Meet Madeleine Corliss | Energy Healer & Performer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Madeleine Corliss and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Madeleine, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
I am not sure that we ever find true “balance.” For me balance implies movement and change, eb and flow, instead of a place we find and stay in. One of the biggest things I have had to learn is how to trust myself and trust that it’s okay for me to follow inspiration and it’s okay for me to take breaks.

One thing I have really been learning to work with is my natural impulses and rhythms. Some weeks it feels good to do a few hours of work a day, others it feels good to take 3-4 days off then spend 2-3 days really “in the zone” with work. But the biggest thing has been not expecting the same amount of energy, creativity or ease every day. Especially as a woman who’s hormonal cycle is 28 days (as opposed to the 24hr cycle that men experience), it’s important for me to honor that some weeks my body will want to work and others it will want to rest or adventure.

The question of how has my work life balance changed over time is a bit humbling…but also a reminder of my own humanness. I’d love to say that my work life balance was terrible and then it got better because I learned new things and became a “better entrepreneur” but that’s not true. When I started my business I was in a really calm place where I was feeling safe in the world – my nervous system was feeling easefully regulated – so taking breaks and stepping away from work felt easier. That is definitely not always the case. I do find myself hyper focused on work at times (especially if I am feeling anxious) and it can be difficult for me to find movement out of it. What I have gotten better at is recognizing when I am feeling out of balance and asking myself “is it okay for me to put this much energy into work right now? And do I have something non-work related to look forward to?”

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
“Energy Healing and art are the same thing, just different modalities” is a concept that I live by. I have wanted to be a performer (specifically in musical theater) from a young age because I really believe it can be deeply healing. I have always held onto this idea that theater is less intimidating than lectures or therapy but it can share ideas and concepts that drastically change how we operate in the world.

I spent the majority of my life training as a performer and performing around the country. And while I love performing I hit a point professionally where I felt very anxious and unhappy. The nature of the business is that even if you have the ‘perfect audition’ you may not get the job. I was having a really difficult time feeling like my financial safety (and even levels of joy) was dependent on someone else “choosing me” or giving me the resources to do this thing that my body desperately wanted to do. I really didn’t like feeling desperate or giving my power away like that.

Around that time I started doing Energetic Healing work and finding ways to find ease, healing, growth, joy, stability outside of my work as a performer. For me, I needed to take a minute to step away, look at how I was operating in the world and in relation to my work as a performer, and find a new way of being because my old ways (the ways I had developed in moments of survival) were no longer working.

After a few months of really diving into my own baggage and doing a lot of energetic healing work, things in my creative career started to easefully fall into place. I was suddenly in the semi-finals for Broadway.com’s “The Search For Roxie,” I signed with a great agent, I was being called in for dream shows. I no longer felt like I was at the mercy of someone choosing me, I felt more like I was collaborating and making art instead of begging for a job or validation. Things in my performing career really started to take off and I really believe that could not have happened had I not done the personal healing work.

Once I opened The Energy Studio, I thought a lot about that chapter of my life and how really diving into my personal healing shifted so many of the “issues” I was dealing with in my creative career. This is where our course Unblock Your Creative Career came from. I wanted to map out a process similar to what I had walked myself through to help creatives feel empowered and safe in their work.

My work as a healer is very closely linked to my work as a performer and vice versa and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I did this a few months ago with my best friend since high school! I feel so prepared for this question! Okay!
-First we go to my apartment, sit on my giant comfy couch and catch up/decompress from travel (I believe rest is needed for any adventurous weekend).
-Take an Aerial Yoga (or antigravity yoga) class (10/10 recommend antigravity yoga on 37th and 8th in NYC)
-Then go to a fun bar near by for pizza and cocktails
-Come home and binge watch a fun tv show until we fall asleep (The Office Extended Cuts are always a good choice)
-Check out Secret NYC (or whatever city you are in) to see if there are any fun festivals or events happening. I especially enjoy flower festivals and markets.
-Get tickets to see a Broadway show that you really want to see (or that you have friends in). Then enter the lottery for all the other Broadway shows you maybe want to see! (top recommendations right now for a fun night are Six and MJ the Musical)
-Plan a girls night with local friends- my ideal spots are Orale in Jersey City for AMAZING Mexican food and drinks and then migrate to a local bar that has games (big fan of foosball)
-I love taking people for a walk in Liberty State Park (beautiful views on NYC)
-Museum of Ice Cream, just a wonderful experience
-If you have never been to Baonana’s it’s a MUST! They make the most amazing banana pudding (they have a lower east side location as well as a Jersey City location).
– And then time to walk around, adventure, go into little shops!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have some pretty amazing friends and mentors. When I was first getting curious about energetic healing work I was so lucky to have a friend, Kristin, who was already deep in this world (okay, we weren’t friends YET but I really wanted to be her friend!). She was so gracious in sharing information and resources with me AND she introduced me to a few energy healers who then became my mentors.

I feel very lucky to have a little healing/healer community that is incredibly supportive and nurturing towards each other. I really don’t know that I could do this kind of work without people to bounce ideas off of and share some wacky and sometimes difficult stories with.

AND the people who come to me for healing, or follow me on social media, or take my courses. I think it’s often so easy to think of our businesses as being centered on us but the things I am sharing with the world would not have life without the people who are receiving, learning, and using them. I am very grateful for the people who trust me in that way.

Website: www.the-energy-studio.com

Instagram: @the.energy.studio

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWB952DKcQRNL3VZ17GdK2Q

Other: Tiktok: @The.energy.studio https://www.tiktok.com/@the.energy.studio