Burnout Recovery

Ep#186 Top 5 Mind-Body Tools for High-Achievers

• Dex Randall • Season 4 • Episode 186

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 Discover 5 powerful mind-body tools that support recovery from stress, anxiety, and burnout. Dex shares personal stories, client experiences, and science-backed modalities including Reiki, EFT, MBSR, Polyvagal-informed practices, and coaching. Whether you’re new to mind-body medicine or curious to go deeper, this episode offers insight, relief, and real tools for healing. 

References and Resources:
https://www.burnouttoleadership.com/1849743/episodes/13521789-ep-92-how-to-create-safety-with-your-magical-vagus-nerve
https://www.burnouttoleadership.com/1849743/episodes/13654015-ep-94-when-feeling-safe-doesn-t-feel-safe
https://www.burnouttoleadership.com/1849743/episodes/13654091-ep-95-mastering-your-emotions
https://www.burnouttoleadership.com/1849743/episodes/16001476-ep-151-the-art-of-recharging-managing-anxiety-and-time
https://www.burnouttoleadership.com/1849743/episodes/16433664-ep-162-powertool-7-better-relationships
https://www.burnouttoleadership.com/1849743/episodes/17387732-ep-182-when-someone-pushes-your-buttons
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/0345536932 MBSR by Jon Kabat-Zinn
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9692186/ EFT research
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31638407/ Reiki research
https://aka.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Diane-Poole-Study-of-Effectiveness-of-PKP-Kinesiology-in-Reducing-Stress-Anxiety-and-Depression.pdf Kinesiology research
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38840137/ Coaching, women physicians, burnout
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10726131/ Coaching, leaders, burnout

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[00:00:00] Hi everyone. My name's Dex Randall, and this is the Burnout Recovery Podcast where I teach professionals to recover from burnout and get back to passion and reward at work.

[00:00:22] Hi, and welcome my friends. Today we are diving into mind body tools that help relieve chronic stress and anxiety and promote lasting burnout recovery. These are tools that bridge the mental, emotional, and physical systems to restore resilience, regulation, and presence after prolonged stress.

[00:00:43] Last week, I explored why you might consider mind body work, even if it feels unfamiliar. Today I'm sharing my top five mind body tools that I've used personally and professionally to support transformation and healing. Mind body healing isn't about a quick fix. It's about deep reconnection and transformation of your heart, mind, body, and soul.

[00:01:10] As you listen today, notice which tools resonate and follow your curiosity. Recovery often begins with paying attention in a new way.

[00:01:22] But if you do need a "right now" reset for your fight or flight, try box breathing.

[00:01:28] Okay, so tool number one, Reiki. I discovered reiki in 2015 while I was struggling with stress and digestive issues.

[00:01:38] Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It's based on the idea that a life force energy flows through us. When it's blocked, we are more likely to become sick or feel depleted. Energy disturbance is identified in Reiki by placing hands above or on the body.

[00:02:05] It might sound a bit floaty, but as a highly analytical left brain practitioner, I found myself experiencing clear perceptions of the stuck or conflicted energy in others that manifest as illness and pain. And I could help them gently release.

[00:02:26] During Reiki training, for example, I was asked to read the energy of someone I'd never met who was not present. I was just given the woman's name. To my astonishment, I quickly saw a visual of her and correctly located her pain in her shoulder. It blew my mind. I repeated this feat with others accurately in person and remotely.

[00:02:55] And I've had similarly powerful experiences as a client, for example, with acupuncture. Doctors couldn't quite heal my lung infection. but acupuncture cleared it up quite quickly. Another time, they wanted to remove a long-diseased kidney, and acupuncture cured that too.

[00:03:15] I went on to train in Kinesiology, which is largely based on Traditional Chinese Medicine principles. Just with the addition of some other methods and muscle testing to find and correct imbalances.

[00:03:31] Reiki really works similarly. The body voluntarily yields up the information required for the healing that it needs. It tells us where the pain is. Then we can ask the client what originally caused this particular pain? Then we can release the blocks and invite healing energy to flow again through that part.

[00:03:54] Reiki is scientifically proven for pain, mood, energy, nausea, anxiety, depression, and more.

[00:04:02] Kinesiology is proven for reducing stress, anxiety, and depression.

[00:04:07] So that's tool number one, Reiki.

[00:04:09] Tool number two, EFT, or Emotional Freedom Technique. You might know this as tapping. EFT was created by a fellow called Gary Craig, and it combines acupressure with focused attention on fear, trauma, or negative beliefs.

[00:04:29] You tap on specific points in the body while bringing those issues to mind.

[00:04:33] Once I'd opened the door to meditation and energy work, I kept going. I ran a clinic that delivered pretty good results.

[00:04:41] In 2017 I met the head of a major law firm in Sydney who just lost a young lawyer to suicide and was seeking better ways to support his team.

[00:04:54] He personally used EFT daily to manage his own stress and encouraged people in his firm to explore it.

[00:05:02] I've had clients break long-term habits like sugar addiction in a single session, and while I found that women tend to adopt mind body work more readily, it's equally effective for men.

[00:05:16] My surgeon friend, ex-head of a hospital orthopedic department is a treasure trove of stories about his, and his colleagues' mind body experiences,

[00:05:30] EFT is supported by research for anxiety, depression, phobias, PTSD, pain, insomnia, autoimmune issues, and even biological stress markers.

[00:05:43] That's number two, EFT.

[00:05:46] Number three, MBSR, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.

[00:05:53] Developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts in the 1970s, MBSR is an eight week course blending meditation, yoga, and body awareness to reduce stress and pain, increase emotional regulation and support healing.

