Burnout coaching for capable people running on empty
Some mornings, you’re already braced before your feet hit the floor.
You’re doing everything right. You read the books. You try to take care of yourself. You know what you “should” be doing, and you still wake up depleted, wired, or sitting at the edge of burnout. Your body might feel constantly braced for the next thing, even when you’re trying to rest. Pain, tension, anxious tightness, or brain fog might be turning up more often, especially in the high-pressure phases of work or life.
When stress stops being temporary
Sometimes stress is short-lived, and the system finds its way back to a sense of safety and ease. But when it keeps stacking, with deadlines, caregiving, invisible labour, health concerns, and the pressure to keep it all together, the nervous system can start to treat busy and braced as the new normal.
Over time, that can look like difficulty switching off, sleep that doesn’t restore you, increased tension, digestive issues, emotional overwhelm, or feeling strangely flat. You might not be calling it burnout yet, but you can sense the way you’re living isn’t sustainable.
A different way in
Most approaches to burnout work on what’s loudest: the exhaustion, the anxiety, the brain fog. Add a routine, take something out, push through, push less, breathe better.
The way I work starts somewhere different. The part of you that’s screaming for attention is rarely where the real shift happens. It’s usually in a part of you that’s gone quiet, like a foot that forgot the ground, a feeling you stopped letting yourself have, or a value you stopped listening to. Burnout sits in the nervous system, not in your thinking. You can’t reason your way out of a system that has learned to stay braced. But the body can learn something different, gently.
What this kind of coaching actually involves
The work draws on Feldenkrais, integrative-medicine-informed coaching, the Emotional Agility® framework developed by Susan David, Ph.D., and strategic coaching. Three strands woven together: body, emotions, and strategy, so change has a chance to take root in your real, busy life.
What makes it work isn’t a protocol. It’s finding the right place to begin for you. Sessions are paced to your nervous system, not your calendar. The aim isn’t to give you another thing to be good at. It’s to help you get reacquainted with what’s already underneath the bracing.
One-to-one coaching
Compassionate, strategic support to untangle what’s draining you and to experiment with new ways of relating to work, rest, and your body, without forcing yourself into another rigid routine. Available in person in Mount Pleasant or online via Zoom.
Functional Integration sessions
Hands-on, fully-clothed sessions where I gently move and support you, offering your nervous system new options for how to organise itself. People often leave feeling calmer, clearer, and more at ease in their body. In person in Mount Pleasant.
Awareness Through Movement classes
Guided movement explorations that help you sense yourself more clearly, ease unnecessary effort, and build a more trusting relationship with your body. Available in person and online.
Gentle, body-based support for capable people
I’m Sarah, a coach, Feldenkrais practitioner, and certified Emotional Agility practitioner (Susan David Emotional Agility Certification, Susan David, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School), based in Mount Pleasant, Perth. I work with people who are highly capable, often sensitive, usually very responsible, and tired of trying to push their way to wellbeing.
Years of training have sharpened a kind of attunement I think I always had: a way of noticing where someone’s real aliveness lives, even when it’s buried under years of holding it together. The work begins where you actually are, not where you think you should be.
Who this is for
This work is for capable people living with ongoing pressure, anxious tension, or the early shape of burnout. People who feel like they’re always “on” even when they’re meant to be resting. People who’ve tried the protocols, the courses, the podcasts, and are quietly aware that more discipline isn’t going to be the answer. People curious about a slower, body-based way back to themselves.
Working together in Perth and online
Sessions are available in person in Mount Pleasant, Perth, or online via Zoom across Australia. Most people start with a conversation about what’s happening for you and what you’re hoping for instead. From there, the next step might be coaching, hands-on Feldenkrais, Awareness Through Movement, or a blend. There’s no large program to commit to. The work unfolds at a pace that respects your energy and your nervous system.
Frequently asked questions about burnout coaching
What is body-based burnout coaching?
Body-based burnout coaching works with the nervous system, not just your thoughts or your schedule. Burnout shows up in the body as a pattern of bracing and over-effort, so this approach uses gentle Feldenkrais, integrative-medicine-informed coaching, and the Emotional Agility framework to help your system learn that it’s safe to settle. Rather than adding another routine to push through, it helps you get reacquainted with what’s already underneath the bracing.
Can you help if I'm not sure I'm burnt out yet?
Yes. Many of the people I work with wouldn’t call it burnout yet. They’re capable, responsible, and still functioning, but they sense the way they’re living isn’t sustainable: difficulty switching off, unrefreshing sleep, rising tension, or feeling strangely flat. This work meets you wherever you are, and it’s often most helpful before things tip into full burnout.
Do you offer burnout coaching online, or only in Perth?
Both. Sessions are available in person in Mount Pleasant, Perth, and online via Zoom across Australia. One-to-one coaching and Awareness Through Movement classes work well online, while hands-on Functional Integration sessions are offered in person in Mount Pleasant.
How is this different from pushing through with more discipline?
Most burnout advice asks you to manage harder: add a routine, optimise more, push through. A nervous system that has learned to stay braced doesn’t respond to more effort, it responds to safety. This work is gentle and unhurried, paced to your nervous system rather than your calendar, so change can take root without forcing yourself into another rigid plan.