Self-Care Coach, Wellness Speaker + Trainer, Author & Artist: when my career as a lawyer, an investment banker, and a digital communications professional stressed me out, caused burnout, and did not produce the level of success I expected. During my healing journey, I studied and practiced meditation, yoga, reiki, journaling, art-making, and creative writing. They helped me develop self-care practices, navigate change, and become resilient. As a result, I became a certified yoga and mindfulness teacher, a reiki master practitioner, a sound healer, and an artist-in-residence for the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts at Howard University Hospital and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Today, I share my gifts and expertise as the founder and Chief Mindfulness Officer of Ananda Leeke Consulting, a wellness company, and the Thriving Mindfully Academy, an online learning platform. Through my work, I am able to hold space for and support your growth and resiliency.
After I went walking this morning with my fellow artist Tonya Butler-Truesdale (aka Adejoke), we stopped at Au Lait Cafe for a hot beverage. I got the macha latte with oat milk, which is AWESOME.
While we were at Au Lait Cafe, I started working on the base of my Oshun-inspired African mermaid wire sculpture. This process reminded me how art transforms itself when I surrender.
As we talked about the copper wire I was using, Tonya told me about the Yoruba goddess Oya’s connection to it. Mama Oya rules over the wind, lightning, storms, death, and rebirth. She is also associated with the wise woman called the Crone.
My spirit, heart, and sacral center/chakra felt a shift in the sculpture’s energy. So, I surrendered to the creative flow.
I know the creative flow is one of the ways Spirit and my loving, wise, and well ancestors guide my artwork and writing.
I have learned over the years to welcome and TRUST their presence and wisdom.
My hands started bending the mermaid’s tail. When my hands were satisfied, I stared at the sculpture. She had become Mama Oya.
The sculpture reminded me of my recent connection to Oya, who is known as Iansa in Brasil.
During my recent trip to Salvador da Bahia, Brasil with AfroBuenaventura Transformative Travel, I was blessed to visit a Candomble house dedicated to Iansa and receive a reading from a Candomble iyalorixa (priestess) who is guided by Iansa (Oya). Those experiences were my first personal connection to Oya/Iansa.
As I look at where I am in my spiritual and life journey as a 58 year old who has entered her second Saturn Return and the early stages of wise womanhood or elderhood, I can see why Iansa/Oya has shown up in my creativity. For me, her energy is all about death and rebirth in my life. The death represents the end of a 30-year cycle that started during my first Saturn Return. The rebirth energy is all about who I am becoming at 58.
Well, I still have some work to do on Mama Oya’s wire sculpture. Stay tuned for more artist updates!
Join Tonya and I for a Women’s History Month conversation about our creative journey and work as African American artists and entrepreneurs with Zawadi African Arts Gallery founder Irene Whalen, our soul sistalove and mentor, on March 25th at 3-6 PM at Zawadi African Arts Gallery, 1524 U Street, NW in DC.
We will have our work available for sale: Tonya’s amazing cards and my ancestral wire sculptures and three powerful books: Love’s Troubadours, a self-love and yoga-inspired novel; That Which Awakens Me, a mindful creativity memoir; and Digital Sisterhood, a mindful technology memoir.
Check out the conversation I had with my soul sistalove and fellow artist Tonya “Adejoke” Butler-Truesdale’s about our creative expression and journey in our 50s.
DC EVENT
Join Tonya and I for a Women’s History Month conversation about our creative journey and work as African American artists and entrepreneurs with Zawadi Arts founder Irene Whalen, on March 25, 2023, at 3-6 PM at Zawadi, 1524 U Street, NW in DC.
We will have our work available for sale: Tonya’s amazing cards and my ancestral wire sculptures and three powerful books: Love’s Troubadours, a self-love and yoga-inspired novel; That Which Awakens Me, a mindful creativity memoir; and Digital Sisterhood, a mindful technology memoir.
Ananda Kiamsha Madelyn Leeke is a self-taught mixed media artist, poet, author, coach, Human Design Doula, yoga + meditation teacher, reiki + sound healing practitioner, and digital wellness educator. Ananda turned to the healing arts for emotional support when her career as a lawyer, an investment banker, and a digital communications professional stressed her out, caused burnout, and did not produce the level of success she expected. During her healing journey, she used journaling, poetry, and art-making to bring calm and ease to her spirit, heart, mind, and body. Ananda has written three mindfulness books: Love’s Troubadours, a self-love and yoga-inspired novel; That Which Awakens Me, a mindful creativity memoir; and Digital Sisterhood, a mindful technology memoir. Her books are available on Amazon: https://anandaleeke.com/books and https://www.amazon.com/author/anandaleeke. To learn more about Ananda, visit https://anandaleeke.com/art and follow @blackwombmoonartist on Instagram.
