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How Self-Reflective Writing Can Heal Your Creative Blocks: Meet Jennie Lee
by Writing Workshops Staff
2 weeks ago
For the past twenty-six years, Jennie Lee has made it her mission to help people find what she calls "the still small voice of soul wisdom," a phrase that might sound like new-age platitude until you consider her client roster: CEOs wrestling with moral quandaries, military officers grappling with trauma, a six-year-old unable to sleep, and a ninety-four-year-old confronting mortality. What unites them all is a peculiar form of suffering that Lee has spent decades learning to diagnose: the cacophony of other people's voices drowning out their own.
"We get embroiled in daily dramas," Lee says. "We get tangled inside."
It's a condition she knows intimately: not just from her clients, but from her own journey through what she describes as the "labored" writing that emerges when we lose touch with our authentic voice.
The multi-award-winning author of three books, including the Nautilus Book Award-winning SPARK CHANGE: 108 Provocative Questions for Spiritual Evolution, Lee discovered that the same principles that help people cultivate inner peace could unlock something equally elusive: writing that flows from a place of genuine truth rather than manufactured effort.
This intersection of personal healing and creative liberation forms the foundation of Lee's upcoming intensive, Write Yourself Free: The Healing Power of Self-Reflective Writing. The weekend program promises something that sounds almost too good to be true in our age of productivity hacks and writing formulas: the ability to access what Lee calls "writing in flow" by first learning to hear oneself "in a deep, new way."
The approach might seem counterintuitive—to write better, first stop writing and meditate—but Lee's method has earned testimonials that read like conversion narratives. Emily Blunt, the actress, describes Lee as "a beautiful and versatile teacher who challenged me to the perfect degree." Art Dwight, a business executive with twenty-five years in personal development, claims he has "never found anyone as gifted as Jennie Lee." The consistency of such praise suggests that Lee has identified something essential about the relationship between inner clarity and creative expression.
What emerges from our conversation is not merely a writing teacher, but a practitioner of what might be called therapeutic storytelling—someone who understands that our most profound creative blocks are often symptoms of deeper disconnection from our own authentic voice. In a culture that encourages us to write faster, publish more, and optimize our creative output, Lee proposes something radical: that the path to better writing begins with the courage to listen to ourselves without pretense, agenda, or the need to impress anyone at all.
It's a message that feels particularly urgent for writers navigating the peculiar pressures of 2025, when artificial intelligence can generate prose in seconds and the marketplace demands constant content creation. Lee's work suggests that what machines cannot replicate, and what readers hunger for, is the irreducible authenticity that emerges when a writer learns to trust their own inner voice. As she puts it, "Once liberated, the soul's voice empowers a state of inner clarity, freedom and authentic truth."
The question, of course, is whether such liberation can be taught in a weekend intensive. But speaking with Lee, one gets the sense that she's not promising quick fixes so much as offering a doorway, a set of practices and inquiries that, once learned, can transform not just how we write, but how we listen to ourselves in all aspects of life.
Jennie Lee will be teaching Write Yourself Free: The Healing Power of Self-Reflective Writing Weekend Zoom Intensive with Writing Workshops. Here is our Meet the Teaching Artist interview:
Writing Workshops: Hi, Jennie. Please introduce yourself to our audience.
Jennie Lee: For the past 26 years, I have been immersed in teaching, writing and practicing principles of self-evolution based on the ancient wisdom of yoga philosophy and the modern teachings of spiritual psychology. My three books, SPARK CHANGE: 108 Provocative Questions for Spiritual Evolution; TRUE YOGA: Practicing with the Yoga Sutras for Happiness & Spiritual Fulfillment; and BREATHING LOVE: Meditation in Action are reflective of this pursuit.
During this time I have also privately counseled individuals all over the world, ranging in age from 6–94, including celebrities, CEOs, doctors, writers, psychologists, educators, military officers and more, in how to cultivate inner peace and deeper self-understanding. I have taught hundreds of workshops on spiritual self-development, meditation, and mindfulness in corporate, non-profit, educational and private settings across the US and internationally.
My explorations in creative self-expression (in addition to my nonfiction books) include screenplays, travel essays, poetry, greeting cards, oil painting, fusion cooking, Italian language studies and learning to surf in my 40's. I am always up for a new creative challenge!
