Yoga Asana for Menstrual Cramps: Rena Shoshana Forester

I’m Rena Shoshana Forester. A Teacher, Healer, & Mentor. My healing and recovery journey includes Depression, disordered eating, Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), divorce, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  

When I first received my PCOS diagnosis I dove deep into educating myself about feminine hormones and holistic womb healing. At that time, I suffered from serious menstrual cramps. I was shocked to find that of the countless free online Yoga resources that exist, I could count on one hand the number of people who were addressing menstrual challenges like cramps.

It is my honor to share with you how Yoga can help relieve and prevent menstrual cramping. May this serve you and/or your loved ones.

How to Relieve Menstrual Cramps Aside from Pills

Menstrual cramping is quite common. It may surprise you to learn that it is not normal; we were not meant to suffer. Severe and debilitating menstrual cramping is a sign of something deeper that needs to be addressed. Thankfully, this information is becoming more known. However, many people still feel helpless, with Advil, Tylenol, and other pills being the only tool that they feel confident turning to, or providing others in their care.

While it is important to use pills to relieve pain in order to prevent suffering as needed, it is equally important to acquire additional tools to turn to in times of need.

Yoga postures and techniques are powerful tools for preventing and relieving cramping, as well as addressing the deeper stuff calling out for attention.  

There are times, however, when a doctor or other professional is needed to take assessment and/or provide additional treatments to support the healing of these uncomfortable symptoms.

I hope that the Yogic postures and tools provided in this article serve as additional tools in your toolbox for healing your own menstrual cramping, and/or supporting those in your care with relieving their menstrual cramping.

My Experience Relieving Menstrual Cramps

When I received my PCOS diagnosis, I made a promise to myself to take my healing seriously, from the inside out. I asked the Chinese Medicine doctor I was working with at the time for suggestions of Yoga postures that could help reduce cramping. He gave me a couple of suggestions, but then looked at me and said, “That’s your area of expertise.” So I opened up my textbooks and put together a series of postures that I practiced regularly. Sure enough, I did experience relief.

It is worth mentioning that in addition to practicing Yoga postures intended to alleviate discomfort from menstrual cramps and other hormonal challenges, I also changed my nutrition, sleeping habits, stress levels, and worked with a number of professionals to support my healing. 

Every woman and every person’s healing path is unique to them.

I originally became a Yoga teacher because I understood that Yoga is a tool that is intended to relieve a person from their own internal suffering: physically, mentally, emotionally, and otherwise. In fact, Yoga is built on the inherent understanding that all of these parts of a person are intrinsically connected. So, when I understood that I had deep healing to do after receiving a PCOS diagnosis, it intuitively made sense to me that Yoga would be one of the tools in my toolbox for healing.

Again, it is my honor to share this tool with you and I would love to hear how it works for you.

Yogic Postures & Techniques for Relieving Menstrual Cramps

Before I dive into the specific exercises, it’s important to acknowledge that practicing Yoga encourages one to feel connected to one’s body. Particularly amidst pain and discomfort, it often seems much easier to turn away and/or numb these feelings. That may work for some time, but eventually, if unattended to for long enough, these sensations may scream out in much more painful ways. I invite you to start small: maybe just five minutes of practicing Yoga to give yourself space to feel the discomfort. Over time, you can train your brain to not only hold the discomfort, but simultaneously find parts of your body that are actually comfortable. We have a natural tendency to notice areas of the body that are uncomfortable. Speaking from experience, the body is rarely 100% uncomfortable. We can learn to paint a full picture of what’s going on in our body by acknowledging the discomfort and comfort that exist in the same moment. Simply accepting these sensations with compassion is a significant first step to any sincere healing.  

A few notes on HOW to practice, before we get into the specifics of WHAT to practice.

