What’s new:

Michelle introduces the Enneagram’s “three centers of intelligence” and explains how most people rely too heavily on one—causing stress, stagnation, or burnout.

Why it matters:

When you reconnect your Body, Heart, and Head, you stop running on autopilot. This rebalancing unlocks executive presence, clarity, and grounded decision-making.

In this episode:

What the three centers are—and how to access them
The “wobbly stool” metaphor for imbalance
Real-world examples from leaders with dominant centers
How each Enneagram type co-opts the other two centers
A simple 3-question check-in to restore balance
Why coaching can accelerate this inner transformation

📥 Free download: “Three Center Check-In” (Notion document sign-up 👉)

📖 Bonus blog: Type-by-type center imbalance + diagram

🔯 New to the Enneagram personality system? Check out my Enneagram 101 guide to get started

Next episode → Michelle shares her full decision-making framework using all three centers.

Have a favorite podcast player? Here are links to: Apple | Spotify

Transcript

Today we’re talking about how to feel more grounded, clear, and steady—especially when the world feels uncertain. I want to introduce you to a framework that’s changed everything for me and many of my clients: the Enneagram’s three centers of intelligence.

This episode is about alignment—but not in the glossy, performative “just find your passion” kind of way. We’re not chasing purpose today. We’re talking about presence—and how to get back in touch with all of who you are, so you’re not stuck living on autopilot, feeling stuck in patterns that are keeping you from going after your big, juicy life.

🧠❤️🧍The Three Centers of Intelligence (and Why They Matter)

The Enneagram teaches that we each have three core ways of knowing and being:

The Body (Gut) Center – our instinctual awareness, boundaries, and action
The Heart Center – our emotional intelligence, empathy, and connection
The Head Center – our ability to think, plan, imagine, and discern

All three are essential. But most of us have one dominant center—usually the one we over-relied on in childhood to feel safe or loved. That center becomes the CEO of your inner world. It hijacks the other two and presses them into service for its agenda.

This is how your personality forms—as a kind of adaptive imbalance. It’s not wrong. It was brilliant at the time. But as adults, that same imbalance can leave us feeling stuck, reactive, or out of sync.

🪑Why You Feel Off: The Wobbly Stool Metaphor

Here’s a way to picture it:

Imagine your inner life like a three-legged stool. If one leg gets really strong and the others weaken, you can still sit—but you’re always tilting. You brace, overcorrect, and eventually get exhausted. You might even think, “This is just how I am.” But what if your stool wasn’t broken—just imbalanced?

That’s what many of us are doing—trying to lead and live from one leg of the stool. No wonder it feels off.

🌀 How Personality Forms from Center Imbalance

Let me bring this to life with a few examples based on composite patterns I see in my clients and their Enneagram styles.

➤ Type 3 (Achiever) – Heart center dominant

My client Rachel identifies with the pattern of Enneagram 3. She is a mid-level leader who’s known for getting results. She’s also exhausted. Her Heart center drives her to perform well and look competent. Her Body pushes her to keep going, and her Head strategizes success. But all of this serves one thing: being seen as impressive. When that’s the goal, rest feels like failure, and authenticity takes a back seat.

When your heart runs the show, even your smarts and stamina become tools for people-pleasing or conforming to other people’s notions of success.

➤ Type 6 (Loyalist) – Head center dominant

Jordan is a team manager who’s thoughtful and loyal and identifies with the pattern of Enneagram 6, but they second-guesses every decision. Their mind is constantly scanning for what could go wrong. Their Body stays alert, on edge. Their Heart seeks reassurance—but only enough to quiet the worry, not to connect. Jordan’s stuck in the anxiety loop, unable to access grounded confidence.

When the mind is in overdrive, the body tenses and the heart shrinks.

