Send Mara a quick text love note here!

How do you show up in times of contraction? Do you question why you’re tired or not feeling something? Do you try to force yourself to work the same ways you do in times of expansion?

In this solo episode, I share how I’m feeling after three expansive years of writing, editing, promoting, and launching my book. And I reflect on how I’m learning to manage the necessary period of contraction that has followed.

If you struggle to give yourself permission to embrace ease after times of great effort, this episode is for you.

Tune in to hear more about...

• Examining how we show up when “it don’t come easy”
• Cutting ourselves some slack as we expand and contract
• Focusing on what’s coming easily and working well at the moment
• Meeting ourselves where we are in times of contraction
• Giving ourselves permission to say difficult things out loud and in the presence of other people

Resources...

• Order my book Needy from your favorite indie bookstore or from Amazon
  
  

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.

Send Mara a quick text love note here!

If you’re struggling to connect with your authentic self and prioritize what you need most, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

Today, I’m talking with Vasavi Kumar. Vasavi is a therapist, podcast host, and author of the book Say It Out Loud. As a first generation Indian immigrant raised in Long Island, New York, she has relentlessly searched to find her own voice, access the freedom of her creative spirit and help others along the way.

Together, we have a conversation that flows from Vasavi’s tough day and illustrates how important it is to say the thing you need to say out loud.

Tune in to hear us discuss...

• Putting yourself and your needs first, even when you feel selfish
• The comfort in being able to fall back on the power of your own voice when making hard decisions
• Protecting your energy by showing up authentically
• Speaking out loud to ourselves as a way to recognize how we feel about the situations we’re in

Hang out with Devon...

• Pre-Order Vasavi’s Book Say It Out Loud
• Visit Vasavi’s Website
• Follow Vasavi on Instagram
• Listen to the Say It Out Loud Podcast

Resources...

• The Feelings Wheel

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.

Send Mara a quick text love note here!

How do we engage with our feelings without being overwhelmed by the multitude of our emotions?

In this episode, I’m joined by Devon Loftus, an author and writer who finds inspiration in the human experience. She believes that emotions are important messengers, a universal language of humanity that connects us to ourselves and others.

Together, we have a heartfelt conversation about processing our feelings in new and expansive ways. And Devon shares how she names, sits with, and says goodbye to her emotions.

Tune in to hear us discuss...

• Unpacking how we “should” feel vs how we actually feel
• Devon’s favorite emotions
• The power in using our voices in a true & authentic way
• Breaking down the often catch-all term of “tired”
• What it means to “say goodbye” to our emotions when we’re tempted to over-identify with them

Hang out with Devon...

• Order Devon’s New Book Dwell
• Follow Devon on Instagram
• Visit Devon’s Website
• Read More from Devon with Her Newsletter on Substack
• Learn More About Moon Cycle Bakery

Resources...

• Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.

Send Mara a quick text love note here!

Taking time away, especially time away abroad, can feel impossible when we consider our busy, demanding lives. But if all we are is busy and in-demand, are we really experiencing life?

Today, I’m joined by Jane Reeves, and we discuss the importance of taking time away to have real, uninhibited, guiltless fun in a place where you can step away from the stressors of your daily life.

Jane is an international retreat leader, author, yoga and meditation teacher. She is also the founder of Radiant Jane retreats. She and her team lead retreats to Italy where guests experience restoration through the culture of Italy, art history, cuisine, self love, pleasure, laughter, connection, yoga and meditation while being surrounded by beauty.

Tune in to hear us discuss...

• How stepping away can show us how much support we really have
• How Jane has seen people change post-pandemic
• Food as a healing community experience
• A bit about the experiences we’ll have on the Italy trip
• Re-learning to receive and create retreat in our daily lives

Hang out with Jane...

• Join us on the Italy Retreat!
• Buy Jane’s Book A Heart of Gold
• Visit Jane’s Website
• Follow Jane on Instagram

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.

Send Mara a quick text love note here!

So much responsibility is placed on caregivers, including the heaviness of carrying the mental load. But you don’t have to be resigned to the overwhelm of domestic labor, and your family can be full of equitable relationships.

Today, I’m joined by Laura Danger for a long overdue conversation about the burden of being the default parent, the challenge of meeting your needs while caring for others, and how to handle renegotiating household norms.

Laura is a licensed educator coach, content creator, and certified Fair Play facilitator who has been facilitating and educating in Chicago for over 12 years. Laura facilitates workshops and retreats, coaches individuals and couples, and creates educational content in an effort to create a more equitable world.

Tune in to hear us discuss...

• Routine as a foundation for taking care of yourself
• Boundaries as relationship saviors
• How not asking is giving yourself a “no”
• Why both partners are responsible for the home, even if only one works outside it
• The CIPE method

Hang out with Laura...

• Visit Laura’s Website
• Follow Laura on Instagram

Laura's favorite resources...

• Nedra Tawwab’s book Set Boundaries, Find Peace
• Follow Nedra Tawwab on Instagram
• Fair Play Life — Website, Books, Documentary, and more
• Mother Brain by Chelsea Canaboy
• How We Show Up by Mia Birdsong
• The Mom Room podcast with Rene Reina

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.

