Work Besties Who Podcast

Why You’re Still Burned Out (Even After a Weekend Off)

• Work Besties Who Podcast • Season 2 • Episode 75

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You took the weekend off, but somehow still woke up tired on Monday. Why? This week, Work Besties Who Podcast welcomes Anna Hindell — a Gestalt Psychotherapist and Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher — who’s redefining how we think about burnout, stress, and recovery.

Anna shares how true healing begins by reconnecting with your body, not just your thoughts. Together, we unpack why high achievers stay stuck in burnout cycles, how to recognize the early signs, and a simple one-minute grounding practice you can start using today.

Listen if you’ve ever:
💎 Felt exhausted even after “resting”
💎 Said “I’m fine” when you weren’t
💎 Needed a reminder to slow down — without guilt

🕒 Timestamps / Chapters

00:00 – Intro | Why burnout doesn’t go away with time off
 02:00 – Anna’s path from movement to mind-body therapy
 05:00 – What Gestalt Therapy actually means (“making the whole whole”)
 09:00 – The link between your physical body and emotional burnout
 12:00 – When over-functioning turns into avoidance
 15:00 – How community and friendship help heal stress
 19:00 – Micro-moments that reset your nervous system
 24:00 – Anna’s one-minute body scan for calm
 27:00 – Jess & Claude’s reflections and takeaways

🧘 Key Takeaways

  • Burnout isn’t solved by more rest — it’s solved by awareness.
  • Your body often notices stress before your brain admits it.
  • Connection (to self and to others) is medicine.
  • A minute of breathing with awareness can change your entire day.

👤 Guest: Anna Hindell

Anna is a Gestalt Psychotherapist and Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher based in New York City, helping adults, teens, and couples reconnect to themselves through movement, mindfulness, and body awareness.

Website: www.annahindell.com
Instagram: @annahindellpsychotherapy
Facebook: Anna Hindell, LCSW-R, CIYT
LinkedIn: Anna Hindell, LCSW-R, CIYT

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Work Besties! Theme Song Written by Ralph Lentini @therallyband

Jess K:

Hello everybody. Today's guest has reshaped how we think about burnout and healing.

Claude F:

Anna Hindell is a Gestalt psychotherapist, a certified iyengar yoga teacher, and a specialist in helping people get out of that cycle of stress. And finally feel like themselves again.

Jess K:

So if you've ever felt like your thoughts are racing nonstop or that your burnout doesn't magically go away after a weekend off, this episode is for you.

Claude F:

Anna shares why true recovery starts by reconnecting with your body and how even high achievers can find more ease, calm, and clarity.

Jess K:

So stay with us to the end because Anna's gonna offer a super simple daily practice that you can start immediately to calm your nervous systems.

Claude F:

Hi, I'm Claude. And I'm Jess. We are corporate employees by day, entrepreneurs by night, and work besties for life.

Jess K:

Join us as we explore how work besties lift each other up, laugh through the chaos, and thrive together in every industry. Work besties!

Anna Hindell:

Hi Anna, welcome! Hi, Claude and Jess. It's so nice to be here. Thank you for that really nice introduction.

Jess K:

So we're so excited to have you today. So we thought we would start off with a hard-hitting question. Was there a specific moment or element that made you realize that your body needed to be a part of your healing process?

Anna Hindell:

Such a great question. I personally have a long history of movement in my life. I grew up as a competitive gymnast. But in terms of the mind-body approach to health, it wasn't until my 20s after college that I got into therapy with a gestalt psychotherapist. And this is an approach, really, where the body is the house of the emotion, and that is what informs the mind. So we're often really connected with our thinking mind, but it's really about getting in touch with our body and our sensations and what's going on below the neck that informs us of what's happening in our minds.

Claude F:

So that's the definition of gestalt psychotherapy.

