From Burnout to Regulation: Why Mind-Body Medicine Became Central to My Life and Work
by Emily McCord
A few years ago, I would not have described myself as burned out.
I had spent 12 and a half years as a secondary social studies teacher. I helped found a school. I poured myself into my students and my colleagues. I performed at a high level and expected a great deal from myself.
And yet, looking back, I can see it clearly: I was living in a chronic state of stress.
I was getting sick frequently. My outlook had shifted from energized and hopeful to cynical and exhausted. I still loved my students. I still believed in education. But emotionally, mentally, and physically, I was breaking down.
Today, as a board-certified coach, certified mind-body skills group facilitator, and founder of New Moon Coaching and Mind-Body Education, I can name what was happening in my body then. I was living in near-constant sympathetic nervous system activation — fight-or-flight mode — without knowing there was another way.
Mind-body medicine changed that.
What Is Mind-Body Medicine?
At its core, mind-body medicine is an approach to cultivating wellness that recognizes the bi-directional relationship between mind and body.
What happens in the mind affects the body.
What happens in the body affects the mind.
We are not separate systems. We are integrated.
Mind-body medicine uses evidence-based practices to regulate the stress response and support whole-person wellness — physical, mental, relational, and spiritual. These practices include:
Concentrative meditation
Mindfulness and expressive meditation
Guided imagery
Self-directed relaxation
Journaling and art
Biofeedback
The science is clear: chronic stress elevates blood pressure, increases cortisol, disrupts immune function, and contributes to long-term illness. When we remain in survival mode, our bodies pay the price.
But here’s what I didn’t know for years: the parasympathetic nervous system — the “rest and digest” system — can be intentionally activated. And when it is, everything shifts.
The Training That Shifted Everything
I first encountered mind-body medicine through a facilitator trained with the Center for Mind-Body Medicine. At the time, I was teaching a self-care class for new teachers in higher education. I wanted tools to help them avoid burnout.
What I didn’t realize was how much I needed those tools myself.
When I arrived at my first training, I was told something that irritated me:
“We know many of you are here to help others. But for this week, you need to focus on yourselves.”
Reluctantly, I did.
Halfway through that week of daily practice, I felt something I hadn’t experienced in years: a physical release in my body. A softening. A slowing down. My parasympathetic nervous system had activated.
It wasn’t magic. My health challenges didn’t disappear overnight. But something more powerful happened — hope returned.
I shifted from resignation (“This is just how I feel now”) to curiosity (“Maybe there’s something more. Maybe I haven’t tried everything.”)
Over the past five years, through consistent practice and continued training, my physical, mental, and spiritual health have steadily improved. The practices didn’t just change my body — they changed my orientation toward life. I became more open. More optimistic. More connected.
The Power of the Group
A mind-body skills group typically includes 8–12 participants and two facilitators. Each session follows a consistent format:
Opening meditation
Check-in
Learning and practicing a new skill
Reflective sharing
Home practice
Closing meditation
While individual practices are powerful, there is something transformative about doing this work in community.
I experienced that transformation personally during one training session led by James Gordon, founder of the Center. Sitting in a small group of physicians, I initially felt out of place. I was “just” a teacher.
During one exercise, however, I felt a profound shift. I recognized that the struggles and suffering in that room were universal. The sense of connection — to those individuals, to the broader human community, even to the earth itself — was undeniable.
When we move out of survival mode, we stop scanning for threats. We soften. Oxytocin is released. Compassion becomes possible. We remember that we belong to one another.
That experience solidified my commitment to facilitating groups.
Why This Work Matters — Especially Now
Mind-body skills groups have been implemented worldwide through the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in communities experiencing collective trauma — after school shootings, in war zones like Ukraine and Gaza, on reservations responding to suicide crises, and in areas devastated by natural disasters.
But you don’t need a headline-making trauma to need this work.
Modern life keeps our sympathetic nervous systems firing:
Constant news exposure
Social media
High-pressure workplaces
Leadership demands
Post-pandemic stress
Many of us are wired for survival — and we’re stuck there.
When leaders and educators live in chronic stress, they lose connection with their inner wisdom, their purpose, and sometimes even their humanity. In education especially, we see the consequences: teachers leaving within the first five years, classrooms staffed by substitute after substitute, communities lacking continuity and care.
If we want sustainable leadership, resilient educators, and thriving communities, nervous system regulation isn’t optional. It’s foundational.
Regulation as a Superpower
When we intentionally activate the parasympathetic nervous system, we:
Reduce long-term health risks
Reconnect with our values
Access creativity and clarity
Strengthen relationships
Experience greater compassion
Remember who we are
This work is accessible. It’s free. It doesn’t require special equipment or elite status. It requires intention and practice.
To me, the promise of mind-body medicine is this:
It helps us survive — and it helps us stay human while doing so.
And in this moment in history, that feels essential.
An Invitation
If this resonates, consider trying one small practice this week:
Five minutes of focused breathing
A guided imagery exercise
Journaling without censoring yourself
Sitting in quiet and noticing your body
Small shifts, practiced consistently, create profound change.
If you’d like to learn more about my work, you can visit new-moon-coaching.com or explore the resources available through the Center for Mind-Body Medicine.
You do not have to live in survival mode.
Your nervous system can learn safety again. And often, the most powerful healing happens together.
Listen to my episode with Dr. Kathryn Kennedy on the Embodied Change podcast.