The Circle, The Stars, and The Wizard
Quick Answer
My calling began with a book. At 10 or 11, I read T.H. White's The Once and Future King and met Merlin the teacher: pay attention, there is meaning here, trust what you know. More than fifty years and four decades of strength training later, that lesson became the third pillar of my work: mindfulness, the soul half of science and soul.
This photo was taken Monday night at a holiday party. Something about it stopped me... the perfect circle framing the city lights like stars, the sense of standing at a threshold between worlds.
The next morning, I woke up thinking about a book.
The Once and Future King by T.H. White. I read it when I was 10, maybe 11, a voracious reader hungry for adventure and magic. What I found in those pages wasn't what I expected. It wasn't about spells or sorcery. It was about something that shook me awake in a way I didn't even have words for yet.
It was Merlin.
Not Merlin the magician with his tricks and transformations. Merlin the teacher. Merlin who understood that we're surrounded by so much more than what we can see. That trusting your instinct, your intuition, paying attention to why things happen in your life... that's the real magic. Everything is a lesson if you're awake enough to receive it.
I remember finishing that book and feeling like I'd been let in on a secret. Like someone had whispered to me: "Pay attention. There's meaning here. Trust what you know."
More Than Fifty Years Later
Now I'm in my sixties. I've been a strength trainer since 1982, and I've spent the last four or five years training in spiritual counseling. This year I became a certified spiritual counselor through Delphi University. I've built my practice around three pillars: Longevity, Movement, and Mindfulness. My brand is Science and Soul... that integration of what we can measure and what we can only sense, of body and spirit, of the practical and the profound.
And that morning, looking at that circular photo with its backdrop of stars, I realized: I've come full circle.
That 10-year-old reading about Merlin was receiving her calling. She didn't know it yet.
Why Does the Third Pillar Change Everything?
People understand the first two pillars easily. Longevity... taking care of our bodies, our health, our physical vitality. Movement... keeping ourselves strong, flexible, engaged with the physical world.
Yet it's the third pillar, the mindfulness work, the soul connection, that changes everything.
Because without it, the other two are maintenance. They're going through the motions. You can have a long life and a strong body and still feel like something's missing. Still feel disconnected from your own wisdom. Still miss the magic that's shimmering all around you.
This third pillar is about what Merlin taught young Arthur: Wake up. Pay attention. Trust your inner knowing. Understand that you're part of something larger, that patterns and meaning are woven through everything, that your intuition is a compass if you'll learn to read it.
Science and soul. Body and spirit. The measurable and the mysterious. You need all three pillars. That's what makes the circle complete.
Three Ways to Awaken Your Inner Merlin This Week
1. The Pause Practice (Mindfulness). Once a day, for five minutes, do cyclic sighing: breathe in through your nose, sip one more short breath in on top of it, then let a long, slow exhale go through your mouth. That is the practice a 2023 Stanford trial tested, and five minutes a day for a month improved mood and slowed resting breathing more than the same five minutes of mindfulness meditation. Before you react to anything else today, one or two sighs will do. The breath is the science. The space it creates is the soul: room for your intuition to speak.
2. The Pattern Journal (Soul Work). Each evening this week, write one line about a "coincidence" or moment that made you pause. Don't analyze it... notice it. By day seven, read all seven lines together. Your intuition speaks in whispers; this helps you hear it.
3. The Body Scan Truth (Science Meets Soul). Your gut and brain talk constantly through the vagus nerve, and more than 90 percent of the body's serotonin is made in the gut. A gut feeling isn't proof... it's information. The next time you face a decision this week, close your eyes for thirty seconds. Does your chest tighten or open? Does your stomach clench or settle? Write down what you noticed next to what you chose.
I am paying attention. There is meaning here. I trust what I know.
Frequently asked questions
What is The Once and Future King about?
It is T.H. White's retelling of the life of King Arthur. The first part, The Sword in the Stone, follows young Arthur as Merlyn teaches him by changing him into animals so he can see the world through other eyes. That is the Merlin I fell in love with: a teacher, not a trickster.
Does cyclic sighing really calm you down?
The evidence is encouraging. In a 2023 Stanford trial, five minutes a day of cyclic sighing, two inhales and one long exhale, for a month improved mood and slowed resting breathing more than the same five minutes of mindfulness meditation. It is a small, free way to give your body the message that it is safe.
Is a gut feeling really coming from your gut?
Partly, in a sense. More than 90 percent of the body's serotonin is made in the gut, and the gut and brain are in constant conversation through the vagus nerve. That serotonin stays in the body rather than the brain, so a gut feeling is not proof of anything. It is information worth noticing.
I see you. I've got you.
With love,
Kim
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Balban MY, Neri E, Kogon MM, et al. Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal. Cell Reports Medicine. 2023. Remote randomized trial at Stanford comparing three daily 5-minute breathwork practices with 5 minutes of mindfulness meditation for one month; exhale-focused cyclic sighing produced the greatest improvement in mood and a larger drop in resting breathing rate than meditation. doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100895
Yano JM, Yu K, Donaldson GP, et al. Indigenous bacteria from the gut microbiota regulate host serotonin biosynthesis. Cell. 2015. Background in this paper notes that more than 90 percent of the body's serotonin is made in the gut; the study showed gut bacteria help drive that production. This serotonin acts in the body, not directly in the brain. doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2015.02.047
Strength trainer since 1982, certified spiritual counselor and bestselling author of Morning Mantras That Will Change Your Life. Kim helps women in menopause and midlife build muscle and metabolism with science and soul. Founder of The Ageless Reset. More about Kim →
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More about Kim's science and soul approach on the About page, or see every way to work with Kim.