Habits and Why They Are Important in Therapy, Mind, Body, and Soul

In this podcast, we discuss Habits, and why they matter so much for mental, physical, emotional and soul-level wellbeing.

Habits are hard to break — whether they are good or bad. The good news is that we can change them to healthy ones. People who appear to have strong discipline or self-control haven’t necessarily got more willpower; they’ve simply created a habit, and that habit has become their default.

Creating and changing healthy habits is difficult. The journey to get there is the most difficult part. But once the habit is established, it becomes your new normal — and it becomes much easier to maintain.

From a body perspective, the body appreciates routine, structure, and order. We are habitual by default, and we can make conscious decisions to change habits into something that supports us rather than works against us.

From a mental health perspective, healthy habits provide structure, reduce stress, increase self-esteem, and create a sense of control. When challenges arrive, routine gives us greater resilience and a stronger sense of stability and happiness.

So how do we build a supportive routine?

• Eating healthily

• Exercising regularly

• Creating connection to prevent loneliness

• Staying connected through work, family, friends, events, and support

All of this promotes emotional and physical stability, reduces stress, improves mood and energy levels, increases self-esteem, improves sleep, builds resilience, and connection creates a deep sense of belonging.

Habits support the whole system — mind, body, soul and spirit.

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Understanding your body type is important because it affects your therapy, nutrition, exercise, emotional regulation, and spiritual flow.

We are all designed differently for a reason. When you do what your body is designed to do, everything becomes easier: consistency, enjoyment, healing, and balance.

There are three main body types:

Lean, tall frames with fast metabolisms and more Type 1 (slow-twitch) muscle fibres.

These body types tend to respond better to higher carbohydrates, slightly lower fats, and moderate protein.

Naturally athletic with solid frames.

They gain and lose weight easily and tend to have an abundance of Type 2 (fast-twitch) muscle fibres.

These body types usually respond best to a balanced ratio of all three macronutrients.

Softer, rounder bodies with a much higher percentage of Type 2 (fast-twitch) muscle fibres.

Often well suited to strength and power-based work, such as powerlifting.

These body types tend to respond better to higher fats, lower carbohydrates, and moderate protein.

Healing requires connecting fully to the body. When you do what your body is designed to do, it doesn’t fight you — and therapy becomes easier to integrate.

Everyone responds differently. When your food ratios, training style, and recovery match your body type and muscle fibres, your system feels safer and more supported.

Your body is part of who you truly are. Eating enough, not over-exercising, and aligning with your natural design helps you access, connect to, and align with your authentic self.

Working against your body can create stress, elevated cortisol, and blockages in the system. When you come back into alignment, flow returns — physically, emotionally, and energetically.

Your body type matters because your body is the gateway to your whole self.

Always come back to the body.

Here’s a link to discover your body type:

https://www.healthline.com/health/quiz/quiz-whats-your-body-type

https://victoriapenfold.com/nutrition-and-exercise/

Subscribe to explore more of Wholeyfit – The Soul’s Compass Method™, where body, mind, soul, and spirit are treated as one integrated system.

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In this episode, we explore boundaries — what they are, why they matter, and how to set them in a way that supports your health, relationships, and emotional wellbeing.

Boundaries are the rules we follow to protect ourselves.

They are not about control or punishment — they are about safety, self-care, and respect.

We begin by looking at personal boundaries:

what feels acceptable to you physically, psychologically, and emotionally, and how you want to be treated. These boundaries are often invisible, but they shape every relationship we have.

I share the boundary string exercise, a simple but powerful way to understand where your boundaries sit and how to communicate them clearly. Setting boundaries is a form of self-care — but they must be communicated to exist.

For example:

“If you yell at me, I will end the phone call.”

This isn’t about controlling another person — it’s about protecting your nervous system and wellbeing.

We also explore the importance of balance:

not being too rigid and keeping people out, and not oversharing or abandoning yourself to keep connection.

Writing boundaries down matters. Research shows that when you write something down, you’re up to 91% more likely to follow through and communicate it.

To support the body, I guide you through grounding practices — placing a hand on the heart, breathing, and box breathing — to bring the nervous system back into regulation before and during boundary conversations.

In the second part of the video, we explore feelings, especially anger.

I read a Rumi poem and reflect on anger as a guardian of boundaries — a signal that something needs protecting, not something to suppress or fear.

Finally, we look at how to set boundaries in practice:

• Remembering you are worthy of respect

• Identifying your needs and wants (which are different for everyone)

• Understanding that boundaries may differ with family, friends, and work

• Communicating boundaries respectfully — and respecting the boundaries of others

If your boundaries are crossed or broken, I invite you to be gentle with yourself.

