Is Inner Alignment the Missing Piece in Health and Healing? Soul Intelligence with Kristine Genovese

When you're doing everything right and still feel stuck, Kristine Genovese says it might be time to look inward

TL;DR

• Kristine believes unresolved stress and emotion can show up in the body. She works alongside functional medicine practitioners to help clients address both.
• Your body's signals, from aches to fatigue, are worth paying attention to and getting curious about.
• If it's not a hell yes, it's probably a no. Doing things out of obligation builds resentment.
• Self-care isn't selfish. It's sacred.

Introduction

Many of the people I train are doing all the right things. They exercise, eat well and stick to a routine, but something is still missing. They're going through the motions without knowing why. That's what I wanted to explore with Kristine Genovese.

Kristine spent most of her career as a corporate turnaround specialist, helping companies fix the people, processes and technology holding them back. Today, she's the creator of the Soul Intelligence method and the author of Healing Through Soul Intelligence. She describes her work as a bioenergetic adjustment, in the same way a chiropractor gives a biomechanical one. She often partners with functional medicine practitioners, so clients get support for the mental and emotional side alongside their physical care.

We talked about how she went from corporate leadership to this work, how stress and emotion can show up in the body, a quick exercise to shift your state, and why she wants everyone to let go of their shoulds. I've also started her course since we recorded.

A quick note: this conversation is about awareness and self-connection, not replacing medical care. If you have symptoms or a health concern, please see your doctor.

Lesson 1: Your body and mind aren't separate

Insight: Kristine says she isn't a woo-woo person, and her starting point is simple: when you're unwell physically, you usually don't feel great mentally or emotionally, and vice versa. She points to the field of bioenergetics, developed by psychiatrist Alexander Lowen in the 1950s, which looks at the connection between physical and emotional wellbeing.

Her view is that emotion is meant to be energy in motion. When it gets stuck rather than moving through you, she believes it can contribute to tension and dysfunction in the body. That's why she works with healthcare providers rather than in place of them. The emotional work happens alongside whatever the body needs, whether that's medication, supplements or working with a personal trainer to build muscle.

Action: Next time you feel physically flat, check in with how you're feeling emotionally as well. Notice whether anything has been weighing on you.

Outcome: You start seeing the connection between how you feel and what's happening in your life.

Lesson 2: A setback can point you to your zone of genius

Insight: On 12 March 2020, Kristine was sitting in an oncologist's office with her now-husband, who was being diagnosed with prostate cancer, when she got a call from HR. She was being let go. She'd never been fired in her life, and she'd received a performance bonus the week before. Her boss, the COO, was let go the same day.

Once the initial shock passed, a friend asked her what she really wanted to do, rather than jumping back into what she'd always done. She had about nine months of runway, which gave her time for prayer and meditation. In one meditation, tears streamed down her face as she realised she couldn't go back to corporate life. She now sees that moment as her own soul intelligence speaking.

She referenced Brendon Burchard's idea of moving from your zone of excellence, where you're good at something and well paid for it, into your zone of genius. Coming out as someone with a spiritual side after years as a corporate leader was scary, so she started where she was comfortable. She built a 12-week leadership program for the companies she'd helped. In the final one-on-one, she offered a choice: a traditional coaching session or a Soul Intelligence session. Every person chose Soul Intelligence.

Action: Write down what you'd do if you weren't tied to what you've always done. Don't edit it, just write.

Outcome: You get a clearer picture of whether you're living in your zone of excellence or your zone of genius.

Lesson 3: Notice whose energy you're carrying

Insight: Kristine has always been able to feel other people's emotions. As a child, she told her mum she didn't like how she felt around her dad, who was an alcoholic. Only later did she realise she'd been picking up on the self-loathing and pain he was trying to numb.

She says that when you're compassionate, you naturally take on other people's energy, especially the people you live with or are close to. If someone around you is going through a hard time, it can leave you drained without you understanding why.

I see this as a PT. Training clients is close, personal work, and people open up about a lot. Some sessions leave me drained, and others lift me up. Many of the PTs and health practitioners I talk to say the same.

Action: After your next tiring day, ask yourself who you spent time with and how they were feeling. Notice whether their mood became yours.

Outcome: You can tell the difference between your own stress and stress you've absorbed from others.

Lesson 4: Treat your body's signals as clues

Insight: Kristine sees the body as a barometer for what's happening beneath the surface. Her example: if she wakes up with a sore neck, rather than just assuming she slept badly, she asks herself who she's being inflexible with, or who's being inflexible with her. Often, she says, it turns out someone really has been a pain in the neck.