Anna Hindell:

No, it's a seemingly simple question, but a little bit hard because it's such an experiential approach. So gestalt means whole, and it's an approach where we look at the individual sort of broken up into parts. And so if you think about yourself, you know, you might feel like, oh, I have this angry side, and then I have this playful side, and I have this happy side. When is it that you contact them? And when do these different sides emerge? And it's usually like depending on how you're feeling or who you're with. So in Gestalt Psychotherapy, we're constantly looking at these different parts and these different ways that we're fragmented, and we're constantly looking and working to feel whole, which of course we all want. So in a typical psychotherapy session, I might um bring out what sounds like this is a really part of you that really undermines yourself, and we might um hone in on that side of the person, and some people are familiar with like the chair experiment or chair exercise. This is what gestalt is sort of known for. So we might say, okay, put that undermining part of you in the chair, and let's have a conversation with that side of you. So I might have you sit in in your seat and then talk to the side of you that is negative or undermines you, is not grounded, and then you would get up and sit in the chair and be that part and see what they have to say back to you. And you kind of go back and forth, and that's just one example, and we learn all about the different sides of us, and it's not necessarily, it's usually not what we think. It's not like, oh, here's this side I'm just trying to get rid of and I'm trying to argue with. It's like, let's look at this really good intention and let's look at what the purpose of this side is doing, and it's usually um trying to protect you, usually kind of started from a younger place of could be trauma. That's one way of working with like uh a way that we might be fragmented to form a relationship with this different part and start to integrate that part into your whole self. So I hope that makes sense.

Claude F:

Yeah, but like for example, let's talk to the angry side. So you just say that you know you're not trying to repress that side, but it's more about understanding, right?

Anna Hindell:

Well, understanding is kind of an intellectual thing, and what we're really doing in Gestalt is going into feel the feeling state. So there's the thinking mind, and then there's the feeling. I might say, Claude, where do you feel this anger in your body? If you were to kind of go in and sense where where are you angry? How do you know you're angry? What does that feel like for you? So I don't necessarily need to do a formal chair experiment, but we could just talk about it. And maybe you go, oh, in my chest, it feels heavy, and we might um spend a little time in your chest and what that feels like, and all of the history about that part of you. So it's not to say, let's have that part go away or wrestle with it, but more of just let's really respect it and let's look at that and let's see what that part does for you. And then the other really hallmark part aspect of Gestalt therapy is the relational piece. So it's not just you working with your angry part, but I'm in the room with you. And then there's how is it to contact that part in front of me with me as part of the field? Or could your angry part say something to me? And can I talk back to that angry part in a loving way? It's more of like, let's learn everything about this part of you, this side of you, so that we can see what what's the need. It's all about another piece, is like it's all about the need cycle. So for Claude and Jess, you might you might be sitting here, and if you check in with your body, maybe there's a need, maybe you're feeling thirsty. And so many of the needs we have, we don't even think about it. It's like, oh, I'm tired, I'm gonna go take a nap, or I'm hungry, I'm gonna reach for food. But then we get into some higher level needs. I really feel lonely and I wanna be with a friend. Oh, but then some other sides come in. Oh, don't reach out, you might get rejected, you might get burned. Goodness. You know, we look, yeah. So we look at all of these different sides that come out and kind of interrupt your way of moving forward with a need. I don't know. I get really jazzed and excited.

Jess K:

It's it's so interesting. So you you bring the gestalt side of the psychotherapy, but how does the yoga come into this? I think that's where I'm I'm confused.

Anna Hindell:

I really respect them as two different disciplines, which they are, but they're both connected in that it's about um getting in touch with your body. I mean, we we can have lots of sensations in in our head, like, oh, I clench my teeth, or I feel this pain in my temples, but most of it is like from the neck down. And um, I think of it like you want to create some space, especially when you think about the qualities of getting anxious or tense or some of the feelings that we might put in the category of negative, not in a judgmental way, but just in a way of like, oh yeah, it's I don't really want to have that on my way to work. So it's um kind of dropping your awareness down into your body and and noticing, oh wow, I have this tightness in my chest, or I've been clenching my jaw for the past hour. And um how can I how can I work with that? And does it feel familiar? And how do I connect the dots to uh what is happening in my life right now? It could be, oh, it was like a tough subway ride and I'm tense, but then you can also think about things like trauma, where we really do get stuck in time and in our bodies about particular emotions. And that's also really where the relationship in psychotherapy when I work with clients is addressed because we have to build up enough trust, enough good feelings.

Jess K:

Our work bestie community, one of the things we've noticed that they definitely are working through is burnout. Is there elements that you recognize it whether it's uh emotional or physical that help address, okay, this is you're in a burnout situation and you do?

