Burnout goes deeper than simply feeling tired most of the time. It’s a deep, soul-level exhaustion that touches every part of who you are: your body, your thoughts, your emotions. Often, it feels like a fog or weariness that rest alone doesn’t seem to fix. You might notice it when you find yourself going through the motions, but feeling detached from your work, your relationships, and even yourself.

It’s also more than being too busy. Burnout is a result of all the physical, emotional, and mental responsibilities you carry, often without enough outside support. This builds overtime, especially for those who are caregivers or helpers, and those trying to survive in a world that keeps demanding more without adequate support structures. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone, and you don’t have to keep pushing through. Somatic therapy offers a gentle, embodied path forward, one that helps you come back to yourself, little by little.

Understanding Burnout in the Body

From a somatic perspective, burnout reflects a chronic state of nervous system imbalance. Most often, it happens when we spend too much time in states of hyperarousal (fight or flight) or hypoarousal (freeze, numbness, shutdown). You may feel constantly on edge and overstimulated, or completely shut down and unable to cope. Sometimes, it swings between both.

Signs of Burnout

• Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
• Feeling emotionally flat or easily overwhelmed
• Exhaustion that doesn’t go away with sleep
• Physical symptoms like headaches, digestive issues, or chronic tension
• A sense of detachment or disconnection from your purpose, passions, or loved ones

These aren’t personal failings. They’re protective patterns your body uses to cope with prolonged stress. The good news is that your nervous system can learn to regulate again, with the right kind of support.

How Somatic Therapy Helps Burnout

Somatic therapy is a body-centered approach. It recognizes the innate wisdom your body holds and communicates through sensations, tension, and instincts. Instead of analyzing your burnout, somatic therapy invites you to gently feel into it, so the stuck energy that contributes to it can begin to move.

Research has shown that body-based modalities such as Somatic Experiencing® can reduce symptoms of chronic stress, PTSD, and emotional overwhelm by helping individuals renegotiate their nervous system responses and build greater internal resilience.

Somatic therapy can help you by:

• Bringing awareness to what your body is holding: Many of us are so used to overriding our own needs that we lose touch with our bodies altogether. In therapy, we begin to notice: Where do I feel tension? Where do I go numb? What does my body need right now?
• Supporting regulation: When the nervous system learns how to return to a state of balance, you may begin to feel more grounded, safe, and centered. Breath deepens, muscles soften, and you feel more at home in yourself.
• Building capacity: Burnout often results from a nervous system pushed past its window of tolerance. Somatic therapy helps widen that window so you can meet stressors with more ease and recover more quickly afterward. It also helps you recognize your capacity, so you can identify when you need to rest and honor your limits.
• Restoring connection: Burnout isolates. Somatic work reconnects you with yourself and the people around you. It helps rebuild your trust in your body, your instincts, and your right to rest.

This process doesn’t require reliving trauma or fixing yourself. It simply means coming into relationship with your body in a way that is slow, kind, and curious.

Burnout Isn’t a You Problem

So often, burnout is framed as an individual issue. You’re told to take a bubble bath, go on vacation, or drink more water. While those things may help in the moment, they don’t address the deeper causes.

Burnout is systemic. It thrives in cultures that equate worth with productivity. It’s especially common among those navigating racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, ableism, and the trauma of constantly needing to prove their value in unsafe or unsupportive environments.

Somatic therapy honors this context. It helps you explore not just your personal habits, but the larger forces at play in your exhaustion. It offers a space to grieve, to reclaim your time and body, and to imagine a different relationship with rest and responsibility.

It also reminds us that healing is not meant to be done alone. Community care (being seen, held, and supported in a space that feels safe) is a core part of recovery. Through co-regulation, your nervous system learns that it doesn’t have to be on guard all the time. That it’s okay to soften, and that there are safe spaces to reach out and receive support.

Coming Home to Yourself

If you’ve been pushing through for a long time, slowing down can feel unfamiliar or even uncomfortable. But it’s also where healing begins.

Somatic therapy isn’t about fixing what’s broken. It’s about remembering who you are underneath the burnout: someone wise, resilient, and worthy of rest.

Session by session, you begin to rebuild trust with your body. You learn to listen to the small signals and respond with care before they become sirens. You create a new rhythm, one that honors your capacity instead of ignoring it.

Burnout recovery isn’t linear, and it isn’t quick. However, it is possible, and you don’t have to do it alone.

Let’s Work Together | Fresno Somatic Therapy

If you’re feeling burnt out or are trying to find your way back to yourself, I’m here. I’m a certified Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner and provide individual somatic therapy in-person in Fresno and online across California.

In our work together, I’ll help you learn to listen to your body and respond to your needs with compassion and care. To begin somatic therapy or to see if it’s a good fit for you, please schedule a free consultation.

Sources

Payne P, Levine PA, Crane-Godreau MA. “Somatic Experiencing: Using Interoception and Proprioception as Core Elements of Trauma Therapy.” Frontiers in Psychology, 2015 Feb 4. Accessed July 3, 2025.

World Health Organization. “Burn-out An ‘Occupational Phenomenon’: International Classification of Diseases.” World Health Organization, 28 May 2019. Accessed July 3, 2025.