Burnout Recovery Coaching for Executives with a Nervous System First Approach
If you’re searching for burnout recovery coaching for executives, you’ve probably already tried time blocks, habit trackers, and CBT worksheets. Sam did too. It helped for a bit. Then the next busy season hit. Sleep slipped. Late-night email crept back in. The wired-but-tired nights stacked up.
The tools weren’t wrong. On calm weeks they worked. Under real pressure they asked for effort Sam did not have. Logic, reason, and willpower were already tapped, so pushing more of them made things worse.
What actually moved the needle for Sam was simple short, low-effort drills Sam could do in 30 to 90 seconds during natural breaks. These help the body shift out of “wired but tired” so planning and focus return.
Sam’s between-meeting resets
1) Reciprocal Inhibition (from Eric Gentry’s work)
Goal: lower muscle guarding and dial down threat.
How: pick a tense area, then gently contract the opposite pattern and release.
Example for tight upper traps: press elbows down toward the chair arms for 5 seconds, relax for 10 seconds, repeat 3 times.
Feel for an exhale or a small drop in tension.
2) The Basic Exercise (Stanley Rosenberg)
Goal: soften neck and eye tension to cue safety.
How: lie down or sit tall. Lace fingers behind your head. Without moving your head, look to the right with only your eyes for 30 to 45 seconds. Wait for a swallow, yawn, or sigh. Return to center, then look left for 30 to 45 seconds.
Keep the jaw easy. Stop if you feel dizzy.
3) Diaphragm Release (inspired by Dr. Perry Nickelston)
Goal: free the breath so the body can downshift.
How: place fingertips under the front rib line, midline to just off midline. On a slow exhale, sink in a little. On a slow inhale, hold steady. Do 3 to 4 gentle cycles.
Pressure should be light to moderate. Avoid if you have abdominal pain or recent surgery.
4) Breathing and Humming Stack
Goal: increase vagal tone and reduce reactivity.
How: 4-second inhale, 6-second exhale for 5 breaths, then hum softly for two breaths. Feel the vibration in lips and face.
Works well right before opening email or a high-stakes call.
How Sam used them in the day
Before email: breathing and humming stack, 30 to 60 seconds
After email: reciprocal inhibition for shoulders, 30 seconds
Pre-meeting: Basic Exercise, 60 seconds each side
During a meeting when stress spikes: two slow breaths with a silent hum on the exhale
Post-meeting: diaphragm release, 3 breath cycles
Before bed: breathing and humming stack, then lights out routine
Safety and fit notes
Stop if you feel pain, dizziness, or numbness.
If you have neck or abdominal issues, modify or skip the Basic Exercise and diaphragm work.
These are not a medical treatment. They are brief regulation drills that make other skills and planning easier.
Why mindset-first coaching falls flat in burnout
Most coaching starts with mindset, habits, and more effort. In burnout the parts of the brain that power planning and self-control are already overworked. Under load the body’s threat response takes the wheel. Attention fragments. Patience thins. Willpower drains fast. Asking for more cognitive effort at that moment often backfires.
Movement and nutrition help, but telling a burned-out leader to train harder or meal-prep more often adds load to a system that is already flooded. Sleep does not fix itself unless you can step away long enough for full recovery. Many leaders do not have that luxury. Wired-but-tired remains, even when intentions are good. That why at Gnosis therapy our burnout recovery coaching for executives begins with your nervous system first. Because that is where burnout lives, in the gap between your environment and your unique nervous system needs.
A3 Framework at a glance
Assess
sensory intelligence, bio-budgets, emotional regulation, limiting beliefs, attachment patterns, strengths and values, and your executive functioning strengths profile.
Accommodate
What your unique nervous system needs, instead of off the self good ideas we co-create custom interventions that accommodate your unique nervous systems needs, so you experience less effort and more ease through your day.
Align
Then we have the capacity to look at how to best fit your work to match how you work best.
Why this order matters
Under pressure the body wins over good intentions. If you start with heavy routines or more planning, you spend energy you do not have. When you lower the body’s threat response first, attention steadies, sleep begins to recover, and mood evens out. Now planning and mindset work have something to stand on. Then you change the system around you so relapse is harder than recovery.
Pitfalls we avoid try to avoid
Starting with mindset when physiology is overloaded
Prescribing heavy routines to a system that is already resource poor
Hoping sleep improves without a plan
Changing goals without changing meetings and request patterns
Evidence snapshot
You are not Sam, and your plan should fit you. Still, it helps to know what the research points to.
Structured professional coaching has reduced burnout and increased vitality in controlled studies with clinicians and leaders. (NCT03207581) (NCT05036993) (DEC2023)
Short workplace practices that target the nervous system, including HRV-style biofeedback or brief mindfulness, have lowered stress and burnout symptoms and often improve sleep. (39485585)(11082734) (37362186)
Measurement matters. The Maslach Burnout Inventory tracks exhaustion, cynicism, and efficacy. The Burnout Assessment Tool adds cognitive and emotional impairment and mental distance. ( 32488344)
You do not need to memorize the studies. The takeaway is simple. Pair coaching with regulation, sleep support, and clear measurement, and results tend to hold