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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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Apr 23, 2024

🚀Sign up for the In-Person Workshop with Analisa, “Unlocking the Power of Desire,” May 1st!! 

🚀Get Analisa's signature practices to unleash your star power + take aligned action towards your soulful ambitions: HERE

 

Episode Highlights:

  • Analisa’s Post Partum Depression 

  • The prevalence of trauma and PTSD and the available healing methods

  • Meaning of, “The ecological is personal, and the personal is ecological”

  • The power of nature in healing us from pain 

  • The hope of neuroplasticity! 

  • Talk therapy and trauma 

  • Steps we can take to help the planet

 

Episode Summary:

In this episode, Analisa interviews Greg Wrenn, a former Stanford lecturer and author of "Mothership: A Memoir of Wonder and Crisis," which explores healing from childhood trauma through nature and psychedelics. Greg talks about how mental health issues represent a significant yet often overlooked crisis impacting countless individuals.

Many of these challenges stem from childhood experiences, evolving into traumatic events that shape adult life. While therapy and coaching offer pathways to recovery and healing, the natural world has an undeniable power to facilitate healing processes. With its calming and rejuvenating properties, nature often plays a pivotal role in restoring mental well-being. 

He shares more about this from his latest book, where he documents an evidence-based account of his quest to heal from complex PTSD by turning to endangered coral reefs and psychedelic plants after traditional therapies failed—and his awakening to the need for us to heal the planet as well.

Grab His latest book, Mothership: A Memoir of Wonder and Crisis Here.

Visit Greg’s Website
Follow Greg on Instagram 

Soulful Ambition is a show for big dreamers about choosing to live inside out & acting upon your deepest longings, from starting your dream business to starring on Broadway, from sacred activism to being a radiant, aligned parent, and everything in between. The manifestation of your desires is your destined path and the medicine and magic that the world needs.

Apr 16, 2024

🚀Sign up for the In-Person Workshop with Analisa, “Unlocking the Power of Desire,” on May 1st!! 

🚀Get Analisa's signature practices to unleash your star power + take aligned action towards your soulful ambitions: HERE.

 

Episode Highlights: 

  • Noticing in the body if it feels safe to dream big

  • Building a healthy relationship with your desires

  • How to cultivate the practice of feeling your longing

  • Allowing your desire to be the fuel for your deepest longing

  • Being turned ON by your own desire 

 

Episode Summary:

In this episode, Analisa shows up in a real and transparent way and unpacks in real time how she’s feeling disconnected from her dreams. 

Through her own example, Analisa talks about giving yourself permission to notice if it even feels same to long deeply, to be where you are, to begin to embody your desire and fully inhabit your current space. Drawing from her heartfelt experience, she unveils the transformative power of slowing down, feeling deeply, and nurturing the relationship with your desires. Living from a place of soulful alignment is about embracing your longing and taking action from a place of authenticity, clarity, and resonance. 

Analisa then invites you to self reflect on your current relationship with your desire. Do you trust it? How can you nurture this relationship? 

Finally, Analisa shares a practice to begin to become turned on by your passion. Your desires are the fuel that propels you forward with energy and vitality. So, learn how to tap into your desire and allow yourself to be guided by the energy that lights you up and inspires each step toward realizing your aspirations.

This is an episode for anyone longing to build a relationship with their desires, get clear on what they really want, and go after their dream or vision! 

 

Soulful Ambition is a show for big dreamers about choosing to live inside out & acting upon your deepest longings, from starting your dream business to starring on Broadway, from sacred activism to being a radiant, aligned parent, and everything in between. The manifestation of your desires is your destined path and the medicine and magic that the world needs.

Mar 26, 2024

🚀Learn more about working with Analisa HERE.

🚀Get Analisa's signature practices to unleash your star power + take aligned action towards your soulful ambitions: HERE.

 

Episode Highlights: 

  • From a PhD to washing dishes

  • Integrative Thinking rather than positive thinking 

  • Shadow work: repression to expression

  • The bridge between our human selves and our Divinity 

  • Understanding our Golden Shadow

Episode Summary:

In this episode Analisa interviews Xavier Dagba, a life coach, shadow work facilitator, and mystic. Xavier shares his journey of leaving his PhD program to follow his inner calling, facing fears of failure and rebuilding from the humble job of washing dishes. Through experiencing his own health issues and repressions, Xavier came to shadow work, integrating the darkness to clear trauma and embody wholeness. Now with a large following, Xavier stresses integrating all parts of oneself, using "integrative thinking" to move collective evolution forward. He and Analisa discuss welcoming your pain and discovering the balance between accepting where you are and excitement for where you want to be. Listen to learn tools to connect to your highest self and navigate your life from a fully aligned place.

