I love the art of creating a joke,” says comedian Andrea Levoff, who started doing standup 10 years ago while pursuing a master’s in spiritual psychology. Both passions deepened for the Lincoln Park mom after she and her husband separated in 2020. Levoff began collaborating on a TV sitcom loosely based on her life, and she picked up a Vedic meditation routine. Since then, she has notched two trips to India to deepen her spiritual practice and has been pitching the pilot for The Dope Ass Mom. “Comedy and spirituality are so closely related,” she says. “All of the enlightened masters — well, most of them — are very funny, very joyful people.”
Mantra mama
“In the morning, before I eat or drink, I meditate for 20 minutes. If I have my kids, I get up before they wake up so I can do it peacefully. Then in the afternoon, I meditate again. I come out of it feeling like I took a nap. You don’t need an app. You don’t need headphones. You don’t need everyone to be quiet. Just close your eyes, then effortlessly pick up a mantra that comes to mind. Sometimes I might have a thought, so you’re thinking, thinking, thinking, and then it’s, Oh my God, I’m not doing my mantra. But there’s really no wrong way to do it.”
Love the way you move
“However you exercise, it should be something you enjoy, or you won’t do it. I’m out for a 45-minute walk every morning, no matter the weather. I also love pickleball, which I just picked up in the last year. I played tennis in high school, so it comes naturally to me. It’s a fun and social sport, and that new place on Clybourn, SPF, has a ton of courts.”
The mindful omnivore
“I’ve leaned into the science of mindful eating. There are rules: You cannot be on your electronics while you’re eating; pay attention to your hunger cues; take a breath between bites. My diet is so varied. I love cheese, I love pizza, I love Indian food. My favorite food on the planet is probably Mexican. I always eat breakfast — I make a smoothie and then have an egg. The thing about a smoothie is, I’m putting a ton of spinach or kale in it, so it’s like, Great, I had a salad!”