Breaking Free from Habit Loops: Embodiment for More Aligned Leadership
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:00:02 Welcome to Heart Glow CEO®, where high achievers evolve into purpose-driven powerhouses. I'm Kc Rossi, your Integrative Leadership Coach. Join us to break free from people pleasing and burnout, exploring mindset, embodiment, and soul alignment. Discover expert insights, success stories, and actionable tips for wholistic wealth on your terms. This is where transformation meets the modern female leader. Let's go!
Do you ever feel like you're doing all the right things? Reading the right books. Listening to the right podcasts but still feeling off? Like nothing is really sinking in? Today we're talking about the transformative power of embodiment. And to me, this is the key that unlocks the door to having all the good stuff soak in. Without embodiment, we can find ourselves stuck in habitual patterns that no longer serve us, like procrastination, perfectionism, and burnout.
I'll be sharing insights from cutting-edge, presence-based coaching techniques and neuroscience-backed approaches to help you realign with your highest potential. So settle in and let's get into it. Let's start by looking at how habits form and why they are so darn hard to break.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:01:34 Neuroscience shows us that habits aren't just mental patterns. They're deeply embedded in our bodies. Every thought, feeling, and action leaves an imprint on your nervous system. Can you imagine? You've probably heard the saying that the body keeps the score, but it literally does. It's really interesting. I almost think of, like, a spider web or a matrix, or even sometimes like, sacred geometry. I think of that being like an overlaid template as our body is capturing everything. It is like this, videotape that is capturing all of your thoughts, your feelings, your actions, and then imprinting them in your system. It's really amazing.
Over time, these embodied experiences become automatic responses, whether it's shrinking back from visibility overcommitting to people please or pushing yourself to exhaustion in the pursuit of perfection. I think I've had my hand raised for all of those. And maybe you're nodding your head that you've experienced something similar to that. Those are just embodied experiences. It's something that through repetition, it has become our habit nature.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:02:54 It has become our automatic response. What's fascinating is that these habitual patterns often originate from attachments and aversions. The things we crave and the things we avoid. Said in another way, we have patterns of moving towards pleasure and away from pain, and we usually typically have a dominant pattern. For example, my bestie is driven by all things fun, so her dominant habitual patterns all point toward moving towards joy and laughter. So taking actions toward what she is attached to.
My partner on the flip side is more driven by moving away from pain and his habit nature and set up, they're both geared towards aversions, taking action to avoid what he doesn't want. So it's really interesting.
Which one do you think you favor? Habits driven by attachment or aversions Or do you see you have a combination of both of them? By bringing mindful awareness to these embodied responses, we can start to make conscious choices rather than acting on autopilot. And I know because you're listening to this autonomy and sovereignty are very important to you.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:04:15 They're very important to me as well. So to me, this is very exciting that we are learning something that's going to propagate choice. I love that.
So let's look at an example. Imagine you're preparing for a high-stakes presentation. Instead of focusing on your message, you find yourself scrolling through endless research, doubting whether you know enough. That's your habit of seeking external validation, playing out. That's what's happening in real-time, so to speak.
The interesting thing is, and what I'm really interested in is presence-based coaching invites us to pause, notice what's happening in the body, and choose differently. You've heard me say before. - how do we incorporate things from the chin down in our life, in our decisions? Because many of us have been living from chin up, which is just all our head overthinking or ruminating or relying predominantly on our mental realm. The cool thing about presence-based coaching is it brings in your whole soma. It looks at the terrain of your body, which makes complete sense when you start to go back to thinking about those webs that neuroscience has proven.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:05:40 They are not just mental patterns. So we are actually doing ourselves a disservice when we're only focused on chin up and not incorporating the rest of the body. It's really not even a one third, two third ratio. So for simple math, we can say that if you're only living in your mind, you are missing out on two-thirds of your body's information, your cellular data that's been keeping the score without you even knowing. It's kind of like your heartbeat. It's going on whether you're aware of it or not, whether you subscribe to that or not. It's science, so it's happening.
