The Trilogy of Transformation

Season 2: Episode 12: The Trilogy of Transformation

In this episode, Kristin breaks down the three practices you need to feel grounded, aligned, and balanced, especially during the holidays and heading into 2026.

🌟 Inside This Episode

• Why December is actually the best time to start your transformation

• Why doing just one practice (movement or meditation or journaling) keeps you stuck

• The Trilogy of Transformation:   

🔹 Movement — releases energy + grounds your body  

🔹 Meditation — connects you to intuition + inner wisdom  

🔹 Reflection — helps you process, integrate, and create clarity

• How these three together create balance, embodiment, and true change

• Simple ways to start ALL three without adding more stress to your day

Want support?

Kristin offers:

• 1:1 coaching

• Soul Purpose sessions

• Mini retreats for the new year

Learn more at ⁠kristinsvets.com⁠

💻 Visit  ⁠Kristin’s website⁠ or connect via Instagram @kristinsvetscoaching⁠ 

🎧 Subscribe to the Abundant By Design Podcast for weekly inspiration and energetic alignment tools.

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Transcript

Season 2: Episode 12- The Trilogy of Transformation

Hello my friend, welcome back. I'm so grateful you're here as always. It is now early December, which means that we are in this beautiful but chaotic and overwhelming space and time, right? We've got the holidays coming and life gets so busy and it's just really easy to lose yourself in the chaos.

And so if you didn't listen to last week's episode yet, I highly recommend you go back and listen to it. It's how to holiday proof your piece. It's got one of my very favorite practices in there to really just create this sense of calm in the chaos. And I also really want to plant the seed of this is actually a great time to start pondering who we want to be throughout the holiday season, but also going into 2026. So everybody always waits until January 1st and then sets these New Year's resolutions. But I have been really thinking through what causes a true and complete transformation in your life of how you can show up and when we're all hoping to be the best version of ourselves, how do we get clear on how to do that? How do we build the practices that will actually help us show up as this most aligned and grounded and centered and just a complete whole version of yourself, right? So whether that's during the holidays or whether it's into 2026, it's actually who we want to be every day of our life. And that's what I want to talk about today because we can start planting these seeds right now and it actually helps us get through the holiday season. And true transformation requires a whole and complete and balanced picture.

So I wanted to introduce you to this concept that I've been playing with, which is this trilogy of transformation. And these aren't new practices. You've definitely heard of all of them, especially if you listen to me. But what I struggle with myself, what I see in my clients, and I know just what I see out in the world, is that most of us are really good at doing a couple of these parts.

but we skip the third or we skip two of them. And that missing piece is what keeps us stuck. And it is what keeps us feeling like things are chaotic or we can't handle it or this is all too much. So what are the three things? There is physical practice and movement. There is meditation and stillness. And there is the need for reflection.

And so sometimes that's journaling or writing or just processing and visioning. So we're going to talk about why you need all three, that not just one is going to do the trick and not just two. You really do need all three. And when I bring all three of these into my life, I feel so much more empowered and it's very easy to let one go, but it's also actually easy

to bring it all back into your life. When you bring all of these three practices together with both discipline and intention, you create harmony, you create balance, that creates transformation. And so that gets you through any chaotic time, like the holiday season, it gets you through any slow time, like the new year, and you know, always in the new year, I think people are feel a little bit of, you know, I like wish something was different. I want to be better. So let's dive in to that. So what is the problem with doing just one or two, but not all three? Here's what I see all the time. And maybe you'll recognize yourself in one of these. Scenario one is you're really great at the physical.

practice. you go to yoga class regularly, you work out all the time, you take care of your body and you're strong and you're flexible and you're disciplined. But maybe emotionally or mentally, you're stressed out, you're overwhelmed, you're reactive. I know some people like to joke around and say they're a hot mess. And really this is from you're not giving yourself space, you're not sitting with yourself, you might not be processing your feelings, and you might be using movement to escape instead of to ground.

And I feel like we see this a lot, right? We know that there is the yoga teacher who's incredible shape, but is actually so stressed out. Or, I mean, you can think of that in any space, right?

