Embodied Writing Warrior: Where Inner Work Feels Like Spicy Fanfic

In this heartfelt conversation, Kayla sits down with David Cunningham—author of Your Love Does Matter and founder of the Love Matters Collaboration—to explore how love can be a radical, embodied, and transformational force in today’s world. From David’s early spiritual awakening at age 4 to a powerful 35-year career in transformational leadership, this episode unpacks how we can move from judgment to joy, from resentment to love, and from righteousness to radical compassion.

Topics we explore include:

• The true nature of forgiveness (hint: it’s not condoning, and it’s not about them)
• Why resentment and judgment keep us from our truest, most loving selves
• How to literally put resentment aside using somatic visualization
• Releasing the obsession with being “right” in favor of being loving
• The difference between relating and loving
• Why love is a way of being, not a feeling you wait for
• How your love footprint can change the world
• The intersection of politics and spirituality—and how David is sending a love letter to every member of Congress

This episode is for the listener who’s ready to soften, expand, and lead from love—even when the world feels divided.

Links Mentioned:

• Book: Your Love Does Matter
• David's Website
• Meditations Gift
• The Love Goes to the Capitol Sponsor Page
• Addicted to Drama by Dr. Scott Lyons

This episode is medicine for the soft part of you that’s been exiled.
 It’s for the high-achieving, checklist-loving, fiercely driven woman who still sometimes struggles with emotional eating, burnout, or shame when she doesn’t hit her self-imposed targets.

If you’ve ever tried to hustle your way into healing, you’ll want to hear this.

Inside, I’ll share:

• 3 reasons why emotional eating and burnout often go hand-in-hand for high-performing women
• The gentle archetype who helped me break the cycle—and how to find your own version
• Why embracing softness isn’t weakness—it’s the missing nutrient most personal development paths ignore
• The true story of how working with this part helped me break a 13-year plateau and finally run a sub-2-hour half marathon (after 13 failed attempts)

You’ll also hear a heartfelt letter to Haven (my gentle inner king), a scene featuring both Rex and Haven, and the final mic-drop words of wisdom from Haven himself.

🎁 Enter the Food Freedom Fantasy Giveaway here:
[embodiedwritingwarrior.com/giveaway]

📚 Start the story of Haven and Rex from the beginning:
 [embodiedwritingwarrior.com/divinedaddies]

📖 Grab your copy of Great White Shadows (Austin is pure Haven-coded energy):
[Amazon / direct link here]

🎧 Referenced Episode:

• [Ep. 190 – The Drama Triangle & Binge Eating]

What if your health journey didn’t have to exist within the false binary of diet culture or body positivity?

In today’s episode, I’m joined by health coach Hadlee Garrison (@happyhealthyhadlee), who brings her unique blend of public health, Ayurveda, and behavior change science to this powerful conversation. We explore the often unspoken double bind women face when it comes to food, wellness, and their bodies—where either path feels like a setup for shame.

This episode is for anyone who’s ever felt like they were doing it wrong no matter what path they chose.

We talk about:

• How diet culture and body positivity can both be disempowering
• The third paradigm of body-led empowerment
• Why tracking tools and "moderation" can keep you stuck
• What “selfish wellness” really looks like (and how to break free from it)
• Building habits that serve your real life, not your fantasy future self
• The surprising role of privilege and morality in the wellness industry
• And how to reclaim your energy, intuition, and power through nervous system regulation

Mentioned In This Episode:

• Hadlee’s Instagram: @happyhealthyhadlee
• Hadlee’s Website: happyhealthyhadlee.com
• Discovery Call With Hadlee
• Episode 132. In Honor Of The Barbie Movie: How To Simultaneously Transform Your Body & Slay The Patriarchy
• Great White Giveaway: Earn 1 of 2 Spots Into Food Freedom Fantasy Beta Round

This is a must-listen if you’ve ever felt torn between wanting to feel your best… and not wanting to offend someone by how you do it.

