An Artist Interview with Katerina Jeng​
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An easeful conversation with a creator devoted to creating liberation & art 🌿 by The Easeful Place

How are you feeling today? How is your rhythm in these early days of January?

The beginnings of things often feel like a time of 'getting it started' and building at full speed, but there is beauty to be found in prioritising pause, elongating your restoration. Actually, this is most likely where the best work resides and arises: when you're well-rested and co-creating with ease, the work feels different. Recently the ease feels like a spoonful of something sweet and syruppy to keep us going in these particularly cold days. How are you making time to stir in warmth, passion, and pleasure into your days? It is also the first full moon energy of the calendar year (3/1), which is a great moment to release, go slow(er) and let go of whatever is weighty and tethering you to something you're not satisfied with. If you're the mood boarding type, it's not to late to add an image or a sign to rest like you've learned of its power all 2026.

Something to sit and sip with.

Today's artist interview is with a poet soul, speaker, community worker and facilitator whose work has guided many to deeper relationship with self and others. Katerina Jeng's work lives in many sacred places including online and in-person gatherings, Substack, stages, poetry books, and more. Jeng's work has inspired me to share and think deeply, the way that some mirrors do. The magic of their work lives in cultivating safe spaces for truth-telling and being. Which is exactly what fuels us at The Easeful Place.

​These interviews exist to inspire us on our journeys to creating the lives, communities, families, and inner environments needed to house ease. I select artists from around the world with different modes of creation and lifestyles to show how possible it is for us to build ease and art into our lives. The intention is to deepen our understanding of what is possible, to think limitlessly and in community. Let's get into the wisdoms and reflections of our guest, Katerina Jeng.

In conversation with Katerina Jeng

Who is Katerina Jeng and what do you do?​
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I’m Katerina—a multi-disciplinary artist, creative coach, and weaver of the sacred into the everyday. I am here to help guide humanity into a new paradigm world where all life is liberated.

As a queer, neurodivergent, Filipina-Taiwanese-American femme, my art explores the intersection between my identities and the urgent questions of our time. I draw inspiration from the more-than-human world, observe the effects of imperialist legacies, and attempt to place myself within it all. More poignantly, I aim to make the domestic mystical; to make the everyday sublime, and illustrate that our lives are miracles: microcosms of the universe at large.

My first love is poetry. In 2024, I published my debut poetry book, Gospel of a Whole Sun, which I began writing after a traumatic breakup of a 9-year relationship. The book chronicles my journey of self-discovery over the course of 3 years, documenting healing from that relationship, navigating anti-Asian violence during the pandemic, coming out as queer—and ultimately finding the most honest version of myself. I recently debuted a short film adaptation of the book, which you can watch here.

Alongside my personal art practice, I love guiding others as a creative coach. Helping someone uncover their purpose, hone their innate gifts, and blossom into the fullest version of themselves brings me pure joy & genuine fulfilment. I truly believe that becoming the most creative, most expressed versions of ourselves will change the world.

What is your one-word manifesto or mantra in life?

I typically work with mantras in a seasonal way—each season requires a different intention and call for support. But if I had to choose a one-word mantra for life, it would be: love. We are put on this Earth to love. It really is that simple.

Who are your favourite artists?

Musically, I love Cleo Sol and anaiis. They’ve both talked about their affinity for recording without autotune and capturing that raw divine power onto the tape. It’s an energy that is palpable when you are listening to their music: a pure transmission of God, the divine, the universe, whatever your name for it is. I’m finding that the more attuned I become, the less tolerance I have for music / art / input that is not on this frequency.

Poetically, I love Audre Lorde, Ada Limon, Natalie Diaz—writers who understand that art and expression are critical for survival. They weave race, identity, survival, decolonization, and the natural world into their poetry so seamlessly (to varying degrees) to show us that everything is interconnected, and that living with this knowledge is crucial for our wellbeing.

What or where is the easeful place for you?

The easeful place for me is in my breath. Anytime I’m feeling frazzled, overstimulated, or fatigued, I remember that I can resource myself with big, deep belly breaths.

I return to Thich Nhat Hanh’s meditation:

Breathing in: I am breathing in. Breathing out: I am breathing out.

This mantra works for me every time. Simply being aware of the actions we are doing allows us to make a meditation out of anything. It’s also cool to witness our own power for altering energy simply with awareness and presence.

How does spirituality and identity feed into or support your creativity?

