What Is Somatic Coaching? How Body-Based Practices Help You Recover from Burnout

Most people who come to me for burnout coaching have already tried the usual advice: take a break, exercise more, sleep better, set boundaries. And yet they're still exhausted. Still waking at 3am. Still dragging themselves through the day feeling like a hollowed-out version of themselves.

The reason the usual advice doesn't stick isn't because you're not trying hard enough. It's because burnout isn't primarily a thinking problem — it's a nervous system problem. And that's where somatic coaching comes in.

What Does 'Somatic' Mean?

'Somatic' comes from the Greek word soma, meaning body. Somatic coaching is an approach that works with the body as a source of information and a pathway for change — not just the mind. Rather than only talking about what you think and feel, somatic work invites you to notice what's happening in your body: the tension in your chest, the shallow breathing, the way your shoulders creep up toward your ears when someone asks something of you.

This matters because chronic stress and burnout are stored in the body. Research by scientists like Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score) and Stephen Porges (Polyvagal Theory) shows that the nervous system learns patterns of protection — patterns that don't just disappear because you've decided to 'relax.' They need to be gently unlearned through body-based practice.

How Somatic Coaching Differs from Talk Coaching

Traditional coaching is primarily conversation-based: you talk through goals, identify limiting beliefs, create action plans. This is valuable. But if your nervous system is stuck in a chronic stress response, no amount of planning will create lasting change — because your body will override your intentions.

Somatic coaching adds a layer of body awareness and body-based practices to the coaching process. Depending on the approach, this might include breathwork, gentle movement, body scanning, imagework (guided visualisation), or nervous system regulation exercises. These practices help shift your physiology — which then makes the cognitive and emotional work land more deeply.

What Happens in a Somatic Burnout Coaching Session?

In my 1:1 sessions, we typically move through three layers: we talk and make sense of what's happening in your life and patterns; we drop into body awareness to notice where stress or depletion is held; and we use a practice — breathwork, imagework, or nervous system regulation — to create a shift. Then we integrate what you noticed and create a small, sustainable action for the week ahead.

It's not dramatic or intense — in fact, one of the things clients often say is how surprisingly gentle and yet profound the work feels. Because we're not forcing anything. We're creating the conditions for your own nervous system to find its way back to safety.

Somatic Tools I Use in Burnout Recovery Coaching

• Breathwork — regulating the nervous system through conscious breath patterns (I draw on my freediving background here)

• Imagework — guided inner visualisation to access parts of yourself that logic can't reach

• Nervous system regulation exercises — grounding practices, co-regulation, and vagal nerve stimulation

• Yin Yoga and somatic movement — in group sessions at Boaré Studio, Berlin, or as practices assigned between coaching sessions

• Sound bath — using sound (singing bowls) as a tool for deep nervous system rest, offered in group settings

Is Somatic Coaching Right for You?

Somatic coaching is particularly helpful if you feel like you've understood your burnout intellectually, but it hasn't changed how you feel. If you're high-achieving but disconnected from your body. If traditional talk approaches haven't fully landed. If you sense that something deeper needs to shift.

It's also a powerful complement to therapy — many of my clients work with a therapist and a coach simultaneously, addressing different dimensions of their recovery at the same time.

Work With Me: Somatic Burnout Coaching in Berlin and Online

I'm Ling, a certified burnout and wellness coach based in Berlin (Prenzlauer Berg). I offer somatic burnout coaching in English, both 1:1 online and in person, as well as weekly group somatic coaching sessions at Boaré Yoga & Art Studio, Rykestraße 23, 10409 Berlin — open to Urban Sports Club members.

If you're ready to stop managing burnout and start genuinely recovering from it, I'd love to connect. Book a free 30-minute discovery call and we'll explore whether somatic coaching is the right fit for you.