Welcome to another potent episode of the Embodied Writing Warrior Podcast. If you've ever had a complicated relationship with the scale, this one’s for you.

In this episode, I share:

• Why even high-achieving, body-positive women can still struggle to let go of the scale.
• 3 powerful reasons your scale obsession might be sabotaging your food freedom journey.
• How to break free from the BMI shame spiral and rewrite your health journey through Erotic Storytelling 301.
• A powerful dream + embodied rewrite featuring Julia from Nip/Tuck, and our two favorite masculine archetypes, Rex and Haven, rescuing you from math class and leading you into narrative liberation.

You’ll walk away with 4 writing prompts, a somatic truthbomb, and a renewed commitment to freedom on your terms—not the scale’s.

Journal Prompts:

1. What if my body has never betrayed me—but I’ve betrayed her by believing the world’s lies?
2. If I didn’t need to shrink to be safe… what would I allow myself to feel?
3. What’s the sexiest thing my body has ever done—just for me?
4. What if softness isn’t weakness? What if softness is power?

Mentioned In This Episode

• Episode 186: What If You’re Already Worthy
• Episode With Stephanie Dodier
• Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned A Generation of Women Against Themselves by Sophie Gilbert
• The Power Portal Free Gift
• Great White Giveaway

In today’s fiery guest episode, I’m joined by Nick Eagle—a man who’s lived many lives: from reality TV star and male escort to spiritual teacher, author, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, and PhD in philosophy. Together, we explore his radical transformation and the philosophy behind his Golden Laws of Enlightenment.

This episode isn’t just a conversation—it’s a challenge. Nick brings strong convictions around personal responsibility, health, and truth. Some of his views may activate or even confront you. But if you’re willing to listen with presence, you’ll walk away with clarity, energy, and a deeper connection to your own power.

We talk about:

• What confidence really is and how to cultivate it from the inside out
• Why healing doesn’t have to take a long time (and what’s keeping you stuck)
• The difference between comforting darkness vs. helping it leave
• His thoughts on “your truth” vs. Truth—and why the distinction matters
• How he rewrote his entire life story and the specific practices that helped

This episode will resonate especially for anyone feeling stuck in their story, unsure how to evolve, or hungry for grounded conviction. I don’t co-sign every viewpoint—but I welcome courageous conversations. And this one definitely is.

Connect With Nick:

• Nick’s Website
• The Enlightenment Protocol
• Nick's Blog
• Book: Golden Laws of Enlightenment

This episode is a portal.

Part storytelling, part book club, part ReWrite Me origin story—this episode unpacks the unexpected link between food struggles and love struggles through the lens of Geneen Roth’s wisdom, animus psychology, and Kayla’s own creative journey.

We explore:

• How body shame and binge cycles mirror toxic relationship patterns
• Why drama in your love life and food life may be a protective strategy
• The role of the animus (your inner masculine) in healing both
• The wild and magical story behind the Great White Shadows trilogy
• Why it’s not really about the food… or the men

This episode will speak to you if:

• You’ve ever thought, “If I could just lose the weight, maybe then I’d be loved.”
• You’ve struggled to break free from either binge eating or emotionally unavailable relationships.
• You feel called to alchemize your pain into art, love, and self-trust.

Referenced In This Episode:

• Episode 188 – Animus Wrangling 101
• When Food is Love by Geneen Roth
• Enter The Great White Giveaway

In this powerful conversation, Kayla sits down with Stephanie Dodier of Beyond The Food to talk about what it really takes to undiet your life, reclaim body neutrality, and finally stop letting external rules dictate your worth. From her raw story of being sent to Weight Watchers at 12, to breaking free from decades of dieting and corporate burnout, Stephanie shares how women can re-write the most harmful stories about food, health, and body image—and create a life rooted in pleasure, neutrality, and self-trust.

