The Quiet Revolution: How Somatic Psychology & Rapid Transformational Therapy Help High Achievers Heal from Burnout

I’ve come to believe that some of the most powerful growth happens when we stop performing and start listening to ourselves.

When my father passed, I felt like I was five years old emotionally. And when I think back to losing my sister Lisa at the age of three, I realize now that my body held grief long before my mind could name it. Those losses didn’t just hurt - they shaped me. And for much of my life, I coped by staying ahead of the pain. I was constantly striving-building a practice, raising children, leading others-all while quietly managing the internal pressure to hold it all together.

Many of the high-achieving clients I now work with are doing the same. They’re burning out-but they don’t always recognize that what they’re feeling is disconnection. Disconnection from themselves, their bodies, their truth. They’ve mastered the external game of leadership, but the real transformation? That starts within.

That’s where my journey with somatic psychology, Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT), and Positive Intelligence began. Not as a professional credential-but as a lifeline. These practices helped me return to myself. They revealed how the body stores what the mind suppresses. That healing doesn’t need to take years. And that presence, not performance, is where power truly lives.

High achievers don’t always look like they’re struggling.
They look like they’re winning.

But behind the polished exterior…behind the board meetings, KPIs, polished pitches, and leadership books, many executives are suffering in silence. There’s chronic fatigue that coffee can’t fix. Irritability that leaks into relationships. And a growing sense of disconnection from purpose.

Burnout isn’t just exhaustion. It’s your body and mind waving a white flag begging for your attention. But here's the hard truth most leaders haven't been taught: no amount of strategy can fix what is happening in your nervous system and subconscious.

Somatic psychology is the study and practice of how our emotions, trauma, and beliefs live in the body. It doesn’t just ask what you think, it asks what you feel, where you feel it, and what your body has been carrying quietly for years.

For high achievers, this is radical. We're taught to override the body in service of performance. But the body never forgets. It stores:

• Unresolved grief

• Leadership stress and pressure

• Early childhood imprints

• Unconscious tension from trying to control everything

Through practices like breathwork, grounding, movement, and sensation tracking, somatic psychology helps you reconnect with your internal cues those subtle yet powerful messages you've likely been ignoring.

You don’t need to figure it all out. You need to feel it through. The answers are already within you.

If somatic psychology is the arc - the long, wise unfolding - then Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) is the laser that finds the root.

Developed by Marisa Peer, RTT blends hypnotherapy, NLP, cognitive behavioral techniques, and inner child healing to uncover and release the unconscious beliefs that drive your habits, reactions, and emotional patterns.

In my own journey, RTT felt like turning over a stone and finding the root of the weed I'd been tugging at for decades. The shift was fast, but not rushed. It was simply… ready. My system just needed the right method to access it.

Executives love RTT because it:

• Uncovers the belief behind the burnout (“I’m only valuable if I achieve”)

• Releases it at the root - without endless rehashing

• Installs new, empowering beliefs aligned with your present self

• Happens in a deep, relaxed state where the body is safe and receptive

It’s not magic. It’s neuroscience and subconscious rewiring, working in tandem with the body’s natural intelligence.

Once RTT clears the ground and somatic work reconnects you to your felt sense, Positive Intelligence helps sustain the shift.

Coined by Shirzad Chamine, Positive Intelligence is about training your mind to recognize inner “saboteurs” (like the Judge, the Controller, the Hyper-Achiever) and strengthen your internal Sage - the wise, calm part of you that knows how to lead with presence.

For high achievers, this framework is gold:

• It gives language to your internal struggle

• Offers simple daily practices that rewire mental patterns

• Teaches how to lead from curiosity, empathy, and clear-headed focus

Think of it like gym training for your mind - and for those used to doing, it feels purposeful and effective.

Here’s the truth no one wants to admit at the top:

• You can’t “optimize” your way out of chronic burnout

• You can’t outrun your body’s limits with spreadsheets and caffeine

• You can’t inspire others if you’re disconnected from yourself

Leadership is evolving. The future belongs to those who are emotionally attuned, self-aware, embodied, and present.

This is not about becoming soft. This is about becoming wise.

When I lost my father, I realized I’d never fully grieved the loss of my sister decades earlier. I was three years old when she died. Back then, I didn’t know how to process that kind of pain…so my body held it for me.

Years later, as a mother, therapist, and business owner, I thought I had it all “together.” But the grief was still there-shaping my beliefs, my pace, my internal permission to rest or receive.

It wasn’t until I combined RTT, somatic work, and mental fitness that things began to truly shift. Not just emotionally and spiritually - but viscerally. I felt my body soften. My beliefs update. My nervous system unwind. I no longer needed to “earn” my rest or justify my healing. I just needed to receive it.

FAQs for High Achievers

Q: How long does RTT take to work?

A: Many clients experience shifts after just one session. The most profound changes come with integration- combining RTT with somatic and daily awareness practices.

Q: What if I’m too busy to do all this?

A: You’re too busy not to. These practices don’t take hours. They take intention. Start with 10 minutes a day. Schedule a session. Give your system the pause it’s asking for.

Q: Isn’t this all kind of… soft?

A: Soft doesn’t mean weak. It means attuned. What’s truly strong is a leader who can feel, heal, and lead from embodied presence - not burnout.

Let’s Call It Coming Back to Center

Burnout isn’t a failure- it’s a signal. Your body is not your enemy-it’s your guide. And your beliefs are not fixed-they are updateable.

When you pair the intelligence of the body with the clarity of the subconscious and the structure of mental fitness, transformation becomes not only possible- but inevitable.

You don’t need to reinvent your life.
You just need to remember who you are beneath the burnout.

 Resources for Continued Exploration:

• Yoga & Psyche – Mariana Caplan

• Positive Intelligence – Shirzad Chamine

• Rapid Transformational Therapy – Marisa Peer

Have you received your Free Nervous System Re-Set Practice this week? 

Jennifer Degen
October 24, 2025

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