[00:06:14] I took this course after a heart attack in 2017 when I was confined to my sofa for three months. If my doctors told me to very gently move my weakened body, but use my heart, quote unquote "as little as possible". I'd sometimes black out during my five minute walks. But MBSR was quite a gentle style of working.

[00:06:40] Kabat-Zinn's voice drove me a bit nuts, to be honest, but the process definitely helped me open up to my condition, to find peace with it and to begin the healing process.

[00:06:53] MBSR is scientifically proven for stress, anxiety, depression, mood, emotional regulation, amygdala activity, burnout, attention, self-compassion, and sleep. In PubMed in 2024, there were 228 MBSR related research papers published.

[00:07:17] So that's number three, MBSR.

[00:07:18] Number four, couldn't miss out Polyvagal informed practices. Developed by Stephen Porges, Polyvagal Theory maps how the vagus nerve, governs our response to safety and danger, therefore our capacity for emotional regulation and connection.

[00:07:38] Portes outlines three ANS states, immobilization (shutdown), mobilization (flight or flight) and social engagement (broadly rest and repair). For the first two states, co-regulation -which is the transmission of a sense of safety from one human to another- returns the nervous system to a state of receptivity to social relationships, which is very valuable for traumatized people.

[00:08:11] His work has been embraced by trauma therapists such as Bessel VanDerKolk and Peter Levine. And the reason I include Porges's work here is that many people in burnout have been touched by trauma. Trauma limits our capacity for social connection, which isolates us and leaves us feeling unsupported.

[00:08:34] In a vicious cycle, we are then more vulnerable to the accumulated effects of stress, anxiety, and depression.

[00:08:42] So polyvagal exercises engage the vagal nerve pathway using things like rhythm, breath, sound, and connection. The aim is to 'neurocept' safety, in other words to subconsciously detect and respond to available safety cues.

[00:09:04] Exercises you can do yourself include humming, chanting, or singing; splashing cold water on your face; listening to soothing voices or music; slow diaphragmatic or box breathing; grounding your bare feet in nature; eye contact and attuned conversation; and gentle rocking or swaying.

[00:09:32] While full scale clinical trials are limited, early evidence shows these can safely support nervous system regulation and recovery from trauma.

[00:09:42] So that's number four, polyvagal related exercises.

[00:09:46] Number five, of course, coaching. I do see burnout as a return to wholeness because in the end, it's way easier to be the real you and more effective than trying to pretzel yourself to please other people.

[00:10:03] I believe three things about burnout:

[00:10:05] Number one: if you're a professional experiencing burnout, you already have what it takes to recover. It's just a bit hard to know how to recover alone.

[00:10:18] Number two: you are fundamentally a good person, even if you've lost touch with that truth. Recovery will reconnect you with it, and your passion will flood back. You'll deepen your emotional intelligence and increase your value as a professional and a leader.

[00:10:38] And number three: burnout is not caused by your profession, but by how you've been living inside it. And I can help you shift that, no matter what industry you are in. Even in toxic work cultures. And I'm writing this as UK resident doctors who earn about 15 pounds, which is equivalent 20 US dollars, per hour, are fighting to earn as much as their physician associates.

[00:11:10] Anyhow, your job isn't the deciding factor in causing burnout. That's good news 'cause it means that you can fix it without them.

[00:11:19] If you're a Type A professional, I can coach you to recovery. You can achieve far deeper satisfaction and success in your work after burnout. That's my promise.

[00:11:30] And a part of that process -don't tell anyone- is rekindling your mind body connection, putting heart and soul back into the equation where your real power lives.

[00:11:43] If you've been trying to recharge your batteries through overwork, how's that going for you? You are not a machine. Coaching helps you reconnect with a more integrated, harmonious, fulfilling way to work and live.

[00:11:59] Coaching is also scientifically validated for burnout recovery.

[00:12:04] And I want to give an honorable mention here to, to psychotropics popularized in recent years for moving people out of stuckness. I've read many mixed accounts of shamanic rituals with psychedelics, but they're also used in the west as medications, for example, for anxiety, depression, bipolar and pain, as well as in psychotherapy.

[00:12:27] I haven't tried them personally, but I do remain open to learning about traditional, longstanding practices that work in ways I'm not familiar with. I'm in favor of healing by any means that are safe, legal, and grounded. If you've had a meaningful experience with psychotropics, come on the podcast and tell us all about it.

[00:12:50] In closing mind, body healing isn't woo. It's ancient human wisdom meeting modern nervous systems.

[00:12:58] Burnout is a left brain condition of disconnection. We've lost harmony. Our energies are stunted, our emotions blocked, our body's tortured and our is deteriorating. We are falling into chronic disrepair.

[00:13:16] We've abandoned nature, community, our true needs as we fill our days with toxins and superficial wants.

[00:13:25] But we can return, we can heal.

[00:13:30] Turning back into our own heart, mind, body, and soul synchs us with the rhythmic beat of our own drum. Mind body work reverberates with our natural vitality. We stop pushing and start listening.

[00:13:47] And coaching is one powerful way to ignite that process. It works because it helps you access your own innate capacity to recover.

[00:13:58] It's scientifically proven to reduce burnout, emotional exhaustion, cynicism, to increase work engagement, efficacy, and vigor. And I've seen such strong results in my years of coaching, that right from day one I have guaranteed burnout recovery to my clients.

[00:14:17] If you want help, I'd love to make a new plan with you. You can book a free session at dexrandall.com. 

[00:14:26] Thanks for listening. If you found this episode useful, please rate and review the podcast and share it with your friends.

[00:14:33] Next week I will bring you more controversial views on modern culture and surviving burnout.

[00:14:40] Until then, take good care of you. 

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