And we’re back!  After a brief hiatus, the Mindfully Creative Podcast is back and looking forward to some great episodes this Fall.
The Mindfully Creative podcast explores how art is being used for personal and community healing as well as some tips on how creatives can break through barriers to make their “art” whatever that might look like. Powered by SJB Creative Ventures and Spark Your Creative.
Episode 8 focuses on the fine balance between maintaining your creative goals while parenting.  Khadijah Ali-Coleman is our guest and she is sharing some great nuggets about how she has maintained and expanded her creativity while being a parent to a teenage creative!
​
About Khadijah Ali-Coleman
Khadijah “Moon” Ali-Coleman is founding Director of Liberated Muse Arts Group, a theater company and multi-media arts organization specializing in entertainment and educational products and services. Khadijah Ali-Coleman started Liberated Muse in 2008 as a digital community for artists of all genres to fellowship and engage with one another. Through Liberated Muse Arts group, Khadijah has edited book anthologies, produced plays and music soundtracks. She is also an emerging visual artist, her photography published in several publications and her film and video work gaining attention as she has completed commissioned projects for various clients. Her bylines and photography work have appeared in numerous publications such as SoulTrain.com, Ebony.com and The Washington City Paper.


A solo artist in her own right since the late 1990’s, Khadijah, using the stage name Khadijah Moon, has had her music, written and performance poetry work featured on PBS, Pacifica Radio, FOX News, the television show Showtime at the Apollo and other media programs.  She was awarded a 2015 Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award in Non-Classical Music Solo Performance, debuting her first CD, titled Song of a Space Cadet in 2016, presenting music from the CD in a one-woman show presented by Artscape.
Khadijah is actively performing as both solo artist Khadijah Moon and as a member of Liberated Muse Arts Group.  She also works a creativity consultant for aspiring writers and performers, sharing her expertise weekly on the “Living Unbound” segment on WEAA 88.9FM on the show First Edition with Sean Yoes.  She also hosts the alternating monthly artist mixer series C3: Creative Creatives Creating that takes place at the rl hotel inner harbor in Baltimore, Md. Currently, she is a doctoral student at Morgan State University, pursuing a doctor of education (Ed.D) degree in higher education/community college leadership.
She is a home-schooling mother to her teen-aged daughter, Khari, a 9th grade published writer and film/theater director.
​Where to connect with Khadijah:
Twitter: @khadijahonline
Instagram: @khadijahonline  @LiberatedMuse and khadijah_moon
Websites: BirthYourCreativity.com or TheCreativeMidwife.com (Creativity Coaching)
                 KhadijahMoon.com (Music)
                 LiberatedMuse.com (Liberated Muse Arts Group)
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MoonMami
Watch videos by The Creative MidwifeListen to the podcast below:

Episode 7 of the Mindfully Creative Podcast features Tessa Barr.   Tessa is the Art Specialist for Cornerstone Montgomery’s art program Studio In-Sight. Cornerstone Montgomery empowers people living with mental health and some with co-occurring substance use disorders to live, work and integrate successfully within the community. Tessa holds a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of art and feels that both her teaching and her art making practice have been heavily informed by the many things she has studied over the years. In particular, she often incorporates her education as a graduate from Tampala Institute’s movement based Expressive Arts Program, studies with Cultural Anthropologist Angeles Arrien and her work with mentor Ruth Boerger (from the Gestalt institute of San Francisco). She began her teaching career working with artists at the Cedars of Marin’s Victory Center for arts and communications in Marin County California. Tessa currently lives in Baltimore with her husband and two dogs.
Studio In-Sight was established in 2006  to bring space and inspiration to artists who may be outside the mainstream. Artists of the Studio In-Sight are the clients of Cornerstone Montgomery, a psychiatric rehabilitation facility in Montgomery County, Maryland (neighboring Washington, DC) that serves those living with a chronic and persistent mental health disorders. The studio is a part of the Life Skills Program whose mission is to guide, train, and empower the clients in a social and supportive atmosphere.
The studio is dedicated to artists who want to work as artists. Studio In-Sight provides a space where art can happen in a safe and nurturing environment. Opportunities to share what is created for the benefit of the artists and for the community are explored regularly. Specially trained staff support and provide guidance as needed.
On this episode, Tessa and I talk about what I consider the magic of Studio-In-Sight and specifically how art can help people who are in recovery from mental illness. We also talk about a special exhibition I help to organize and co-curate, Dialogue a collabortive projeect which included professional artists from the Washington, DC area and artists of Studio-In-Sight that was launched in 2016.  Also, Tessa shares advice to artists who are interested in working with people who have mental health challenges in similar programs in their communities.
Learn more about Studio In-Sight and the Personal Visions Gallery below:
Websites:
Cornerstone Montgomery: http://www.cornerstonemontgomery.org/
Studio In-Sight:  http://studioinsight.org/
Personal Visions Gallery:  http://personalvisionsgallery.org/
Social Media:
Facebook: 
Cornerstone Montgomery: https://www.facebook.com/CornerstoneMontgomery
Studio In-Sight: https://www.facebook.com/cornerstonemontgomerystudioinsight/
Instagram:
Studio In-Sight: https://www.instagram.com/s_insight/
Twitter:  
Cornerstone Montgomery: https://twitter.com/CornerstoneMoCoListen to the interview below.  You can subscribe and follow the Mindfully Creative podcast can be heard on Stitch, Google Play and Soundcloud.