Anna Hindell:

In a perfect world, we'd get there before we're actually burnt out. And and maybe we can kind of talk about what it is for a moment because it's not just like tired or overworked or like you had a bad day. But I think of burnout as like a chronic way that you're kind of giving more and you're not getting back the good food, so to speak, from whether that's a job or a relationship. Um, if I were to work with someone with burnout, I would really want to have work with them to contact what are their needs, and then also how do they turn off or avoid their needs? Because I think that is such a typical New York thing to do after you say your name, it's like, what do you do for work? And work, um it's a very important thing. And people tend to just kind of put their head down and go and go and go, and then before they know it, it's like their reserves are gone. So if if I were to slow someone down and be like, okay, well, what is that need? And oh, you're you're tired, but how do you ignore it? It's so it's not just take a break at five, go home. It's more of like how to stay with your needs in live time over time. I would never say to a client, like, oh, I'm teaching you this, but it's just sort of the way I work with people. Like, oh, let's pay attention to your needs, and oh, you're you're so burnt out. And how did that happen? In general, I think over time in the day-to-day, whether it's work, a weekend, your time at home, to just start to pay attention. I'm craving some play, I'm craving some joy, I'm craving to sit down and take a load off. So it's there's not a like quick fix for burnout because as you know, it happens over time, and then it can take some time to undo.

Claude F:

Once you are in the burnout situation, you don't know your needs anymore because you don't think right. You know, you are being like a little hamster and they're the wheel, you don't know your needs because you're done.

Anna Hindell:

Right. You might not even know you're burnt out. You might think, like, why am I so tired? I slept a full night for the past week. To me, that's some of the magical space of therapy because it's just it's this space to explore, and there's no judgment, and all feelings are welcome and all thoughts are welcome. And so we get to kind of stay with how did you get here? How did this happen? Like, let's look at that, let's look at the ways that you're turning off your connection with your body, right? Like, how many people do you know say, Oh, I should really exercise and I should really drink more water, and all these should start to happen. And it's right.

Claude F:

But you finally start. Well, I'm starting, yeah. But for a long time, it was, you know, I know I should, you know, I should have could, you know, can always stop.

Anna Hindell:

And so if I were working with you, we might look at like, wow, what's the history there? What was important for you, Claude, about turning off those needs and just like going full steam ahead? And it probably was very useful at some point to do that and probably took you far in life or to where you are now, but there's that other side of I'm paying the price now. Yeah. Right? Like it kind of comes and sneaks up on us if we turn it off, turn off what we need, what we want, what brings us joy.

Jess K:

So, Anna, you bring up a good point. So there are rationales that caused us to get to those points. Once we do realize, or you're at least are noticing something feels off, what would be the first step for somebody?

Anna Hindell:

Yeah, I mean, I'm biased toward therapy, obviously. I think it's like a really magical space where people can can heal. But you know, I know therapy is not for everyone, and I think that it's really depending on your own self-awareness, it could be let me find someone to help out, because oftentimes when we're in it, so to speak, we can't see and we don't know what's happening. And that's where like a coach or a therapist or working with someone like me would be very useful. And sometimes just having someone repeat back what you're actually doing can be so helpful because we can't see it when we're in it.

Jess K:

Yeah, especially somebody who is not a part of your everyday life or existence in total, because then they also have some type of bias or element of wanting to see you in a certain way too. So having someone who has no background usually helps.

Anna Hindell:

Yeah, and it it kind of makes me chuckle. I think about often like people aren't like banging down the door to get to therapy. Like some people are super into it, but for the most part, I see people that are burnt out and they're like, I've tried acupuncture, I've tried this coach, I've gone to my doctor, I thought I had IBS, the doctor told me to go to therapy. You know, it's like it's like irony, you don't have a physical problem, it's not your digestive system, it's just whatever that is that you're either driving yourself in a chronic way or some chronic sadness or agitation or anxiety, well, some feeling becomes, I'll say, chronic, habitual, out of context and out of awareness. And that's when it can be a bit of a problem.

Jess K:

So, knowing that we are a podcast focused on the work bestie community, a lot of our work besties do leverage each other when they are in situations whether it's burnout or stress or any of those things that people want to have conversations about. How do you feel the role of community and that support system can play in recovery?

Anna Hindell:

I love this question because especially being in New York, this word community, it's it's it even feels kind of fragmented. Maybe it's a little bit different in a post-COVID world, I'm thinking, because I think with all that isolation, people started to realize we need each other. And I personally have a bestie who I text with every now and then, like throughout the day. And it's just like this disappointment happened, or like I had this win. I'm not saying don't go to therapy, but for some people, that's really good food for the soul to just be able to connect, to feel heard, to feel safe by express expressing yourself to someone who you know is a non-judgmental person.

