There have been several times in my life when I felt as though I would spontaneously combust.

My graduate school days were a 2-year period of full-time work and night classes (and an internship to boot) that were the muddiest slog of my young life. I had moved from Upstate New York to Baltimore, knew absolutely no one in Charm City, and had rent and school to pay for. "Pleasures" like eating hearty meals and getting adequate sleep were temporarily on hold. I rarely exercised, drank too much, and somehow kept on chuggin' despite feeling like absolute poop most days.

I've lived other stints of burning the candle at both ends. Sometimes life is like that and we just need to soldier on until the tide changes. Still, I know in every cell of my body what sheer exhaustion feels like. And I don't like it one bit!

Most of the people I work with are overwhelmed. They feel inundated, submerged beneath the weight of too many thoughts or too much to take care of. This overwhelm often presents as detachment--from their own bodies, from their senses, from their lives as a whole. Other people describe their overwhelm as forms of physical discomfort--a chronic burning in their gut, stiffness around the neck and shoulders, unceasing low back pain. Emotionally, being over-burdened can also result in depression or anxiety or both.

So much of what overwhelms us hovers up in our heads. The million and 3 thoughts we have each day. The to-dos, wish-I'd dones, oh-shit-I-forgot-to-dos. The alerts, pings, and distractions from mobile devices. The partner, the pets, the kids, the car, the house, the EVERYTHING that grabs your mental attention and won't. let. go.

And the more we stuff in our heads, the more we forget about everything that lives below our neck. We lose a valuable connection to the brain that lives down in our belly ("the bodymind") and we keep repeating unhealthy patterns that keep us stuck on repeat. Over and over and over again.

When we regain (or gain for the first time) awareness of our WHOLE body and being, we can began to break patterns of overwhelm and live with more ease, balance, and fulfillment.

I recently ran a 5-day email program called Pathways to Pleasure as a way to help readers take a look at how they can tame overwhelm by returning to an awareness of their senses. There were brief daily readings (a.k.a. structured ramblings from yours truly!) and suggested action steps that led people back to their bodies to prioritize pleasure.

One of my participants sent replies to some follow-up questions I posed to all who completed the program. When I asked, "What was your biggest 'a-ha' as you explored pleasure and sensuality?" she said this:

"...with encouragement, I could actually experience an opening in that space where it is possible to become more in touch with my senses and engage them more deeply and holistically. Given the intensity with which I 'live in my head,' I wasn’t sure that I could 'let go' enough to allow that process to start in such a short period. However, I was able to!"

So you see folks, DOING THE THING (instead of just incessantly thinking about it) can move you out of overwhelm! This was one woman taking one action step in a brief window of time, just a little wiggle forward, and she felt the power of reconnecting to her body.

While everyone I coach has different needs and goals, one thing is certain: through the power of BodyMind coaching practices, they all are guided back to their body and the wisdom that resides outside of their headspace.

A few things to explore:

• Where are you feeling the effects of overwhelm in your body today?
• How is this overwhelm hindering your ability to live your life from a space of comfort and ease?
• Do you want to keep feeling the way you're feeling today? If not, what is one action step you can take to embody how you want to feel?

Below is a short synopsis of how I coach. It's the process I use to help holistic healers reduce overwhelm by clarifying their offers and valuing their worth so that they can live in a space of abundance rather than depletion. It's how I help women identify their core values and shore up their personal and professional boundaries so that they can live lives anchored in ease and pleasure with a hell of a lot less pain.

To learn more about how coaching can offer you accountability and support that ferries you from Overwhelm Island to Oh-So-Good Oasis, book a Coaching Discovery Call today. I don't take a dime from you for this call. I just ask you to show up ready to explore where you are right now and what living with less mindless overwhelm could see/smell/sound/taste/feel like.

Take a full breath in and out. Come back to your senses.

I see you and I love you,

Jen