Soulful Ambition

Latest Episodes:

#68 The Let Down After Booking the Gig (or getting the thing you were desiring) Dec 05, 2023

Show notes

Dec. 29th Event: Harvesting Wisdom, Planting Dreams: A Soulful Approach to Year-End Reflections and Intentions

In today's episode Analisa is talking about something no one likes talking about publicly, especially in our shiny-only-post-the-highlights-social-media world.

Have you ever gotten the thing you were desiring (a gig, a job, a raise, etc.) only to feel disappointed, let down, or disillusioned afterwards? Not that this feeling lasts, necessarily, but sometimes it can be quite jarring!

If you're listening along this season you know one of the biggest themes has been accepting our humanity. So just naming this as it arises is powerful. Normalizing it, too. This is a very common experience.

This can be incredibly liberating. No gig is perfect. No contract is the answer to all of your problems. Our baseline level of wellbeing will return.

So the aim of this short minisode is that it will leave you pondering how to be more sourced from within, not waiting for something "out there" to embody the light that you are. Be "full of yourself" today. Dance with creativity. Laugh. Cry. Live Awake.

A Balancing Act is hosted by Analisa Leaming, Broadway actor + soulful coach . This season is designed to inspire creatives to journey towards their dreams with more soul and less attachment to outcomes and society's definitions of success.

Learn more about Analisa and working together here.

#67 - Liz Newcomer: Enneagram, Psychology + Big Dreams Nov 28, 2023

Show notes

Learn more about 1:1 Soulful Coaching w/ Analisa Leaming HERE.

Get your free audition meditation & stay in the loop with Analisa and A Balancing Act HERE.

Episode Highlights:

Looking at your dreams through the lens of the enneagram
Your unique vice turned to virtue
A story of an actor who left New York and found creative success on their own terms
How to use the enneagram as an acting tool

Episode Summary:

In this episode Analisa interviews Elizabeth Newcomer, Actor turned Enneagram Coach. Analisa and Liz talk in depth about each type to help you identify your own number and Liz explains the core desires of each type as well as their greatest virtues and vices. Throughout their conversation, Liz and Analisa share stories of how the enneagram has helped them follow their big dreams and navigate interacting and communicating with others. Listen to this packed episode to learn how the enneagram can be an incredibly powerful tool and how to see beyond the "box" that personality types often lead us to feel trapped in.

Time Stamps

0:00 Analisa's Intro

3:00 Elizabeth's journey from actor to enneagram coach

8:30 Letting your dreams be a north store to guide you

13:29 Introduction to the enneagram and how it can help us or hold us back

16:48 Overview / definition of what enneagram is

20:38 Liz's recommendation for how to find your type, examples of 2s, 4s, and 9s

26:36 The Body Triad: 1, 8, and 9

28:14 The Head Triad: 5 (motivated by knowledge), 6 (preparedness), and 7 (options)

30:55 Taking action upon your deepest callings through the lens of your enneagram

31:40 Vice to virtue, is an action in alignment with where you want to go

32:11 How this looks for the Heart Triad: 2 (the giver)

37:20 Type 3 (the performer) Type 4 (the dreamer)

40:53 Head Triad: Type 5 (the observer) Type 6 (the questioner) Type 7 (the adventurer)

44:39 Body Triad: Type 8 (the challenger) Type 9 (the peacemaker) Type 1 (the perfectionist)

51:20 Using the enneagram as an acting tool

54:40 Using the enneagram to work through triggers and find growth

1:02:35 Wrap-up, how to find & follow Elizabeth

Take The Narrative Enneagram test HERE

Take the Riso-Hudson RHETI test HERE

Follow Elizabeth on Instagram @liz.newcomer

A Balancing Act is hosted by Analisa Leaming, Broadway actor + soulful coach. This season is designed to inspire performers and creatives to journey towards their dreams with more soul and less attachment to outcomes and society's definitions of success.