In this mini-podcast episode Sharon Burton host of the Mindfully Creative Podcast introduces what an Artist Date is (based on the concept from Julia Cameron's ground breaking book for creatives, The Artist's Way), explains how Artist Dates can be used as a tool to help move past creative blocks and shares advice on moving past your personal hesitation regarding Artist Dates and scheduling them. Features music by JR Rivers, "Breakin Bread", copyright the artist, all rights reserved. ​

Welcome to the sixth edition of the Mindfully Creative Podcast series!  This sixth episode focuses on the role that artists can play in advocacy, specifically focusing on how “The Walking Gallery” movement got started to address patient rights in healthcare.  Our special guest is mother, artist, author,  speaker and health advocate, Regina Holliday.
Regina Holliday is a Maryland-based patient advocate and artist known for painting a series of murals depicting the need for clarity and transparency in medical records. This advocacy mission was inspired by her husband Frederick Allen Holliday II and his struggle to get appropriate care. Afflicted with kidney cancer, Fred suffered poor care coordination, a lack of access to data and a series of medical errors and, as a result, lost his battle. During Fred’s 11 weeks of continuous hospitalization in five facilities, Holliday learned that she would have to wait 21 days and would be charged 73 cents per page for Fred’s medical records. In addition to already expensive care, the many necessary pages would have cost hundreds of dollars. These institutional flaws spurred Holliday to try to improve care for her husband as well as all patients who are abused in this way. As a result, Fred’s death inspired Holliday to use painting as a catalyst for change.
With her passion for advocating for patients to receive timely access to their health care data, her artwork became part of the national healthcare debate. Reported on in the mainstream press, as well as reviewed by such journals as BMJ and APA, Holliday has earned a platform to push for legislation that would provide electronic healthcare records to patients. Continuing her advocacy through art, she also started the Walking Gallerymovement, where more than 350 volunteer members don business suits or blazers with either their story or their loved one’s story painted on their backs to attend public meetings. The jackets, which were painted by Holliday or one of 42 artists, depict the story of a medical patient or an element of medical advocacy. The members of Walking Gallery attend medical conferences with a powerful visual story painted on their back which makes the feel of the meeting more human and less distanced. The paintings help to convey the fact that the people wearing them are living, breathing examples of lapses in health care, as opposed to just a statistical number.
In addition, Holliday is published author. The Walking Wall: 73 Cents to the Walking Gallery,her first work, is devoted to the stories that comprise her Walking Gallery campaign. Her latest book The Writing on the Wall (2015), a memoir, takes readers on an odyssey of abuse and empowerment.
Recently, Holiday was honored at the H.I.T. Men and Women Awards reception for her trailblazing vision and perseverance in advancing the adoption of health IT, innovation, and best practices to improve healthcare. On July 13, 2010, she was honored to represent the patient voice during the Meaningful Use Stage One Announcement. She appeared on stage with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius, Don Berwick from CMS, and David Blumenthal from the ONC, and Regina Benjamin Surgeon General. In addition, she appeared in the Safety Leaders/Discovery Chanel documentary Surfing the Healthcare Tsunami and is part of the creative team working on SpeakerLink.org.
Backed by her own patient and caregiving experiences, Regina Holliday travels the globe heralding her message of patient empowerment and inclusion in healthcare decision making and offering guidance on crowd funding in healthcare. She fearlessly stands before officials and practitioners demanding a thoughtful dialog on the role patients play in their own healthcare.
During this conversation we talk about Regina’s journey into healthcare advocacy after the death of her husband, the role her art has played in her reaching health care providers and decision makers about her message, the birth of the Walking Gallery movement, the upcoming Cinderblock4 Patient Advocacy Conference in Grantsville, Maryland this month and advice for artists and creatives regarding getting involved with advocacy work.
​Learn more about and follow Regina and the Walking Gallery at the links below:
Blog: http://reginaholliday.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @ReginaHolliday
Instagram: @Regina_holliday
Walking Gallery Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWalkingGalleryHC/
You can listen to episode 6 below.  You can find the Mindfully Creative podcast on Stitches, Google Play and Soundcloud.

