So today is going to be a little different. I'm going to be getting vulnerable with my own flirtations with burnout in 2024 as a practitioner and a business owner, the changes it led to, and how you can use these same lessons to transform your practice. Welcome to The Conscious Practitioner, the podcast helping massage therapists align with purpose, create deeper client transformation, and evolve your practice even if you feel stuck. I'm your host, Dr. Jess, and each week we address your biggest practice challenges, from burnout to boundaries and everything in between. Together we uncover the inner blind spots behind these outer struggles that, when mastered, transform you from a skilled practitioner to a truly skilled one. In today's episode, you will discover why evolution in your practice is crucial for preventing burnout, a practical framework for realigning with your healing purpose, and how to implement sustainable changes that transform both you and your practice. So, let's jump in. Now have you ever felt that nudge, that quiet little whisper telling you that something needs to change? Now maybe, maybe it's a gut feeling, you know, something going on in the guts. Maybe it's literal pain in the neck that sneaks up seemingly out of nowhere. I've experienced these, all of these in fact, and more often than I like to admit, and much more often in the last six months or so. So despite running my successful practice and my education company and hosting this podcast and feeling pretty happy with it all, there was still something that felt off. You see, I do my best to be authentic, I do my best to act in alignment, but the truth I end up doing the opposite more often than not. I hate admitting that, but it's true. Now what's really interesting and makes this particularly challenging to admit is every single September, I have the privilege to do a workshop with the Wellness Centre Creators. And what I teach at this workshop is all about alignment and authenticity. And of all the things I teach, this actually might be my favourite topic. And I think the reason that I like it so much is because, quite frankly, These are the two areas that I struggle with more than pretty much any other area of business. And there I was, I was standing in front of this group of incredibly successful wellness center owners. I'm talking like people who had clinics that had staffs of 60 or more. And I'm teaching them about alignment, and authenticity, and intuition. Now, of course, there is a bit of imposter syndrome in there, which we'll talk about at another time. When I was up there, talking, there was this, this moment, and I remember it so clearly. I made eye contact with one of the participants. Her expression was, like, earnest. She had this look of understanding as I was talking about how important it is to be authentic and act in alignment, you know, like, yes, I felt a vibe there, like, I know exactly what you're talking about, and it felt really good in that moment. But, in that moment, I suddenly knew with perfect clarity where that whisper of change was coming from. There were parts of my business that were not in alignment. My behaviors were inauthentic. And it was burning me out fast. Now, the irony is thick. I get it. I teach this stuff, and I work with clients in my coaching practice all the time dealing with this exact same thing, but I fell into the trap of doing what worked instead of what mattered, even though I damn well knew better. And to add insult to injury, one of my main points in the workshop is that lack of alignment and inauthenticity is one of the biggest causes of burnout. Maybe, maybe this resonates with you. Does it in fact resonate with you in your own practice? This realization, it sparked the evolution that you may have noticed. The podcast has evolved from aim in practice to the conscious practitioner. Not because my own aims, pun intended, weren't important. They absolutely are. But because I realized that sustainable success requires both conscious awareness and clear direction. And I know I'm not alone on this journey. This evolution reflects what so many of us deal with in our own lives and our own practice. So starting in January, I'm excited to announce that we're expanding to include weekly solo episodes alongside our guest interviews. Why? Because transformation happens in the integration of insights and implementation. And as I say in that very workshop I talked about, knowledge is power, yes, but action is transformation. And that's, that's what this is all about. Transformative practices. So let's talk about what this means for you. What it means for you in your practice. You see, burnout doesn't usually happen because you're doing the wrong things. Again, right, as I've said before, burnout is a complex topic, but it happens because we're doing the right things in an unsustainable way. How many of you can relate to that exact idea? This understanding led me to develop this idea that I call the Alignment Evolution Framework. It's three simple steps that change everything for me, and I really do believe it could do the same for you. Number one is recognition. It all starts with self awareness. Know thyself, right? This really is about honest awareness of where you are at right now. Not where you should be, not where others think you are, but your true current state. I'll give you an example. When I recognized my own burnout signs, it wasn't dramatic. It was subtle.? Something just popped into my mind. I was doing this workshop once and somebody said, what do you do to not get burnt out? It was a panel discussion where we all gave our own answers. And mine was, you know, As a business owner, as somebody who is driven, called, pulled whatever you want to say, we're all likely going to end up in this realm of burnout at some point in time. So for me, it's less about what we do to totally prevent it, and more what we do when we notice it coming on. And that's what was going on for me. So again, it wasn't dramatic and it really never is anymore. It's subtle. It's a decreased excitement about my work. This is one of the first signs. A slight resistance when I was doing podcast recording. And it was a feeling of just going