As a former sexual abuse trauma counselor for children and teens, I had a choice to make. I could make some major changes in how I took care of myself or I could live a life full of compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, inflammation, poor coping and numbing, and damaged relationships. For burnout prevention, good health habits are key.

Burnout is a term that has been thrown around a lot in the last few years, but in the helping profession, it is seen as a very serious issue that can require a long, slow journey to heal. Research in the field of mental health shows that the probability of burnout for professionals is pretty bleak: “as many as 2 out of 3 mental health workers may be experiencing high levels of burnout.” Burnout is also a state that does not happen overnight. It is a slow, divisive, and non-discriminating process that will steal your joy, passion, and energy.

It can feel selfish as a helper to express when we need time to take care of ourselves. We have dedicated our time and energy to helping others. But, we also know (and we often say it to our clients) that if we don’t help ourselves, we can’t help anyone else. In the medical field, we are seeing that burnout occurs due to not only the high demand of people in need, but also due to the high expectations that are placed on doctors and nurses to be able to push through and handle erratic hours, inconsistent meal times, and the physical demands of the job. However, anyone in a helping and wellness role is also at risk for burnout if helping others takes priority over self-care.

Coaches and practitioners can fall into the same personally unhelpful patterns of putting the needs of others over their own. Taking time regularly to check in, notice what the body is asking for, and scheduling self-care time will allow all helping professionals to keep going at optimal levels.

Practicing the daily habits of dinacharya is an effective way to overcome and prevent burnout as we engage in the crucial practice of uncompromising self-care. Studies done on burnout recovery/prevention and the recommendations made for doctors, nurses, and mental health therapists all fall into line with these habits of dinacharya. Giving ourselves permission to focus on getting our minds and bodies back into sync with nature’s rhythm is just what the doctor (or mental health professional) ordered.

Let’s take a look at the recommendations for burnout recovery and prevention and how those recommendations align with practicing the ancient science of dinacharya:

1. Get enough sleep. When I was acting as a sexual abuse trauma counselor in a residential treatment facility for youth, I was emotionally and physically exhausted every day, but I could not sleep. My nervous system was fried and my poor sleep hygiene habits made “winding down” nearly impossible. Going to bed early teaches us ways to honor the body’s natural ways to get ready for sleep and how to support those rhythms.
2. Make exercise a priority. Moving the body can help the mind and the body cope with mental, emotional, and physical stress. Exercise can balance anxious energy, clear stagnation, clear the perspective, and allow a time-out from everything else that is going on. The habit of Breath Body Practices teaches how to vary exercise modes and intensities to meet the individual’s needs.
3. Eat whole, nutrient-filled foods. Plant Based Diet teaches us about using food as fuel and focusing on feeding our cells with prana-filled plants and well-sourced, organic meats if meat is in our diet. In addition, Earlier Lighter Dinner teaches us to work with our body’s ability to digest and assimilate the food we take in and the habit of Healthier Eating Guidelines educates us on eating seasonally and giving our digestive system a break between meals.
4. Meditate. When our nervous system is fried and our minds seem to be in overdrive, meditation can seem challenging, but imperative to help reboot. The good news is that there are many different types of meditation, so again, we want to find the version that fits best. Research shows that the benefits of meditation are many, including rewiring the brain, reducing inflammation, and directing us toward more happiness.
5. Take a break from technology. Creating a night time routine in alignment with our body’s need to wind down from stimulation and meditation both correlate with unplugging from the constant influx of information, expectations, and blue light that come from our society’s addiction to technology and screens.
6. Look for opportunities for self-discovery and nurture a positive view of yourself. In the habit of Self-Massage, we are learning how to literally get in touch with ourselves and to become friends with our bodies. We are learning self-love and nurturing ourselves with both self-compassion and oil. With the habit of self-massage, we have an opportunity for self-discovery built right in to our daily schedule.
7. Setting boundaries, use support, and reframing one’s view of the work to find more meaning can all be addressed in the habit of Easeful Living. As humans raised in our competitive and judgmental society, we often take on the belief that things “have to be” difficult and that we will be “good enough” when something outside of us occurs or deems that we are. Recognizing how we make things harder on ourselves can shift everything. Giving in to impossible expectations, allowing ourselves to be taken advantage of, and putting the job before ourselves can lead to burn out quickly. We can begin to isolate and feel like no one else could possibly understand. When we are burned out and feeling fried, it can also be difficult to see that we are making a difference in what we are doing and to find the meaning in continuing at all. Taking care of ourselves first, reaching out to make connection with others, and reframing our perspective around finding value in our work all come when we believe that we can live with more ease.