#66: Pause + Receive: Analisa's personal practice for getting off the hamster wheel & back into Soul Nov 21, 2023

Show notes

Get your free audition meditation and stay in the loop with Analisa and A Balancing Act HERE.

This week's solo episode is an interactive inner exploration. You're invited to be an active participant, grab a journal or sit and close your eyes. You'll pause and check in, without judgment, how you're currently doing and feeling. Analisa guides us on this journey & asks us deep questions to find the answers within by tapping into our inner wisdom.You'll leave the episode feeling deeply empowered and connected to yourself, feeling inspired and lit up from within!

Time Stamps

0:00 Analisa's Intro: An Invitation to Pause

3:43 Of Course We're Gonna Get Knocked Out of Alignment

5:15 How Is It Feeling, Right Now?

7:17 Am I Getting Caught in Busywork?

9:20 Are You Acting From High Vibe? Milk it!

11:36 Are You Called to Just Be?

13:10 The Quality of Seeking External Validation

15:00 Let Me Give Myself Space to Say It Out Loud

17:07 I Don't Want to Create From Here!

19:39 Mind, Can You Soften?

22:06 An Invitation Home

24:10 I Want My Body to Sing that Song

26:19 This Deep Trust

27:45 What Do I Know Now that I Didn't Know Before?

28:57 Being Able to Receive Means Slowing Down Enough to Listen

31:00 You Really Do Have All the Answers Within

Soul Nourishment mentioned in this episode:

Wanna find out your enneagram number before next week's podcast with an enneagram coach? Here are two tests we recommend:

Riso Hudson Enneagram Test

Narrative Enneagram Test

#65: Marissa Ghavami: Trauma & Our Big Dreams Nov 14, 2023

Show notes

Grab a limited time 1:1 session with Analisa here.

Get your free audition meditation and stay in the loop with Analisa and A Balancing Act HERE.

Episode Highlights:

- How trauma can make it hard to go after big dreams
- How our big dreams can inspire healing
- What is trauma?
- Brain- and Body-based healing modalities
- The role of feeling our feelings
- The stories we tell ourselves and how to rewrite them
- Neuroplasticity and the science of memory

In this episode, Analisa invites Marissa Ghavami, Iranian-American, queer artist, advocate and creator to the podcast. This is a rich and vulnerable discussion about Marissa's experience healing from trauma, and how it has been fundamentally intertwined with their journey towards big, ambitious dreams.

Marissa and Analisa share their thoughts and experiences with "getting comfortable with the discomfort of this business," and they engage with a wide range of questions:

How can folks healing from trauma engage with their feelings and body sensations safely–something we're asked to do every day as actors? What's the difference between brain-based and body-based healing modalities and practices? How does having these skills show up in our daily lives and careers?

It's a beautiful conversation between two smart and soulful creatives—listen as they marry the ideas of trauma-informed emotional resiliency with the neuroscience behind memory and grief, and share how diving deep into these ideas is further enriched by their spiritual practices. Come back to this episode anytime you need a reminder that the stories we tell ourselves about our feelings can be rewritten!

Topic Shift Time Stamps

0:00 Analisa's intro and invite to a 1:1 session

4:27 Welcome, Marissa!

6:19 Acknowledging the role trauma plays in taking action towards our souls' longings

10:22 Marissa's journey (big dreams, what got in the way, coming back to themself)

17:59 Engaging with trauma and experiencing stress as an artist

20:00 Brain- and body-based healing modalities: going beyond "just change your mindset"

25:01 Fawn responses: your "survival-brain" is a protector

28:30 "What if we allowed ourselves to feel whatever we were feeling, fully?"

33:33 Our feelings vs the stories we tell about them (and what we make them mean)

36:24 "It's not magical thinking – it's neuroscience!!"