And there's so much to honor in that because it's so incredible to be successful at taking care of your body. So scenario two is that you're a great meditator. So this would be me. I am not in scenario one and I want to be better about that. That is my missing link is being better about the physical practice. I am good. I do go to various classes. I do walk, but especially as I'm getting older, I need to step it up a notch. And I see the difference in not doing that. But so scenario two, you are great at meditation. So you sit every morning and you're connected to your spiritual practice or even if it's just silence for you, but you can get still and you can listen. And you feel like you're connected to your inner wisdom and to God and the divine, but you're not taking care of your physical body at the level that you want to. That is me. Not moving enough. So it's like being all up in your like spirit realm, but your body, your physicality is being neglected.

And then there's scenario three, which is interesting because this feels like meditation, but I really want to share how it's different in this scenario of pulling all three practices together. So scenario three is that you're actually great at reflection. You might be a great journaler. You might be a great writer. So say you journal on a regular basis, and you analyze, and you process, or you think about things, and you envision things.

So you might be really great at self-awareness, but that isn't always meditating. That isn't necessarily checking in with the divine or your inner wisdom, although journaling is another form of getting your wisdom out, but it's using your mind. so allowing yourself the space to also meditate is really important. And... you could be a great writer and not move your body enough, right? That there's mental and emotional energy that's actually stuck in your body without a release. So I'm just using these as like the more extreme examples to show the pattern that each of these practices is powerful on its own, but when you only do one or two, you're incomplete, you're out of balance and you're just missing this piece of the puzzle and true transformation or true and true transformation, the kind where you show up fully and completely in your life, in the energy that you want, like showing up to your holiday season with the love and the presence and the awareness and the emotional regulation, to show up in that version of you, it actually requires all three of these and it doesn't have to take the amount of time that you think it's going to take. So your brain likes to say, my gosh, no, I do not have time for all of these things, but we do. We absolutely do. We're scrolling on our phones. We're doing other things. We have the time to fit these in because it changes who we are. This is the trilogy of transformation.

So let's start with a physical practice. And of course, in yoga, that's the asana practice, but any movement is what I'm talking about here. So again, physical postures, physical movement, physical practice. It does not have to be yoga. It can be working out, any working out. I love Pilates. I love my bar classes. It can be dancing. It could be running or hiking or strength training. Anything that gets you into your body. And of course we know that that's good and healthy for us. It lengthens our lives. So we know the physical results of it. But the reason that it's a part of a transformation of who you are is that your body is not separate from your mind and your spirit. It's all connected. I'm sure you've heard of the book Your Body Keeps the Score.

And when you move your body, you do release stuck energy. You process these subconscious, unconscious emotions that are stored in your muscles and in your tissues and in your nervous system. So a lot of times in yoga, when people do a lot of hip openers, that's a moment when people might cry because they don't even know why, but there's emotions stuck in our tight hips. And movement just... grounds us right it brings you into the present moment. That's what's so amazing about any class that I love being on reformer Pilates I love the bar class. I love yoga. It's so hard and you have to focus so intently into the present moment that you're actually embodied and You're here and you're alive. And so it kind of reminds you you know that you're not just like floating around. And there's a discipline required here. You have to show up, you have to do the work. No one can do this for you. You have to move even when you don't feel like it. And that is where I struggle. That is my ongoing struggle, probably always will be, but I'm trying to change that. And I know that this is a masculine energy. And... that's okay. Structure and discipline and action, we all need that. We all thrive from that. And especially if you tend to be very flowy and very intuitive and very go with the vibe. That's my issue.

But the physical practice gives you the structure. It gives you the strength and it gives you a container. But then here is the catch. If you only do the physical practice, you become disconnected because you're using it to potentially maybe escape your emotions instead of processing them. And I know I just said that the physical thing, does process some emotions for you, but we all know that there are very physically strong people or very excellent yoga practitioners who are not in touch. With their emotions. They are not regulated. We've all seen these incredibly fit, incredibly disciplined in their workouts, but they're not in touch with themselves. They're actually running from themselves. They are avoiding the inner work. So the physical practice is essential and it's not enough on its own. So then we bring in meditation, which that's actually, so interesting, right? Because straight to meditation, is the opposite of the physical movement and it's so hard for so many people who are really good at the physical movement. It's hard to be still. It's hard to listen. Meditation is about stillness. It's about getting quiet enough to listen. To listen to your heart. To listen to your soul. To your intuition to the divine. It's where you stop all of that doing and you start to get in touch with who you are being. You get to just be in that moment. And it's where you create space for wisdom to come through. And this matters because you cannot hear your own inner voice if you never get still.