Regardless of your exact role as a helping professional, we must attend to our own needs to be able to effectively attend to the needs of others. In addition to the habits of dinacharya, things like spending time in nature, scheduling time for activities that bring joy, and connecting with others who can relate to what we are experiencing are all helpful ways to stoke the inner fire of joy and health without burning it out.

We must remember that burnout didn’t happen overnight and it certainly won’t be resolved overnight, so using the practice of Kaizen allows us to take it one step at a time to and recognize that the small changes will add up to big progress. If you are experiencing symptoms of burnout, you are not alone and things can get better. Take some time to look at your daily habits and make one small change this week toward supporting your own natural rhythm.

The other day I had a rare moment of feeling ill, a cold virus was sneaking in heavily. I caught myself wanting to push through, but I knew that it would be better to cancel my yoga classes for the day. I needed rest. Yet, to be honest, I am not normally one to cancel any of my obligations. As an entrepreneur and self-employed business person, I often felt that burning the candle at both ends was the only way to etch out a living in this wellness industry.

So when faced with the threatening onslaught of the cold bug, I paused to feel into what would be right for myself, and heard loud and clear, “cancel work today”.

I struggled with that all too familiar inner battle between meeting outward obligations and honouring my body’s true need for rest and healing. Realistically I knew that it was just silly to continue to push through. How many times have I told my own clients and students to take proper care of themselves — to rest when they need it, and to stay home to nurture more? It was time to practice what I preach!

So I ask you this, as a Wellness Professional, are you walking your talk? Or pushing through?

Are you resting and recouping when you are tired? Are you keeping your own life/work/play in balance, or simply telling others to do so? Are you living an easeful lifestyle? Or are you making yourself feel ill in the process of serving others? Are you one of the many “broken-down healers” in our world? Why?

The problem is, that most of us are taught to push past our limits in the name of service. We were praised for overextending ourselves – for showing up and giving more. Perhaps you too, have a background thought that you are never doing enough. And so, you add in more.

Maybe you take on more in the hopes that it will bring you success – pushing through the inner alarm bells that warn against overscheduling. So you add another class, take on another client, or work through the lunch hour. On the road to “build our careers”, we end up exhausted, resentful and just plain tired of the cycle that seems to be getting us nowhere.

Worse, in all this doing we can’t possibly be making wise choices from a clear place of perspective. Our intuition, inner wisdom and guidance are usually way off when we are not properly rested. We make mistakes in judgement, unable to truly discern what our next best move might be.  And it doesn’t matter how much yoga you practice, if you aren’t caring for ALL the parts of yourself, body, mind and spirit, you will not be at your best.

I see this all too often in my peers, and I have lived it many times myself. But there is a way in which you can take back your power and work from a centred, grounded place, make clear decisions and thrive well in all the aspects of your life. This is where we must take our yoga practice off the mat and into other areas of our life.

And we embrace the wisdom of yoga’s wise sister, Ayurveda – borrowing from an ancient science that understands what it is to live as a whole being. Our body, mind & spirit all require our attention in order to achieve not just balance but greatness. When we operate from a whole and complete centre, we can make wiser decisions for our businesses. Our clients begin to notice that we are teaching from a place of having done our own growth work, and they will feel our authenticity.

So what does it take to get there?

Patience, self-study, care, diligence, yes, but also the wisdom and tools to support such growth. There is a path toward this that can make figuring all this out much simpler — one that is in sync with your body’s rhythms, with nature, and the circadian cycles – which we experience each day, whether we are aware of them or not.

If you own a body, then this path shows you the way to support, nurture and care for it in a way that is loving and gentle and totally in sync with those natural rhythms – It’s like a blueprint or template for total wellness. And along the way, as we learn to care for our body, we also learn to care for our thoughts and build the skills to support a clearer thinking mind. We learn to experience higher levels of intelligence, intuition and awareness. Imagine what kind of Wellness Professional you can be from a place like this! Creating daily schedules that honestly work to fill you up so beautifully, that you have the energy to support and work with others from a grounded Wholeness of Being.