First, we live in a society that generally rewards constantly doing and achieving. These traits are important, but equally important are the qualities of resting and being gentle. As women, we follow a cycle much like the moon where part of the time we are expanding our energy and more naturally able to DO, and part of the time our body needs to move more slowly and gently. Many women suffer from menstrual cramps simply because they are not making space for slowness. I invite you to use the practice of these postures as an opportunity to practice being slow and gentle with yourself. Even if after the practice you jump right back into a busy day of doing and achieving, having taken some time for being slow and gentle with yourself is significant. 

Second, these postures and exercises are intended to be restorative. While they may be uncomfortable, especially if you’ve never practiced them before, they are not meant to be painful. Use the following three warning signs as indications that you ought to come out of the pose, and take a moment to rest in any comfortable position:

  1. Strained breathing
  2. Sharp pain
  3. Numb tingling

Aside from these three sensations, all other feelings are welcome parts of the process of letting go and creating space for something brighter and lighter to come in.

Now, let’s get to the techniques.

Balasana – Child’s Pose

Setting up for the pose: Start on the ground with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips, in a table tip position. Open your knees wide and bring your big toes to touch.  Bring your pelvis back towards your feet, if possible, allowing it to rest on your feet. If needed, place pillows or folded blankets/towels as supports in the creases of your knees, for your pelvis to rest on. Extend your arms out in front of your body. It may be more comfortable, especially in the first couple days of menstruation, to place pillows or folded blankets under your torso for added support. You may prefer not to use any additional supports which is fine, too. Once you’re in the pose, hold for a minimum of six seconds, or up to five minutes. I invite you to focus your attention on your exhale as a symbolic release of any tension that you may be holding. When you feel complete, gently walk your hands towards your body and take a moment to sit with your spine straight up towards the sky, taking a moment to pause and feel the effects of the posture.

How it helps to relieve and/or prevent menstrual cramps: Being in Balasana is often compared to being inside of a womb; allow yourself to tap into the safe and nurturing qualities of this pose. Simply taking a moment to pause and relieve ourselves from the stress of the outside world can be enough to reduce and relieve menstrual cramping. Physically, Balasana offers a gentle massage to the inner organs which can release cramping. Balasana can also support the relief of menstrual cramps because it opens the hips and thighs. As the pelvis rests on the legs, or on the support of pillows or blankets, pressure in the low back is able to release which can also result in relief from cramping.

Marjaryasana/Bitilasana – Cat/Cow

Setting up for the pose: Come back to that table top position with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. As you inhale, let your pelvis tilt up towards the sky as your belly drops down towards the ground, feel your shoulder blades move towards each other along the back, and lift your gaze up to the sky; this is “Cow” pose. As you exhale, reverse this position by bringing the chin in towards the chest, rounding the shoulders, drawing the belly button up towards the spine, and feeling the pelvis tilt down; this is “Cat” pose. Continue like this, alternating between “Cat” & “Cow” pose, in sync with your breath, going at whatever speed feels appropriate for you. You get to choose how deep you go with this pose based on what feels nice for your body. It’s recommended that you practice 5-10 rounds, but you could carry on with this practice for up to 2 minutes if it feels nice for you. Once you feel complete, pause for a moment with a flat back to feel the effects of what you’ve just done.

How it helps to relieve and/or prevent menstrual cramps: Practicing Cat/Cow gently massages the inner organs, especially the ones located around the pelvis supports the relief of muscle tension and the proper flow of blood, oxygen, and energy to this region of the body. I like to think of the spine like the foundation of a house, as it houses all of our internal organs. By warming up the spine, one gently wakes up the inner organs, supporting proper functioning. This gentle stretch of the back also provides a gentle stretch to the pelvic floor muscles which connect to the womb. Gently stretching these muscles can reduce and relieve cramping.

