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Soulful Ambition

The podcast for ambitious people yearning for more soul. Formerly known as A Balancing Act, Soulful Ambition explores what it means to live inside out and go after our deepest longings. Analisa Leaming is a Broadway actor turned down what would have been her 5th Broadway show to move her family to the mountains of Colorado and become a full-time coach. Soulful Ambition might sound contradictory at first… Because we’ve let society define ambition as striving for individual success, monetary gain, and personal achievements. But that’s not what the soul really craves. In each episode, we’re calling back the parts of ourselves conditioned to society’s grind and external pressure. And awakening the longing in your chest that is so big it threatens to swallow you whole. So you can shine unapologetically, source from within, and work towards your dreams with abandon.
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Now displaying: October, 2023
Oct 31, 2023

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.”

 

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. 



Oct 24, 2023

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.

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.

Oct 17, 2023

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

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.

Oct 10, 2023

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

 

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.

 

Oct 3, 2023

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

24:07 The Last Step: Let Go of Outcomes

 

Soul Nourishment mentioned in this episode:

“Blessed We Are” - A Mystic song Analisa uses in her own dropping in process.

Analisa’s REEL about Authenticity

~~~~~~~

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. 

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

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