Body Thrive is that path. And Cate Stillman has distilled the complexities and top attributes of Ayurveda & Yoga to create a program based on 10 valuable Habits for owning and operating your body. I have experienced such a wonderful shift into a wiser, healthier version of myself as a result of this program. And I am so grateful! Over the past two years, I have loved the level of vitality and clarity that I am experiencing. So much so, that I have trained and certified as a Yoga Health Coach myself, in order to share this wisdom with others.

So, let’s take a peek at one of the Body Thrive habits that may inspire you to nurture yourself deeply so that you can really show up for your own students and clients. The habit is about starting your day right – setting yourself up with the best practices first thing each day in order to positively affect the outcome of the rest of your day. This is a lot like putting your own oxygen mask first.. Take a few minutes in the morning to do the things that would really support you before the demands of life start chipping away at your reserves. When we take this time each morning to fit in this kind of self-care, we ensure that it actually gets done. Rather than planning it for sometime later in the day, when we actually risk skipping it altogether because life got too busy and we ran out of time for our own self-care.

Here is an example of what it might look like to start your day off on the right foot. You awaken to your alarm on time, arising feeling content and well-rested. You move through the bathroom routine and move to the kitchen to make hot water and lemon — setting up your body’s digestion and elimination in process. While the kettle is on you sit for a few minutes in silence, taking in the stars in the sky or maybe the sunrise and enjoy the quiet serenity of the morning. There is no rush to begin the day. Perhaps you can fit in a light meditation, then you move through a few sun salutations and postures to awaken and stretch the physical body, awaken your breath body and steer your thoughts towards gratitude. Next, you move back to the kitchen to pour your hot water into your favourite mug while you sit for a few more minutes sipping on your water and maybe journalling out your thoughts or reading something inspirational…taking your time to savour this magical time before the world awakens and the rest of your day begins. Imagine how you would be able to respond in the world, how you could show up for your family, your clients, or students if each of your days began this way?

You would feel more grounded and in-tune. You would have a sense of ease, rather than the need to rush. You would likely make fewer mistakes and your capacity to hold space for others would be greater. You would likely feel more patient and kind. What a lucky world it would be if you gifted yourself this kind of care each morning so that you could show up serving the world at your best.

Sound like something you want? Go grab a copy of the book, Body Thrive. Check out Cate’s online videos, her podcasts and her programs, then sign up  –  There is a wealth of knowledge which Cate shares generously, genuinely and with detailed clarity. This stuff is a game changer. It’s time to take your wellness career to the next level. And maybe, you too might like to learn more about taking your career in the direction of supporting others to learn how to fully show up for themselves with this kind of deep and effective care in the world. Go to yogahealer.com to begin your journey!

Paula found Yogahealer and went through Yogidetox with Cate. It piqued her interest in yoga health coaching, and she started YHC in 2016. Despite feeling like a fish out of water, Paula started to see a different path for herself, one that was better for both her and her family. Through YHC, Paula regained the connection with mindfulness and spirituality that she had lost with her dad.

In YHC, Paula learned numerous tools to help her structure her busy life. By dialing in her morning and evening routines, and architecting her day to put her self-care first, Paula has found the flow. She is proud to be gifting her children with a strong foundation of self-care. She now offers programs to other creatives in Los Angeles, with a deep, personal understanding of the need for structure in the lives of those who wear many hats.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How to focus and amplify your creativity through structure and self care.
• Why working on your self is crucial to the success of your career.
• What you can do reduce overwhelm and increase flow in your life and in your career.