Your body remembers trauma, and it can make expressing boundaries feel difficult or unsafe. This doesn’t mean you’re failing — it means your system needs care.

Listen to your feelings.

Calm your body.

Write things down.

And come back to yourself.

Boundaries are not walls.

They are bridges to healthier, safer relationships — with others and with yourself.

Subscribe to explore more of Wholeyfit – The Soul’s Compass Method™, where healing the mind and body leads to clarity, safety, and soul-led living.

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Honouring nature’s rhythm to guide healing, action, reflection, and release. 🌙✨

The moon has always been part of the foundation of Wholeyfit – The Soul’s Compass Method™.

My master’s studies in Mythology, Cosmology, Astrology, and the Sacred helped me understand the moon not just symbolically, but psychologically, somatically, and energetically.

The four moon phases mirror the cycles we move through in our inner world:

🌑 New Moon — New Beginnings

A time for intention setting, clarity, and quiet planting of seeds.

🌓 Waxing Moon — Growth & Action

Energy increases. This is when we take steps, build momentum, and move toward our goals.

🌕 Full Moon — Peak Energy, Illumination & Release

Insight rises. Truth becomes clear. What no longer serves can be released.

🌗 Waning Moon — Rest & Reflection

Energy softens. We slow down, restore, and integrate what we’ve learned.

These phases support the Wholeyfit method across all elements:

Emotions and inner states shift throughout the lunar cycle — especially for women.

The moon teaches us to flow, allow completion, and honour emotional cycles instead of suppressing them. This helps you feel, process, and release safely.

Eating seasonally and moving with the rhythm of nature stabilises the nervous system.

The phases help guide when to push, when to nourish, when to soften, and how to support your body with the right foods for grounding and balance.

Your goals can be aligned with the moon’s energetic flow:

new intentions, building action, gaining insight, and reflecting before the next cycle begins.

It brings structure without pressure — working with nature, not against it.

The moon becomes a metaphor for money cycles:

flow, growth, peak, release, and renewal.

This helps soften fear and build a healthier, soul-led relationship with finance.

Because everything is connected — mind, body, earth, psyche, cosmos.

Mythology allows us to access masculine and feminine energies, archetypes, and guides like Chiron, the Wounded Healer, who teaches us that pain can become purpose.

The moon is a reminder that healing happens in cycles.

Growth happens in phases.

And alignment comes from honouring your natural rhythm.

Subscribe to explore more of Wholeyfit – The Soul’s Compass Method™, where healing the mind and body leads to purpose, flow, and freedom.

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BTC123: Be The Change – Money

Where soul meets structure — and money becomes your support for good 💛

Whatever you need in life costs money, and when used consciously, money becomes the support needed for good. It allows you to care for yourself, support others, and create meaningful change in the world.

BTC123 is the fourth pillar within Wholeyfit – The Soul’s Compass Method™.

By the time clients reach this stage, they’ve already created their soul-led map and compass — and abundance naturally begins to move toward them.

But for many, money can be a block:

a place of overwhelm, fear, anxiety, or deep uncertainty.

Some people fear not having enough.

Others fear having more than they know how to hold.

BTC123 helps transform that entire relationship.

This work teaches you to respect money, let it support you, and build a structure that quietly works in the background — reliable, sustainable, and aligned with your purpose. After an initial period of effort and conscious setup, money becomes something you can trust rather than fear.

It looks different for everyone.

Some need more stability, some need less.

It depends entirely on your soul’s purpose — not someone else’s definition of success.

In BTC123, we create:

✨ A conscious money plan

✨ A positive healthy money mindset

✨ A financial structure designed for the life you want

✨ A healthy partnership between ego and soul — safety + direction

✨ A release of old patterns such as scarcity, guilt, fear of success, or fear of letting go

This process gently unravels beliefs that have held you back for years.

Through visual tools, guided visualisations, affirmations, gratitude practices, and future-self techniques, you begin to see what truly matters — and create a structure that reflects that.

Just like with your nutrition, movement, or coaching plan, your money plan becomes grounded, practical, and soul-led.

BTC123 is financial healing with purpose.

A way of letting money support your life, your energy, and your calling — without draining you.

Subscribe to explore more of Wholeyfit – The Soul’s Compass Method™, where healing the mind and body leads to purpose, flow, and freedom.

Follow — Victoria & Wholeyfit:

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GFG123: Going for Gold – Life Coaching

Where clarity meets action — and your soul becomes your guide. ✨

GFG123 can be used as a standalone method or alongside therapy, nutrition, and/or Personal Training.

