Try These Yoga Poses for Burnout Relief

Fitness professionals and enthusiasts know what it’s like to overdo it and get burned out physically. You know the signs from your body telling you to take a rest day. Burnout can also be psychological. This type of burnout also requires rest, but it’s harder to spot. 

Learn more about what burnout is, how to detect it, and what to do when you feel burned out. Yoga, with its many physical and mental health benefits, is a great antidote to burnout. These poses in particular will calm your mind and help you recover from burnout. 

What Is Burnout? 

Burnout is a state of mental and physical exhaustion resulting from repeated or ongoing stress. This state of mind goes beyond normal stress, which in the right amount can be healthy and motivating. Burnout occurs when you feel overwhelmed and the demands on you never seem to let up. (1)

Burnout is often associated with work, but it can result from any type of stress in your life. It can come from a combination of stressors, such as work stress compounded by difficulties at home or in relationships. 

Did you know you can also get burned out on exercise? Know the signs and what to do about exercise burnout.

How Do I Know If I Have Burnout? 

It’s important to address burnout. The negative effects are detrimental to both your mental and physical health. It can interfere with relationships and even reduce your immunity, making you more likely to get sick. But how do you know you’re in a state of burnout. Here are some signs that normal stress has transitioned to burnout:

• Every day feels like a bad day, and you are constantly emotionally and physically drained. 

• You feel like you can’t keep up and feel overwhelmed, trapped, or hopeless. 

• You have become disengaged from work or other responsibilities, finding it increasingly difficult to care or get any satisfaction from normal activities. 

• Your outlook has become cynical and 

• You are plagued with self-doubt or feel like a failure.

• You feel detached and isolated from others 

• Physical signs of burnout include getting sick more often, fatigue, chronic pain, and changes in sleep and appetite. 

Burnout doesn’t happen suddenly. It creeps up on you. Be aware of the signs, so you can make changes before it becomes so overwhelming. 

How Does Yoga Relieve Burnout? 

The best way to deal with burnout is to reduce some of the stressors in your life. This isn’t always possible, or your ability to eliminate sources of stress might be limited. You need other ways to cope with stress and the symptoms of burnout. 

Yoga is an excellent antidote for burnout. Both mindfulness and exercise are proven mood boosters and stress relievers, and yoga offers both. (2) According to a review of studies of the use of yoga to counteract burnout in healthcare workers, regular practice reduces stress, improves sleep, and relieves physical burnout symptoms. (3)

Why is yoga so helpful? According to research, the poses combined with breathing and mindfulness reduce activity in the part of the brain responsible for the fight-or-fight response. Also known as the sympathetic nervous system, this reaction to stimuli makes you feel anxious and stressed. By lowering activity here, yoga reduces these sensations. (4)

Fatigue is a huge part of burnout. Use this yoga routine to alleviate fatigue and boost energy. 

The Best Yoga Poses for Burnout

Any regular yoga practice will help you manage stress and reduce the risk of getting to a state of burnout. If you already have the signs of burnout, yoga can help bring relief, but don’t rely on it as a cure. To truly relieve burnout, you need to make lifestyle choices that reduce the stressors in your life or lower their impact. 

In the meantime, try these poses to calm your mind, heal your body, and get some relief: 

Corpse Pose

At the end of a stressful day, you might not be up for a challenging yoga routine. This simple and accessible pose is a great way to rest and de-stress. Lie on your back with arms and legs straight. Focus on your breathing and the heavy sensation of your body sinking into the ground. 

Child’s Pose

This is a comforting and soothing pose for both children and adults. It’s simple, easy to do, and very effective. It calms the mind while also releasing tension in the back, neck, and hips. 

Kneel on your mat with your shins and the tops of your feet on the floor and sit back on your heels. Rest your hands on your thighs as you spread your knees a part a little. Bend forward, reaching your arms forward. Let your head hang down, resting your forehead on the mat. 

Legs up the Wall

Inversion poses in yoga are restorative because they calm the nervous system. This is an easy inversion pose anyone can do. Sit on the floor with legs straight out in front of you and your side pressed into a wall. Lie back, lift your legs up, and turn to press the backs of your legs against the wall. 

Your backside should be as close to the wall as possible to get a good hamstring stretch. If you are not flexible enough, scoot back a little. You can rest in this pose for several minutes. 

Cat-Cow

Alternating between cat and cow poses relieves tension in the spine, which tends to build up during periods of stress. On your hands and knees on a mat, inhale and arch your back and lift your head and tailbone. This is cow pose. Exhale, round your back, and drop your chin down to your chest. This is cat pose. 

Bridge Pose

This is a mild inversion pose that will calm the nervous system. It also opens the chest, which can relieve tension created by spending all day hunched over a computer. It also stretches the spine and boosts circulation and energy. 

Start on your back on a mat with arms to your sides, knees bent and feet flat on the floor about hip-width apart. Press your arms and feet into the mat as you lift your hips toward the ceiling. Hold the pose for a few breaths. To deepen the pose, roll your shoulders down and back and reach your arms under your body. Clasp your hands together as you hold the pose. 

Yoga Nidra

Yoga nidra is less a pose and more a practice, but it’s worth trying if you struggle with burnout. Yoga nidra is often described as purposeful rest. The goal is to relax into a sleep like state while remaining conscious. If you want to try yoga nidra, it’s best to take a guided class or find an online instructor. 

Pranayama (Breathing Exercises)

Breathing exercises are a big part of yoga that many casual practitioners miss. You can do breathing exercises while resting or during restorative poses. Find someone to guide you or look up online videos for some of the best stress-busting breathing exercises: brahmari (bee breath), sitali (cooling breath), and, chandra bhedana (moon breath).

Don’t let burnout get on top of you. Practicing yoga regularly while also managing the stressors in your life can prevent burnout from beginning in the first place. If you do start to feel overwhelmed, these yoga poses are excellent tools for getting relief. 

Learn about how yoga can improve all aspects of your health with the ISSA’s Yoga Alliance-approved 200-hour teacher training program. The course is an ideal first step to becoming an instructor but can also be a tool for helping you get more out of your personal practice. 

References

1. Smith, M., MA. (2024, February 5). Burnout prevention and treatment. HelpGuide.org. https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/burnout-prevention-and-recovery.htm

2. Clinic, C. (2024, March 19). What is burnout? Cleveland Clinic. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/signs-of-burnout

3. Cocchiara, R. A., Peruzzo, M., Mannocci, A., Ottolenghi, L., Villari, P., Polimeni, A., Guerra, F., & La Torre, G. (2019). The Use of yoga to Manage stress and Burnout in Healthcare Workers: A Systematic review. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 8(3), 284. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm8030284

4. Ross, A., & Thomas, S. (2010). The Health Benefits of yoga and Exercise: A review of comparison studies. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (New York, N.Y.), 16(1), 3–12. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2009.0044