Presence-based coaching was developed by Doug Silsby. I learned about this style of coaching since he's passed. He passed in 2018. But I learned about this style of coaching through principal and senior faculty member Bebe Hansen. And she's got such a beautiful, grounded, direct way of teaching this where you really have this opportunity or this encouragement to test it out. That's so much a part of what I try to invite even on this podcast.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:06:59 The invitation is don't just listen to these words and have it be edutainment, but bring it into your life. Bring it into your world. Embody it. Take action. And that's what makes presence-based coaching different from other coaching modalities.
But let's break it down even further.
So number one, there's this embodied awareness. Traditional coaching often focuses solely on the cognitive strategies. You know, our Smart goals are even the mindset cascade™ which I often have shared which is changing your thoughts to change your behavior. There's value in that. And presence-based coaching integrates the body as a key source of wisdom. This approach recognizes that your body holds patterns and stories that your mind might not even be aware of. And it's really interesting. Like if you're someone that goes through social media and is just so attracted and drawn in by people's reels and stories, this will be really helpful for you to think of as a metaphor, because those are a little snippets of data. They are the highlight reel of that person's life, and you can get a whole sense and sensibility of what they're going through.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:08:20 But imagine if your system, your nervous system, your body, your soma is actually doing play-by-play bits and stories of your patterns. This is happening, and this really contributes to our shape, the way that we are holding patterns, trauma stories, mental-like plays. We're holding them all in our system. So really interesting.
Number two is our nervous system regulation. Research from the Heart Math® Institute shows that when you regulate your nervous system, you can access higher states of creativity, problem-solving, and emotional resilience. Think about that. How would it feel to you if you had more creativity, where you didn't just get stuck or feel like, oh man, I'm looking at this blank screen and I have no idea. Problem solving. I see this as one of the top challenges that my leaders face- Is the second-guessing, the lack of confidence, the inability to make fast, confident decisions. You know, this ability to think they have to check multiple areas to CYA just to make sure they have all the data.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:09:50 It literally is mind-boggling. And then the emotional resilience piece. Oh my gosh. Who doesn't need this? Especially right now! To be able to come back to center and not spin out? Whether it's because you're getting pissed off in traffic or you just got a ton of workload dumped on you when you already have a full plate and you're starting to feel anxious and resentful. Think about these three things creativity, problem solving, and emotional resilience. When you have a handle on nervous system regulation, your world will change and the people in your world will also change.
Presence-based coaching offers these tools like breathwork and grounding techniques to help you stay centered, even in high-pressure situations.
Number three is neuroplasticity. Neuroscience tells us that with focused attention, emotional engagement, and repetition over time. So that's kind of like the trifecta. Okay, I'm going to say it again. Focused attention. So like you are really looking at it. You're not multitasking. You don't have 13 tabs open. You're not like driving the car while listening to something, while planning out whatever you're planning.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:11:08 But you have focused attention, emotional engagement. So you're invested, right? You're not just dialing it in, but you're literally invested. And then repetition, because we know that through consistency, consistent action over time, that repetition, when those three points of the triangle come in the trifecta, you can rewire your brain. Think about that.
This means that by consistently practicing new ways of being, you embody confidence instead of fear. You literally change your neural pathways. You know how excited I get about this!!
Change is possible. It is not just empty hope, but real and backed by science. I am so thrilled about this. I get excited every time I share it. I feel like it should be front-page news. I hope you're feeling that too.
And then lastly, number four for today is sustainable change. By working with the body, emotions, and mind together, this approach creates change that sticks. And so it's really interesting. I don't know why sacred geometry keeps coming up in my thoughts as I'm sharing this, but I'm thinking of this again in the triangle.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:12:26 I'm thinking of this again in that trifecta. When you look at those choice points, when you look at body, emotions, and mind, this is the wholistic approach. This is the little triangle template that you get to overlay over everything. You're not just thinking different. You're BEING different.
As you know it. Is the being that true transformation can occur. We can pack our minds solid with content, but if it never gets implemented, then what was the point? I've actually heard that consumption, like excessive content without implementation or action, can lead to depression and anxiety. It makes sense when you think of things in their cyclical nature. What comes in must go out, whether that's in eating and eliminating from the physical body standpoint. It would also make sense from the mental layer that what goes in must come out in some way, or there will be a consequence. I often think of this as being waterlogged. Now water is essential for life and growth, but when something is saturated and waterlogged, it can lead to oxygen deprivation.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:13:44 And when you think about this in our plant world, what happens when something is waterlogged? Like you may have a houseplant if you've given it too much water, which again, water is a beautiful thing. Essential. If you eliminated water, the plant would die. But on the opposite side, if there's excessiveness, it will suck out the oxygen and there will be rot. Or in extreme cases, death of the plant.