My spiritual practice is synonymous with my creative practice. I view my writing, my art-making, my expression of self as a divine act of creation.

For example, Gospel of a Whole Sun was written in solitude, as an internal act of grieving and healing. Many of the poems emerged from my sacred morning ritual—and through the act of writing, I discovered my own liberation. I alchemized my pain and grief into wisdom and beauty. As I deepened into my study of poetry, I fell in love with the way a poem can craft a universe, convey something that exists beyond language, and act as soul-to-soul communication.

I am not the type of writer that can sit down at the same time every day and produce a certain word count—I let my body and soul determine what wants to come out. My job as an artist is to be a clear vessel for the transmission to flow through me.

What is a lesson you are currently learning and/or unlearning?

This season, I am learning to surrender. I made the leap to becoming a full-time artist & creative coach 2 years ago, and while it’s been the most fulfilling 2 years of my life, it’s also been full of highs & lows. I am learning that as much as I prepare and do everything “right”, there is no way to predict what’s actually going to unfold. It can be scary to admit that there is a lot we cannot control, especially when it comes to the world at large.

Can I soften into the unknown, and view it with curiosity and wonder? What if the future unfolds beyond my wildest dreams, so much so that I cannot yet envision it with the confines of my current imagination?

In Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke reminds us: “Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”

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You are so worthy of ease. How do you remind yourself of this?

I bring myself back to trust: I trust in myself and my path. I trust that I am exactly where I need to be. I trust that the universe has got my back. I trust that what’s for me won’t miss me.

When I remember that I was put on this Earth for a reason, that life happens in divine timing, and that the work I’ve already put in will continue to carry me through, I remember that I am worthy of ease. Ease is a divine birthright—our ancestors celebrate when we live into it!

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How can we find your upcoming work and stay connected with you?

You can connect via Substack or Instagram or share space in an upcoming offering: What if rest wasn't the opposite of creation, but essential to it? Join me on 1/11 for Creative Rest & Recovery, a virtual group coaching experience. We’ll reflect on the past year, share practices for living a sustainable creative life, and close with a community ceremony that will leave you feeling grounded, nourished, and full of space to welcome what wants to emerge in the Year of the Horse.

Tickets are sliding scale and limited to 12 participants for intimacy & depth. Learn more and reserve your seat.

You can also learn more about 1:1 coaching, browse additional resources to support your creative life, or reach out for a chat on my website.

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​Thank you Katerina for sharing beautiful space and dipping into ease with us.

Which part of the interview spoke most to you? Feel free to drop your favourite lines or responses in the community space or share with your community::

A playlist for integrating ease into your life:: come home to ease.

Come home to ease 🌀🪞The E... Golden Child (Jealous) • Cle... PREVIEW   ​

Deepen Ease with Me::

This digital journal experience includes 80+ journal prompts, mindfulness activities, soulful reminders for slower living, a meditation, a playlist, and much more. I created the 'Return to Self' journal for those ready for self-remembrance, self-compassion and shifting deeper into their truth. Buy the Journal

I invite aligned souls to meet me in a 1:1 session to deepen self-discovery through travelling the world, exploring your inner world or devoting to creative expression. The 45-minute - 1 hour sessions offer guidance, personalised and professional insight, and resources to help you follow and honour what is calling - with a detailed plan. Inquire about a session

Opportunities:: Community Corner

If you're currently looking for your next gig or hoping to redirect your career path this year, you'll be glad to know that Escape the City is making it easier to search for jobs that are purposeful and make a difference in the world. The jobs are global, range from onsite to 100% remote and the searchability makes it easy to choose how you'd like to make an impact with a team and mission that speaks to you.

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A creative and soulful intention to rethink your relationship to liberation, language, and the way you choose to create. Here is your sign to begin creating art/possibilities away from colonized language as prompted by an essay from Katerina Jeng titled 'the language of liberation does not exist in the colonizer's language'.

Prompt - where is there opportunity to move away from colonized languages in your work?

Make an impact with your newsletters and writings

Creating what once lived in my heart and now lives in your inbox is a source of joy that is so meaningful to me. Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is what I use to send out these letters and build The Easeful Place hub. If you're a blogger, creator or someone building a community of any kind, I highly recommend checking out what Kit has to offer. Kit is an email-first operating system for creative entrepreneurs and writers trusted by over half a million creators.

Thanks for reading, if you'd like to help us reach more aligned creatives and mindful life-livers, please share the love with your community and artsy friends. See you in the next one.

Love,

AMARA

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