Send Mara a quick text love note here!

It can be tempting to lean solely on ourselves when we’re struggling and to hide what we’re going through from the world. But what if that’s the opposite of what we need? And connection is the medicine necessary for healing?

Today, I’m joined by best-selling author Laura McKowen. Together we discuss how being honest about her needs helped her embrace sobriety and re-build her life.

Laura is the founder of The Luckiest Club, an international sobriety support community. She has been published in the New York Times and her work has been featured in The Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, The Today Show, and more. Her second book, Push Off from Here: Nine Essential Truths to Get You Through Sobriety and Everything Else releases on March 7.

Join us as we discuss...

• How connection can help us work through addiction
• How neediness can reflect back to us the truth of what we are
• Being the piece of shit at the center of the universe
• The strength in saying “I need you”
• Laura’s upcoming book and how it felt to write it with her needs in mind

Hang out with Laura...

• Visit Laura’s Website
• Follow Laura on Instagram Pre-order Push Off from Here: Nine Essential Truths to Get You Through Sobriety and Everything Else

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.

Send Mara a quick text love note here!

Today’s episode is a little different than usual… To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, Needy: How to Advocate for Your Needs & Claim Your Sovereignty, I’m stepping into the interviewee seat! And my friend Jennie Alexis joins us as interviewer to ask me questions about needs and wants, writing my book, parenting, and more. 

Jennie Alexis is a marketing strategist and podcast host who works with trailblazers, leaders and creative entrepreneurs by helping them share, promote and talk about their business in a way that honors their humanity before anything else.

Join us as we discuss...

• How to accept compliments & offers of support
• Where the desire to write Needy came from
• Our histories of suppressing needs to avoid rejection
• The importance of wants in relation to needs
• The issues with idyllic self-care
• Questioning why being “needy” is considered embarrassing
• Where to start if you want to begin tending to your needs
• How guts, hormones & glucose are teaching me about my needs lately
• Raising needy children

Resources: 

• Pre-order Needy here
• Follow Mara on Instagram

Hang out with Jennie Alexis: 

• Visit Jennie’s website
• Listen to Jennie’s podcast, This is Jennie Alexis
• Follow Jennie on Instagram

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.

Send Mara a quick text love note here!

Understanding our needs, especially the need for safety, can be challenging. So in today’s episode, I am talking with Jake Ernst about the personal and social experiences of our needs, safety, and more.

Jake is a therapist, writer, educator, and content creator. He's the Clinical Director of Straight Up Health, a mental health clinic for young people and their families. He's also the host of his own podcast called This Isn't Therapy.

Together, we have a deeply insightful and honest conversation about what’s happening in our brains as we move through our lives every day.

Tune in to hear us also discuss:

• Mapping our brains as it relates to various levels of needs
• The myth that everything needs to be solved
• The hard work of clarifying what’s true from the past and what’s true in the present
• The eight routes to safety
• Balancing the competing needs of safety and stretch
• The things we will always carry with us
• The system-strengthening power of breath work

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.

Hang out with Jake:

• Visit Jake’s Website
• Follow Jake @mswjake on Instagram
• Listen to the This Isn’t Therapy Podcast
• Join Lately.
• Learn More About Straight Up Health

Send Mara a quick text love note here!

What are the things we do to feel safe that ultimately don’t serve our true selves?

Today, I'm sharing my 2023 intention: It is safe to be who & how I am. And I’m reflecting on how often I’ve weaponized my competence to make myself indispensable to others. As well as how doing that disavows my own worth and reinforces the idea that I can make myself “safe” by earning my way into relationships.

Tune in to hear more about...

• Weaponized incompetence & the things we pretend we can’t do
• Weaponized competence & the many ways we wield our strengths to earn social capital
• The illusion of earning “safety” by being good
• The experience that forced me to receive without giving
• How our competence robs us of levity & joy
• The “shoulds” that came up in my book writing process
• Releasing our fear that we’re not good enough as we are
• Learning to feel safe enough, even amidst discomfort

Links:

• Preorder my book Needy & claim your delicious bonuses

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.

Send Mara a quick text love note here!

Living in step with what our bodies are trying to tell us can be a difficult thing to learn. How do we trust the feelings in our body? And how can we practice tracking those sensations and be present with the language our body is speaking?

Today, I’m joined by writer and Somatic Experiencing practitioner, Molly Caro May. Together, we discuss how to tune in to ourselves, so we can commit to the things that excite us most and leave the things that don’t behind.

Molly is the author of two books, teacher, and the holder of space for 13 plus years. She has facilitated personal story workshops for more than hundreds of people across the globe. She is trained in somatic experiencing and focuses on where language and voice and the animal body meet each other. Her mission is to democratize expression and explore in good company the healing alchemy between story and nervous system.

Tune in to hear more about...

• The growth edge of uncomfortable but tolerable
• Having a working understanding of yourself
• The stories we carry about our needs
• Balancing the consequences of divesting from grind culture
• Delighting in your own pace and timing

Hang out with Molly...

• Visit Molly’s Website
• Order Body Full of Stars and The Map of Enough
• Join Molly’s Bi-Monthly Newsletter
• Join Molly’s Membership, The Loam

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.