Welcome to the fifth edition of the Mindfully Creative Podcast series!  This fifth episode focuses on the role that alternative therapies, specifically the healing art of reiki plays in unblocking creative energy as well as enhancing it.  Janice Buerkli (a.k.a Janice B.)  is the featured guest for this topic, a multi-talented woman whose musical and healing arts journey has roots based in the Baltimore-Washington, DC area.
Defying genres and transcending the standard music industry labels, songwriter & singer Janice B. has created her own style which she calls “Eclectic Soul”.  Whether it’s R & B, jazz, blues, rock, country, or house music it is soulful.  Born in Washington, D.C. and growing up in Maryland, Janice began her professional music career as the co-founder and lead vocalist of the band Intuition. After a fairly successful five year run, Intuition disbanded and Janice continued as a songwriter and solo performer  with producer Maurice Carroll.  Having just completed her third project with Carroll, Janice continues her songwriting journey collaborating with many talented artists. She has worked with International DJ/Producer N’Dinga Gaba on several house music tracks.  Their songs “Feeling Fine” in 2013 and the 2014 remix of “Watch Me Fly” gained worldwide attention when they both charted in the top ten on the Traxsource Soulful House and Afro House charts respectively.  Janice is involved in bringing awareness to the worldwide issue of human trafficking and modern day slavery with her song “Freedom”.  Proceeds from the download sales Of “Freedom”benefit local charities.
Janice B. is also an Usui Shiki Ryoho & Holy Fire II Reiki Master/Teacher providing intuitive reiki treatment, energy clearing, chakra balancing and crystal healing.  A lifetime of intuition and clairsentience (the ability to read people and feel their physical states and well-being) eventually led Janice to the world of Reiki and energy work with a passion to help people heal themselves. Her unique, transparent approach to healing combines reiki with intuitive insight, chakra balancing, and work with crystals.  
During this conversation we talk about Janice B.’s journey from music to healing arts, the role reiki has played in her creative career as well as how it has benefitted other creatives that she has worked with in her practice. Whether or not you personally believe in the power of alternative therapies, there is no denying that reiki and energy healing has increased in popularity as one method to deal a variety of physical health and emotional issues.   This is by no means is a recommendation that reiki be used to heal creative blockages, but may be worth exploring as one of many ways to address this concern.
​
Learn more and follow Janice B. at the following links:
Music Website: https://janicebmusic.com/
Reverbnation: https://www.reverbnation.com/janicebuerkli
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/JaniceBuerkli
Facebook (Music): https://www.facebook.com/JaniceBMusic
Reiki/Healing Arts Website: https://www.janicebreiki.com
Music Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janicebmusic/
Reiki/Healing Arts Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janicebreiki/