It is the stage of Wholeyfit – The Soul’s Compass Method™ where your inner world and outer world finally meet.

When the mind and body work together — and you’ve done the work to access and release what your body has been holding — you create the space for the wisdom of your heart and soul to come forward.

This is where unity is established.

This is where your inner knowing begins to lead.

GFG123 is about turning that knowing into direction, structure, and real movement in your life.

In this video, you’ll learn how I guide clients through:

✨ Exploring the soul’s calling

✨ Using guided visualisations

✨ Creating vision boards to build a clear image if your dreams and thoughts

✨ Designing an Ideal Model for the life you want to live

✨ Identifying the support you need to get there

✨ Turning your dreams into goals

✨ Using diary systems, action plans, and routines to create new behaviour

✨ Working with affirmations and gratitude to rewire focus and belief systems

My work in GFG123 helps you bring the transpersonal — your intuition, soul, purpose, and inner wisdom — into something visual, practical, and actionable.

It’s where healing becomes direction.

Where purpose becomes a plan.

Where hope becomes habits.

Going for Gold is about living from the part of you that knows where you’re meant to go.

Subscribe to explore more of Wholeyfit – The Soul’s Compass Method™, where healing the mind and body leads to purpose, flow, and freedom.

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Because the body remembers — and it also knows how to heal. 🌿

TPT123 can be used as a standalone method or alongside food therapy and counselling.

It is the second core structure within Wholeyfit – The Soul’s Compass Method™, supporting the body as it moves through deep emotional and energetic healing.

TPT123 is literally personal training that is also therapy.

It’s based on the science that when muscle tissue is activated through movement, stored memories surface.

We explore what arises, trace the patterns, and gently release what your body has been carrying — while building physical strength and emotional stability at the same time.

You’ll -

✨ Understand the connection between muscle activation and buried memory

✨ Use body maps to locate where trauma and wisdom has been stored

✨ Release emotional patterns that still influence your present life

✨ Strengthen your physical container and rebuild personal boundaries

✨ Create safety, clarity, confidence, and connection to your body

This work is more than exercise — it is somatic healing.

As a trauma-informed counsellor, I created this model with the understanding that trauma lives in the body.

Through walking, weight training, cardiovascular work, yoga, breath-led movement, and nervous system regulation, we activate not only muscle and energy systems but memory, intuition, and soul wisdom.

I design each plan based on your body type, energy systems, attachment patterns, trauma history, and the “basket system” — ensuring your training supports both your physical physiology and your emotional landscape.

When the body and nervous system are calm it facilitates a calm mind.

Through this work, we reconnect those two worlds: your healing and your action, your inner world and your outer strength.

TPT123 is exercise with meaning — therapy in motion — helping you remember who you are and rebuild your life from clarity, strength, and soul.

Subscribe to explore more of Wholeyfit – The Soul’s Compass Method™, where healing the mind and body leads to purpose, flow, and freedom.

Follow — Victoria & Wholeyfit:

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LinkedIn: Victoria Penfold

Website: victoriapenfold.com

Healing the body to calm the mind. 🌿

ABC123 can be used on its own or as part of your wider therapy journey. It’s more than a plan — it’s food therapy.

A structured, easy-to-follow method that helps uncover the root causes, patterns, and emotions behind how and why you eat.

This work is about restoring balance from the inside out.

When the body is nourished, the mind can settle, the nervous system can regulate, and your energy can return to its natural rhythm.

You’ll learn how to:

✨ Build a calm, clear, and compassionate relationship with food

✨ Regulate your body to support emotional and mental wellbeing

✨ Understand how nourishment supports the nervous system and brain

✨ Use food consciously to reconnect with the land, nature, and your true self

✨ Restore balance through the four ABC123 principles — Abundance, Balance, Control, and Discipline

I created ABC123 to help reverse the damage done to the human body through poor nutrition and emotional disconnection.

I believe food is medicine — and by eating in alignment with your body type and the earth, you create the foundation for lasting healing and clarity.

When your body is steady, your purpose can emerge.

This is food as therapy — nourishing body, mind, and soul.

Subscribe to explore more of Wholeyfit – The Soul’s Compass Method™, where healing the mind and body leads to purpose, flow, and freedom.

Follow — Victoria & Wholeyfit:

Instagram: @wholeyfit

Facebook: Wholeyfit – The Soul’s Compass Method

LinkedIn: Victoria Penfold

Website: victoriapenfold.com