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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: December, 2023
Dec 26, 2023

Reserve your Seat:

Harvest Wisdom/Plant Dreams: A Soulful Approach to Year-End Reflections and Intention on Dec 29th  

Embrace the spirit of self-discovery and artistic growth as we bid farewell to the year and set our sights on new beginnings.

Join as we revisit a cherished discussion with Jack Plotnick, whose wisdom on overcoming mental barriers in acting remains evergreen as we step into the new year. Jack shared his concept of the ego as your vulture, which is a game-changer for actors looking to shed their limitations. He also highlights the emotional rollercoaster that comes with the pursuit of acting, from the search for validation to the exhilaration of creative freedom.

This episode brilliantly outlines how actors can navigate their mental labyrinths and emerge with a renewed sense of purpose and creative liberation.

Episode Highlights :

  • Your “vulture”  and how it can help actors overcome mental barriers

  • Authenticity in auditions and the role of spontaneity in performances

  • Unpacking Want VS. Need

  • Focusing on outcomes to enjoy the process of acting and auditioning

  • Leveraging social media and online platforms to gain visibility and opportunities

  • High stakes in characters' desires to enhance comedic and dramatic acting

  • Dedication and resilience required to thrive in the acting industry

 

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

Download Jack's Ebook New Thoughts For Actors

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.

Dec 19, 2023

New Year Workshop: Harvesting Dreams/Planting Wisdom Dec. 29th Reserve your spot here.

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

Episode Highlights: 

  • The power of rituals in seasons of transition

  • A  journal prompt:  “If I were heading back to New York City, what would I do?”

  • Dissecting the “Old Way” of working and birthing the “New Way”

  • Having self-compassion and really loving on our insecurities (“I see you!”)

  • The push/pull of under- and over-compensating, playing too big and too small

  • Getting lit up by your Why—awakening the energetic body

  • Following Soul Breadcrumbs

  • Feeling full OF yourself!

  • Being congruent, bringing fullness to every area of a “big, rich, beautiful life”


In this week’s solo episode,
Analisa pulls back the curtain a bit during this season of transition, bringing us along as she journals on the prompt:  “If I were heading back to New York City, what would I do?”  Analisa explores what her Old Way of approaching this might look like, and then digs deep and dreams big—what could be the New Way?  How can we feel fierce self-compassion for our fears and insecurities, and then hold space for even bigger and fuller dreams?  Analisa follows “soul breadcrumbs” that come up in her journaling, and walks us through getting to her “Why”--listen as it awakens her energetic body and lights her up in real time! 

 

Analisa also shares exciting news about her upcoming two-hour workshop, "Harvesting Wisdom and Planting Dreams”:  it’ll be a perfect container to build on these ideas, explore, and get curious–what is it that wants to be created through you in the New Year?   Grab your journal, give this a good listen, and get ready to go deep!

 

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.

Dec 12, 2023

New Year Workshop: Harvesting Dreams/Planting Wisdom Dec. 29th Reserve your spot here.

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

Episode Highlights: 

  • Finding the gifts in disappointment

  • Learning that “you are not what you do”

  • Broadway stories from Rebecca, The Little Mermaid, Phantom, & Hello, Dolly!

  • Uncovering our true purpose 

  • Honoring our deep desires

  • Building community and nurturing Soul

  • Becoming a Leading Lady

  • Sierra’s mantra: You Are Enough!

In this episode, Analisa re-airs her first interview with Broadway star and soulful human Sierra Boggess!  Join them in the Rosalie dressing room at School of Rock for a fun and vulnerable conversation about “doing the work” and finding our true purpose in what we do—and bringing that alignment into every aspect of our lives.  Sierra and Analisa open up about their shared experience with the cancellation of Broadway’s Rebecca, and discuss how they have learned to embrace frequent disappointment in this business and not “go into the dark.” 

How can we get to the bottom of what really motivates us to do what we do?  How do we trust, in the low moments, that there is something else there for us?  How do we build support networks and handle jealousy and competition, especially in the age of social media?  Analisa and Sierra share many beautiful stories and wonderful resources as they talk “getting clear on the core of what we’re doing”—all in pursuit of becoming expansive human beings! Originally Aired May 18, 2018

Time Stamps 

0:00 Intro, New Year Workshop + Welcome to Sierra back to the Rosalie dressing room

6:01 The saga of Rebecca and gifts from a disappointing year

13:56 Trusting that the “universe is conspiring in your favor”

16:21 Processing crummy feelings: “While I’m down here, what am I supposed to learn from this?” (and doing it “sober”)

29:46 Sierra’s network of support (and intro to The Paradox Process!)

41:36 Getting back into alignment, allowing creative opportunities to flow into your life

46:35 Same desires, shifting priorities – going from “What job am I doing next?” to “Why am I here?”

48:15 Sierra’s low point and the 5 questions to discovering your purpose

55:00 Sierra’s transition away from “living unconsciously” and learning to lead a company (The Little Mermaid)

1:05 Two sides of the coin:  “I’m jealous” AND “Oh, I can dream bigger!”

1:11 Social media and “being ruthlessly onto ourselves” 

 

Soul Nourishment mentioned in this episode:

SierraBoggess.com

Wayne Dyer: “The Power of Intention”

Diana Nyad: “Find A Way

Thomas Jones, The Paradox Process

Adam Leipzig’s TED Talk:  “How to know your life purpose in five minutes”

Gabby Bernstein: “Judgment Detox”

 

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.

Dec 5, 2023

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.

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