The Creative Soul Podcast

Tune into this week's solo episode where Leya shares a mini message on changing our mindsets on how we view success and how we can start creating for our future self, and creating our legacy.

We talk about:

• Changing your definition of success
• Creating for your legacy
• The one question you can ask yourself today to create for your tomorrow
• Being proud of how far you've come
• Sending love to your future self

Leya's poetry book:

Mermaid Musings: Stories of Sea, Sex, and Spirituality

Connect with Leya: @leyavandoren

Val is an herbalist, gardener, writer, and artist. She is the owner of Woodspell Apothecary where she cultivates resources for folks to connect to the plant world around them.

In this episode we talk about:

• The mythical nature of the forest
• The connection between fairytales and the forest
• Working with fear in nature
• Connecting to ancestors through the land
• Herbal bitters and how they affect the body
• The ancestral gut connection to bitters
• How to incorporate herbs into your daily wellness practice

Connect with Val:

Instagram: @woodspell.apothecary

Substack: Medicine Garden and Under the Linden Tree

Connect with Leya: @leyavandoren

Join Us for The Poetry Of Plant Magic

Connect To Your Writing Practice & Deepen Your Connection With Nature

When: April 9th-April 30th, 2024

Where: Anywhere in the world via Zoom

• 4 weekly creative writing sessions
• Creative Writing and Journal Prompts
• Learn about herbal medicine and how to incorporate herbs into your wellness practice
• Write and read poetry in safe community
• Develop a deep connection with nature
• Herbal folklore and ancient uses of herbs

Sign up here.

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• Spiritual Ecology
• Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

Tune into this week's solo episode as Leya shares all the details behind the upcoming creative writing workshop, The Poetry of Plant Magic!

The Poetry Of Plant Magic

Connect To Your Writing Practice & Deepen Your Connection With Nature

When: April 9th-April 30th, 2024

Where: Anywhere in the world via Zoom

• 4 weekly creative writing sessions
• Creative Writing and Journal Prompts
• Learn about herbal medicine and how to incorporate herbs into your wellness practice
• Write and read poetry in safe community
• Develop a deep connection with nature
• Herbal folklore and ancient uses of herbs

Learn more and sign up here.

Connect with Leya: @leyavandoren

Brooke Novick is a licensed psychotherapist and graduate of the Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She has worked for a psilocybin retreat company, assisted a shaman during Ayahuasca ceremonies, and has years of experience working with individuals, couples, and groups.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Integrating therapy and medicine work
• Cultivating your intuition on when to work with plant medicine
• Working through fear before and during a ceremony
• Allowing integration to be part of the medicine experience
• How to start an intentional microdosing practice

Creative Resources:

• How To Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan
• Fantastic Fungi (Documentary on Netflix)
• The Last Shaman (Documentary on Amazon Prime) 

Connect with Brooke:

Website: https://axismundiceremony.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/axismundiceremony/

Learn more about The Poetry of Plant Magic: https://leyavandoren.com/the-poetry-of-plant-magic

In this solo episode, Leya shares the two intentions she made for 2024 and how sticking to her habits has created more stability, structure, and safety.

We discuss:

• The changing of the seasons
• What Leya loved about winter this year
• The hardest part about sticking to your habits
• Writing as an act of embodiment
• Feeling your feelings
• Friendship breakups
• Healing the sister wound

DM @leyavandoren or email me at [email protected] with the word "RETREAT" for more info on The Soul Radiance Retreat May 17-20th, 2024. The deadline to sign up is March 17th.

Discover Your Creative Soul Playlist: Listen here.