Anjaneyasana – Low Lunge

Setting up for the pose: Once again starting from that table-top position, step your right foot forwards, align your right toes with your fingertips, and feel free to use your hands to help your foot find this positioning. Check that your right knee is directly above the right ankle (it’s okay if it’s slightly behind the ankle, just avoid inching the right knee in front of the right ankle). Check that your left toes are pointed straight back behind you, and feel free to adjust that back knee if it feels like it’s needing adjustment; for example, moving it back slightly will intensify the stretch, though that’s not appropriate for everyone. Some people may be able to place their hands directly on the ground here, on either side of the front foot, but others may need to place blocks or even big books underneath each hand in order to bring the ground up to them. Once you feel stable in the position, inhale to open your chest and lift your gaze. As you exhale, allow the weight of the pelvis to sink down. You are encouraged to hold this posture anywhere from approximately six seconds to two minutes. To come out of the pose, release back into your table top position and pause for a moment to observe the difference between each side of your body. It’s in this moment, when only one side of the body has been worked, that many of the lessons of the posture can be integrated. When you’re ready, on an inhale, take the left foot forward and repeat on the second side. The intent is to hold the posture for roughly the same amount of time on each side of the body. Once again, when you come out of the pose, pause to observe its effects.

How it helps to relieve and/or prevent menstrual cramps: Your quadriceps (aka “quads”) are a set of four muscles located in the front of your thigh. These muscles impact the positioning of your pelvis. Specifically, tight quads pull down on the pelvis which not only impacts posture, but also pain. As such, stretching the quads supports proper positioning of the pelvis which is essential for menstruation experience with minimal or no cramping. 

Bhujangasana – Cobra 

Setting up for the pose: From the table top position you left off in, come to lie on your belly. Bring your legs together, pointing your toes straight back behind you, feeling the tops of your feet press into the surface below you. Bring your hands under your shoulders with your elbows pointing straight back, and start with your forehead resting on the ground. On an inhale, lift your forehead and chest and as you exhale, release your upper body back to the ground. Repeat this movement a minimum of two more times, or as many times as feels appropriate for you, for no more than two minutes. When you feel complete, roll over to lie on your back, and take a moment to feel the effects of this exercise.

How it helps to relieve and/or prevent menstrual cramps: Bhujangasana supports the relaxation of lower back muscles. With the womb located directly opposite the lower back, the muscles that support proper positioning of the womb also get an opportunity to relax in this posture. Bhjugangasana is a gentle heart-opening posture. Like all heart-opening postures, it can lower stress, reduce heaviness in the mind and body, and increase energy. These benefits aid in reducing menstrual cramping. In Bhujganasana, blood is sent to the pelvic area which can relieve challenges related to menstruation, the uterus, and the ovaries, including cramping.  It is important to note that pregnant women should avoid this posture.

Savasana – Final Resting Posture

Setting up for the pose: Traditionally, Savasana is practiced lying on the back with the legs wide and the hands about 45 degrees from the body with the palms facing up. However, what’s most important in this posture is to feel comfortable and relaxed, and lying flat on the back is not comfortable for everyone. So, feel free to adjust this posture by placing a pillow under your knees, placing your legs up on a chair, lying on one side while hugging a pillow, or in any other way that feels nice for you. It’s important to stay warm as your body rests in this posture, so you may want to put on cozy socks and/or cover yourself with a blanket. Finally, you may choose to place a light cloth over your eyes to block out any light in the room. If time permits, it is advised to rest in Savasana for 15 minutes so that your nervous system can fully reset. However, if you’re not able to give 15 minutes to this final resting posture, any amount is better than nothing! You may wish to turn on relaxing music or a rejuvenating meditation while you rest in Savasana. Or you can simply, “do nothing” knowing that actually your body is working quite hard to integrate the lessons from your practice, and all you need to do is rest in order for that to happen.

How it helps to relieve and/or prevent menstrual cramps: Savasana is one of the things that sets Yoga apart from other forms of movement and healing modalities; the ancient Yogis understood that rest is an essential part of any healing process. After practicing a number of postures target areas of need, Savasana allows the parasympathetic nervous system to be turned on; it is in this restful state that the body’s natural healing capacities are activated. Additionally, Savasana alone can reduce pain, relieve lower back pain, and increase circulation throughout the body.

Closing Thoughts and Future Initiatives

As I mentioned, when I was in the thick of suffering from menstrual cramps and PCOS, there were minimal resources on the internet that I found to support my healing. It is my honor and pleasure to make these ancient practices accessible to people like you so that you can support your body in healing itself.

