How I Burnt Out & Found Healing Through Yoga
A few years ago, I was stuck in a cycle I couldn’t escape. Hustling through a fast-paced career, chasing productivity, saying yes to everything, and measuring my worth by how much I achieved. On the outside, I had it together. On the inside, I was exhausted, anxious, and completely disconnected from myself.
I ignored every warning sign: chronic fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, irritability. Rest felt like a luxury I hadn’t earned, so I kept pushing. After all, in a world where success is measured by how busy you are and how ‘together’ you look online, slowing down felt like failure.
When "Pushing Through" Stops Working
Burnout isn’t always an instant collapse; it’s the slow, creeping erosion of your energy, joy, and clarity. By the time I realised what was happening, I was already deep in it. I had built my identity around being busy, and my self-worth had become tangled up in social media, curating a life that looked successful, even when I felt anything but.
Yoga wasn’t my first choice for healing; it was my last resort. At first, I dismissed it as just stretching. I was used to workouts that left me breathless, and the idea of stillness made me uncomfortable. But something unexpected happened:
For the first time in years, I truly slowed down.
I started breathing again - not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. Breathwork calmed my nervous system in ways I hadn’t thought possible. The practice of moving mindfully, without chasing an outcome, gave me space to reconnect with myself. Yoga became more than a workout, it became my way out.
What Burnout Taught Me About Rest
Burnout teaches you one thing very clearly: If you don’t choose to rest, your body will choose for you.
I had spent years proving my worth through external achievements and the validation of likes, comments, and online recognition. But yoga helped me redefine success. Not by doing more but by undoing what was draining me. And in that space, I found clarity, healing, and a new way to live.
If you’ve ever felt trapped in the cycle of overworking, constantly ‘switched on’, or drained by the pressure of social media, you’re not alone. And you don’t have to wait until burnout forces you to stop; there’s another way.
I dive deeper into this journey in the first episode of my podcast, sharing the warning signs I ignored, the shift that changed everything, and a simple breathwork practice you can start today.