38:40 Having a spiritual practice

43:51 Brain science! Memory, grief, and trauma

50:26 An example: Marissa's current process for managing a trauma response

54:40 Post-traumatic growth – being the author of your own story

56:16 "This skill is needed for the craft of acting" - feeling deeply and creating space for healing

Soul Nourishment mentioned in this episode:

Marissa Ghavami

Healing TREE

Marissa's Healing Trauma Focused Coaching for Artists (Virtual; $75/hr or $75/mo for weekly, 1 hour group sessions): www.marissaghavami.com/coach Marissa will be playing Jessie in Divine Riot's Cry It Out on 11/9 7PM (Invited Dress), 11/12 7PM and 11/18 2PM in NYC. Learn More & Tickets: www.divineriot.org/cryitout

Marissa's Instagram

Healing Tree's Instagram

A Balancing Act is hosted by Analisa Leaming, Broadway actor + soulful coach for creatives. This season is designed to inspire performers and creatives to journey towards their dreams with more soul and less attachment to outcomes and society's definitions of success.

#64 Alchemy of Acceptance: self-doubt/fear/the need to control Nov 07, 2023

Show notes

Episode Bullet Points

In this short solo episode Analisa helps you love on your Little Self. She also opens up the conversation to you, the listeners: is there anyone out there with the research know-how to look at these universal struggles from a social sciences perspective? Topics covered in this episode include:

Offering one-off 1:1 session in Nov/Dec 2023
The need for "Little Self" to be witnessed
The unique wounds of high performers
Letting go of the need to fix
Loving the part of yourself that wants love

Episode Summary

This week's solo episode is a powerful exploration of an expansive question: what if your human aspects (fear, self-doubt, anxiety) aren't a problem to be fixed? Analisa brings her wild and silliest self to guiding you through choosing to love those Little Self expressions. This episode can be used as a meditative guide to finding that love for yourself. There is also a beautiful meta thread of how Analisa chooses to share and create the podcast itself.

Topic Shift Time Stamps

0:00 Analisa's Intro: different ways to play

2:48 Behind the curtain: two episode ideas

5:10 Analisa's Love Bomb

7:04 Questions from Little Self & the need to control

9:09 Pause & Love the Fear

11:23 Toddlers: Before "Not Good Enough"

13:39 Enneagram Episode Sneak Peek

14:43 A Question for the High Performers

17:02 Can you feel a softening?

19:35 Love instead of fixing

20:50 Wrap Up

Soul Nourishment mentioned in this episode:

Riso Hudson Enneagram Test

Narrative Enneagram Test

Get your free audition meditation and stay in the loop with Analisa and A Balancing Act HERE.

#63: My Cringe: On Jealousy, competition, + the need to be special Oct 31, 2023

Show notes

Alignment Before Action free online workshop Nov. 2nd!!

Learn more about 1:1 Soulful Coaching w/ Analisa Leaming or Soulful Creatives Circle HERE.

Get your free audition meditation and stay in the loop with Analisa & A Balancing Act HERE.

Episode Highlights:

The need to be "the best"
The "Little Self's" need to be seen
The trap of toxic positivity
Pep talks + reframes might not be the solution
The gifts of jealousy, need, and comparison
A practice for making space for those "cringe-y" feelings

In this deeply vulnerable solo episode, Analisa explores the "cringe-y and crunchy" feeling of jealousy. How can we honor the part of ourselves that wants to be the best? When & how can we make space for the fear of not being the best? Can we answer this ego with love? Analisa shares her own stories of grappling with this, in the context of coaching a client through it. She even guides us through a practice of holding space for these shadows. Bookmark this episode to listen the next time you are in final callbacks with your bestie, or doubting your place "in the room."

#62 Elena Shaddow: A conversation about understudying Oct 24, 2023

Show notes

Free workshop Nov. 2nd, 2023: Alignment Before Action!!

Learn more about 1:1 Soulful Coaching w/ Analisa Leaming or Soulful Creatives Circle Member HERE.