I mentioned that our society prioritises constantly doing, which can be counter-intuitive to a woman’s need for rest at particular times of the month. Though we cannot change the way our society functions at large, we can make spaces for pockets throughout the day that feel particularly restful, gentle, and slow. I hope this piece can support you in doing just so.

Know that these little pockets in the day, no matter how few or far between, are significant, and will have profound ripple-effects that support reducing menstrual cramping, increasing energy, and generally supporting your health and wellness journey.

In support of you,

Rena Shoshana

GLP-1: Is Addiction Treatment and Recovery the Next Frontier?: Lori Beerman

Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists — or as you probably know them, GLP-1s — have taken the weight loss and healthcare industries by storm. I’m guessing you’ve seen the commercials? Experts believe that GLP-1s will soon expand into other areas of chronic condition management (Quantum Health). This includes addition, or substance use disorder (SUD).

In a recent interview with STAT, Nora Volkow — director, National Institute on Drug Abuse — called the early data on GLP-1s to treat addiction is “very, very exciting.” 

But how do we get from excitement to treatment and how quickly — especially when no pharmaceutical companies are studying the issue? To change this, we have to address what Volkow calls “structural problems”: Apathy, coverage and cost. 

We also have to address their root cause: stigma. But first . . .

How GLP-1s Could Work for Addiction

When we eat, the GLP-1 hormone is secreted to help release the insulin that lowers our glucose levels. This process is disrupted for people with diabetes. GLP-1 receptor analogs — or simply GLP-1s as we’ve come to know them — are an effective, FDA-approved treatment. 

GLP-1s are also FDA-approved for obesity. They work by interrupting the brain’s cravings for food. Could these drugs interrupt the brain’s cravings for alcohol, opioids and other substances? Volkow notes that such a mechanism could interfere “with that incentive, motivational drive, that consumption reinforces and generates in our brain — it just blocks it.”

“That is of course extremely important for drugs, because that’s what drugs do: Immediately activates a system, and you just want more and more and more and it escalates. So if you can interfere with that system, this could be a mechanism that would reduce the binging that you see with drug-taking.”

This leads us to the GLP-1 SUD data that Volkow finds so exciting — and the first of many questions and challenges.

Promising Data on GLP-1s for Addiction

A 2024 review identified two randomized control trials that showed a “significant effect of GLP-1RA on decreasing SUD.” The details:

  • One study pertained to alcohol, the other to nicotine
  • In the alcohol study, participants drank 29% less compared to their baseline intake (Probst et al., 2023) dulaglutide once a week for 12 weeks
  • A third study only showed SUD results (alcohol) for patients who were also obese (Klausen et al., 2022) 
  • In this study, one GLP-1 (Exenatide) decreased total intake and the number of heavy drinking days by almost 24% once a week for 26 weeks

The 2024 review concludes that GLP-1s have a “a potential role” in SUD. To fulfill that role, more research will be needed — but even that won’t be enough. As Volkow stresses, drug companies (“Big Pharma”) has a “moral imperative to develop new addiction treatments” but don’t.

Example? Let’s compare two conditions: high blood pressure (HBP) and addiction. For HBP, there are 11 drug categories alone, with Drugs.com listing 214 individual drugs to treat the condition. Contrast this with just five primary medications that treat the cravings, chemical imbalances and withdrawals associated with SUD (SAMHSA): 

  • Acamprosate, disulfiram, and naltrexone for alcohol use disorder
  • Buprenorphine, methadone — and again naltrexone — for opioid use disorder

In the STAT article, Volkow adds that “in other disease spaces, like depression or hypertension, researchers and public health officials would never be content with just two or three effective treatment options.” She cites the “structural problem” responsible for far fewer medication assisted therapy (MAT) drugs for addiction: That manufacturers don’t develop them and payers don’t pay for them.

Problem #1: Apathy

Drug companies don’t focus on addiction.