through the motions. I wasn't, I wasn't in it. I wasn't jazzed about it. So then the question is, what are your subtle signs? Lack of energy, feeling of lethargy, right, that pain in the neck. Step number two, it's realignment. This is where we bridge the gap between where we are and where we want to be. And it's really not about forcing change. I think that's something that's super important. We're not trying to force anything. It's simply about allowing evolution. For me, this meant asking deeper questions about the podcast purpose. For you, it might mean examining your relationship with your practice. What parts of your work still light you up and what parts drain you? And while this gets into a whole other conversation, it's also about deepening the self awareness from step one and starting to know exactly what it feels like. feels like to be in or out of alignment. And then we get regeneration. That's the third step. This is where we implement sustainable changes that really honor both our goals and our well being. So this is exactly why I'm launching these weekly solo episodes to support you in this regeneration phase with practical tools and consistent guidance. Here's what this looks like in practice. Instead of pushing through fatigue, you learn to read your energy patterns. Rather than taking on every single client you're filling your schedule, you cultivate an aligned practice. Instead of forcing growth, you allow evolution. So let me give you an example. Let's bring this to life a little bit. I'll share a story about one of my coaching clients. We're just gonna call her S. Now she'd been running her massage therapy practice for over a decade. So she called me and she was feeling burned out because I see a lot of people who are burned out It's it's a pretty big area of study and interest of mine having been there and having lots of clients who are either In it or they've recently been anyways as was feeling exhausted She was frustrated And she was questioning whether she should continue in her profession at all, like she was really ready to throw in the towel. Now, she loved her clients, right, like we do, but on the most part, we've all got that one, I know, but something wasn't right. Through our sessions, we identified that she was not really overworking herself, right, and that's what happens, particularly when you get in that ten year or longer range, even after five years, you kind of get the whole Work balance, you know, you know your limits and you stick within it. So, no, she wasn't overworking herself. It wasn't like a physical burnout. But the real problem was, that she was taking on clients that didn't align with her true interests or where her skills were headed. This is a common thing. She was still treating the type of client that her 10 years younger self did. But she, as a person, had evolved a lot during that decade. Her practice needed to evolve with her. Her work became more about what she thought she should do, rather than what truly mattered to her, what she really wanted to do. So together we worked through this alignment evolution framework. And during the recognition phase, this Gal, again, S we're gonna call her, realized that she felt most alive and most connected when working with clients who cesarean section surgeries. Which is pretty niche. And she loved helping them through their physical and emotional recovery process. Yet, she was spending most of her energy on deep tissue simply because, well, she was good at it. So in this realignment phase, we restructured her offerings to focus on her passion for working with clients who had a history of trauma surrounding cesarean sections. And we adjusted her marketing and her client onboarding process to attract new clients. These specific types of clients, and we also set boundaries around her work hours to really protect her energy. So she was better able to truly show up for the people she loved working with. And I really want to dwell on that for just a moment longer, because so often, again, particularly when we get into our careers, five, 10, 15, whatever it is number of years, is when we sit back and we take a look, we're like, why don't, why don't I love this anymore? Why don't I love this work? Because when I first graduated, I loved doing this thing. I don't love it anymore. Should I quit? Well no, because you as a person, you've changed and your practice should change with you. Maybe you don't like treating people who just want a full body Swedish massage, right? Maybe you do, but maybe you don't. Maybe it really filled your cup. For three years, for five years or 10 years, but now it doesn't, and that's perfectly okay. So finally with S we moved on to the regeneration phase and she implemented practices to sustain her new found clarity and purpose, right? She did. She did things like scheduling time for continuing education in post-surgical trauma therapy. She committed to reflective journaling, which helped her process the things that came up, and she found that through this, she ended up doing a lot of her own inner work, which is really beautiful. So the result was, not only did her burnout really dissolve, but her practice began to thrive in a way that it hadn't in so many years. Yeah. She felt the renewed sense of purpose and alignment. And her clients felt it, too. This is what happens when alignment meets action. So, thank you for spending your time with me today. I'm really looking forward to this evolution in my life as well, as we move into this new era of the conscious practitioner. Before you go, I want to highlight three key insights from our conversation, which I will do every week, Which is, evolution in your practice isn't about changing everything. It's about aligning what works with what matters. Sustainable success comes from the integration of conscious awareness and clear direction, and small shifts in alignment can create massive transformations. in your practice and well being. So if these insights and this style resonates with you, be sure to subscribe to The Conscious Practitioner wherever you get your podcasts. So with that, thank you so much for listening to The Conscious Practitioner. Until next time, be well, my friend.