Emotional Indigestion - The Cause Of Burnout

Why should life, love and hard work burn us out? Emotional indigestion is the cause.
Most burn out and breakdowns are caused by a lack of completed emotions - we get them stuck in our head and they cycle, sometimes for an entire life; its called emotional indigestion. By returning our attention to the body, we give stress a way of being shaken off, exhaled or reimagined.

Much like indigestion, our bodies require specific nervous system states in order to function. If we are accumulating stress, leaking energy, and being blindsided by very normal events - this is probably a sign that we are not digesting the day to day.
Whenever a dog experiences even a minor discomfort, what do they do? They shake. And ever notice how agile, and nimble they are all the time? 

In the body, fascia acts as a codex of memory directly attached to your muscles. By shaking, dogs ensure muscles aren't clenched around the fascial memory of stress, creating a habit of tension. We, too, need to lift this energy from the fascia, the memory foam of our muscles, and shake it off or exhale it. 
What else do other mammals do when they're mildly stressed? They yawn, they stretch, they get zoomies, and they seek physical affection. All of these behaviours are ways of releasing stress in order to stay present, for when a genuine threat appears. 

Humans have been educated out of these habits. We are taught not to cry so readily as a baby. We taught to sit still, instead of stamping, throwing our arms, or stretching. We are taught to focus by clenching or tightening the muscles in our neck and face, instead of opening up our posture and relaxing our brow. We are taught to 'take it easy' or told to 'relax'; this might be the most insidious of them all; as it teaches silence where noise or breath are needed; it teaches repression of emotions instead of inviting them in; it tells the body that annoyance, sadness, grief, and anger are inappropriate emotions.

So, how do we turn on the emotional metabolism and digest our days? Be like our mammalian cousins; Stretch, yawn, gargle, sigh, shake, throw our arms, or seek physical affection, all of these somatic expressions promote a relaxed nervous system.

Why not simply talk about these emotions? Because most people we talk to will either help us cycle in the trap of thinking or dismiss the emotions. The typical approach for mental discomfort is a cognitive approach, that is thinking or speaking about the event. And it is this that differentiates somatic practices from cognitive or talk therapies; It is body first.