What if your everyday life could feel like art? In this creative minisode, I share a simple daily writing practice to transform the mundane into magic and help you reconnect with your creative soul. Plus you'll receive an invitation to a live 4 week writing circle starting September 9th, 2025.

We talk about:

• Why the mundane moments of your life hold the most creative inspiration
• A simple daily practice to spark creativity in just a few minutes a day
• How to overcome fear, perfectionism, and the resistance of the blank page
• The power of record-keeping through writing and journaling
• How to tell the stories your creative soul wants to tell
• Ways to romanticize your everyday life and infuse it with beauty
• How writing connects you to your inner voice and creative soul

Join the live writing class: Mundane into Magic here

Connect with me on Instagram @leyavandoren

Read my Substack here

In this solo episode, I share the magic of the summer season - from what I'm buying at the farmer's market, to reframing our creative purposes, to making our day jobs work for us, to balancing multiple identities, to navigating seasons of change and transformation.

We talk about:

• The sensual, creative magic of summer abundance
• What I’m cooking and loving from the farmer’s market
• Living seasonally and honoring nature’s rhythms
• Saying goodbye to our Michigan home and honoring the woman I became there
• The cyclical nature of change: beginnings, middles, and endings
• Why I stopped feeling shame about my “day job” and how I reframed it as part of my creative purpose
• Creativity, authenticity, and the soul’s calling in a content-driven world
• Redefining success as a creative and understanding your role in the collective

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• The Social Change Ecosystem Map by Deepa Iyer
• Birth Story Workshop
• My upcoming book I Collect Stories Like Seashells – releasing Fall 2025

Subscribe to my Substack for weekly writing, seasonal rituals, and soulful musings: leya.substack.com

Let’s stay connected:

Instagram: @leyavandoren

Dalia is an Assyrian-American director and writer focusing on explosive theatricality and subverting existing narratives. She was listed in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Hollywood and Entertainment 2025. Her Broadway credits include serving as Associate Director of Sweeney Todd and as the Resident Director at Phantom of the Opera.

In this episode, we talk about:

• What it really means to be a director
• Learning to trust your creative vision
• Making mistakes in the rehearsal process
• How overstimulation kills creativity
• Why collaboration is a mirror for self-growth
• Telling ancestral stories
• Finding the stories that matter to us

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• Everything is Waiting for You by David Whyte
• Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon

Connect with Dalia:

@your_gal_dal

www.daliaashurina.com

In this solo episode, Leya shares her life updates being four months postpartum.

We talk about:

• The importance of honoring and processing our birth stories
• How you can reflect and honor your birth story, months and even years later!
• What I'm navigating postpartum
• Feeling more feminine becoming a mother
• Why motherhood is bringing me deeper into compassion
• How motherhood is strengthening my spirituality

Birth Story Reflection Workshop: Find the replay here.

Read my Substack here.

Connect with Leya @leyavandoren

Lindsey Simcik is a creative force, entrepreneur, and media personality best known as the co-founder and co-host of the critically acclaimed Almost 30 podcast. Alongside her co-host Krista, she also launched Morning Microdose, a wildly popular daily show serving up the best bits of Almost 30. She created “New Mom on the Block”, a brand designed to support new moms in owning their unique flavor of motherhood through resources, products, and a vibrant community.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How to know when is the right time for a creative idea
• Determining what season you're in
• What to do in a waiting season
• Navigating a healing season, integration season, and chaos season (Hello Saturn Return!)
• Embodying different roles in marriage
• Finding embodiment through motherhood
• Allowing our creative and spiritual practices to change with the seasons of life

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• Time Passages App

Read the Book: Almost 30: A Definitive Guide to a Life You Love for the Next Decade and Beyond

Connect with Lindsey: @lindseysimcik

In this creative minisode, Leya provides tips on how to navigate this nuanced and complex topic for creatives:

📝 How can you write and share your personal story—especially in memoir or creative nonfiction—without damaging relationships with family and loved ones?

If you've ever felt creatively blocked by the fear of how others will react to your truth, this episode will offer both comfort and clarity. Leya explores the emotional and practical sides of writing about real people in your life, especially in personal essays, memoirs, or storytelling projects.

We talk about:

• Why this question often shows up too early in the creative process
• How fear of offending others can block your creativity
• Why your story matters even if it includes other people
• The importance of writing your truth for yourself first
• Tips for navigating sensitive relationships once you’re ready to share

Creative Resources Mentioned:

• Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur
• Mother, Nature by Jedidiah Jenkins
• How to Write About Your Childhood Without Blowing Up Your Family by Jedidiah Jenkins

Want to start telling your story? Join The Creative Soul Practice today!

Use "CREATIVESOUL" for 10% off

In this deeply nourishing episode of The Creative Soul Podcast, I sit down with energy healer and spiritual guide Maya for a raw, real, and inspiring conversation about transformation, intuition, and the power of trusting your path, especially when everything is falling apart.

Maya shares her evolution from full-time coach and entrepreneur to stepping away from her business, working a corporate job, and then returning home to her true calling: Reiki healing. We talk about Saturn returns, identity shifts, navigating the dark night of the soul, and what it means to listen to the body’s wisdom.

You’ll hear us explore:

• Maya’s journey of spiritual growth and identity rebirth as a Scorpio sun and moon
• Why she stepped away from her business and what led her back to it with more clarity and ease
• How working a 9-to-5 taught her about compassion, privilege, and healing outside the “spiritual bubble”
• The truth about dark nights of the soul and why “the only way out is through”
• Creating safety and finding (or building) authentic community
• How Reiki energy healing works (even from a distance!) and who it’s for

Whether you're in a season of rapid transformation, seeking spiritual support, or craving real talk about the behind-the-scenes of healing and entrepreneurship, this episode will meet you exactly where you are.

✨ Learn more about Maya’s work:

Follow Maya on Instagram: @somedaymysoul

In this week's solo mini-sode, I answer one of YOUR questions - how do you keep going on a creative project when you feel un-inspired?

We talk about:

• Why the creative process is non-linear
• How to navigate creative blocks or when you feel stuck
• The importance of taking time away
• How to stay committed and keep showing up to your creativity
• Trusting the timing of your creative projects
• Why inspiration isn’t enough—and how discipline can be devotion
• Allowing yourself to be changed in the creative process
• Questions to journal when a project feels stuck or ready to transform

Have a topic you want me to cover? Message me on Instagram @leyavandoren