So it's interesting because I am a forever learner. I probably study 1 to 2 hours a day and that's a lot. And sometimes when I go over that, I can myself feel waterlogged. I can feel weighed down. Sometimes there is difficulty in even assimilating because I've jammed and crammed too much in. Very similar to the waterlogged plant and very similar like if you've ever eaten and you just feel like, man, you've packed too much in. So I just want you to start to be thinking about this so you can get balanced. You can feel balanced. That was a little bit of a tangent, but I feel strongly that we need to keep the flow to be in alignment.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:14:52 And it's just like breath. There is an inhale, a taking in and an exhale a letting go. And this way will serve us in all areas of our lives.
So let's make it practical. How can this actually come down into real life? Be at the street level for conscious leaders and entrepreneurs. There are really two simple steps that you can take away and start implementing and bringing that awareness in.
The very first one is notice and name your patterns. Start by observing your body's cues. Are your shoulders tense? Is your breath shallow? These are signals that a habitual pattern might be at play. It's really interesting actually, now that you've had this, information, like you can have the spark of awareness. I invite you to even, like, go to the grocery store and sit in your car and watch the people coming out of the store and look at their habit nature. Watch how their body is holding the habitual pattern. I find it really fascinating. There's a habit of walking in a certain way.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:16:08 There's a habit of posture. Sometimes they're leaning forward or hunching. There's a habit sometimes even when you're watching people where like, they will just hold one shoulder higher to their ear. And that's kind of become this lock-in for them.
Simply noticing your own patterns and your body's cues and naming it will be a game-changer for you. It brings you back into the present picture where, like, your life isn't just happening to you, but you are an active character in your role.
The second piece to this is shift from reaction to response. When you catch yourself in a habit loop, pause and ask, what is the smallest shift I can make right now? Maybe it's unclenching your jaw, or speaking your truth, or redirecting your route, or simply just taking a breath. So this is the two-step practical, kind of dynamic duo that I want you to implement before we meet again, which is going to be next week. It's your invitation. For my clients, I call it fieldwork.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:17:18 So when we have a coaching session, I always give them an invitation or a fieldwork, which is my version of homework in real life. Like you're out in life, you're in the field, and you're bringing in these new tips and strategies so you can move the needle, so you can change some of your doing to optimize who you are and how you're being.
So the invitation really is a two-step thing. Name and notice your patterns and shift from reaction to response.
All right. Let me know if you're going to take this invitation on. Drop me a DM or dash me an email. But I would just love to know how many of you are taking this out of the mind and bringing it into the body.
I know personally I will share one habit that I would like to shift from. Is eating dinner in front of the television. It seems harmless enough, but it is the opposite and I know that it is. It is opposite to my desire of being present, and it's also out of alignment with wanting to be conscious in my life.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:18:18 So what's one habit that you want to focus on and shift? What's one habit that you're going to overlay this dynamic two-step process too?
Conscious leadership is about showing up fully present, aligned with your values, and leading from a place of authenticity. It's about doing the inner work so that your outer impact is intentional and meaningful.
If you're feeling burned out or like you're spinning your wheels. Despite your best efforts, I invite you to explore embodiment practices. They might just be the key to unlocking your next level of your leadership and business.
It invites a new pattern, one that is resourceful, one that invites you to pause, breathe, and choose. It's amazing how this simple and free technique can change how you lead and regulate your nervous system, taking you out of reaction mode and into the present moment. Remember, transformation doesn't have to be a massive overhaul. It starts with one breath, one choice, and one moment of presence. I hope today's episode gave you something valuable to reflect on.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:19:30 If you're ready to dive deeper. Let's connect. I have coaching programs designed specifically for conscious leaders like you who are ready to thrive without burnout. Until next time, my friend. Keep shining and leading with your heart. And hey, if you would like to help the show, please take 30s to leave a five-star rating or review at www.lovethe podcast.com/brilliance. Thanks for listening to Heart Glow CEO®.
