In this solocast I talk about the desire to change our partner and how well that works (tongue and cheek). It is reasonable to expect personal growth and evolution within a relationship, but this should be a shared journey of self-reflection and mutual support, not a one-sided demand. People can change, and that is when they truly want to!

Related Content: Other Podcast Episodes

Managing Expectations in Relationships

HeartShare: Expressing Needs

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

Check out our Guided Audio Practices, Meditations, and Workshops at Relationships! Let's Learn About It.

You can check out the original songs I have sung on my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

Don't forget to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Sound Production by Matt Carlson

Derek Rutter is a therapist in private practice in Asheville, North Carolina. His approach specializes in using somatic parts work in the treatment of trauma, addiction, and attachment wounds. In addition to working as a therapist, Derek is a father, partner, artist and athlete. He loves the big questions and cherishes the small things. Some people think he's funny.

In this episode, Derek and I discuss how emotional immaturity isn't about age—it's about the inability or unwillingness to handle emotions in a healthy, adult way. In relationships, it shows up as patterns that consistently hurt connection, trust, and growth. Many emotionally immature people were raised in homes where emotions were punished, ignored, or explosive—so it feels normal to them. Emotionally immature people often love intensely—but conditionally. The relationship feels passionate and deep… until there's conflict or discomfort. Emotional maturity means two people can feel big things—anger, fear, sadness—and still treat each other with respect and care while working through it.

Derek Rutter contact info:

Website: onebreathcounseling.net

Email: [email protected]

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

Don't forget to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Sound Production by Matt Carlson

Phoebe Klaus, L.Ac, MTOM is a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine specializing in pediatric and teen wellness. A joyful devotee of Mother Earth, she explores the deep relationships between people, plants, and the spirit that connects all living things. From her off-grid home in the Appalachian forest, Phoebe spends her days growing and processing herbs, tending her homestead, and learning from the wisdom of both nature and human culture. She shares this life of wonder and joy with her husband, three teens, baby daughter, and two dogs.

In this episode, Phoebe and I talk about the importance for kids and teens to have access to natural wholistic healing modalities as well as being given the time and attention to address their needs. Phoebe discusses how she works with teens to allow for trust, communication and informed consent to flow in order to empower teens at this vital time in their lives.

Connect with Phoebe:

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.abundantnaturalhealing.com

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

Don't forget to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Sound Production by Matt Carlson

Corey Costanzo is the Co-Owner of Asheville's Still Point Wellness Spa, a licensed addiction counselor, trauma specialist, licensed massage therapist, master didgeridoo player, colleague, and my good friend.

In this episode, Corey and I have a conversation about rejection. Rejection in relationships can be a deeply painful experience, often triggering intense emotional responses such as shame, anxiety, grief, and sadness. Individuals with high rejection sensitivity are especially prone to perceiving ambiguous cues as rejection, even when no clear negative intent exists. They may react with defensive or maladaptive behaviors, such as emotional withdrawal, self-silencing, or controlling actions, which can perpetuate a cycle of interpersonal distress. However, rejection also holds value when approached with honesty and emotional maturity. The ability to respectfully give and receive rejection allows for authentic communication and boundary-setting, which are essential for healthy relationships.

Connect with Corey Costanzo:

• Still Point Wellness
• Still Point Wellness on Instagram
• Still Point Wellness on Facebook
• Still Point Wellness on Pinterest
• Corey Costanzo on LinkedIn
• Email: [email protected]

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

Don't forget to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Sound Production by Matt Carlson

Miriam Katz is an LA-based actor, writer, and public speaking coach. She performs improv comedy live regularly and has acted on camera and done voice over for film, TV, commercials, video games, and more. Katz has written about comedy for Artforum and the LA Times and also ghostwrites memoirs. She teaches comedic acting to teens and coaches professional adults in public speaking. Her show interviewing every one of her exes, The Ex Appeal Podcast, brings together all of these different Miriams.

In this episode, Miriam and I talk about contacting our exes. Miriam launched her podcast The Ex Appeal where she interviews every person she's ever been romantic with on any level (!). This includes her first date ever in the 5th grade, a stripper, a sex addict, an orthodox rabbi, a guy she had pretend sex with in a movie we co-starred in, a famous person, a man she dated while he had terminal cancer, and many more. Every single person. For her, it has been incredible and also very healing! It's given her so much closure that's really been helpful in her current life. Miriam recommends some version of this to anyone w/ an ex.

Connect with Miriam:

• www.miriamkatz.com

Social Media:

Instagram: @theexappealpodcast

TikTok: @exappeal

YouTube: @exappeal

Podcast on Apple:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ex-appeal-podcast/id1815156860

Podcast on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1qyenwGyG2DtPcv9DA6utO

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

Don't forget to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Sound Production by Matt Carlson

Jared Hinton M.A, M.A.T, LCMHC is a psychotherapist in private practice in Asheville, NC. Jared is a husband, father, and a person in long-term recovery. His work focuses on helping individuals and couples heal from patterns of ancestral, familial, and relational trauma. Jared is a graduate of Naropa University's Contemplative and Buddhist Psychology program and a student of the Appalachian Gestalt Institute in Asheville.

In this episode, Jared and I discuss the relationship dynamics of codependency, differentiation and autonomy in relationships. They're how people interact emotionally in a relationship, not just fixed traits or parts. Healthy relationships usually balance all three: less codependency, more differentiation and solid autonomy so nobody feels trapped or smothered.

