Discover how yoga helped me navigate the challenges of burnout and reclaim my energy. In this personal guide, I share my journey, insights, and effective yoga practices to support burnout recovery and foster resilience. Join me in finding balance and strength through the power of yoga.
I’ll be honest with you—this past year has been one of my most challenging, especially workwise. Balancing two roles as a financial manager and a yoga teacher, being an expat mom to two young children, and trying to keep up with high standards in each area left me stretched thin. Between the responsibilities of work and home and my drive to keep growing my yoga knowledge and developing retreats and different courses, I often found myself taking on more than I could manage. My regular yoga practice gave me energy, but it often wasn’t enough to sustain me for long before I felt depleted again.
There were times when the volume of tasks felt overwhelming. Sitting down to work, I sometimes found myself unable to start, weighed down by the growing list of demands. My usual motivation began to falter, and with it came self-doubt and procrastination. Negative self-talk crept in, and I often questioned whether I was “good enough” to succeed in all my goals. I was pushing myself to keep learning, improving, and creating, even as I sensed myself edging closer and closer to burnout.
It wasn’t that I ignored these feelings—I was always working to reduce my fatigue, anxiety, and stress, to make my internal dialogue more supportive, and to reconnect with my inner resources. My yoga practice, intentional time with friends, and moments of self-reflection kept me going.
But it wasn’t until I joined Madame Papillon, an organization that supports women going through burnout, that I finally recognized the deeper issue. I had wanted to support women experiencing burnout, but by going deeper into the topic, I realized that I was probably one of them too.
At that point, I was utterly fatigued. I knew I had to make changes; I couldn’t keep living at the pace of two lives in one. I also didn’t have the energy to keep generating new ideas at such a relentless speed. While I continued both my roles with the same level of dedication, I stopped taking on extra tasks. I began observing and questioning: How could I simplify? How should I prioritize better?
I remember attending a yoga retreat with one of my teachers. In the first class, I simply lay down, I was too exhausted to move through the physical practice.
During the summer, I had time in Hungary to step back from my usual environment, reconnect, and reduce my workload as much as possible. I kept learning, realising, and gradually implementing changes.
Yoga became an essential tool for maintaining my well-being like never before. The awareness and insight I cultivate through yoga each day help me notice when I’m slipping further into burnout, reminding me that I have the tools to begin climbing back out.
Looking back, this journey taught me that resilience isn’t about pushing through at all costs; it’s about knowing when to pause, step back, and give ourselves the care we need. Through yoga, I found ways to nourish myself, even amidst the chaos.
This experience now fuels my passion to share these practices with others who might feel as I did—a gentle reminder that even in burnout, we can find small yet powerful ways to reclaim our strength, and yoga can be an essential support in the journey of burnout recovery.
If you’re interested in exploring how yoga can support your own journey, join me through Madame Papillon for coffees, walks, workshops, or book a one-on-one session. Together, let’s find the steps that bring grounding, calm, and renewed strength.