​EPISODE 4:  “Art Therapy Unveiled” Featuring  Gretchen Miller, MA, ATR-BC, ACTP Registered Board Certified Art Therapist.
Welcome to the fourth edition of the Mindfully Creative Podcast series!  This fourth episode focuses on art therapy,  and fittingly so since it is the start of Creative Arts Therapy Week!   Gretchen Miller is the featured guest for this topic, a woman who is a creative force online for promoting the field of art therapy and encouraging its use in a variety settings.
Gretchen Miller MA,  ATR-BC, ACTP is a Cleveland, Ohio based Registered Board Certified Art Therapist, Certified Trauma Practitioner, and an Adjunct Professor at Ursuline College’s Counseling and Art Therapy Program. Clinically she works with at-risk children, teens, and adults often impacted by trauma and loss- using art for the intervention and management of traumatic stress., Her online art making community, 6 Degrees of Creativity, unites concepts of social networking, connecting, collaboration, and creativity into an engaged global community of artists spreading creative goodness. She also serves as Community Organizer for the Art Therapy Alliance, a resource embracing social media to promote art therapy and the work of art therapists.
During this conversation we get to the root of what art therapy is (and isn’t), who can benefit, and how to become one yourself!
You can learn more and follow  Gretchen at the following links:
Website: www.gretchen-miller.com
Blog: gretchenmiller.wordpress.com
Instagram: @gretchenmiller
Twitter: @gretchen_miller
For information about art therapy and how to find an art therapist:
Art Therapy Alliance: www.arttherapyalliance.org
American Art Therapy Association: www.arttherapy.org
Art Therapy Credentials Board: www.atcb.org
You can currently find Mindfully Creative podcast on Sound Cloud, Stitch and Google Play.
Listen to the podcast here:

EPISODE 3:  “Peaceful and Productive Creative Spaces” Featuring  Sherry Burton Ways, CEO/Principal Designer of SBW Aligned Expressions
Welcome to the third edition of the Mindfully Creative Podcast series!  This third episode focuses on the importance of creating a space to allow for creative manifesting.  Sherry Burton Ways (who is also my twin sister!) is the featured guest for a quite informative discussion about how our physical enviroment plays an important part of our creativity as creators.
Sherry Burton Ways is the CEO and Principal Designer of SBW Aligned Expressions.  Sherry has 20 years of combined Urban Planning and Interior Design experience that she utilizes to create Aligned Expressions Design. Combining the positive characteristics of the neighborhood or community in which the space resides with the personal goals and desires of the client is key to her design approach.  To further define the unique design needs of her design clients, she also utilizes her certifications in the ancient Chinese practice of Feng Shui, Color Therapy, Interior Environment and Design Psychology Coaching to create desired interior design results.
Her mission is to create alignment between the Aligned Expressions Design experience with beautifully-expressed, productive, nurturing and functional interior environments.  Her philosophy is that all interiors should evoke a grounding balance of function,  flow, and feel for all occupants and the space.  She has been quoted in Essence Magazine, Rodale’s Organic Life Magazine, the Washington Post, Forbes.com among others.  She is a DoTerra Essential Oils Wellness Advocate and a Design Columnist for E- The Magazine for Today’s Female Executive.
Books by Sherry Burton Ways:
Feel Good Spaces: A Guide to Decorating Your Home for Body, Mind, and Spirit
Sherry also has a new book that will be available late 2017 entitled “Landing on Your Feet and Putting Down Roots: 21 Rituals to Transform Your Life and Your Space.”
Follow Sherry at:
Twitter: @sbwaligned
Instagram: @sbwalignedexpressions
Facebook:  Sherry Burton Ways
You can currently find Mindfully Creative podcast on Sound Cloud, Stitch and Google Play.Listen to the podcast here:

EPISODE 2:  “The Power of Healing Women’s Voices” Featuring Andrea Hylen, Coach/Author/Speaker/Parent and Founder of Heal My Voice.
Welcome to the second edition of the Mindfully Creative Podcast series!  This second episode focuses on the power of writing in the healing process.  Andrea Hylen is the featured guest for what was an inspiring and thought-provoking conversation that we recorded late last year.
Andrea Hylen is the Founder of Heal My Voice, a Coach, Author, Speaker, Parent, with expertise in Grief, healing from sexuality and trauma, writing to heal, connecting through social media and radio show hosting.  Currently expanding her business as she travels around the world connecting with people in person. California, Baltimore, New York, Seattle, Sweden and…infinite possibilities.
After the death of her husband in 2005, Andrea began to explore a deeper place inside of herself. She learned to let go of some of the dreams that died with her husband and open to new ideas, dreams and passions.
Some of the inspirations led her to become a co-author of a book, travel to 78 Jonas Brothers concerts with her teenage daughter, and sell her house and personal belongings, to move from Maryland to California. During 2010, she lived with her 18-year-old daughter in youth hostels, hotels, and with friends in Los Angeles, wrote 70 articles on grief transformation and hosted 44 Grief Transformation Internet Radio Shows with twenty-seven guests over the 2010 holiday season to provide support and information.
In January 2011, Andrea founded Heal My Voice, Inc. The mission is to empower women to heal a story, reclaim inner authority and personal power and step into greater leadership at the dinner table, in the community and business and in the world. This is supported with a nine month process in on-line communities. Women write their stories in an on-line community, speak on an internet radio program and become more visible in social media.
Join us as we discuss the power of the written word and sharing our stories as women…and about the power of creativity in general, as Andrea states, the expressions of our art…it’s bigger than you.  It moves through you…the visibility of it is also for others.
Heal My Voice Books are available on Amazon:
Fearless Voices: True Stories by Courageous Women
Empowered Voices: True Stories by Awakened Women
Inspired Voices: True Stories by Visionary Women
Harmonic Voices: True Stories by Women on the Path to Peace
Tender Voices: True Stories by Women on a Journey of Love (Heal My Voice) (Volume 5)
Feminine Voices: True Stories by Women Transforming Leadership
Sensual Voices: True Stories by Women Exploring Desire and Connection (Heal My Voice) (Volume 9)
Books by Andrea Hylen, Founder of Heal My Voice:
Voices of Love in the dark: 44 Radio Conversations on Transforming Grief (Volume 1)
Follow Andrea at:
Twitter:  @HealMyVoice or @AHylen
Facebook: HealMyVoice

Welcome to the first episode of Mindfully Creative Podcast!
Mindfully Creative podcast will explore how art is being used for personal and community healing as well as some tips on how creatives can break through barriers to make their “art” whatever that might look like. 
This first podcast was a bit tricky, learning new technology and of course a few bumps here and there….but hey, it’s now officially off the ground!
You can currently find Mindfully Creative podcast on Sound Cloud, Stitch and Google Play.

EPISODE 1:  “Feelings Get You There Faster” Featuring Michelle Wolff, Intuitive Life Coach/Artist/Healer

Creatives like myself need a variety of tools and resources to move forward with our personal and business endeavors.  As I continue my transition from fine arts professional to new endeavors, I came across Danielle LaPorte’s Fire Starter Sessions and then The Desire Map process early last year.

It was like I died and gone to heaven….for the first time someone was talking my language…one that I as a creative individual could understand without getting caught up on philosophical or theorectical mumbo jumbo !   This was a process that guided me toward a new focus based on one question: “how do you want to feel”, as my compass.
As I learned more about the Desire Map process, I was led to a number of individuals who were stewards of the program as well as had their own rocking coaching endeavors that lit my fuse.

Enter Michelle Wolff….

Michelle teaches using story, humor, and some salty language. She’s ridiculously curious with a wide variety of things she calls “jobs” only because she has to call them something. She’s a low level chronic complainer who periodically gets riled up enough about something to write about it. She holds a Master’s degree in Education, has 20 years experience and loves to help you rewrite your stories about life. She has been a therapist specializing in trauma and is now one hellacious energy worker and Shadow Walker. Her passion is geared toward restoring you through alchemical processes to a Being who lives and loves from a centered, grounded, totally in your True Power place. She uses any tools she can find to assist from chakras, cards and Reiki to cheese fries and Netflix. Her gift is guiding you to face the darkness through deep love and laughter.

Join us as we talk not only about the Desire Map process for “finding your way” as a creative, but most importantly these nuggets by Michelle Wolff:

“A more authentic life is art on a personal level…”
“If we could shift our viewpoint even the tiniest bit then it usually means a whole another door will open to a whole other room of information just by creating a little bit of a shift.”
“The process of sustainable change can’t be forced.”
“It’s important to learn to how to handle those things that enhance your creativity without drowning in them.”
​
Learn more and follow Michelle Wolff at
Websites:
http://www.thatmichellewolff.com/
http://www.cattyshackdesigns.com/coaching
Twitter (@michellewolff11):
https://twitter.com/michellewolff11
Instagram (@michellewolff11):