➤ Type 9 (Peacemaker) – Body center dominant

Melissa identifies with the Enneagram style 9 and she wants to uplevel. She dreams of starting a consulting practice, but keeps getting stuck. Her Body wants comfort and ease, so it resists change. Her Heart avoids conflict, blending with others’ needs. Her Head rationalizes inaction: “Maybe it’s just not the right time.” But deep down, she’s tuning out her own desire.

When the gut’s craving peace becomes dominant, it can numb your clarity and mute your ambition.

🧭 What Alignment Really Means (and How You Know You’re In It)

Alignment isn’t a destination or some higher calling you have to find—it’s a felt sense of congruence. A kind of inner click when your actions, thoughts, and feelings line up with what matters most to you.

It’s what happens when you’re no longer running on autopilot, but responding with your full intelligence - body, heart, and mind.

You know you’re in alignment when:

Your Body says yes or no - and you actually listen.
Your Heart shares what you want - and you let it matter.
Your Mind discerns the path - and you trust it.

When all three centers are online, you stop reacting from old patterns. You stop outsourcing your worth. You show up with clarity, integrity, and presence.

That’s what real alignment feels like. And it’s what makes you powerful—not in a performative way, but in a deeply alive, fully inhabited way.

✨ What Real Executive Presence Is, and How Balance Creates It

[Insert soft shift in tone: invitation + curiosity]

Now I want to talk about something that comes up a lot in leadership conversations: executive presence.

It’s one of those phrases that’s hard to define but easy to feel. People describe it as gravitas, confidence, clarity, the ability to lead a room without needing to dominate it. And I believe real executive presence isn’t about performance—it’s about integration.

When you’re running from just one center, you’re often either:

Overthinking to the point of paralysis
Overfeeling to the point of self-abandonment
Or overdoing to the point of burnout

But when your body, heart, and mind are working together, something shifts.

You become the kind of person who can:

Speak with grounded clarity—even in tense meetings
Stay open and curious—when others are reactive or rigid
Make bold decisions—without over-explaining or seeking approval
Hold boundaries without shutting people out
Respond with compassion and precision

That’s what people are sensing when they say, “You have presence.” It’s coherence. Integration. You’re not operating on autopilot—you’re here.

🔄 How Each Enneagram Type Hijacks the Other Centers

Let's explore how each of the Enneagram personality styles tend to co-opt the centers in different ways. For those of you who are new to the Enneagram, this is a system that outlines nine different archetypes of personality that describe the ways that we tend to fall asleep to the fullness of who we are.

Here’s how Russ Hudson, a prominent teacher of the Enneagram, describes it:

“When we’re locked in our pattern, our backup centers aren’t really available for what they’re for - they’re supporting the dominant center’s agenda. The third center just drops out of significance.”

Here’s a quick tour of how this shows up for each of the types: (There is an accompanying blog post that outlines this in more detail and provides a diagram in the show notes.)

Body Center:

8 (aka. The Challenger) whose attention and body center energy is outward facing: Body dominates with power. Heart says “I protect because I care.” Head strategizes control. Vulnerability is hidden.
1 (aka. The Reformer) whose attention and body center energy faces inward: Body tightens around rules. Heart judges. Head justifies perfectionism. You get brittle under pressure.
9 (aka. The Peacemaker) whose attention shuttles back and forth between inward and outward: Body numbs. You actually have a hard time tapping into your intuition or gut responses. Heart blends in. Head rationalizes inaction. You disappear to avoid conflict.

Heart Center:

2 (aka. The Helper) whose attention and energy of the center is outward facing: Heart needs to feel needed. Body acts in service. Head anticipates others’ needs. Self is lost.
4 (aka. The Individualist) whose attention and energy of the center faces inward: Heart longs for identity. Body emotes. Head dramatizes. You live for depth, but spiral in longing.
3 (aka. The Achiever) whose attention and energy shuttles back and forth between inward and outward: Heart craves admiration. Body keeps up appearances. Head strategizes success. Failure becomes shame.