In 2024, after having run 18 international retreats, I founded the Essere Writer & Artist Residency in Tuscany, Italy. This annual program hosts 20+ creatives from a variety of disciplines, for a 2-week respite to nourish their spirits and artistic pursuits. It is a great joy and a lovely combination of my best work in personal wellness and creative evolution.
Writing Workshops: What made you want to teach this specific class? Is it something you are focusing on in your own writing practice? Have you noticed a need to focus on this element of craft?
Jennie Lee: Empowering others is what gives me the greatest sense of purpose and why I do what I do. I believe strongly in the potential and divinity of each individual and am good at drawing it forward so they can see their best self, live from their truth and trust their inner wisdom. Having taught a similar course to a private group for the past four years with great feedback, I am excited to bring this now to Writing Workshops.
Writing Workshops: Give us a breakdown of how the course is going to go. What can the students expect? What is your favorite part about this class you've dreamed up?
Jennie Lee: We will begin each class with a guided meditation on quieting the mind & connecting with intuition, followed immediately with prompted intuitive auto-writing exercises. For example, we might write about the experience of silence and what it feels like to stay quiet when your soul feels like shouting. Sharing is always encouraged but no critiques will be given.
We will discuss readings on the process of mining our inner landscape, how to identify & release the voices of others that live within us, and how to manage the inner critic and limiting beliefs that hold us back from full self-expression. A homework assignment will be offered to help students clearly identify the voice of intuitive truth.
The second day will follow a similar format as we dive deeper into trusting and using what we hear intuitively. We will experiment with self-inquiry prompts for personal wellbeing and greater writing flow. By taking space to step back and see clearly who we have been, who we are becoming, and what wants to be through us now, via our writing, we get free both personally and on the page.
My favorite part of this course is experiencing the joy with students as they learn to trust and liberate their voice and message.
Everyone is welcome and students are encouraged to participate in whatever way they are comfortable. No writing or meditation experience is necessary.
Writing Workshops: What was your first literary crush?
Jennie Lee: Rainer Marie Rilke blew my heart open when I was in college. His essays and poetry on the nature of human relationship and the depths of love moved me deeply and have stayed with me throughout the decades.
Writing Workshops: What are you currently reading?
Jennie Lee: The Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley. I admire her level of research and how she transports the reader to so many times and places around the world.
Writing Workshops: How do you choose what you're working on? When do you know it is the next thing you want to write all the way to THE END?
Jennie Lee: Ideas are plentiful and I am always making notes for new potential projects. But sometimes a particular theme will gnaw at me and keep me up at night. Eventually I end up with so many notes that a book begins to come into view.
Writing Workshops: Where do you find inspiration?
Jennie Lee: I have a daily meditation practice in which I seek to quiet the busy mind and attune to Source wisdom and inspiration. It is often in these quiet moments that inspiration arises for a new project or book. I am also inspired by human will and resilience - how we can and do overcome difficulties by reaching deeper within ourselves to find strength we didn't know we had. And when I see simple acts of empathy and kindness between people, this is hugely inspiring and gives me hope for our collective future.
Writing Workshops: What is the best piece of writing wisdom you've received that you can pass along to our readers? How did it impact your work? Why has this advice stuck with you?
Jennie Lee: "Write like you speak." As a teacher and nonfiction writer in the arena of self-development, this advice allowed me to feel at ease conveying the messages I felt were important from my heart, without pressure or pretense. I often receive feedback from readers that they feel as if I am talking to them through my books, and so they feel accompanied in their inner journey by a trusted friend. To me this is high praise.
Writing Workshops: What is your favorite book to recommend on the craft of writing? Why this book?
Jennie Lee: Although not on the 'craft of writing' per se, The Creative Act by Rick Rubin is a brilliant study of the creative process and what a creative life asks of us. I have read it multiple times and always find something new to chew on.
Writing Workshops: Bonus question: What's your teaching vibe?
Jennie Lee: Relaxed and authentic. And I can be silly and self-deprecating at times as well because I think it is important not to take ourselves too seriously in this crazy life.
Ready to explore the healing power of self-reflective writing? Join Jennie Lee for Write Yourself Free: The Healing Power of Self-Reflective Writing Weekend Zoom Intensive.
