update on why the podcast has been on a short break and returns with part 2 of what she is learning during the wedding planning process.

She shares vulnerably about managing finances, feeling unsupported, feeling unworthy of love, and the body image issues that came up while shopping for her wedding dress.

She also shares an update of how the vision of the wedding has changed and evolved in this perfect, co-creation with the universe.

She also shares:

• Why wedding planning is the ultimate manifestation
• 3 key steps to manifest anything you want in life
• Choosing to change the wedding venue from Florida to Michigan
• Dealing with body image struggles during an engagement photoshoot
• The importance of size inclusivity for brides and wedding dress boutiques
• The story of finding her dream wedding dress
• Rejecting tradition and embracing tradition
• Raising your self-worth and self-love
• Stepping into the worthiness to receive the manifestations you desire

Episodes Mentioned:

Wedding Planning as a Spiritual & Creative Practice - Part 1

Unmasked & Open Hearted Podcast: Healing in Relationships with Leya Van Doren

Connect with Leya:

@leyavandoren

Rate and review the podcast to receive a free guided writing meditation!

Natalie Calzadilla, MBA is a Cuban-American T1D mom, mystic, illustrator, 1/1 NFT artist, and podcaster born and raised in Miami, FL. She teaches women how to connect to their inner knowing, experience divinity, and connect to their child-like wonder so they can feel empowered to face all of life’s situations and have the courage to be themselves.

In this episode we talk about:

• How she went from quitting art school because she didn't believe in herself to becoming a full-time artist
• Healing low self worth and codependency
• Navigating grief during a pandemic
• Flower essences as a healing modality
• What happens when "the work" stops working
• Finding different tools for different stages of your life

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• essencementoring.com
• Insight Timer

Connect with Natalie:

Website: nataliecalzadilla.com

Podcast: Pachanga and Possibility

Etsy Shop

Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and receive a free guided writing meditation!

In this episode, Leya shares what is currently fueling her creative soul in this season of life.

She shares how taking a vacation showed her how to practice being, why she is questioning how we work and why we work, tying your worth and value to how much you can produce, feminism and capitalism, unlearning hustle culture, and how we can look to nature to teach us how to be truly creative and create from a place of rest, ease, and flow.

She also shares how foraging and learning about herbalism is connecting her to the magic within. Stay to the end to hear the story on how she almost died from eating a potentially poisonous plant.

Creative Resources

• Seek - Plant App
• Making Plant Medicine by Richo Cech
• The Herbal Apothecary by JJ Pursell
• Feasting Wild by Gina Rae La Cerva

Connect with Leya

@leyavandoren

leyavandoren@gmail.com

Leave a rating and review and receive a free guided writing meditation!

In this week's episode I am joined by Bria Zoe. Bria Zoe is an herbalist and owns Sacred Moon Apothecary where she offers the medicine of cacao to people all over the world.

We talk about the medicine that lives within us and around us, how plants and herb can help support us in our healing process, how to start working with herbs, the wisdom of our bodies, metaphysical anatomy, and plant medicines.

This episode is a juicy one for anyone interested in true health, healing, and allowing the earth to support you.

Connect with Bria:

@sacred.moon.apothecary

@bria.zoe_

Albert Flynn DeSilver is an internationally published poet, writer, speaker, and workshop leader. His latest book is Writing as a Path to Awakening (based on his popular workshops by the same name) published by Sounds True. Albert served as Marin County, California’s very first Poet Laureate from 2008-2010. His work has appeared in more than 100 literary journals worldwide and is the author of the memoir Beamish Boy. Albert is also a speaker and trainer who has taught writing workshops at the Esalen Institute, the Omega Institute, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and literary conferences nationally. 