“The pharmaceutical industry has never spontaneously embraced us and said, ‘We want to help develop treatments.’ No, no, no. We go to them …. and say, please, please, we have an obligation,” says Volkow.

“[They’ve] never considered addiction as a disease that is worthwhile to invest in, despite the very high rate of mortality,” she adds.

While the opioid crisis and the SUD epidemic more broadly is creating some movement, change is happening slowly.

Problem #2: Lack of Coverage

Big Pharma’s profits flow from healthcare “payers”: the government, health insurance companies and employers. Their willingness to cover and pay for GLP-1s for current conditions hint at what we can expect for SUD.

  • Medicare does not cover GLP-1s for weight loss. The Biden Administration was seeking to change that but the Biden Administration is now no more. 
  • Private Medicare Advantage and other commercial health plans DO cover GLP-1s but mainly for diabetes or other conditions that weight loss can improve.
  • Many large employers (44%) covered GLP-1s for obesity in 2024 (Mercer).

Even the parts of this picture that sound promising are at risk due to another structural problem: the massive cost of GLP-1s, especially in the U.S.

Problem #3: Cost and U.S. Healthcare Economics

USA Today reports that Americans often spend more than $800 per month on GLP-1s for weight loss. This is compared to $140 in Germany and $92 in the United Kingdom (for the GLP-1 Wegovy). Despite this, a Yale University study found that weight-loss medications cost just $22 to make.  

The impact on consumers as well as payers is substantial:

  • Medicare spending for just three GLP-1s spiked from $57 million in 2018 to $5.7 billion in 2022 (KFF). That is 100x growth — far more than the 9% inflation that caused us to lose our collective minds during the pandemic.
  • Sen. Bernie Sanders has warned that the cost of GLP-1s has the potential “to bankrupt Medicare, Medicaid and our entire health care system.”
  • For employers, GLP-1 costs led to an 8.4% increase in their 2023 prescription drug spending (USA Today).

This is unpredictable and unsustainable.

“Employers. . . can’t just let it be open season,” says James Gelfand — president and CEO of the ERISA Industry Committee (USA Today). In response, employers and other payers are trying to curb use in multiple ways, including denying coverage altogether.

Supply-and-demand just isn’t working with GLP-1s. Normally, demand drives competition which drives costs down. Yes, consumers have spoken: “Show us the GLP-1s!” But so have pharmaceutical and insurance companies. Their profit motive is more like a compulsion — and they don’t just want a little profit, they want a lot.

Welcome to the messed-up economics of the U.S. healthcare system.

None of this bodes well for the development, coverage and payment of GLP-1s for SUD treatment. Health insurance benefits to treat addiction are already skimpy compared to other chronic conditions.

Stigma: The Biggest Problem of All and Its Surprising Sources

“Parity” requires health plans to cover SUD treatment at the same levels as other medical conditions. But it wasn’t until 2008 that Congress included SUD in parity requirements (MHPAEA, or The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008). Even then, its passage was a sneak attack, per former Rep. Patrick Kennedy. 

At the Inspire Recovery Conference I attended in Nashville in 2023, Kennedy shared that the MHPAEA only passed because Sen. Chris Dodd tacked it on to the economic relief package that saved us during the 2008 global financial crisis. Dodd was friends with Kennedy’s father, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, who made the ask. SUD parity passed because the bailout had to. Widespread Congressional empathy had nothing to do with it.

“I remember when we were in a conference committee,” Kennedy shared. “One of the senators said, ‘We’re not going to cover those Fing addicts,’ When is the last time you heard someone refer to those ‘Fing cancer patients’”?

Yes, our elected representatives actually say these things about us. We have to be careful that we don’t say them about ourselves. Stigma exists in the halls of recovery and the halls of Congress alike.

Until the 1990s and early 2000s, medication assisted treatment was seen as a short-term solution and its drugs just as addictive as what they were treating. As William White writes, recovery communities would deny sober status to their fellow alcoholics and addicts who used MAT to get there (Slaying the Dragon: The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America)

Addiction’s “Disease” Problem

Times have changed. But the development and use of GLP-1s for SUD have a long way to go. The NIH’s Volkow notes that current MATs are very effective but still underused — again, due to stigma. 