Tonya Butler-Truesdale, Esq. (aka Adejoke) is the founder of Adejoke Speaks, an emerging “Art for All” ministry. Adejoke is also a single mother, daughter, ordained minister, Isese onifa, and a municipal government attorney. She is a curator of all things in nature that are colorful and fragrant. Her love for botanical life and color inspired and charged her to expand her son’s personal care product business to include one-of-a-kind, artisan greeting cards, and jewelry. Her mission is founded upon the belief that thoughtfully crafted paper sentiments and gifts heal both the giver and the recipient. Her goal is to provide sensual, tactile experiences accessible to all income levels. Her choice of color and composition is driven by the aesthetic celebration of elements incompatible with mass production yet rich with spiritual, scientific, mathematical, and historical symbols steeped in the personification of marginalized cultures (think: masculine themes in pink, women surrounded by numbers, African graphics in muted color schemes). A belief that toxic thought patterns can be erased by beauty and kindness buttresses each theme and choice in her work. Your purchases also support her goal to celebrate esteemed community elders with elaborate care packages in recognition of their work and sacrifices for marginalized communities. Adejoke Speaks can be found at her favorite retailers, and comments may be left at https://www.silkysoftsmoothsheabutter.com or GoTonyaGo@gmail.com.
Join me and my soul sistalove Tonya Butler-Truesdale for a Women’s History Month conversation about our creative journey and work as African American artists and entrepreneurs with Zawadi African Arts Gallery founder Irene Whalen, our soul sistalove and mentor, on March 25th at 3-6 PM at Zawadi, 1524 U Street, NW in DC.
We will have our work available for sale: Tonya’s amazing cards and my ancestral wire sculptures and three powerful books: Love’s Troubadours, a self-love and yoga-inspired novel; That Which Awakens Me, a mindful creativity memoir; and Digital Sisterhood, a mindful technology memoir.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Ananda Kiamsha Madelyn Leeke is a self-taught mixed media artist, poet, author, coach, Human Design Doula, yoga + meditation teacher, reiki + sound healing practitioner, and digital wellness educator. Ananda turned to the healing arts for emotional support when her career as a lawyer, an investment banker, and a digital communications professional stressed her out, caused burnout, and did not produce the level of success she expected. During her healing journey, she used journaling, poetry, and art-making to bring calm and ease to her spirit, heart, mind, and body. Ananda has written three mindfulness books: Love’s Troubadours, a self-love and yoga-inspired novel; That Which Awakens Me, a mindful creativity memoir; and Digital Sisterhood, a mindful technology memoir. Her books are available on Amazon: https://anandaleeke.com/books and https://www.amazon.com/author/anandaleeke. To learn more about Ananda, visit https://anandaleeke.com/art and follow @blackwombmoonartist on Instagram.
Tonya Butler-Truesdale, Esq. (aka Adejoke) is the founder of Adejoke Speaks, an emerging “Art for All” ministry. Adejoke is also a single mother, daughter, ordained minister, Isese onifa, and a municipal government attorney. She is a curator of all things in nature that are colorful and fragrant. Her love for botanical life and color inspired and charged her to expand her son’s personal care product business to include one-of-a-kind, artisan greeting cards, and jewelry. Her mission is founded upon the belief that thoughtfully crafted paper sentiments and gifts heal both the giver and the recipient. Her goal is to provide sensual, tactile experiences accessible to all income levels. Her choice of color and composition is driven by the aesthetic celebration of elements incompatible with mass production yet rich with spiritual, scientific, mathematical, and historical symbols steeped in the personification of marginalized cultures (think: masculine themes in pink, women surrounded by numbers, African graphics in muted color schemes). A belief that toxic thought patterns can be erased by beauty and kindness buttresses each theme and choice in her work. Your purchases also support her goal to celebrate esteemed community elders with elaborate care packages in recognition of their work and sacrifices for marginalized communities. Adejoke Speaks can be found at her favorite retailers, and comments may be left at https://www.silkysoftsmoothsheabutter.com or GoTonyaGo@gmail.com.
I woke up this morning with a lot of thoughts about what I need to do, how to do it, and when to do it. My inner critic Broomie was starting to raise holy HELL. Her mind drama almost took over my morning and planted seeds of pressure to jump into my day without grounding myself. To move into a day of busyness and stress.