 

Xavier Dagba is a shadow work facilitator, writer and mystic. He offers transformative online courses, coaching and workshops. Known for helping people heal and integrate their fragmented parts to fully embody their power, Xavier is considered a leader in the field of shadow work. His "Awaken Your Golden Shadow" course has supported thousands.

Take the course and learn more about Xavier here and follow him on Instagram.


Soulful Ambition is a show for big dreamers about choosing to live inside out & acting upon your deepest longings. From starting your dream business to starring on Broadway, from sacred activism to being a radiant, aligned parent and everything in between. The manifestation of your desires is your destined path and the medicine and magic that the world needs.

Mar 19, 2024

Welcome to Soulful Ambition, formerly known as A Balancing Act, Analisa's latest iteration of her work in the world.

 Soulful Ambition explores what it means to live inside out and go after our deepest longings.

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 move towards your big, wild dreams.

Not to become a manifesting babe/bro striving for individual success, but because your dreams are your destined path and the medicine that the world needs. 

To learn more about Analisa and how you can work together: www.analisaleaming.com 

IG: www.instagram.com/analisaleaming 

 

Feb 6, 2024

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

In this short + sweet solo episode Analisa explores two ways of managing energy while you await your audition.

It's easy to be swept up and deeply affected by frenetic energy and most performers are sensitives/empaths.

These kinds of practices are imperative so that we can stay in our own alignment. Listen and give them a try today! 

Also, we know this, but these practices serve FAR beyond Ripley and Pearl. May it serve! 

Take this quiz before next week's episode!

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 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. 



Sep 26, 2023

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

or Soulful Creatives Circle Membership  HERE.

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

In this wide-ranging interview with Cara Kovacs, the Business Witch, we dive deep into service, and the business side of sharing our passion. Analisa and Cara cover many angles:

  • The importance of having a strong Why & different ways to find it

  • The ethics of shifting from the “Starving Artist” mentality 

  • Intentionality in all things as spellwork

  • Detaching from outcomes: go back to why

  • Money & Power

  • How to Practice the Energy of Abundance

  • Re-Defining Success and what supports your big wild dreams

Episode Summary

In this episode, Analisa interviews Cara Kovacs, the Business Witch. There are so many gems in this conversation, which covers the intersection of passion and pragmatism. How can we allow our passions to inform our pursuit of success? How can we redefine success on our own terms, instead of just accepting what the world tells us? Where is the line between wanting something and clinging to it? What are the hang ups keeping artists from building wealth? As Analisa points out, scarcity mindset comes from SCARS; it is up to us to heal around them. It is about choosing to look at where you are held. It is about becoming well-resourced for the good of all.

Topic Shift Time Stamps 

0:00 Analisa’s intro 

4:18 Cara’s self-introduction

7:05  Money & Entrepreneurship & the collective idea of the Starving Artist

12:50 How to Detach from Outcome

14:18 Why Do You Want What You Want?

16:58 We have all been dehydrated in the desert

19:38: Money & Scarcity

25:45 Reclaiming Wealth to Enact Global Change

27:43 Global Resources & Sufficiency

32:00 Examples of Gratitude Reframes - from the perspective of a moment of sadness

34:43 The Voice as the Bridge Between Inner & Outer World: how can creatives use their voices to support their dreams?

Soul Nourishment mentioned in this episode:

Cara on Instagram

Soul of Money by Lynn Twist

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. 

Sep 5, 2023

Two ways we can work together: 

1:1 Soulful Coaching or the Soulful Creatives Circle 

Read more here and set up a discovery call! 

 

This short + sweet episode is all about Analisa's journey with the word STAR. 

Make the claim + own your star power! 

You're literally stitched from stardust. 

May this episode support you before an audition, stepping on stage and as you walk through your life. 

You are a radiant Being of Light!! 

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 here. 

Apr 25, 2023

In this episode Analisa: 

  • Shares how she drops in before podcasting or creating content, and how to do this for auditions, etc.
  • Talks about her nervous system and when it's not regulated the challenge to be creative and/or take care of herself
  • Permission to listen to our bodies and pause - how important it is to the creative process and our overall wellbeing 
  • Shares why she's taking a break from podcasting 

Stay in the loop + receive a free audition meditation

A Balancing Act is hosted by Analisa Leaming, Broadway actor +  holistic performance 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. 