“[I]f we don’t treat [SUD] like other diseases, we are going to continue to face this horrific epidemic of deaths,” says Volkow.

Just like the old MAT bias, it wasn’t until the year 2000 that a paper by Tom McLellan and colleagues “proved exceptionally influential in arguing that methods used to treat other chronic health conditions could be successfully adapted to treat addiction” (Slaying the Dragon).

One of those other chronic health conditions was diabetes. And so we come full circle with GLP-1s.

Conclusion: Reflections

“We do something in SUD that we don’t do for other conditions: stigma” — this from Clarence Jordan, VP-Wellness & Recovery at Beacon Health Options. Thinking about the role of stigma and addiction’s other structural problems, I leave you with:

  • A question. What do you think about the use of GLP-1s to treat SUD?
  • A proposal. Somehow in our culture, alcohol is seen as a disease but not treated, funded and covered like a disease like other chronic conditions. This needs to change.
  • A reflection. With a little recovery under our belts, it’s easy to start thinking of addiction as someone else’s problem. “We” becomes “them” all too quickly. We can’t do that. Just because some don’t get sober with the help of medication assisted treatment doesn’t make it a lesser option. 

At that Inspire Recovery conference I mentioned, Patrick Kennedy added: “In politics, power concedes nothing without demand.” 

As people either in or seeking recovery, we need to get comfortable with this proposition — to help ourselves and one another.

A Physician’s Burnout Journey: Dr. Sheetal Ajmani

Burnout is a harsh reality for many professionals across industries. My journey with burnout began long before it became a common topic of discussion. Though I often felt isolated, my experience with burnout as a pediatric physician taught me valuable lessons about recovery, resilience, and aligning with one’s true self. 

Suffering Through Residency

My first year of residency as a pediatric physician was intense and relentless.  For the first time in my career, my recommendations carried weight and directly influenced patient care. The demanding schedule of 80-hour workweeks, combined with the emotional toll of treating critically ill infants and children, was overwhelming to say the least.

In the midst of this grueling routine, I experienced my first bout of burnout and depression.  While I didn’t have the language to describe it at the time, I knew this:

  • My stomach was in knots every morning as I drove to the hospital at 5 a.m.
  • I felt a deep, persistent sadness.
  • Most days, I didn’t know how I would make it through.

I tried yoga, spent time in nature, and confided in colleagues, but these only brought me transient moments of relief from the weight of daily life.  When I felt my mental health declining and nothing seemed to provide consistent solace, I decided to transfer to a program closer to my family in hopes that the proximity of loved ones would ease the strain. While the workload remained intense, the support of my family made a meaningful difference in my overall well-being.

As I continued to struggle through the next two years, I began taking mental notes about what truly mattered to me. I realized that 80-hour workweeks, overnight shifts, and the emotional weight of inpatient care weren’t sustainable for me. I valued quality time with loved ones, creative pursuits, and a sense of balance. These insights became a compass for my future decisions, prioritizing roles that allowed for the sense of balance and alignment that I valued. 

A Pivotal Moment of Choosing Differently

Years later, despite my best efforts of keeping repeat episodes of burnout at bay, I was faced with another crossroads. I was working in pediatric urgent care through the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and found that the collective trauma of the pandemic, coupled with rising hostility and violence in healthcare settings, left me burnt out and physically manifesting symptoms of trauma.

This looked like bubbling anxiety at the thought of going into work each day.  Heart racing at the slightest sign of an escalating patient interaction.  Fighting back tears while walking into a shift.  And, experiencing sharp pains through my neck and shoulder that limited my movement.  

The self-care practices that had sustained me for two decades (daily meditation, breathing exercises, affirmations, prayer, journaling, and physical activity) were no longer effective at calming my body’s heightened stress response. I knew I couldn’t simply switch jobs and hope for a different outcome. This time, I needed to choose an entirely new path.  I left clinical medicine, without plans to return.