Again, that is the moment of like why the shower, that great downloads come in the shower, but I think a lot of people are now listening to podcasts or YouTube channels while they're in the shower. You cannot receive guidance if you are constantly moving, constantly consuming, constantly distracted and running. Meditation is how you connect to something bigger than yourself. It's how you tap into your intuition.

And it's how you remember who you are beneath all of the noise. And of course, meditation teaches you presence. It teaches you how to be with yourself, with your thoughts, with your feelings, with your discomfort, without needing to fix or change anything. So this is the opposite of movement, is movements, the masculine energy. This is a feminine energy of receiving, of allowing, of being instead of doing. And we need that too. Especially if you tend to be very action oriented and very driven and very go, Meditation gives you permission to rest, to receive, and to trust. And of course, the catch with that is that if you only meditate and you're all stillness and no action, then you become ungrounded, right? You can become very,

You can get like super spiritual and you know the woo woo that we've talked about in other episodes that you're not actually living in a grounded place. You're not actually living in the real world. And that's not where any of us want to be either. Right. If you just receive all this wisdom from meditation or you receive this feeling of inner peace but you don't ever do anything with it and you're not in action and you're not taking care of your physical body.

If you're not moving with that wisdom, then all that spiritual connection doesn't have a grounded container to live in. So I believe that meditation is so essential. is a part of this trilogy of showing up in the form of who you want to be. And again, it's not enough on its own. And then let's talk about pillar three, which is reflection and journaling, processing, visioning.

This is such an incredibly powerful practice and I think most people leave this one out. do know there's some people who are really good at journaling, but it's fascinating when you actually start to write or if you don't want to write, use your voice notes app on your phone and start to leave yourself just a stream of consciousness voice note.

It's where you process. And so it's where you can make sense of your experiences, your feelings, your thoughts. And this is where you get clear on who you are and who you want to be and how something is going for you. So if I am struggling with something and I journal about it, I really can't even believe what comes out.

And the same is true, I really actually love the Voice Notes app if I am struggling with a negative emotion and I'm like driving along, sometimes I'll just hit the Voice Notes and be like, why am I feeling like this? What is it that set me off? And what do I actually want? Where am I going with this? What is a better scenario that's calling me forward? And you can do that even with like, the vision of like, how do you want to show up this holiday season? Who do you want to be next year in 2026? Who do you want to be in five years or 10 years? As just a person. So I don't mean like lay out all your goals. I mean, who do you want to be? And this matters because giving yourself time to reflect, process, vision, is where self-awareness comes in. And self-awareness is everything. You cannot change what you don't acknowledge. And you cannot grow if you're not reflecting on where you've been and where you're going. So journaling or voice noting your reflections, these help you see patterns. It helps you track your growth.

It helps you get honest with yourself about what's working and what's not. And it's where you integrate. You move your body and you meditate and you receive wisdom and then you journal or vision to process it all, to make it conscious, to decide what you're going to do with it. And of course, like the other two, if you are the rare person that just journals and you're all analysis and reflection, but you don't have movement or stillness outside of journaling, then you can get really stuck in your head. You can overanalyze and overthink and you can write and write and write, but never actually listen to your deeper knowing and never actually move the energy through your body.

So you can have all this self-awareness in the world, but if you're not meditating to receive guidance and you're not moving to release what's stuck, then you're just, what are you doing? You're just spinning in circles, right? So it feels fun. I'm sure it's still healthy on its own, but the power of all three of these together, this is where the magic happens. I can feel it in myself. I can see it in other people when they do it.

When you do all three of these practices together regularly with intention, you create true transformation. The physical practice gives you the strength and the discipline and the groundedness. It releases that stuck energy and brings you into your body. Meditation gives you connection and wisdom and presence and peace. And it helps you listen to your heart and soul and trust the divine. And then journaling gives you clarity. We all want clarity. It gives you integration and vision. helps you process and reflect and move forward with intention. And so the three of those together, they create balance. They create wholeness. They create a harmony. Between the masculine and feminine energy that we all need. It creates a balance between doing and being, between action and receptivity. So then you're not just strong, but you're also centered and connected. And you're not just spiritual, you're also grounded.

and you're not just self-aware, you're also taking aligned action. And so that is what it means to show up fully and completely in your life. This is the trilogy of transformation. And let's talk a little bit about that energy piece of masculine and feminine energy being in balance. I think this is so important. All three of these practices require discipline.

