I feel like an impostor. Yes, on a repeated and ongoing basis - hence the name and premise of this podcast AND my podcast company The Creative Impostor Studios. But there are moments when this feeling is worse than usual. And that was the entire month of March 2022.  Mentioned 20% off your pass to Podfest! Promo Code: podcastenvy (email me to see if the nearly free listener pass is still available!) Power Your Story (featuring my students!) #claimpodparity Show some love for The Creative Impostor LOVE The Creative Impostor? I would LOVE if you could leave me a short & sweet review: ht ..read more

Let me tell you a Creative Impostor story for the New Year. It's about a woman taking a huge risk. The story begins during that weird week between Christmas and New Year’s. Where noting gets done, no one knows what day it is and yet, somehow, you imagined getting caught up on all the things you didn’t get to yet this year. It’s Monday and I’m driving from Chicago to a small town in Wisconsin, not far over the state line. It’s only 6pm but it grows increasingly darker and more ominous to this self-diagnosed city girl. I’m on a call with my friend Julia…  running my internal monologue past ..read more

After 18 months of caution, this holiday season finally offers many of us a chance to commune with family and connect with old friends. Yay? Nay?  How do we feel about the contact? The conversations? A lot has changed since the last time we headed over the river and through the woods. Not least is a collective intolerance for political viewpoints that don’t align with our own.  These are deeply partisan times to be sure. That said, is it possible for divided friends and family members to foster mutual respect for all POVs, even wind up standing on common ground?  Can we begin to ..read more

Check out our brand new podcast from The Creative Impostor Studios: Improve With Auntie! It's a creative round table for your favorite aunts, aunties, ti-tis, tias... please pass it along or take a listen yourself. Available now in Spotify: http://bit.ly/spotifyaunties Apple, Google, more apps coming soon... Episode 1 is Holly, Jolly Winter Holiday Gifts & Traditions for Aunties. Thanks for listening!     ..read more

Episode 133. Beginner's mind. That place where you don't know anything, where there's simply a desire to do. An inkling -- what a terrific word, inkling -- a slight knowledge or vague notion, it even implies curiosity. It's a good place to be, with infinite possibility. It's like the beginning of a new relationship with its flush of excitement and that nauseated uncertainty. Your senses are heightened and your rational brain is fuzzy. You can't think about any thing else. And six years ago in 2015, I was there with podcasting. I'd been there before with operating a storefront yoga studio, with ..read more

While recording this episode, I wrote down the following equation: Communication + boundaries = freedom to explore and play So, yeah...we’re talking about sex as self-care with Karen Yates, somatic sex educator as well as creator and host of Wild & Sublime, the live show and podcast that delivers a sexy spin on infotainment.  Sex however is too narrow a term - at least by current, uniquely American standards. Erotic mindfulness is more expansive and inviting, focusing on openness and sensual pleasure rather than just the act. If you’re like me - a full-grown, cis-gendered, sexually ac ..read more

Can a conversation with a rebel influencer, recorded mid-pandemic, inspire us toward greater self-love and trust as we emerge from the COVID cocoon?  Jetty Nieuwenhuis (pronounced Yeti) is the rebel in question. It’s an appropriate modifier to a term that absolutely conjures images of well-connected content creators seemingly unencumbered by life’s petty worries. Also: young. Influencer is overwhelmingly associated with youth. When it comes to the typical influencer credentials, Jetty aged out of the ingenue mold before she even began. Those few additional years have gifted her with ..read more

"Anti-racism work is not about saving the unfortunate; anti-racism work is about saving all of us, improving the lives of all of us." ~Lori L. Tharps One of the themes to emerge from the not your typical self-care series is connection. Specifically, the idea that pursuing practices that require greater inward focus or offer less obvious immediate gratification creates a ripple effect.  Anti-racism is self-care on a global scale. If you’re thinking, “Um, Andrea, that’s a bold claim and an unconventional discipline to add to my routine,” let me counter with this: it’s all about mindset. Lor ..read more

"I don't want to be interacting with people on a day-to-day basis and have them feeling like, 'Andrea...she's just really collapsed.' That's terrible. That's not the energy that I want to be putting out into the world. That's not how I want to be perceived.  And it's definitely not how I think of myself." ~Andrea Klunder I don't know about you, but at this moment, at the end of March 2021, moving into April I am feeling like it is time for a shift. That makes sense. It's springtime in the Midwest. It's about those green little plants that are popping up out of the earth. It's about openin ..read more

Episode 128. “Even a true, traditional guru — his only intention would be to introduce you to the teacher that exists within yourself.” ~Mason Pain Throughout this entire pandemic (hello, first anniversary!), I’ve grown more keenly aware of my need for:  A protective bubble for my mind, a metaphysical helmet if you like, to protect my synapses from the torrent of bad news and keyed-up discourse and… A phrase to describe the practices that contribute to my sense of inner + outer wellbeing – something beyond the retail boon of self-care and… While I’m at it, a true reckoning around those b ..read more