Connect with Jared Hinton:

• Jaredhinton.org
• Email:[email protected]

Online Men's Work Program Fall 2025

Jared will be launching a 9-week Men's Work course later this year. The program will examine internalized conditioning around masculinity, question outdated roles and expectations, come to terms with new roles and functions as a man in today's world, and reconnect with parts of self that have been suppressed or forgotten.

The course will explore emotional awareness, male development, archetypes and initiation, honesty, vulnerability, grief and purpose. The aim is to anchor in sense of connection, community, and know-how that can create lasting change and build a consistent path forward through daily rituals and practices.

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

Check out our Guided Audio Practices and Meditations at Relationships! Let's Learn About It.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

Don't forget to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Sound Production by Matt Carlson

Julia Considine Pierce is a children's book author, educator, and advocate for the health and wellness of women and girls. For over twenty years, she has empowered women and girls through individual support and workshops, helping them honor their bodies and inspire their spirits while fostering their spiritual growth and health. Julia has shared her expertise in the public school system, where she taught puberty and sexual health education in addition to teaching health at the local community college. Julia earned a Master of Public Health degree from UNC-Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health. Her graduate research was a collaboration with the N.C. Department of Public Instruction to determine how the Healthful Living Essential Standards are taught, who teaches them, what resources are used, and what additional support is needed. This qualitative research examined all the health standards, focusing on reproductive health and safety. Her research earned an Impact Award from the UNC Graduate School, which acknowledges research that benefits the people of North Carolina. Additionally, Julia earned a Master of Divinity degree from the University of Sufism. Her MDiv research included interviewing female Sufi teachers from across the globe about the interplay of female reproductive health and spirituality. Her work and research inspired the concept for a book series aimed at supporting girls and women across their lifespans. The first in the series, My Body is Sacred, Tales of Health and Wellness for Little Girls, was published in May 2025.

In this episode, Julia and I talk about reproductive health for young people. We discuss tools for building body confidence and self-respect from an early age and how her book fills a critical gap in girls' health education.

Connect with Julia:

• juliasumaya.com

Social Media

https://www.instagram.com/mybodyissacredbook?igsh=YjdvNjY0b2tsMjM4&utm_source=qr

https://www.facebook.com/share/16jCiLiW99/?mibextid=wwXIfr

You can purchase My Body Is Sacred: Tales of Health and Wellness for Little Girls here:

https://otterpine.com/my-body-is-sacred/

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

Don't forget to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Sound Production by Matt Carlson

Lora Cheadle is a betrayal recovery coach, TEDx speaker, attorney, and author who helps individuals heal from infidelity and relationship betrayal on emotional, legal, and spiritual levels. A former attorney turned coach, she blends trauma-informed guidance, somatic attachment therapy, hypnotherapy, and intuitive insight to support both betrayed and betraying partners in rebuilding self-trust, repairing relationships, and living with integrity. Lora believes betrayal can be a sacred initiation—an opportunity to uncover the truth, reclaim sovereignty, and create a life rooted in deep connection and authenticity.

In this episode, Lora and I talk about infidelity and betrayal. Infidelity and betrayal in long-term marriages represent a profound breach of trust that can have devastating and long-lasting consequences for both partners and the relationship itself. Lora speaks authentically about her experience of betrayal in her long -term marriage and the process of reclaiming herself in her healing process.

Connect with Lora Cheadle:

• www.LoraCheadle.com
• [email protected]

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

Don't forget to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Sound Production by Matt Carlson

Thomas Doochin is dedicated to a world where men are well such that the Earth can be well. He is the founder and lead facilitator at Heart of Men, an organization working across the continent to provide men with the conditions to know who they are and why they're here. Thomas lives in the Appalachian Mountains and stewards a 22-acre land project alongside his family and his parents.

Becky Boisvert is a lover of life, a cultural change agent, a steward of the land and place-based living, a mother, a community visionary, and a maître d' of the house that is her body. Becky offers an exquisiteness to space holding, whether that be the Heart of Men's Council Program or in her work with individuals and couples, which has been honed through her lifelong study of the human experience coupled with skill in the area of somatic exploration, compassionate consciousness, nervous system literacy, and the body-mind connection, to name a few. Becky is here in service to a vision of life that extends beyond survival into great thriving.

In this conversation we talk about the importance of community connection and witnessing in the processes of healing, learning, growth, and self-discovery and therefore not just "doing it alone."

A Council of Brothers is a curated space of 12 men ready to anchor deep changes in their internal and external landscape. We take an alchemical journey through masterfully-crafted group process and curriculum that touches every part of the self. Beginning September 17th, we meet twice monthly online and gather for an in-person retreat in both the fall and spring in a beautiful mountain retreat setting where Heart of Men is headquartered. Learn more here.

Connect with Thomas:

Leading the Heart of Men: A Council of Brothers

Connect with Becky:

[email protected]

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

Don't forget to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Sound Production by Matt Carlson

Bodhi Samuel is a Zenthai Shiatsu practitioner, astrology practitioner, group facilitator, and community builder who is interested in supporting the birth of new ecovillages into the world and designing micro cultures. He currently holds long-term residencies focused on embodied connection, emotional intimacy, and being our authentic sweet selves.

We discuss how self-discovery helps you understand your own needs, values, and boundaries, which makes it easier to communicate openly with other people. When you are clear about who you are, you can build stronger, more authentic connections without losing yourself in relationships. It also boosts emotional resilience, so you can handle conflicts better and support your partner's growth.

Connect with Bodhi:

Check out his newest community project, Community Lab, at communitylab.life

Podcast underthbodhitree

Website underthebodhitree.8b.io

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

Check out our Guided Audio Practices and Meditations at Relationships! Let's Learn About It.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

Don't forget to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Sound Production by Matt Carlson