Links:

• Have a Conversation with Grace
• Detox with us this spring
• Body Thrive
• Catch Your Dream to Live Your Life at the Next Level
• Connect with Paula on Facebook

Show Highlights:

• 2:30 – Often wellness pros, and people in general are just running around in a state of overwhelm, trying to juggle career and family and trying get things done with no real plan and no set schedule.
• 6:30 – When loss occurs in the midst of daily overwhelm, it can cause us to re-evaluate our current path and find a new, better way of living.
• 10:40 – For yoga teachers, work is often disjointed and time consuming, and the income isn’t enough. By contrast, yoga health coaching provides a structure that leverages your time so that effort and income start to align.
• 12:15 – Learning the ten habits of Body Thrive and structuring your day around them allows you to prioritize and fine tune your to-do list, while allowing time for creativity and expansion that creates a sense of ease and reduces stress and overwhelm.
• 17:15 – Taking care of yourself teaches your kids healthy self-care habits.
• 20:30 – The Awake Living course expands on YHC, teaching scheduling integrity and finding routines that work for you and your family.

Favorite Quotes:

• “It’s loving for ourselves. We’re taking care of ourselves when we’re not putting ourselves deliberately in those situations where the stress response is triggered.” — Paula Pister
• “Now I see a different path for myself. And it’s healthier for my family.” — Paula Pister
• “We’re still a work in progress, but at least we’re working on it.” — Carly Banks
• “Your story is a gift to others, and your transformation is knowledge for others. And by not sharing that, you’re really doing the world a disservice.” — Carly Banks

Guest BIO:

Yoga Health Coach Paula Pister-Eliott began acting as a teenager in Vancouver, BC. When her heart spoke, she listened and moved to New York city to further pursue her career in acting. While living in New York in her twenties, Paula found yoga and met her husband. After 9/11 she and her husband moved to LA where she continued to teach yoga, and act. Along the way she became a mom. The sudden and unexpected death of her father brought everything to a screeching halt. Now coping with the loss of her father who had been an inspiring and motivating force in her life, Paula went looking for something. The loss ultimately led her to profound personal transformation and a discovery of “solid ground” in hot habits of Body Thrive and Yoga Health Coaching. Now Paula mentors other coaches and embraces daily habits that enable her to live a fuller, more connected life. Paula uses what she’s learned to structure family time and  her schedule as well.

Her story inspires professional healers to follow their heart’s calling. Paula did this over and over throughout her life. She now coaches actors, musicians and artists in the habits of Body Thrive. In her words, “Artists are the most courageous people. You have to lay your heart out on the line.”

Connect with Paula on Facebook, Instagram, watch out for her Website COMING SOON- Please feel free to keep the conversation going through Email.

Annie and Marie discuss Marie’s recent success running her pilot YHC course with a spiritually-minded international community of women that included members from three different continents. Marie shares her experience in holding space for identity evolution, and bringing women back to their felt experience and bodies to be able to shift their lives and catalyze their dharma. She shares how self-massage and mediation were the keystone habits for her clients to begin to step into “self-navigation,” and how the experience of coaching ultimately taught her how to lean back and trust in her own dharma and evolution.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How the habits of Ayurveda lead women back to their dharma
• What kinds of questions to ask to bring people to realizations and melt old patterns
• How to help women come into their bodies

Links: 

• Marie’s website
• Marie’s Facebook 
• Yoga Health Coaching

Show Highlights:

• 6:45 – When teaching a YHC course, it is important to not just teach the material, but to tap into intuition: sensing when lightness or focus is needed in your clients can help to create a much more pleasant experience and more effective overall course.
• 10:00 – Coaching calls are a great place to just be present and hold space for clients to explore their problems and come up with the answers themselves. Asking very simple questions can bring people to felt experiences and deeply held beliefs.
• 18:00 – Oil massage can help dissolve old patterns and beliefs, and build self-love and self-compassion. By using an affirmation like “I am safe, I am loved” while doing oil massage, we can bring that truth deeply into our very being.
• 22:40 – Shifting from doing to simply being allows for intuition and inner wisdom to shine through. Creating a way to make meditation a part of daily life is often the most important step for implementing this habit.
• 25:00 – YHC courses are really all about leading your clients to a place of self-navigation. By starting with the habits, we can lead people to their intuition so they can then lean into their own wisdom.
• 31:00 – People in the corporate sphere are the ones who currently influence the world. By tapping into this population and helping them step deeper into who they really are, we can help shape the world itself.