Jan 10, 2023

Email Analisa to sign up for a single holistic coaching session.

In this episode: 

  • Lauren shares her journey from the performing arts to becoming a sex educator
  • negative dressing room culture
  • Returning to your fullness, reclaiming your wild way and power in the world
  • the current framework around sexuality 
  • many practices to return to your body and to begin to awaken a connection with your creative life force/sexual energy
  • how performers have been taught to shut off their own body wisdom
  • the connection between creativity and sexuality

Lauren Elise Rogers is a Certified Sexuality Educator (ISEE) with an extensive background in the performing arts, Lauren Elise Rogers provides holistic sexuality education as well as personal and professional development coaching. Specializing in helping individuals integrate their sexuality, heal from burnout, and overcome sex-negative beliefs, Lauren believes that all humans deserve pleasurable lives, relationships, and careers. Having studied the lasting effects of trauma, culture, and spirituality Lauren understands that unlearning and expanding thought patterns can be challenging and vulnerable. Her passion for gentle and transformative education allows students to sit safely in discomfort while developing the tools necessary to support a pleasurable existence. To learn more visit: www.sexedforyou.com

Jul 31, 2019

I'm going solo! I created a short episode to reflect on this past year and all of the things I've learned on the First National Tour of Hello, Dolly!

Sign up for Monday's workshop:

Learn to Love Acting Again + BOOK MORE WORK 

What it’s for:

As we head into audition season, join Analisa and Jack for two hours to make a massive leap in how you approach auditions and your craft. In the first hour, you’ll learn incredible tools to begin applying immediately. In the second hour, you’ll have the chance to be coached and watch Jack coach fellow artists in getting out of their own way and booking the jobs they want.

Where: Online
When: August 5th 7-9pm EST

 

Music by:Joel Wagonner- Unlikely Warrior

Oct 23, 2018

In this bonus episode Thomas Jones of the Paradox Process is back and we are talking about LOVE - creating and sustaining the relationship we desire. 

 

Thomas M. Jones, an NYC-based psychotherapist, is co-developer of the breakthrough technology The Paradox Process and author of Love Games: The Hidden Rules of Relationship. Jones hosted The Open Door, a coast-to-coast cable TV show. Former director of the Applied Institute of Psychotherapy, he is now in private practice with a clientele extending internationally. He is trained in family therapy, group therapy, and transactional analysis, and has over three decades of experience. He leads yearly retreats that have included China, Tibet, Spain, and Hawaii.

 

Intro To the Paradox Process: Register Here. Oct 26th, 2018. 

 

To sign up for Thomas’s upcoming event “Creating the Relationship You Want” - a four week class in NYC - enroll HERE. Begins Nov, 14, 2018.

 

Jun 30, 2018

In this short and sweet episode, I share with you my belief that we are all Stars and the importance of lighting up from within rather than waiting for someone to give us permission to shine.

 

You'll hear all about the purpose behind the upcoming online workshop:

What it’s for:

We all want to be a star. We all want to shine our light generously, unapologetically everywhere we go. When we are in our star power we are filled up from the inside --- we don’t look to others for validation, we’re inspired, we’re giving, we’re beautiful, and we’re a magnet for our dreams.

This 2-hour interactive workshop will be a deep dive into your own power. You’ll discover the thoughts that are holding you back and then create a new story. You’ll receive tools and practices designed to support you in shining your light + manifesting your dreams.

Who it’s for:

Anyone who is waiting to be a star.

Whether you’re waiting for your equity card, an agent, your Broadway debut or Tony award - you feel like something is missing and that you’re not where you’re supposed to be.

You’re ready for change.

You’re ready to level up.

You’re ready to start being a STAR today.

Register Here! 


May 15, 2018

Broadway's Sierra Boggess and I gather in the Rosalie dressing room at the Winter Garden Theatre and discuss the greatest gift of our biggest career disappointments — learning that we are not defined by our work. We are so much more. We discuss and explore a plethora practical tools and strategies to get through disappointment and difficult experiences.

Sierra shares her network and team in NYC and recalls Tyne Daly’s advice that “Theatre is a team sport.”

We then go into a wonderful discussion about finding our purpose and how freeing that is. 

Finally, Sierra gets REAL. I’m talking, down right vulnerable about how she came to learn her personal mantra “You are enough, you are so enough, it’s unbelievable how enough you are.” 