You don't need her method to start getting curious. Her suggestion is to close your eyes, get quiet and ask what the discomfort is trying to tell you. A friend of hers who practises somatic therapy asks questions like: does it feel hard or soft? Does it have a colour? Kristine also sees the main characters in our lives as mirrors. If someone really irritates you, it's worth asking why they're getting that reaction from you.

She suggests sound, music and massage as simple ways to help move things through, even if you don't know the cause.

Action: The next time something aches with no obvious cause, take two minutes to sit quietly and describe it to yourself in detail. Write down anything that comes up. If the pain persists, get it checked.

Outcome: You build the habit of listening to your body rather than ignoring it.

Lesson 5: Shift your state in under a minute

Insight: Kristine referenced David Hawkins' book Power vs. Force, which ranks emotions by the energy they carry. Love, joy and peace are at the top. Fear, guilt and shame sit much lower, and she was surprised to find perfectionism even lower than fear.

Her quickest way to raise her vibration is to laugh. She also walked me through an exercise on the podcast. If you're driving, don't do this one. Close your eyes and picture someone you love, something you love and a place you love. Hold it there. Within seconds, I was smiling. I was at my favourite surf spot in the sun.

She also talked about feeling as the key to change. It's not enough to say an affirmation. You need to feel what you want, so your body knows what that state is like. She meditates twice a day, usually first thing in the morning and at night. She sees prayer as sending out a request and meditation as listening for the answer.

Action: Try Kristine's exercise now. Close your eyes and picture a person, a thing and a place you love for 30 seconds.

Outcome: You have a reliable way to reset your mood whenever you need it.

Lesson 6: If it's not a hell yes, it's a no

Insight: This was my biggest takeaway from the episode. Kristine's advice is to release your shoulds. If you do something only because you feel you should, she says it builds resentment, and that resentment can stay with you. Give with a full heart, or don't give at all. And when you mean no, say no. It can be a complete sentence.

She also called out the pull to keep up appearances. Early in her career, she tried to be one of the guys. She carried two cases of beer up three flights of stairs to prove she could, kept up with sports stats and made fun of people who got emotional at work. Looking back, she realises how much of herself she pushed down to fit in.

Action: Look at your plans for this week. Pick one commitment you agreed to out of obligation and either drop it or reframe it as something you genuinely want to do.

Outcome: You stop building resentment and free up energy for what matters to you.

Lesson 7: Self-care is sacred, not selfish

Insight: For the one thing she'd get everyone to do, Kristine said to remember that self-care is sacred. She sees stress as the biggest contributor to dysfunction in the body, so start with whatever helps you de-stress. Then look at what you let in. Toxicity includes people. If someone's name pops up on your phone and you don't want to answer, she calls that an energy vampire. It also includes what you read, watch and listen to.

From there, look after your nutrition and water, and move, because, as she put it, sitting has become the new smoking. Get 15 minutes of sun on your face first thing in the morning. If something's on your mind or heart, get it out through journalling, or speak it into a voice recording if you don't like writing.

She believes many of us have been conditioned to take care of everyone else first. But if you're always giving, it eventually catches up with you. That's what I see with so many clients. They keep giving and doing all the right things, but they never put themselves first.

Action: Block 15 minutes in your calendar tomorrow morning for something that's just for you, whether that's sunlight, meditation, journalling or a walk.

Outcome: You start refilling your own cup before you give to everyone else.

Quick wins

• Picture a person, a thing and a place you love for 30 seconds.
• Say no to one thing this week that isn't a hell yes.
• Get 15 minutes of morning sun on your face.
• Find something to laugh at today.
• Write or voice-record whatever's on your mind before bed.

Closing insight

What I took from Kristine is that doing everything right on the outside isn't always enough. If you're training, eating well and still feel stuck, it might be worth looking at what's happening on the inside: the stress you're carrying, the emotions you haven't dealt with and the things you're doing only because you feel you should.

You don't have to believe in everything Kristine talks about to get something from this conversation. Get curious about your body's signals, put yourself on your own priority list and stop saying yes when you mean no.

Connect with Kristine

Visit the Soul Intelligence Method website, or find her book, Healing Through Soul Intelligence, on Amazon. It's also on Audible, read by Kristine.

Listen to the full episode

The full conversation is on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube, or press play at the top of this page.

Related episodes: Stop Adding, Start Listening with Kristen Renee and Doing Everything Right and Still Not Feeling Better with Dr Nupur Nag