Here’s what happened when I decided to acknowledge Broomie’s holy HELL or mind drama as an invitation to be S.O.F.T. with myself. I gave myself space to practice deep breathing. My deep breathing sent a message to my body to calm down and begin to uproot the pressure seeds. It also opened me up to give myself a hug which activated “self-love and self-care” superpowers of oxytocin, the love hormone, and seratonin, the feel go hormone. Together, they reduce cortisol, the stress hormone, when you hug yourself for 20 seconds or more.
My deep breathing and self-hug are two of my favorite self-love and self-care practices I use to create softness. Most times, they lead me to practice meditation, restorative and yin yoga, and reiki. All of these practices GROUND me.
When I get grounded, I am able to embody and express THRIVING MINDFULLY, a heart-centered approach to being present, well, and the REAL ME.
When I embody THRIVING MINDFULLY, I am able to receive and tap into the wisdom of Creator and my loving + wise + well ancestors. I call this blessing a DIVINE DOWNLOAD.
Today, the divine download I received was the phrase and understanding of INTENTIONAL SOFTNESS. INTENTIONAL SOFTNESS describes the process I experienced this morning.
Watch the video Bbelow to hear more about INTENTIONAL SOFTNESS
FYI: INTENTIONAL SOFTNESS is the choice you GET to make to SLOW down and OFFER yourself FREEDOM TODAY.
Your FREEDOM is being S.O.F.T. with yourself by practicing self-love and self-care.
Your S.O.F.T. practice can start with VERY SMALL STEPS: 1 thing that can be done in 1-minute or less that nurtures your spirit, heart, mind, and body in an uplifting way. Examples include taking 1-3 deep breaths, a hug for 20 seconds, meditation, moving your body gently, journaling, saying an affirmation, taking a nap, sleeping in, wearing your favorite colors, and drinking water or another beverage slowly.
INTENTIONAL SOFTNESS VIDEO
EXPLORE YOUR INTENTIONAL SOFTNESS DURING SPRING VIRTUAL RETREAT
If you’re interested, click the button to learn more and join me on April 18th or 22nd.
In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic changed how you live, communicate, learn, work, shop, play, and do business in the world. So much has happened. So much continues to happen.
One of the best ways you can move through these changes is to remind yourself that YOU MATTER.
You are worthy.
Do you know you are the most important person in your life?
YES YOU ARE!
You deserve to make yourself a PRIORITY!
One way you can make yourself a priority is with a retreat. A retreat helps you carve out time and space and take responsibility for yourself. When you take responsibility for yourself, you begin to see your full self.
A retreat gives you an opportunity to take responsibility for identifying your vulnerabilities, challenges, wins, and losses.
A retreat can also help you set intentions and create shifts in how you choose to show up in your life, relationships, career, and business.
Join Ananda Leeke, Thriving Mindfully Coach, author, artist, and Human Design Doula, for the Thriving Mindfully Academy’s Spring Virtual Retreat.
The Spring Virtual Retreat will be offered on April 18th at 7-8:30 PM ET and April 22nd from 2-3:30 PM ET.
If you’re interested, click the button below to register for the S.O.F.T. AF Sunday on March 26th at 2-3 PM at Qi Kratom CBD Tea, 1517 U Street, NW, in DC.
When is the last time you slowed down and gave yourself space to receive GRACE?
I gave myself GRACE all weekend long.
Why?
Because I deserved it. And so do you. Check out my latest video to learn more about my weekend GRACE adevntures. May what I share inspire you to receive GRACE today and every day.
When I SLOW down and give myself space to receive GRACE, I TRUST myself more. The more I strengthen my TRUST musicle, the more I listen to and follow the wisdom and guidance of Creator and my loving, wise, and well ancestors. Doing so helps me dive deeper into my seasonal self-care practices.
Check out the conversation I had with Laura Pusey, a transformative grief therapist and author, about trusting and nurturing yourself in your life and career with Mother Nature’s seasonal self-care on the Thriving Mindfully Podcast’s S6 EP2. Click the button below to listen to the podcast episode.
ONE LAST THING Click the button for your special invitation to my in-person DC event called SOFT AF SUNDAYS on January 22, Febrary 26, and March 26 at 2-3 p.m. at Qi Kratom CBD Tea, 1517 U Street, NW. Get your ticket here.
We’re 12 days into a new year. What’s 2023 feel and look like in your life?
