In this from the heart episode, Leya shares vulnerably how she's feeling as she's entering the birth portal.

We discuss:

• What fears and resistances have come up before entering motherhood
• Moving through fear and anxiety around labor and childbirth
• Why birth feels like the ultimate embodiment experience
• Allowing our experiences to be unique and universal at the same time
• Why motherhood is not a universal experience
• How to deal with life circumstances that feel out of our control
• Learning to surrender and trust

Connect with Leya: @leyavandoren

Mari Andrew is a New York Times bestselling author, artist, and speaker, who has gained an international reputation for joyfully philosophical illustrations and essays that meander between deep and light, bitter and sweet. Mari is in the business of paying attention, and her work reflects her specific observations turned into universal life lessons.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Connecting to your past art as a creator
• Making meaning from your personal experiences
• Embracing our humanity as creative souls
• Not having to be consistent in a creative practice
• How to own your own creative process
• Letting yourself grow and evolve as an artist
• Mari's decision to leave Instagram after gaining a large community
• The number one thing that stops people from creating

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• Sabrina Ward Harrison
• How to Live a Good Life by Jonathan Fields

Connect with Mari: Substack

Join The Creative Soul Practice - a 7 day guided writing meditation series. Use code "CREATIVESOUL" for 10% off. Find more info here.

In this solo episode, Leya shares how to make creativity a habit and how you can SHOW UP for your creative soul this year.

We discuss:

• How to value your creativity and prioritize it
• Cultivating a creative practice
• Why we face resistance in our creative practice and how to move through it
• How to show up consistently to your creativity
• How to see your creative ideas come to life
• How to take the pressure off your creativity and start accessing it in fun, simple, easy ways

Join The Creative Soul Practice:

A 7 day guided writing meditation series to help you cultivate your creative practice.

Find more info here.

Use code "CREATIVESOUL" for 10% off

Connect with Leya: @leyavandoren

Tune into Episode 111 for a taste of The Creative Soul Practice and receive a free Heart Chakra Writing Meditation

In this solo episode, I share my updates from week 35 of pregnancy!

We talk about:

• How I'm feeling at 35 weeks pregnant
• What prenatal care decisions I made and why
• How I chose my birth team
• Hiring a doula
• How I chose my birth plan (and why I'm planning for a home birth)
• Why birth is not a medical event
• Managing blood sugar during pregnancy
• Prepping for postpartum

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• The Business of Being Born
• Real Food for Gestational Diabetes by Lily Nichols
• The First Forty Days by Heng Ou
• Glucose Goddess

In this episode, we talk about:

• Creating our creative soul projects
• Being in creative flow and getting "stuck" and how to move through
• Writing retreats
• Using myths and fairytales to tell our stories
• Publishing
• Hero and heroine journeys

Elisabeth Sharp McKetta is a storyteller and the author of thirteen books across genres, including Edit Your Life (2023); Awake with Asashoryu (2022); She Never Told Me About the Ocean (2021). She teaches for the Harvard Extension School Writing Program and Oxford University’s Diploma in Creative Writing.

Connect with Elisabeth: Website

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• Writing the Story by John Franklin
• The Virgin's Promise: Writing Stories of Feminine Creative, Spiritual and Sexual Awakening by Kim Hudson

In this solo episode, Leya shares a letter from the heart on the final processing of 2024 and sets intentions for 2025. Tune into be inspired as you process on your own year and reflect on what 2025 may have in store for you.

We also talk about:

• Beginnings and endings
• Words of the year
• The death of the maiden and rebirth of the mother
• Favorite Creative Soul podcast episodes from 2024

Connect with Leya: @leyavandoren

In this solo episode, Leya shares her reflections, lessons, and celebrations for her 30th birthday! We talk about:

• The importance of reflection on your birthday
• Highlights from her 29th year
• Being proud of how far you've come
• The lessons she learned in her twenties
• Dealing with purpose anxiety, identity, home, and belonging
• The next phase she's moving into for her thirties
• How to deal with being human

We end the episode with a special herbal reading to guide us through the end of the year and new year!

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• Herbal Astrology Oracle by Adriana Ayales

Leave a rating and review as a birthday gift!

Connect with Leya @leyavandoren

Rachael Cohen is a spiritual guide, space holder, Nature connector, intuitive activator, energy transformer and author. She is the creator and founder of Infinite Succulent and Our Infinite Nature. When her experiences as an environmental educator, wild animal specialist and mother left her anxious and distraught over society’s destruction of Nature, Rachael learned to cultivate a creative relationship with plants and Nature that transformed her life and awakened her spiritual gifts.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Creating with nature
• How to deal with eco anxiety and existential dread
• Staying connected in a disconnected world
• Heart chakra imbalance in the world
• Following our authentic joy
• Nature practices to regulate your nervous system
• Why we DO belong on earth

Connect with Rachael:

Website: ourinfinitenature.co

Instagram: @ourinfinitenaturerachael

Rachaels Books:

• Self-Care for Eco Anxiety
• Everyday Plant Magic
• Infinite Succulent

In this special solo episode, Leya shares about how she found out she was 6 months pregnant.

We talk about:

• What it was like finding out at 6 months
• Leya's journey with hormonal birth control & cycles
• The physical experience of finding out you're pregnant in your third trimester
• The spiritual and emotional work that led to this
• The healing retreat Leya attended earlier this year
• Healing mind, body, spirit

Connect with Leya:

@leyavandoren

TW: Leya mentions her personal experience with CSA. Please visit Saprea for more info.

Rebecca Akat is a menstrual cycle coach and the founder and owner of Blume Womb where she guides women to have a deeper relationship to the cycles and seasons of their menstrual cycle.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How to build a relationship with your womb and menstrual cycle
• What cycle and/or hormonal imbalances might mean
• The four feminine archetypes
• The four phases of the menstrual cycle
• The shadow and light of each feminine archetype
• Why the wounded maiden is so prevalent in society
• The transition from maiden to mother

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• Maiden to Mother by Sarah Durham Wilson
• Wise Power and Wild Power by Alexandra Pope and Sjanie Hugo Wurlitzer

Connect with Rebecca:

@blumewomb