In this episode, we talk about:

• How embodiment can be a source of creativity
• How photography lead him to writing
• Why reading is important for writers
• His writing process
• How meditation and creativity influence each other
• Teaching writing to others

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• Mary Oliver
• Natalie Goldberg
• Terry Tempest Williams

Connect with Albert:

albertflynndesilver.com

Free writing coaching session here

Writing as a Path to Awakening

Corrie Legge is a multi-passionate artist and productivity coach for creatives. As an actor and voiceover artist, she has appeared in many independent films, national commercials, animation, video games, audiobooks, and more. She's also a filmmaker with several short films under her belt, and multiple feature scripts in the works! As a coach, Corrie hosts Your Creative Life, a creative community designed to helps multi-passionate actors take control over their dreams and build thriving creative careers without sacrificing the holistically fulfilled life they deserve.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why you shouldn't wait for gatekeepers to give you permission for your art
• Following your creative urges
• Building community vs networking
• Finding collaborators for your creative projects
• How to work creatively and collaborate with your partner
• Finding time to be creative as a parent
• Being a voiceover artist
• Finding the right medium for a story
• How to set goals with freedom instead of pressure
• Building your sustainable creative life

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• On Writing by Stephen King
• The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
• Libby
• My Creative Type Quiz Here

Connect with Corrie:

@creatingwithcorrie

corrie@corrielegge.com

yourcreativelifecommunity.com

Are you pregnant or do you know someone who is? Tune into this episode where we discuss how to host and curate a blessingway which is similar to a baby shower, but focuses more on the mother's journey from maiden to mother to create an intentional ceremony to honor her in this transition.

We also talk about:

• What a blessingway is
• Leya's experience being at her sister's birth
• A blessingway vs baby shower
• Why you might want to host one for yourself or a woman you love
• Ideas for blessingway ceremonies
• Virtual vs in person blessingways

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker
• Blessingway videos here and here

Connect with Leya

@leyavandoren

leyavandoren@gmail.com

Kari is a New York City-based freelance writer and performing artist. As a copywriter and strategist, she works with creative entrepreneurs and small businesses to develop their brand voice and craft high-converting messaging to support their business. She also writes a weekly newsletter sharing writing tips, content inspiration, and personal stories about life as a creative freelancer.

We talk about:

• Pivoting careers
• Her creative & storytelling process for copywriting
• How her theater skills translated into other industries
• Overcommitting yourself as a creative
• Deadlines and work pressures
• Living in NYC

Connect with Kari:

@karilynncotone

karilynncotone.com

JOIN THE SUMMER WRITING CIRCLE!

July 11th - August 8th, 2022

Learn more here

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• Creative Pep Talk by Andy J. Pizza
• RuPaul's Drag Race

In this week's solo episode, Leya takes us behind the scenes for her wedding planning process. We talk about why wedding planning might bring up difficult emotions, how wedding planning is the ultimate act of manifestation & creation, how being engaged feels like a portal, why wedding planning has caused Leya to look at and re-evaluate all areas of her life, and the details & process of finding her wedding venue.

Whether you're planning a wedding, have planned a wedding, or would like to plan one in the future, tune into this fun episode where we explore wedding planning as a spiritual & creative practice.

Connect with Leya:

@leyavandoren

Rate and review the podcast to receive a free guided writing meditation!

Kelly Smith is a globally celebrated yoga and meditation teacher, E-RYT 500 /YACEP, founder of Yoga For You, and host of the iTunes chart topping podcasts, Mindful in Minutes and Meditation Mama. Kelly believes that there is not a one-size-fits-all approach to yoga and meditation and encourages her students to find their own personal practice, listen to their bodies, and find inner joy by accessing their most authentic selves and owning their power. Kelly specializes in the non physical limbs of yoga and is best known for her master trainings in meditation, restorative yoga, and yoga nidra and her international retreats.

In this episode we talk about:

• What true self work is
• How yoga teaches you the true self
• What real service means
• Polarity work
• Moving through resistance in your practice

and so much more!

Connect with Kelly:

yogaforyouonline.com

Podcast: Mindful in Minutes

In this episode, Leya shares the behind the scenes process of how she self published her first book of poetry, Mermaid Musings: Stories of Sea, Sex, Spirituality.

We talk about:

Why you might choose to self-publish

What inspired her decision to self-publish a book

The behind the scene process of self-publishing a book

The power of poetry

The creative process of writing a book

Marketing & selling your book

+ enjoy a poetry reading from a selection of poems from Mermaid Musings.

Buy the book:

Mermaid Musings: Stories of Sea, Sex, Spirituality by Leya Van Doren

If you have more questions about self-publishing and how you might get started with it or would be interested in a community based workshop around self-publishing the book your creative soul wants to write, feel free to reach out at leyavandoren@gmail.com.

Please leave a rating and review to help support my creative soul.