My 2023 is already giving me a message I didn’t want to hear this week.
SLOW down and OFFER yourself FREEDOM TODAY and everyday. Be S.O.F.T. AF with yourself by any means necessary, boo!!!! Remember the commitment you made to yourself on New Year’s Day about being S.O.F.T. AF with yourself in your life, relationships, and career? Why are you putting pressure on yourself to add more things to your to-do list in your business?
I resisted this message because I got caught up in what I thought I should be doing in my business after watching peers roll out their 2023 programs and offers. I got caught up in comparing myself to others. I forgot all about my heart-centered approach of Thriving Mindfully that has guided me for the past 30+ years.
YES I FORGOT ABOUT IT because I allowed my mind to get caught up in comparing myself to others which never works and always creates pressure and stress I don’t deserve. HAVE YOU EVER DONE THAT?
On Wednesday morning, I got up early to go walking with my soul sistalove and fellow Howard University Law alumna, Tonya. As we walked and talked, I found myself sharing what Spirit and my loving + wise + well ancestors have been calling me to do during this Winter season. I told Tonya I needed to press the reset button on my 2023 and recommit to my S.O.F.T. AF practice because I am experiencing a new chapter of emotional awareness and maturity as a 58 year old. In astrology, my new chapter is called the second Saturn Return.
My second Saturn Return is calling me to slow down, pay attention, and be open to change in how I show up in my life, relationships, career, and business. It is asking me to explore how I can begin to walk out my calling as a wise woman (elder). It is inviting me to feel and examine all of my feelings. It is also asking me to strengthen my TRUST in Spirit, my loving + wise + well ancestors, and myself.
Honestly speaking, some of these things are scary and feel like they will be messy at times. I know they will bring me into a place of unknown. And it is the unknown that has parts of me — my Inner Critic and Chief Operating Officer archetypes — freaking out some. Why? Because it means I will have to surrender and lose control.
There it is … the C-WORD. CONTROL. Loss of control triggers my Inner Critic and Chief Operating Office archetypes. Together, they are control freak powerhouses who can get so loud in my mind with comparison, overdoing, and overachieving that they create the pressure to perform which gives birth to stress. They are the ones who refuse to SLOW down. They want no part of my S.O.F.T. AF reset.
In the midst of their resistance, I was able to claim and celebrate three blessings that have guided me back to my commitment to be S.O.F.T. AF this winter.
MY 3 BLESSINGS
Blessing #1 is rooted in my birthright of mindfulness and relationship with my inner self, Spirit, and the loving + wise + well ancestors. Over the past 30+ years, I have chosen to slow down and pay attention to what’s happening inside and outside of me. That choice represents me claiming and practicing my birthright of mindfulness. When I practice it, I have been able to know and understand myself from the insight out. It is a lifelong journey of self-discovery that happens each time I SLOW DOWN and OFFER myself FREEDOM TODAY and everyday. The FREEDOM gives birth to clarity that helps me make a healthier choice like pressing the reset button on my 2023 commitment to be S.O.F.T. AF with myself.
Blessing #2 is moving my body when I feel pressure and stress. Walking with my soulsistalove Tonya in the cold weather this week helped shake up and release some of the pressure and stress I was feeling in my mind and body.
Blessing #3is making myself vulnerable in a safe community. Being able to share what I was feeling with my soul sistalove Tonya during our walk really helped me gain clarity and support. I also shared my feelings with my soul brothalove and accountability partner Meico during our dinner. Having a community of chosen folks I can talk to and share things gives me support and space to speak my TRUTH.
The first episode focuses on trusting and nurturing yourself during the winter with mindful self-care that is rooted in traditional Chinese Medicine, astrology, and numerology.
You are an AMAZING and FANTABULOUS human BE-ing, not a human doing.
I am here to celebrate with you that you are a unique being with a unique path.
You also have a unique flow.
Your unique flow is your HUMAN DESIGN.
Human Design is a self-IN-powerment that shows you where and how to access your body’s wisdom and awareness.
Human Design marries ancient wisdom systems including the African (Kemetian/Egyptian) science of astrology, the Chinese I Ching, the Hindu chakra system, and the Jewish Kabbalah along with quantum physics.
If you’re interested in learning more, join me for the S.O.F.T. AF December Circle: Understanding Yourself with Ancestral Medicine and Human Design on December 10th at 1-2:30 PM ET OR December 14th at 8-9:30 PM ET, sign up here ($33).
Ananda Leeke 