Episode Highlights:

Elena's journey
Planting the Role in Your Voice as a Garden
Proving vs Sharing
The Gift of Perspective Shifts
"It's Not Fair That You Can't Do It All"
The Gifts of Motherhood
Audition Friendships
The Difference between Ambition & Lack

In this episode, Analisa interviews Elena Shaddow, Broadway actor, voice teacher, wife & mother. This intimate conversation between friends with mirrored life paths covers so many juicy topics. Both Analisa and Elena have been the standby for Kelli O'Hara, and have led shows in their own right. This interview covers the origin of their unlikely friendship: meeting at an audition where neither booked the role. What does it mean to be known as someone's understudy? How do you deal with the ego aspect of it? How does motherhood affect a leading lady's career? Analisa and Elena also riff on the importance of coming to the work fed: differentiating yourself from the roles you play by leading a full life outside of the industry. These two brilliant teachers lead by example, sharing vulnerably, with great humor, and plenty of juicy Broadway stories. This is an episode you'll want to listen to again - and send to your favorite actress-mama or wunderstudy!

Topic Shift Time Stamps

0:00 Analisa's Intro

5:17 Interview Begins

8:18 "I got into a Broadway show!" "Yay!" "I'm the understudy!" "Oh."

10:38 The Days of Wine & Roses story: Stepping in to Standby

13:51 Learning a Role = Planting a Garden

16:23 "I Honor Me"

21:07 Turning Down Broadway

24:20 What Must it Be Like, As A Standby On Opening Night?

27:30 The Full Ego 180

30:11 Where did husband and babies come into the journey?

36:55 Balance: Is it season by season?

42:53 It's Just Unfair That You Can't Do It All

45:35 There's More To Be Gained From Saying Yes

49:25 The Need to Be Different: Going On as the Understudy

57:11 You Probably Never Doubt Yourself - No!

63:39 The Fear of Taking a Break

66:43 Understudying Is Not a Dirty Word!

Soul Nourishment mentioned in this episode:

Elena Shaddow: https://www.elenashaddow.net/

Will Buck Coach/Composer: willbuckmusic@aol.com

Get your free audition meditation and stay in the loop with Analisa and A Balancing Act HERE.

#61: Clinging to Results Oct 17, 2023

Show notes

Alignment Before Action Free Workshop November 2nd!

Get your free audition meditation and stay in the loop with Analisa and A Balancing Act HERE.

In a solo episode that is jam packed with inspired practices, we dive deep into the HOW of releasing our attachment to outcomes, specifically around auditions. Analisa guides us through:

The fears that come up with we WANT the job
The need to acknowledge and make space for "Little Self"
Embodiment tools for realigning with YOU
What it feels like to come home to ourselves
The real time inspiration for a new, FREE workshop on putting these concepts into practice

How do we share our authentic selves in auditions, when so much is on the line? How can we manage when we start to really WANT it? Why does it get grippy-er the closer we get? How can we step back into alignment with our truest state, so that we are open to creative inspiration? Bookmark this episode to listen to whenever you need Analisa to remind you of how to release the clinging by honoring your longings.

Topic Shift Time Stamps

0:00 Analisa's Intro

1:50 Client Inspiration for this Episode

3:13 Authenticity is Allowing for Bless & Release

4:30 Acknowledge the Fear of Longing: Now It's Mine to Lose

6:25 Talking to "Little Self" & Listening to Their Voice

8:21 Of Course You Want it!

10:01 Embodiment & Voice Work: other doorways in

12:14 Am I Identifying with the Clinginess?

14:00 Getting Back into Alignment with YOU

16:31 I Want to Come Home to Myself

19:06 Alignment Allows For Creative Ideas to Bubble Up

21:00 Inspired Alignment Workshop Details

Soul Nourishment mentioned in this episode:

Jen Waldman Studio

Start With Why by Simon Sinek

#60 - Bret Shuford: Soulful Social Media Oct 10, 2023

Show notes

Learn more about 1:1 Soulful Coaching w/ Analisa Leaming

or Soulful Creatives Circle Member HERE.