The uncertainty of this transition felt scary.  I grieved leaving a career that I had devoted so much of my life to.  I initially sought stability through seeking a non-clinical job, but when nothing materialized, I surrendered my tight grasp to expectations of what my next step would look like and opened myself up to other possibilities. While navigating the complex tapestry of emotions that this time held, I continued to pour myself into the coaching business that I had started as a side project years prior.  In doing so, glimmers of joy started to resurface and I decided to take a leap of faith and trust that feeling of joy to guide me to my next steps.  

This journey has been anything but smooth. Initially, I struggled with expectations of what my new career “should” look like. A turning point came when I found myself crying in the bathroom of my co-working office – it was then that I realized my attachment to these external expectations was causing unnecessary suffering.  Once again, I had to let go of the “shoulds” that were no longer serving me.

I began listening to my intuition and prioritizing joy as my guide. I saw it as an experiment to follow my inner voice’s guidance, and in doing so, I have found an incredible sense of freedom that has opened doors to new relationships, opportunities, and experiences.

Burnout Defined

Literature1 describes burnout as a prolonged response to chronic exposure to stress. While it’s often linked to job-related stress, it can also occur within relationships and caregiving.

Regardless of the inciting stressor, burnout has three defining dimensions:

Overwhelming Exhaustion

Physical, mental, or emotional fatigue that can lead to irritability and difficulty making decisions.

Feelings of Cynicism and Detachment  

Loss of interest in work and feeling detached from its quality and results.

A Sense of Ineffectiveness and Lack of Accomplishment  

Feeling less effective, confident, and self-assured, despite maintaining a consistent quality of work.

Lessons Learned & Practical TakeAways

Two years later, I don’t have it all figured out, but I’m living in greater alignment than ever before. Here are a few insights from my journey:

Listen to Your Body’s Signals

Your body often knows what you need before you do. The stomach knots I experienced during residency and the shoulder pain when I was working in urgent care – these were physical manifestations of the emotional distress I was experiencing.  Before I could even name what I was going through, my body already knew.  

What messages has your body been sending you lately?

Seek Support

Recovery is not a solo journey. Therapists, coaches, friends, family, and spiritual communities have been lifelines for me. Remember that reaching out for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.  

Who’s one person you can reach out to today?

Let Go of “Shoulds”

Clinging to expectations of how life “should” be can lead to unnecessary suffering. This has been a recurring theme in my own journey, and each instance of intense emotional suffering reminds me that there’s something else I need to let go of.  

What are the “shoulds” that you are clinging onto, and can you approach these with self-compassion as you begin to release what’s no longer serving you? 

Burnout rarely follows a prescribed path, and recovery is just as unique.  But, you have the capacity to make it through.  By listening to your body, seeking support, and releasing rigid expectations, you can begin to take meaningful steps toward a more joyful and authentic way of living.

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Sachs Marketing Group works in collaboration with Recovery.com to manage their clients’ Recovery.com listings, ad spend, and performance optimization. They can help you make sure your paid advertising is correctly allocated to the most effective channels.

Become an Agency Partner

The Recovery.com agency program can enrich an agency’s offerings, grow revenue, and deliver results to their clients at a competitive cost per admission.

Email Signe Engelien, Agency Partner Manager for more information about joining the Recovery.com Agency Partner Program.

Scalable Growth | Recovery.com Agency Partner

Scalable Growth

Headquartered in San Diego, CA

Specialty Focus

  • SEO
  • PPC Campaigns
  • Conversion Optimization

Capabilities

Scalable Growth emphasizes a personalized strategy for each client, recognizing the uniqueness of every business. Their team combines extensive experience in marketing, product development, and operations to craft data-driven narratives that inform business strategies and prioritize actionable steps. By keeping the customer experience at the forefront, they aim to optimize businesses through the integration of people, processes, and technology.

scalablegrowth.co

Boost Your Marketing With a Certified Partner

Scalable Growth works in collaboration with Recovery.com to manage their clients’ Recovery.com listings, ad spend, and performance optimization. They can help you make sure your paid advertising is correctly allocated to the most effective channels.

