Somatic Exercises for Burnout Women (that actually work)
(Real tools for when life won’t slow down)
You’re exhausted.
But life isn’t slowing down. As a matter of fact, that chaos is expanding.
The laundry still piles up.
The emails still demand replies.
The people you love still need you—sometimes more than ever.
And so you keep going. Because stopping feels impossible. Because you’ve been taught that if you can’t handle it all, you’re failing.
But here’s the truth: you’re not failing.
You’re burnt out.
And your body is telling you so. Your body is smart. If you ignore the whisper, she’ll start shouting until you’re forced to take a break. Maybe some of you reading this have already experienced that. Maybe multiple times.
Real Talk: Burnout Isn’t Laziness (or a Time Problem)
We’ve been sold the lie that burnout means you’re weak. Or that the solution is “more time off.” Or habit-stacking, or that multitasking app, or whatever, whatever.
A week-long vacation, a month-long sabbatical, a perfectly optimized morning routine.
But burnout isn’t just about time. It’s about your nervous system. It’s about how you feel moment to moment, day in and day out. And that shit builds. You feel it. Your shoulders might even be touching your ears right now reading this. Breath out, relax one part of your body.
Your body has been running on survival mode—fight, flight, freeze—for so long that rest feels impossible.
You don’t need more productivity hacks.
You don’t need to white-knuckle your way through.
What you need are moments of safety—woven into the life you already have.
What’s Really Happening in Burnout
Burnout isn’t weakness. It’s your body protecting you.
When you’re constantly “on,” your nervous system gets stuck in survival. The signs show up everywhere:
Snapping at the people you love.
Feeling foggy, detached, or numb.
Headaches, jaw tension, tight shoulders.
Shallow sleep that never feels like enough.
Your body isn’t betraying you. It’s signaling that you need restoration. This is the wisdom of your body using the communication system it has. You can learn to listen and adjust in real time.
And here’s the good news: you don’t need hours a day to reset.
You need micro-moments of regulation.
Real Tools for When Life Won’t Slow Down
Here are a few simple ways to meet your body where you are—no retreat, no hour-long yoga class, no spa day required.
Bathroom Stall Reset
Close the stall door. Plant your feet on the ground. Shake your wrists, your arms, your shoulders—like you’re flicking water off your hands. Let the tension drip out. 30 seconds is enough. No one has to know.
Car Ritual
Before walking into the house (or after closing your laptop in the driveway), put your hand on your heart. Breathe in slowly through your nose. Exhale with sound—like a sigh, a release. Repeat for 60 seconds. Feel your chest rise and fall. Let your body know: it’s safe to soften.
Kitchen Pause
While dinner simmers or the microwave hums, pause. Place both feet on the floor, and exhale audibly three times. No fancy technique—just permission to let something go.
Five-Second Boundary
Before you say “yes” to the next request, stop. Feel your feet on the ground. Notice your breath. Even five seconds of embodied pause can shift you from autopilot obligation into choice.
From Performance to Presence
Burnout recovery isn’t about performing rest or earning it. It’s not about disappearing to a cabin in the woods (though, if that’s available to you—beautiful). There is no metric where you can go wrong or fail.
It’s about creating micro-moments where your nervous system remembers safety.
And those moments stack. They create space inside the life you already live. They turn burnout recovery into something sustainable—something sacred.
Because presence doesn’t require life to stop. It just requires you to return, one breath, one pause, one release at a time. Until your body remembers safety as a baseline and you remember the language of your body.
A Sacred Invitation
If you’ve tried therapy, yoga, or mindset work and still feel stuck—it’s not that you failed.
It’s that those strategies skipped the body’s truth.
Burnout recovery doesn’t have to be another chore. It can be a slow reclamation of safety, sovereignty, and softness.
Start with five breaths. Start with a shake. Start with a pause in your kitchen.
Your body will take it from there.
And if you’re craving a space to practice this with guidance:
Try a self-led ritual (like Somatic Moon Rituals).
Step into Somatic Alchemy for a 7-day reset.
Or join me in Renewal if you’re ready for deeper transformation.
We’ll go slow.
We’ll go gently.
We’ll go together.
