Healing From Burnout with Ayurveda

You know that feeling of being so exhausted that even doing self care feels like a chore. Your body literally just wants to lay and not move for at least a week... maybe a month... actually a year feels necessary. You notice your chronic conditions are alive with a vengeance like digestive disorders, hormone imbalances, insomnia - you know, just the useeee. You can't really identify how you are feeling emotionally, except overwhelmed with every emotion known to mankind. Mentally, sheesh- let's not even go there.

But somehow, you are mustering the energy to show up at your FT job, do your normal routines and be a human. Seems like the rest of the world is operating this way, so I guess we were meant to just suck it up?

But under the surface, you know and feel that something deeply needs to change. You know you want a career that is more soul fulfilling and feels like you are using your unique gifts and skills, but have are unsure what job that entails. You know you deeply need to feel more energetic, joyful and back to your normal, healthy self, but feel like every diet, lifestyle practice and trend seems to lead you nowhere, but with a lighter pocket.

As someone who has become a professional at burnout, I feel you. I've experienced burnout more times than I count in my life that has left me bed ridden for days at a time with literally no choice but to be immobile and rest. In each of these situations, I know proper rest, healthy food and lifestyle practices are necessary to bring me back to balance. But what I learned is that unless you get to the root of why you keep burning out, you will keep repeated the same patterns.

So how do we heal from burnout when taking a year off travelling out of the country for an "Eat, Pray, Love' situation or dreamy, sunset, picturesque Bali retreat is not an option? I got some divine wisdom for you here - wise woman.

1. Identify the Cause  - In Ayurveda, the world's most ancient healing system in the world, the first step to healing is as obvious as it gets. An alcoholic will never heal if they have alcohol in their cabinet. While this is obvious for someone who has a clear co-dependent relationship with a toxic substance, look closer and see how your situation may be mirroring a similar concept. I work with a lot of women in toxic relationships with their job. One where they are working OT and pouring every ounce of life force energy into and barely scraping by to live a comfortable life. The toxic relationship might be with someone who is draining all of your energy, and you are left with no time for yourself. Identifying this co-dependent relationship in which you are outsourcing your power, is the first step.

Now for my fiery babes, who have the strong desire to put in your 2 weeks notice today, let's all take an inhale and exhale together. Even if we know we eventually want to leave this relationship, sometimes the next step feels like an itty, bitty baby step (omg did you have an itty bitty baby growing up?!). So what is that? Simply identifying what is causing you to burnout and fully accepted that truth in your body. Sounds easy right? However, what emotion did you feel when this truth was first discovered? Shame for not knowing sooner? guilt for avoiding the truth for far too long? Grief for all the time you lost living this way? This emotion is begging to be felt and processed and precisely the emotion that will bring us from a lack of clarity to clear vision. Need help feeling and processing emotions? Check out my free meditation here.

2. Build Strong Boundaries  - Ahhh the fancy way of saying ' hell no, I am not neglecting my needs for yours anymore.' Sometimes we don't need to immediately remove what is causing us to burnout. Sometimes, we just need to build a healthier relationship with it. For example, your job may be benefitting you right now like providing financial security. However, what doesn't feel good is going into the office everyday, taking on other people's projects and/or skipping lunch. My favorite way to build strong boundaries is to first identify everywhere in your life that leaves you feeling exhausted. If you are new to tuning into your body, this may feel difficult at first. I recommend keeping a journal for a week and without judgment, writing down everything that makes you feel exhausted after. Then, write everything that makes you feel fulfilled after. It is vital you do this without judgement, because a lot of the times (with people pleasers), you may feel like helping others out makes you feel good, when it actually leaves you depleted. Then, one by one, start to create a 'no' around the activities that drain you and a 'yes' around the activities that fill you. Simple and easy! HA! Easier than said than done for people pleasers yes. Let's get into the next step, which will help with one feel less sticky.

3. Find the Root - You may have noticed that this story of burnout is nothing new. Recall the other times in your life where you left with zero gas in the tank. What are the common denominators in each of these situations? What behaviors contributed to the burnout? Now, let's go even deeper and recall what belief is keeping you trapped in the cycle of burnout. This is where it is nuanced for everyone. For me, it is feeling worthy to hold and maintain life force energy for myself. It feels terrifying to be operating at my fullest potential, because a part of me doesn't feel worthy enough to have that power. So yes, when it comes down to it, this is about healing your relationship with power. Your body feeling energized and healthy is your power. Interestingly enough, this is linked to our relationship to sex, food and money, but I'll save that for another post. Until I truly came to love myself and realize how worthy I am to hold, maintain and expand my power, I was caught in the vicious burnout cycle. From this place of worthiness and unconditional love, I naturally started to make decisions and implement habits that kept me in my power rather than giving it away.

4. Tend to Your Body's Needs - For those who are completely burnt out, you may feel called to start with this step. For most, I find that this step seems impossible until steps 1-3 are implemented. Now when I say body, I mean your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual body's needs. The most difficult part about this process is sometimes knowing what your body's needs are. This is because, due to putting your toxic relationship's needs over your own for so long, you have tuned out your inner voice. A simple way to start reconnecting with your body and opening up a healthy communication line is to find stillness, place one hand on the body and then ask it what it wants and needs. The answer may come in the form of a sensation, vision, sound, shape, color, etc. Start simple like 'what do you want to eat today?' or 'how do you want to move?' Overtime, as you flex this intuitive muscle, life's bigger questions will get easier, like what do I need to feel fulfilled in my life? For some of us, this eventually is going to be changing to a career that is more fulfilling.

Does the idea of possibly having your own business and getting paid well for doing what you love actually feel more overwhelming? What would my business even be?!  For starters, you don't need your full business plan and career name all planned out right now. (If you're like me, society's version of this will actually never be the answer to your business.) All you need is to start following the internal nudges the universe is pulling you towards. For most healers-to-be and spiritual entrepreneurs, the internal nudge is your body begging you to focus on it's needs and heal. This may be learning about Ayurveda, Yoga, Reiki, Intuitive Healing or all the above. Reminder, that if a challenge or obstacle is showing up in your life, it is presenting you with the opportunity to turn it into your greatest superpower. So while your holding and expanding your power may feel challenging for you right now, it will actually become your greatest gift.

For a lot of healers, the first step into building a fulfilling life is to re- awaken your healing superpowers and intuitive gifts. Ready to awaken your intuitive gifts? Join the "Activate Your Intuitive Gifts" masterclass + experience to stop the burnout cycle and step into your power as an intuitive Queen.

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Angelica Rose

The Divine Feminine Healer