Get your free audition meditation and stay in the loop with Analisa and A Balancing Act HERE.

Episode Highlights:

Identity shifts, grief, and integration
The impact you can have by sharing soulfully
Social media assumptions
Build resiliency by seeking rejection
Reach out in gratitude
Teach your audience how you want to be treated
Using your discernment with social media boundaries

In this episode, Analisa interviews Bret Shuford, Broadway actor, creative life coach, and one half of @BroadwayHusbands. There are so many gems in this conversation, which ranges from ego death to passing the torch to sharing your soul on social media. How can we integrate our old identities when we shift gears? Can you get in alignment before you post, the same way you would before an audition? The key to taking the pressure off of maintaining a social media presence is committing to showing up consistently, and Bret & Analisa share many practical tips for doing this in this lively interview.

Topic Shift Time Stamps

0:00 Analisa's Intro

3:55 Bret's New & Improved Self-Intro

7:05 How to sit with the difficult emotions of transitions

11:30 Broadway Pen Pals: it's not what you thought, is it?

15:05 On the Broadway Mountain & the Chain of Mountains

18:52 Unpacking our social media assumptions

21:41 Our Job is to become Known: Measuring Likes? Stop

24:33 Your Content is NOT for You

27:52 Reframe of the Four Pillars: Disneyland Metaphor for Social Media

32:32 Make Posting a Habit & Not an Event: Ariana DeBose example

40:37 Everything Old is New Again: Repost!

43:05 Draft when you are sourced; pause when you're not

47:17 You are part of the ocean: share your gratitude

48:14 Create more than you consume: commit to posting every time you log on

50:20 Follow outside your industry

55:57 How to work with Bret

Soul Nourishment mentioned in this episode:

Bret Shuford on Instagram: @bretshuford @broadwayhusbands

Bret's free quiz

Rejection Therapy TedTalk

#59: The Key to Authenticity Oct 03, 2023

Show notes

Learn more about 1:1 Soulful Coaching w/ Analisa Leaming

or Soulful Creatives Circle Member HERE.

In a meta solo episode that is made to be listened to on repeat, we dive deep into what it means to realign with our authenticity. Analisa guides us through:

Authentic Self-Introduction
Her personal process for getting into & staying in alignment
Ways to deal with the resistance that pulls us out of our authenticity
The difference between playing big & trying hard
Getting Meta with an invitation to the Soulful Creatives Circle

Episode Summary

In this vulnerable solo episode, Analisa explores the concept of Authenticity. How do we step into our own individual Authenticity in everything we do, from introducing ourselves, to creating art, to being with our families…and yes, even to auditioning? How can we be open to the audience's energy while not allowing it to knock us off course? Can we play big without forcing? Where is the line between wanting and needing? Bookmark this episode to listen to whenever you need Analisa to guide you through stepping into your authentic self.

Topic Shift Time Stamps

0:00 Analisa's Authenticity Reframe of the Podcast Intro

3:13 A Vulnerable Story About the Inspiration for this Episode

5:50 Being Open to (Audience) Energy while Staying Aligned with Our Authenticity

7:30 Have You Ever Gotten Squeezy in an Audition?

8:10 Bookmark Here: A Tool for Stepping into Authenticity

8:58 How Did Analisa Step into her Authenticity for this Episode? First Steps

10:58 Dealing with the Hungry Ghost & the Fears That Feed It

14:05 Denim & Character Shoes: How to Work Authentically Within Outside Expectations

16:45 A Time for Singing Story

19:20 The Fix for the Fix It Mentality: Feel into It

21:06 Analisa practices her own authenticity while sharing about the Soulful Creatives Circle: dealing with the assumptions that come up