May 16th Wednesday @ 5PM Facebook Live with Sierra and Me! 

Resources:

Sierra Boggess

Wayne Dyer

Brene Brown

Marianne Williamson

Diana Nyad  Find a Way 

The Paradox Process: Thomas Jones

Tara Tirapelli (Shaman)

Victoria Green Yoga

Stephanie Klein Health Coach

Panache Desai Your Soul Signature

Finding Your Purpose Ted Talk 

Gabby Bernstein Judgement Detox

Music by: Joel Waggoner 

May 30, 2016

www.soulbodylife.com Health Coaching for your Soul.

 

Beth teaches people how to ditch the dieting and deprivation and ignite their relationship with their bodies and their lives. She believes that stepping into a respectful partnership with your body is the first high-impact step toward incredible empowerment in your life and deep alignment with your soul.

May 23, 2016

http://www.mccaskillstudio.com

 

Robert McCaskill has been teaching and coaching in New York City since 1993. His clients include: Bernadette Peters, Montel Williams, Michelle Rodriguez and hundreds of other talented actors. His students are currently performing on Broadway, on tour, on television and in feature films. He is the writer of the feature film, “Mona“, which won the Best Picture award at the Malibu Film Festival. He is the writer/director of the feature film “Heterosexuals”, starring Natasha Lyonne, Ashley Williams and Tovah Feldshuh.  All the actors playing major roles in “Mona” were current or former students. And nine of the roles in “Heterosexuals” were played by current or former students.

As artistic director of the New Avenue Theatre Project he directed the stage version of “Heterosexuals“, along with other original plays by actors turned playwright. He  directed , and co-wrote with Alex Lyras, the solo show “Unequalibrium” which was published in Best New Plays of 2002 and was nominated for a Dramalogue Award. A piece from the play was also published in Best Male Monologues for the 21st Century. The McCaskill-Lyras team also wrote “The Common Air”  which was nominated, in Los Angeles, for an Ovation Award (in playwriting) and a Dramalogue Award (in direction). McCaskill-Lyras have been commissioned to develop new television shows three times: by NBC, by Fox Broadcasting and by 20th Century Fox.  They have also had deals with Bruckheimer Productions and Joel Silver Productions.

He directed the world premiere “The Bohemians” by Bryan Delaney at Carnegie Hall.

Mr. McCaskill was a writer / performer in the In-House sketch comedy group at the West Bank Downstairs Theater Bar, where he performed with comedian Lewis Black and writer Lisa Loomer (“Girl Interrupted”). He was an actor and director with the professional improv company Chicago City Limits.

He studied with Stella Adler, Wynn Handman, Bob McAndrew and Tim Phillips.

May 16, 2016

In this episode, Cass shares her very unusual journey to Broadway and getting an agent. She also shares an incredible audition technique that is sure to be useful!

 

Cass Morgan’s Broadway credits include The Bridges of Madison County, Memphis, Mary Poppins, Ring of Fire, Beauty and the Beast, The Capeman, The Human Comedy, Pump Boys and Dinettes (co-creator) and Hair. Off-Broadway credits include The Immigrant, Floyd Collins and Violet. Regionally, Morgan has appeared in 1776, Picnic, The Bridges of Madison County(Williamstown), Uncle Vanya, Saint-Ex (Weston Playhouse), The Music Man (Geva), Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas (Goodspeed Musicals), Cabaret, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Das Barbecu (Baltimore Centre Stage) and Children of Eden (Mill Mountain Playhouse).

May 9, 2016

Jasper Grant is a sought after vocal coach in New York City. Take a listen to see what makes him stand out – how is heart-centered approach creates a safe environment for the Singing Actor and Singing Dancer to thrive.

www.jaspergrant.com

 

 

May 2, 2016

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoon_Lee

 

Hoon Lee is an American stage, film and television actor who played the role of Job on the Cinemax series Banshee and played the role of the King in The King and I on Broadway. In this episode, Hoon shares his unique journey to theatre after pursuing a completely unrelated degree at Harvard University. His story offers a fresh perspective to performing that can be invaluable and is a testament to how we can reinvent ourselves over and over again.

Apr 25, 2016

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mara_Davi

In this conversation, I loved getting real with Mara who at the time is starring in Dames at Sea on Broadway. She's so open and vulnerable and shares how she maintains stability in this career filled with so much unknown.

Vedic Meditation is the practice we spoke of and Rob McCaskill is the acting teacher we mention. www.mccaskillstudio.com

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