Enneagram and Marriage

Casey and Meygan Caston, creators of the Marriage365 platform that reaches millions each week, join us as authors of the brand new book, The Marriage Habit (recommended by Dr. Gary Chapman and many others, including Christa right here)! Join us for a riveting and inspiring conversation about the ten non-negotiable habits that successful couples use to maintain and repair their relationships. After...

Now that you know more about the Enneagram instincts and desires, and you've heard that they're even MORE important than your types, what's one way you can build a bridge in an opposites attract pairing? Today we explore exactly that - what happens when different dominant instincts collide in marriage and what can you do. What happens when Security-focused (SP) marries Intensity-focused (SX)? Or w...

As we shift into this new year with intention, best-selling author and influencer Hannah Brencher, Type 4, author of The Unplugged Hours: Cultivating a Life of Presence in a Digitally Connected World, joins us for a conversation about building healthy tech habits in marriage and family life. Featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and more with a reach of 200K+, Hannah brings b...

After Monday’s incredible conversation with Russ Hudson, we’re diving into our January theme: Instincts & Intimacy. Today’s episode reveals how your dominant instinct (Self-Preservation, Social, or Sexual) often shows up differently when dating versus being married. We talk through not only how those differences may look, but how you can still try to find the healthiest and most achievable desires...

In our biggest kick-off of a new year yet, we introduce our listeners today to Russ Hudson, co-founder of The Enneagram Institute, best-selling author, and one of the world's most respected Enneagram teachers for over 30 years! Russ joins us for an hour-long, jam-packed conversation clarifying the three instincts: self-preservation, social, and sexual. This isn't surface-level learning, so get rea...

Happy New Year! We're completing our comprehensive series with the final 15 pairings - all combinations with Types 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Today explores how Head types (5-6-7) navigate their safety strategies in relationships, plus the powerful dynamics of Body types 8 and 9. From the double-withdrawal of 5+5 couples who risk becoming roommates, to the explosive intensity of 8+8 pairs, to the conflict...

Happy holidays from the E+M family! In Part 2 of our comprehensive series, we’re covering more Enneagram types! (2+8 through 4+9)! From the 2’s emotional giving, to the 3’s achievement drive, to the 4’s search for authentic connection, we're learning about what happens when double Heart types unite (hello, intensity!) and how they dance with Body and Head types as well. Each pairing includes real...

Today, we're covering ALL 45 Enneagram couple combinations over three episodes. In Part 1, we explore every Type 1 pairing (1+1 through 1+9) and begin the Type 2s (2+1 - 2+7). Discover how those types that fight for justice, those types that tend to lean out emotionally, and how those looking for security plan for safety in relationships, and most of all, how they merge together. Whether you're a...

In the final week of our Advent series, we explore love as the gift of understanding. After three weeks of learning about hope, peace, and joy through the lens of our instincts, we arrive at what matters most: choosing to understand your partner's instinctual needs instead of judging their behavior. When you see that your SP spouse isn't being cheap but protecting security, that your SO spouse isn...

Sara Billups (type 4, 4-5 pairing), author of "Nervous Systems: Spiritual Practices to Calm Anxiety in Your Body, the Church, and Politics," joins us for a conversation about anxiety that's especially needed as we head into Christmas. Sara explores how anxiety manifests in three interconnected ways, and how couples who are in the sandwich generation (Millennial, Gen X especially) navigate personal...

The third episode in our Advent series explores why most couples don't feel joyful during the holidays and how to protect joy when everything feels like obligation and chaos. Joy becomes elusive when we expect it to be natural, when we prioritize mere survival over connection, when we forget to dig deep to remember God's love for us is the deepest reason for joy, when we lose ourselves in others'...

Anna Rollins, author of "Famished," joins us for an honest conversation about the intersection of purity culture, eating, body image, and sexual intimacy in marriage in general and especially Christian marriage. We explore what happened in the Christian movement around weight and body image that went beyond general cultural dysfunction and became particularly harmful in church spaces, such as Anna...

Get on our Advent adventure together too where we'll discuss hope, love, and joy starting December 1st at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www. EnneagramandMarriage.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Mark your calendars for Dec 9 as we meet over Zoom 1PM EST to discuss how to keep you from fighting all season long, too! Sign up for emails to get your link. Find more about your type, the pod, freebies, and SO much more at our website right here! ⁠⁠...