Jess K:

And that can I love the way of calling a new oh, your work, your bestie food for the soul. I kind of like that.

Anna Hindell:

Yeah, right, because it's true, it's like like there's different types of food. I think about that a lot. There's like the thoughts we have, I mean, there's the food we eat and drink, but then there's like just emotional information we take in. I was just talking to a client who's like, Oh, I wanted a break and and one on Instagram, and then she's totally distraught because of all the news and the state of the world. So it's also like you know, paying attention to like this client had a need to relax, and then that brought her to a state of distress. So we looked at that of like what what would be a better way of moving toward that that rest, that softness, the little break from your work, even if you have like five minutes, maybe that means just like go make a cup of tea, don't go online. And I think that it's sometimes easier said than done for people because like they get kind of addicted to checking different websites or social media.

Jess K:

We had a previous podcast um around the power of yoga and how even just like three minutes can really help reset your mind um by just releasing maybe the tensions in your shoulders or um even the breathing. The breathing helps to right exactly. Yeah, we agree with you. There's like more constructive ways to use your five, ten minutes verse scrolling.

Anna Hindell:

This is so interesting because when people come in my office, I'll just you know, hey, so what are you feeling in your body? I don't always start that way, but that's a nice way to start. And often there's like tension somewhere, and people don't even know it until they check in, and that tension was creating the jaw hurting, or oh, I had a stomachache, and I didn't even notice. So it's almost like let's just start with take with surveying the scene inside your body, and from there it might be like, let's do a chest opening, or let's like extend our arms up, or let's stand on our legs and have your back against the wall and see how that feels. So I call all of these things experiments. This is a way that Gestalt works. Okay, so you have this tension in your legs. Often it's more of like people don't even feel their body, they're just in their thinking mind all the time. So, what is it like to stand up with your back against the wall? Yeah, and like noticing, you know, I'm doing it right now as we're talking, and I'm like, oh yeah, there I am.

Claude F:

That's where you're putting the iyengar.

Anna Hindell:

Yeah, well, it's not quite, I wouldn't call that yoga, but I would say that that is a way of getting in your body. It's kind of hard when you've been trained in different things. So it's like I just kind of go with my instinct, I see the human, and we work from there. So it's not like a yoga pose to sit and feel your back against the chair and your feet on the ground, but I might do some yoga-like things like what is it like to stand up in tadrasana mountain pose with your back at the wall, feel the support there. What does that give you? Is it nice? Is it familiar? Do you feel more of yourself? And then what happens? Another main cornerstone of Gestalt is we're very interested in the here and now present moment. We call this a phenomenology. If I say this to you, I see you smile, and and I see you smile back at me, and I'm smiling. And what does that do for you? How does that change your experience? Yeah.

Jess K:

I like that. I like the idea of the here and the now and the present moment because it definitely makes you take that step back.

Anna Hindell:

In any discipline, I'm iyengar yoga teacher, but all yoga is all about the here and now present. So that is a place where there is some crossover.

Claude F:

Yeah, because that's what also the burnout or like anxieties, the what looking at the past and then also looking at the future, what can happen, and then and not being on the present. And that is really realizing that just step in the present is a big step into relaxing.

Anna Hindell:

Yeah, it's true. And sometimes being in the present, you realize you're not relaxed, right? It's like just be, you know, sometimes people think oh, if I'm present, everything is like cool and chill and relaxing, but it's I'm actually feeling really sad or I'm feeling really anxious, and that's part of why I'm not present because you don't want to go there, you know, and then we might explore some of that of like what's so where do you feel that pain or where do you feel that sadness? And what's it like to maybe give some breath to it or breathe into that space and explore it a little bit?

Jess K:

So it's funny you bring that up. You know how if you've got like an Apple Watch, it does that. Don't forget to do your um mind meditation. Came up yesterday, and I happened to be with my daughter, and it was like, do one minute of just thinking of gratitude about somebody that you're happy for the day. So I had her and I both do it. It was opening because so for her, I was like, Oh, what did you think about? She's talked about um like her day and what she was really grateful for. And then she asked me, and I was like, I don't know, for some reason I had like this hit of sadness, but I didn't have the sad day. And I think it was just taking the moment to feel what I was feeling. So I I totally understand what you mean. So I was able to understand, like, okay, now I know why I was upset. I felt like there was something I had done throughout the day that didn't feel authentic to me, and I was kind of replaying that.