Favorite Quotes:

• “These habits are here to bring us closer to what we are actually here to do.” – Marie Harder
• “As women, it is very easy to disassociate from bodies, and yet the habits are about reclaiming the body and becoming friendly with it.” – Annie Barrett
• “Everything changed, and they didn’t want to go back to their lives as they were.” – Marie Harder
• “When they got into integrity with their body, it allowed them to get into integrity with what made them come alive.” – Annie Barrett
• “When we don’t offer our course members our own story, our own vulnerability, they often have a hard time experiencing breakthroughs.” – Annie Barrett
• “Just being there with them and holding space – that is a tremendous value.” – Marie Harder

Guest Bio:

Marie Harder, PhD (Media Studies), is a Yoga Health Coach from Hamburg, Germany. Her background is in theatre, editing, and Systemic Coaching.

After burnout, severe disease, and a decade of ‘masculine’ meditation, she was called to a quest for methods for ‘women’s liberation’ as real, raw, and tangible experience. She found the habits from Ayurveda and Yoga as integral building blocks.

In her PhD work, Marie explored cultural ‘stories’ mainstream movies tell about women’s empowerment and disempowerment. And these dynamics are neither created exclusively by ‘the system’ nor ‘men,’ and also live in most of us women.

In her programs, she teaches how this knowledge around cultural pitfalls, together with tools from Ayurveda and Yoga, can become a lifestyle of embodied presence, integrity, and connection.

Marie leads online courses in German and English, and trainings and retreats for women in Germany. Visit Marie’s website and connect with Marie on Facebook and Instagram.

Time and again I hear from the Living Ayurveda Course students that self-massage has changed their lives.

The practice of self-massage is simple. In fact, here is a handout to print and post on your fridge until it becomes second nature. In Indian culture, where Ayurveda originates, it’s a daily practice that you would have first experienced in utero. Then, when you were born, you would have received “infant massage”. Infant massage leads to toddler massage. Toddler massage leads to small child massage. Etc. Etc. Etc. Soon you have cultivated an adult that knows how to take care of themselves by simply taking their health into their own hands.

What are the benefits of self-massage (abhyanga)?

What I recommend is to give yourself a massage (instructions here or below) and then assess how you feel. Sure, you can read this commonly printed list of benefits. While some benefits come from claims from the ancient Ayurvedic texts, studies are actually being done to qualify or dismiss these claims. Here is a list of claims commonly found on websites, substantiated byMAPI.

• Increased circulation, especially to nerve endings
• Toning of the muscles and the whole physiology
• Calming for the nerves
• Lubrication of the joints
• Increased mental alertness
• Improved elimination of impurities from the body
• Softer, smoother skin
• Increased levels of stamina through the day
• Better, deeper sleep at night

How to give yourself a massage:

Set aside some quiet time for your massage. 5-15 minutes is enough time to massage the oil on your body (preferably before you shower)– though if you have no time, rub the oil on your skin (instead of soap) in the shower. Do this daily.

You will need:

• Warm room: make this a comfortable and special time for yourself.
• Oil: sesame oil Vatas, sunflower or coconut oil for Pittas and olive or mustard oils for Kaphas.
• Squeeze bottle: for easy access throughout the massage fill a squeeze bottle with oil
• Hot water in a bowl or in the sink: put the squeeze bottle in the warm water and allow the oil to warm to at least body temperature
• Towel or mat: choose something that you don’t mind getting oily. You might want one to stand on and one to dry off with.

How to give yourself a Self-Massage (technique)

• Undress completely and stand on your towel or mat.
• Starting with a small amount of oil in your hands begin to gently rub the oil into your scalp. Massage the oil into your scalp and hair with your fingertips. If you would prefer to keep the oil out of your hair simply omit the use of oil for this part of the message.
• Vigorously work down your body until the oil has been massaged into every part of your body. Use long strokes on your limbs and circular strokes over all your joints, chest and abdomen. Cover every inch of skin, attuning to your bodily tissues with your hands.  Spend extra time on areas that are less integrated (for some this is thighs, buttocks, breasts).
• Take ample time to massage the soles of your feet as this can have a particularly relaxing and soothing affect.

Rinse off the oil in the shower. Take time in the shower to allow the oil on your hands to mix with the water from the shower to massage your face and ears. Use gentle circular strokes to massage your cheeks and forehead, move out towards the ears in stroking motions around the eyes and lips. Soap is drying to the skin, including to the anus; try switching to oil instead.

Print this handout and post on your fridge until it becomes second nature.