Britt is a certified health coach, spiritual life coach, podcast host, entrepreneur, energy healer, plant-based nutrition advocate, speaker, and integrative wellness enthusiast.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How Britt hosted the MAGIC retreat in Puerto Rico and the gifts it gave us
• Trusting your visions
• Pausing your career for motherhood
• Navigating parenthood and mental health with your partner
• How to not self-abandon in motherhood

Listen to our first episode here:

Episode 55: ft. Britt Olson on Saturn Returns, Intuitive Eating, and the MAGIC Retreat

Connect with Britt: @thebrittolson

Apply for the Soul Radiance Retreat, May 17-20th in San Diego, CA:

Find more info here

Ning is a published poet, grief guide, spiritual healer and dream yogi specializing in the intersection of the healing power of dreams, rituals, and spiritual constellations as potent tools for helping the bereaved evolve and continue their relationship with their dead loved one and find the light side of grief.

Her work as a grief guide is an integration of 10+ years of Tibetan dream yoga, 6+ years of Spiritual Healing and Constellations work, shamanic breathwork, African mourning and grief rituals, western grief models, sleep and dream science, a master’s degree in Spiritual Psychology from Columbia University as well as an embodiment of her personal experience grieving the death of her mother in 2018.

Her life’s work is to inspire people to develop a softer relationship with death and grief by learning how to consciously journey into their pain, evolve relationships with their dead loved ones, and extract the medicine, soul gifts and purpose hidden within their grief.

In this episode we discuss:

• The gifts from death and grief
• Connecting with your loved ones after they pass
• The five dimensions of grief
• Connecting with your loved ones through dreaming
• How to start remembering your dreams
• Interpreting the symbols from your dreams
• Crafting rituals to support transitions in your life
• The connection between creativity and grief

Connect with Ning:

@ning_tendo

Website: www.dreamreunions.com

Ning's Poetry Book: Death Song in Green

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• The Dream Messenger by Patricia Garfield
• Grief Dreams by T.J Wray and Ann Back Price
• Unattended Sorrows by Stephen Weller
• The Dark Interval by Rainer Marie Rilke
• The Wild Edge of Sorrow by Francis Weller
• Grief Dreams by Dr. Joshua Black

Leya announces the launch of The Soul Radiance Retreat - a sisterhood, creativity, and self-love focused retreat from May 17th-20th, 2024 near San Diego, California.

An invitation to slow down, connect with your true self, and experience the magic of sisterhood.

She invites her co-hosts for the retreat, Shannon Keating and Ashley Love to discuss:

• All the details for the upcoming retreat, The Soul Radiance Retreat
• What Shannon, Ashley, and Leya have all gained from attending various retreats (including how they met at a retreat!)
• Our WHY for creating The Soul Radiance Retreat + what you can expect to receive!
• The fears that can come up before investing in a retreat
• The magic of sisterhood and finding soul-aligned friendships

Learn more about the retreat: bit.ly/thesoulradianceretreat

Connect with Leya:

@leyavandoren // www.leyavandoren.com

Connect with Ashley:

@ashleycreatrix // www.theashleylove.com

Connect with Shannon:

@shannonkeating // www.shannonkeating.com

In this bonus episode, Leya shares some of her favorite books she read in 2023.

She talks about:

• The importance of reading and why she's loved books and reading since childhood
• Why this year she stopped reading as many self-help books and started reading more fiction!
• How social media can be a window, but books can be a mirror
• How books connect us to the collective unconsciousness

Some of the books mentioned:

• Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker
• Mother, Nature by Jedidiah Jenkins
• Letting Magic In by Maia Toll
• A Court of Thorns & Roses by Sarah J Maas
• The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch

+ tune into the episode to hear 10+ more!

Connect with Leya:

Instagram: @leyavandoren

Website: www.leyavandoren.com

Tune into this special solo episode where Leya reflects on the highs and lows of 2023, the lessons learned, and some of her hopes for 2024.

From spending the first six months of the year wedding planning, to hosting a bachelorette retreat trip in Tulum, to being a bridesmaid in a friends wedding, to getting married in June, to honeymooning in Mexico, to moving to D.C., to connecting with family and ancestors, and experiencing the contrasts of life, this year was one to remember!

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• The Conscious Bride by Sheryl Paul
• The Wisdom of Anxiety by Sheryl Paul

Connect with Leya:

@leyavandoren

[email protected]

Purchase The Creative Soul Practice for $44 here.