Anna Hindell:

I'm so glad you said that. It makes so much sense, and something similar happened to me yesterday because I was just sort of like, I'm working, I'm working, I'm working. And and then I left and it was like just some reflection. It was the end of the day, it was getting toward the end of the week, and it was like, it wasn't that I wasn't connected or avoiding something, but it was just to enter into a space of allowing yourself to feel whatever's present for you can be really powerful. And sometimes feelings emerge that you're just like, whoa, where did that come from? But usually if you slow down and connect the dots, it's like, well, of course, that thing that happened was really upsetting. Or I'm really anxious about that presentation I'm giving next week, and I finally pausing to think about it.

Claude F:

Yeah. So how do you come out of this state, right? Because I understand, like suddenly you realize, but that doesn't make it disappear.

Anna Hindell:

Right. Well, that's where I think the therapeutic relationship comes into play and the ongoing trust, consistency, and um almost like the work bestie, not that I'm anyone's best, you know, my clients are not my besties, but it's like sometimes knowing it's Wednesday and I'm wow, I just got a wave of that sadness. But I know I'm gonna go talk to Anna on Friday, and I can hold it until then and I can journal about it. Sometimes when you know there's that rock of that therapist, the therapy appointment, or that best friend, or that place where you know you can release those feelings, that can be really powerful and really carry you to carry you through something difficult.

Jess K:

Anna, how can our uh work best community find you if they're interested in learning more?

Anna Hindell:

My website is my name, annahindell.com, and my office is on 31st and 5th in Manhattan, and I see people virtually and in person. I see uh teenagers, adults, and couples. Fantastic.

Jess K:

So we do have one last question for you. Okay, what's that one simple daily practice that you can start using immediately to help calm your nervous system?

Anna Hindell:

I do this all the time. It's really slowing yourself down, meaning, okay, I'm gonna take my attention outward and bring it inward. And you can do this when you're sitting at your desk, you can do it when you're walking to the train, you can do it anytime, and just start to slow your breath down and check out what's happening inside. It's almost like a little bit of a body scan. So if you're sitting, it could be feeling your feet on the ground, going up through your legs, feeling your buttocks in your seat, and all the way up through the crown of the head, feeling your arms. And it's much easier to do when your body is making contact with something, like a chair. Otherwise, you can just put your hands on your legs or a hand on your heart and you start to feel yourself in space. And that can be really powerful just in itself of like, oh, I have this body, and this body is communicating a lot of information to me. And if you're not able to stop, if you're feeling agitated, you can do this when you're walking, of just like putting the judgment aside, saying, All right, I'm gonna just let you kind of hang out over there, and just checking in, slowing your breath down. It can take a minute or so, and just taking some slow and steady breaths while you're walking to start to really feel your body in space. So it's actually subtle and quiet, but over time you you get to know what to engage in or to put aside.

Claude F:

Yeah, it's so funny because as you were saying that, I was like actually starting to do it myself, and I I did feel like something like a release of some sort.

Anna Hindell:

Yeah. So I'm so glad you said that, Claude, because like just bringing our attention to our body, something will shift. I can't say what or how, but something will change, and that's so interesting to me. And so it's almost like everyone's own self-exploration to see what state am I in now, and like where am I holding tension that I don't need to hold? And it's all about knowing yourself and accepting yourself, and and that work can just continue within the relationship of therapy as well.

Jess K:

Right. Thank you, Anna, so much. We've learned so much.

Anna Hindell:

This has been so fun, such a pleasure to talk to both of you.

Claude F:

This was such a grounding and clarifying conversation.

Jess K:

I feel like we all just exhaled together, and hopefully our listeners did too.

Anna Hindell:

You're so welcome. It's been such a pleasure.

Claude F:

My takeaway right now doesn't need more rest, it needs awareness about our body and more connection to ourselves. So if you're listening right now and feel overwhelmed, go back and re-listen to that one minute practice Anna shared. And if this episode helped you, pass it on to someone who needs it too.

Jess K:

Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe. So you never miss a conversation that matters. And until next time, keep supporting each other. Remember whether you're swapping snacks in the break room, rescuing each other from endless.

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Claude F

Co-host
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Jess K

Co-host
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Anna Hindell

Guest