Together they explore:

• Why diets (and even weight-focused “healthy behaviors”) don’t work
• The difference between body positivity, body love, and body neutrality
• How to use intuitive eating to reconnect with hunger, fullness, and satisfaction cues
• Why pleasure is a powerful guidepost in food and movement
• How to replace external validation with intrinsic motivators for a desired life

Connect With Stephanie:

• It's Beyond the Food Podcast
• Stephanie’s Website
• Stephanie's Client Assessment
• The Non-Diet Coaching Certification

If you've ever felt weird—or secretly wonderful—about your love for M/M fan fiction, this episode is for you.

Kayla dives deep into the emotional, psychological, and spiritual medicine of slash fic, especially for women who are high-achieving, emotionally burnt out, or healing from food/body image struggles or sexual trauma. Through the lens of beloved pairings like Dean/Castiel, Blay/Quinn, Kirk/Spock (and of course, Rex/Haven), she reveals why this genre isn’t just hot—it’s healing.

You’ll explore:

• The four inner conflicts that slash fic helps resolve
• Why M/M dynamics bypass internalized misogyny and body comparison
• How creating your own pairings (like Rex and Haven) can help you integrate self-trust, sensuality, and nervous system safety
• What it really means to balance fire and water, dopamine and serotonin, passion and peace
• And why so many brilliant women are secretly (or not-so-secretly) obsessed with emotionally repressed men kissing in fanfiction

Stay tuned through the end for a special bonus scene featuring Rex and Haven—one that might just change how you see desire, safety, and integration forever.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Mating in Captivity by Esther Perel
• The Molecule of More by Daniel Lieberman
• Do Hard Things / Win the Inner Game by Steve Magness
• Podcast Episode 073: Create Passion & Safety Together
• Podcast Episode 067: How To Balance Your Slay & Thrive Energy For Maximum Energy, Happiness, & Success
• Podcast Episode 186: What If You're Already Worthy?
• Podcast Episode 188: Animus Wrangling 101
• Podcast Episode 190: The Drama Triangle of Binge Eating
• Kayla’s Free Gift & Waitlist
• Book Your Call to Adventure

In this episode of The Embodied Writing Warrior Podcast, story coach and solo journaling RPG creator Megan Fuentes joins Kayla to explore how story arcs—especially the powerful “wound → wrong idea → right idea” structure—can be used not just in fiction, but in memoir and personal growth. They discuss creative blocks, why the messy middle is so hard, and how to reawaken your writing life with tools like 4theWords and solo journaling RPGs. 

Megan also shares her unique metaphor of the rock tumbler to explain her writing process and offers a juicy embodied challenge using her downloadable worksheet. 

Links mentioned: 

• Megan's Blog & Website
• Get Coached By Megan
• Get Your Free 15-Minute Story Fix
• Megan's Etsy Store
• Megan's itch.io Store
• Get Your Core Wounds -> Wrong Idea -> Right Idea Worksheet
• 4thewords.com (Journaling & Writing Platform)

What if your binge eating isn't a failure of willpower—but a sign that three younger parts of you are in a crisis loop?

In this powerful, playful, and paradigm-shifting episode, Kayla breaks down the Drama Triangle of Binge Eating—a dynamic between three younger inner parts (Girl Boss, Baby Kayla, and Unicorn Thunder) that explains why we keep spiraling even when we know better.

She explores:

• How major life changes or creative projects can trigger this cycle
• Why most advice on binge/emotional eating backfires
• A big critique of traditional parts work (especially for women with "Human Giver Syndrome")
• And how to use her ReWrite Me method to turn inner healing into spicy storytelling—featuring archetypal daddies Rex and Haven, not just more inner babysitting

This is Part 2 of a 2-part series, so make sure you listen to Episode 188 first!

🔗 Mentioned in This Episode

• Episode 188: Animus Wrangling 101
• No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz
• Burnout by Emily & Amelia Nagoski
• Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny by Kate Manne
• Free Call to Adventure: Book here.