Head Center:

7 (aka. The Enthusiast) whose attention and energy of the center faces outward: Head chases stimulation. Body runs to the next thrill. Heart avoids pain. You’re moving, but not deepening.
5 (aka. The Investigator) whose attention and energy of the center is inward facing: Head hoards knowledge. Heart is observed, not felt. Body is ignored. You retreat to feel safe.
6 (aka. The Loyalist) whose attention and energy shuttles back and forth between inward and outward: Head scans for danger. Body braces. Heart seeks reassurance. Anxiety drives everything.

🧘‍♀️ A Practice for Rebalancing Body, Heart, and Mind

So how do you get unstuck?

Not by “fixing” yourself—but by recruiting the other two centers for what they’re actually meant for.

Try this:

Before a tough conversation or big decision, pause and ask:

Gut: What does my body say? Do I feel grounded or tight?
Heart: What do I actually want here? What am I feeling?
Head: What’s the story I’m telling? What other perspectives are possible?

Notice which center is dominating. Then gently invite the others into the room.

This might seem overly simple, but you’d be surprised at how little we all do this. Just bringing awareness to the centers and creating space, builds the muscles that help focus your attention in real time to prevent these imbalances from running the show so frequently.

If you’d like more exercises to help you work with the energy of each of the centers, I’ve created a free download you can find in the show notes for this episode. (See yellow box at the top of this page on the right.)

🦋 Living from Essence Instead of Autopilot

The real goal isn’t to find some external calling. It’s to come home to yourself. When you rebalance your centers, you shift from surviving your life to inhabiting it.

Imagine moving through your day—not from reactivity, but from resonance. You stop hustling to prove you’re worthy, and start choosing what’s truly aligned.

This is what lets you carve out your big, juicy life—not because you figured it all out, but because you finally tuned in to what’s been here all along.

🌱 What Becomes Possible When You’re Truly Centered

When you start to catch your patterns in real time—when you notice that your heart is hijacking your gut, or your head is spinning without checking in with your body—you start to build a kind of inner spaciousness.

And from that space, everything changes.

You stop reacting from old stories—and start responding from your whole self
You don’t need to prove you’re worthy, because you know you’re centered
Your ego’s defenses soften—and you can stay connected even in disagreement
You actually feel yourself coming alive again—not just surviving your days

It’s not about becoming a new person. It’s about becoming more fully you.

You become someone who can take feedback without collapsing. Who can disagree without closing off. Who can take up space without bulldozing. Who can say no without guilt. Who can slow down without losing your edge. Who can stay tender and fierce and wise—all at once.

Who doesn’t want that??? This is the real “upleveling” we’re talking about this season. Not just getting promoted or optimizing your calendar - but accessing more of your intelligence, more of your compassion, more of your creativity. Living from your essence, not on autopilot.

🤝 Why Coaching Helps You See—and Shift—Your Patterns

And here’s the thing: this shift doesn’t happen overnight. It’s not a hack. But it is a kind of magic.

Once you learn how to track your dominant center, to notice when your patterns are taking over, and to bring your other centers online, you unlock a cheat code to your inner world.

And that’s why coaching can be so transformative.

Because no podcast or book can fully show you your own autopilot in action. But a skilled coach can.

Coaching gives you:

Personalized insight into your center patterns
Language for what’s been happening just below the surface
Practices for building real, lasting integration
And a space to try on new ways of being—before you have to perform them

If you’ve been feeling like you’re doing all the right things, but still feel like something’s off—like your life or work doesn’t quite fit, or your spark is dulled—this work may be what you’ve been missing.

Not because something’s wrong with you.

But because you’ve been leading with just one part of yourself for too long. And you’re ready for all of you to come online.

🔜 Up Next: Using the Centers to Make Better Decisions

Next time, we’re diving deeper into how to make decisions from this place of alignment. I’ll share my full decision-making framework and walk you through how to access all three centers when it matters most.

✨ Until then, try a three-center check-in today—and see what shifts.

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Thanks! I’ll see you next time.

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19. Reclaim Balance with Three-Centered Knowing