And discipline is a more masculine energy. It's structure, it's consistency, it's a container. It's showing up even when you don't feel like it. It is the commitment, because commitment is always in the moment. And you also want the feminine energy to flow, to have intuition. And we also need the feminine energy that is more natural to most of us women who are listening, right? And we want the flow, we want the intuition, we want to take aligned action when it feels right.

We want beautiful intentions, but we have to have structure, masculine energy, to be consistent and to actually follow through. And then, we don't want to be so focused on the discipline that we forget to listen, we forget to receive, we forget to rest. So, the trilogy of transformation brings those energies into harmony.

I think the physical practice, of course, is the more masculine energy. It's discipline and action and structure. Meditation is the feminine energy of receptivity, of stillness, of allowing. And journaling is really both. It's active reflection. It's also listening to what wants to come through, but it's creating an intention and deciding on a line to action within that. And so when you do all three of these, you're honoring both forms of energy. You're creating balance, which means you're creating a whole and complete version of you. And so why this matters even right now in early December is that we're in it. We're in the chaos of the holiday season. And then before you know it, it's January and everybody's talking about New Year's resolutions. And I just want to invite you to not...wait because these practices will help you get through the holiday season in such a more centered, grounded place. So what if you used this month to think about where you've been this year to get honest about what worked and what didn't and to create this vision of who you want to be and where you want to go. And if you just committed to this trilogy of transformation to moving your body, to meditating, to journaling. And so that by the time January rolls around, you're not starting from scratch and you've made it through the holiday season in the best mental, emotional, physical, spiritual space that you've been in in a while. And you get to use this momentum to then create whatever you want to create at the beginning of next year right, the whole vision of who do you want to be and how do you want to show up and what practices do you need to support that version of you, you've already started it. You're already planting the seeds and building this trilogy of transformation. So how do you fit it in right now? I invite you to commit to movement and if movement is your struggle piece then

Just make it a 15 to 20 minute movement practice. There are a million options on YouTube. You could just go for a walk. Just commit to movement and then meditate. Even if that is just five rounds of box breathing or like a six count inhale and a six count exhale, it doesn't have to take long. Just...

Give yourself some silence and stillness and use your breath to focus. And then journaling, even if it's just like a one page stream of consciousness or even if it's not writing, even if it's that voice noting thing, you know, in this time of chaos, that's super easy to do of get in the car, something set you off and you don't feel right about something, talk it out to yourself and see what comes up. So don't...

Wait for the perfect moment. Don't wait for January 1st. Just start now to incorporate all of these things. And I promise you, your holiday season is going to be so much better. And so is everything else. Everyone else in your life is going to see it and feel it. And you're just going to start off the new year in that much more of a better place.

Of course, if you are feeling called to go deeper with this, if you want support in building these practices and getting clear on your vision, I would love to work with you. I offer coaching that integrates all three of these pillars. And we work on the discipline and flow, and we work on who you are now and who you're becoming, whether it's a one-on-one session, whether it's a soul. Purpose session, which is so fun to get crystal clear on where you're going. I also am offering mini retreats, which by the way, these are three hour sessions are going to be great in the new year. And I think they are a amazing gift for someone that you love as a, as a holiday gift and we can schedule it in January and February and pull in the exact custom curated support points that they want. I always love doing a sole purpose session within that. check out my website, kristinsfetz.com. Feel free to reach out to me on Instagram. It can be a one hour session. It can be a three hour mini retreat. The sole purpose session, all of them can support you in this transformational piece. I am here for you.

So if you feel called to that, just please reach out. 2026, I feel like, is going to be an amazing year. And I know there's a lot of chaos around us. But this attitude and this energy comes from this trilogy of transformation. And when you start it now, you get to thrive from these choices that you're making today.

And so here's what I want to leave you with. Let's just remember that true transformation doesn't come from doing just one thing. It just doesn't. It comes from showing up fully in a body, mind, and soul perspective. So the trilogy.

So the trilogy of transformation, again, movement, meditation, journaling or reflection, it gives you everything you need to show up in the most aligned, grounded, complete version of yourself. invite in all three, with discipline, with intention, with love and self-compassion for yourself and the version of you living in this life that you're creating and cultivating and you are now showing up as the highest version of you that gets to be here right now. You, my friend, are abundant by design and the practices you choose, the way you show up for yourself every single day, that's how you design that abundance.

So thank you so much for being here. Thank you for showing up. If this moved you, I would love for you to share it with a friend. And until next week, I hope you move and meditate and reflect. Thank you so much for being here. I will see you next week.