In this episode, Christa sits down with men’s marriage coach Eric MacDougall, an Enneagram 4 with 8 tendencies (4-3 pairing), to talk honestly about why so many men unknowingly disconnect emotionally, even while trying to “do everything right.” Eric shares the breaking-point moment when his Enneagram 3 (with-9) tendencies wife told him she loved him but wasn’t in love anymore, and how that revelat...

What are you really waiting for this December? Not the polished answer—the honest one. What's keeping you up at night? What's making your spouse anxious? In this first episode of our 4-part seasonal series, we explore the three types of hope that show up in marriages during the holidays: Security (Will we be okay? Will we have enough?), Connection (Will everyone get along? Will anyone feel left ou...

The third episode in our family systems series explores triangulation, the pattern where a two-person relationship becomes unstable so you pull in a third person to stabilize it. Instead of dealing with issues directly with your spouse, you complain to your mom, get your best friend to tell them they're wrong, focus all your energy on the kids, or text your sister about your marriage. Triangulatio...

As we head into Thanksgiving week, fears are high and tensions are real and you and your family need both wisdom and peace for the wild cultural times and questions of faith in dark moments. Alexandra Hudson, leading world leader and founder of Civic Renaissance (with 50,000 subscribers and the praise of the Wall Street Journal) is timely on the pod, both in our convo here with Christa in also wha...

The second episode in our family systems series explores the overfunctioning and underfunctioning dynamic, the exhausting pattern where one partner takes on too much responsibility while the other does less than their share. The more one overfunctions (making decisions, remembering everything, managing household and parenting), the more the other underfunctions (waiting to be told, checking out, n...

As the days get shorter and the holidays approach, many of us feel that familiar darkness creeping in, doubt about our gifts, questions about our worth, uncertainty about whether we're enough. Pastor Ed Newton, Lead Pastor of the 27,000 member Community Bible Church in San Antonio and author of Why Not You?: Believing What God Believes About You, sits down with Christa for a conversation about fin...

Ever feel like the more you try to connect with your spouse, the more they pull away? Or maybe you're the one who needs space while your partner wants to talk everything through? This is the pursuer-distancer dance, and it's one of the most common patterns in marriage. In this episode, we'll explore how your Enneagram type influences which role you naturally fall into. Heart types (2, 3, 4) often...

How do busy couples maintain marriage goals without becoming rigid? Christa sits down with Colton Simmons, 1w9, creator of the popular You've Got a Type YouTube channel and podcast, to explore staying flexible without losing standards. As a Type 1w9 married to a Type 3w4, Colton shares practical insights about his own 1-3 pairing dynamics, navigating the tension between "doing it right" and "getti...

Communication in marriage breaks down when one partner can't open up - and often, it's the men who struggle most with vulnerability. In this practical, tool-filled conversation, Christa sits down with couples therapist Shane Birkel, a Type 7 and certified Relational Life Therapist who worked closely with Terry Real as his mentor. Shane is the host of Couples Therapy for Parents podcast and has bee...

What was wounded in relationship needs to heal in relationship. In this powerful conversation, Christa sits down with licensed psychotherapist and attachment expert Jessica Baum, author of the new book "Safe: An Attachment-Informed Guide to Building Secure Relationships," to explore why anxious attachment can't be healed in isolationm and what to do instead. Jessica reveals how implicit memories f...

You don't just marry your spouse, you marry into their family. And if you've ever felt trapped in a toxic cycle with your mother-in-law or other family members, doomed to feel like either a victim or a villain no matter what you do, this episode is for you. Join Christa as she sits down with Type 3 clinical psychologist and couples therapist Dr. Tracy Dalgleish, author of the brand new book alread...

Get ready for a 1980s blast from the past twist on The Enneagram and Marriage Podcast this spooky season! In this family-friendly special episode, Christa welcomes two very special guests making their podcast debut: her nephew Lucas Wilson and son Jack Hardin, representing Gen Alpha, along with Gen Z E+M Certified Coaches Melody Hardin, 9 and Gen X Abigail Perry, 3. Together, they dive into typing...