Become an Agency Partner

The Recovery.com agency program can enrich an agency’s offerings, grow revenue, and deliver results to their clients at a competitive cost per admission.

Email Signe Engelien, Agency Partner Manager for more information about joining the Recovery.com Agency Partner Program.

Social Context Labs | Recovery.com Agency Partner

Social Context Labs

Headquartered in San Francisco, California

Specialty Focus

  • Corporate Analysis
  • Population/Market Analysis
  • Corporate Messaging/Crisis Management

Social Context Labs is a global behavioral analytics firm that delivers reliable and actionable intelligence to companies aiming to optimize their responsiveness to market opportunities and risks. Their proprietary system integrates machine-generated data with human analysis to provide deep insights into the behavior, motivations, and intent of clients’ constituencies. This approach yields Strategic Decision Intelligence (SDI), empowering clients in areas such as corporate analysis, crisis management, market assessment, and communication planning. By acting as an advanced reconnaissance intelligence group, Social Context Labs identifies opportunities and risks in long-term, in-market, or crisis management situations.

Website | LinkedIn

Boost Your Marketing With a Certified Partner

Social Context Labs works in collaboration with Recovery.com to manage their clients’ Recovery.com listings, ad spend, and performance optimization. They can help you make sure your paid advertising is correctly allocated to the most effective channels.

Become an Agency Partner

The Recovery.com agency program can enrich an agency’s offerings, grow revenue, and deliver results to their clients at a competitive cost per admission.

Email Signe Engelien, Agency Partner Manager for more information about joining the Recovery.com Agency Partner Program.

SouthSwell Digital | Recovery.com Agency Partner

Headquartered in San Clemente, California

Specialty Focus

  • Addiction Treatment
  • Rehabilitation Centers
  • Healthcare Services

Capabilities

SouthSwell Digital distinguishes itself through a deep-rooted expertise in the behavioral healthcare sector. With decades of combined experience in owning, marketing, and operating treatment centers, their team possesses an intimate understanding of the industry’s unique challenges and opportunities.

Their mission centers on creating effective, enduring digital marketing strategies that drive real conversions and sustained growth. By focusing on attracting the right audience—those genuinely interested in the services offered—SouthSwell ensures that increased traffic translates into meaningful client engagement.

southswelldigital.com | LinkedIn

Boost Your Marketing With a Certified Partner

SouthSwell Digital works in collaboration with Recovery.com to manage their clients’ Recovery.com listings, ad spend, and performance optimization. They can help you make sure your paid advertising is correctly allocated to the most effective channels.

Become an Agency Partner

The Recovery.com agency program can enrich an agency’s offerings, grow revenue, and deliver results to their clients at a competitive cost per admission.

Email Signe Engelien, Agency Partner Manager for more information about joining the Recovery.com Agency Partner Program.

Vix Media Group | Recovery.com Agency Partner

Headquartered in Denver, Colorado

Specialty Focus

  • Growth Hacking
  • Paid Advertising
  • SEO

Capabilities

Vix Media Group tailors growth marketing strategies to each client’s unique needs, focusing on amplifying brand visibility and guiding customers through the sales pipeline. Their comprehensive approach encompasses impressing potential customers with targeted messaging, establishing brand authority within specific niches, engaging audiences to build quality relationships, monetizing efforts to enhance ROI, and fostering brand evangelism for sustained growth.

vixmediagroup.com | LinkedIn

Boost Your Marketing With a Certified Partner

Vix Media Group works in collaboration with Recovery.com to manage their clients’ Recovery.com listings, ad spend, and performance optimization. They can help you make sure your paid advertising is correctly allocated to the most effective channels.

Become an Agency Partner

The Recovery.com agency program can enrich an agency’s offerings, grow revenue, and deliver results to their clients at a competitive cost per admission.

Email Signe Engelien, Agency Partner Manager for more information about joining the Recovery.com Agency Partner Program.