Restoring the Artist: A Somatic Path Back to Wholeness for Musicians

Michael Sundell
May 24
3 min read

Updated: Jun 2

A six part series on musician burnout

You don’t have to keep pushing through.

If you’re feeling disconnected, depleted, or like music has become more burden than joy, you’re not alone — and you’re not broken.

This 6-part series meets you in the reality of burnout with compassionate tools to ground, reconnect, and begin again.

Through somatic practices, emotional inquiry, and gentle reframing, this is your soft landing — and your first step toward healing.

Part 1: The Burnout Nobody Sees

Why musicians are quietly unraveling — and don’t even know it.

Burnout doesn’t always look like crashing.

Sometimes it looks like coping too well.

You keep showing up. You play the gig. You nod through rehearsals.

You’re functioning — maybe even excelling — but inside, something feels… off.

A quiet numbness.

A shrinking sense of joy.

The creeping suspicion that you’re just going through the motions.

If you're a musician or sensitive creative, there's a good chance you’ve experienced this — and may not have had language for it. That’s the thing about creative burnout: it doesn’t always roar.

Sometimes, it silences.

Why Burnout Hides So Well in Musicians

Musicians are trained to push through. To perform, regardless of how we feel.

The show must go on — and often, so must we.

But behind the rehearsed polish, many artists are running on empty.

You might find yourself:

Feeling exhausted even after rest
Losing motivation for things you used to love
Avoiding your instrument… or clinging to it in desperation
Feeling anxious or emotionally flat during performances
Thinking, “If I take a break, I might never come back”

Sound familiar?

You’re not alone — and more importantly, you’re not broken.

Burnout Isn’t Failure — It’s Intelligence

We tend to think of burnout as a sign we’ve done something wrong.

But what if burnout is your system trying to help?

Burnout happens when parts of you have been working overtime to manage impossible demands — and are now trying to pull the emergency brake.

In my work with musicians, I’ve seen again and again that burnout is not a malfunction. It’s not a sign that you’re lazy, or undisciplined, or ungrateful.

It’s your internal system saying:

“Something here needs to stop before you lose something essential.”

Burnout is a message. A boundary.

And often, it’s the first step back toward yourself.

What If You Didn’t Have to Push Through?

Imagine a different approach:

One where you could feel your way through instead of force your way forward.

One where burnout wasn’t something to fight or hide — but something to listen to.

In this blog series, we’ll explore a gentle, body-based path for working with burnout. A path that doesn’t require you to abandon your artistry — but rather, reconnects you with it in a deeper, more sustainable way.

You’ll learn:

Why internal conflict fuels creative burnout
How to understand the emotional “parts” that drive overwork and avoidance
What your nervous system needs to truly reset
And how to reclaim your rhythm — not by doing more, but by listening better

Start Now: Try This Grounding Reflection

Burnout isn’t always obvious — especially for musicians who are used to hiding it behind performance. That’s why the first step isn’t to fix or push through.

It’s to pause. To notice.

I’ve created a gentle check-in guide called The Burnout Nobody Sees — a short, reflective worksheet to help you recognize the quiet signs of burnout and begin reconnecting with what’s really going on underneath the surface.

There’s nothing to analyze or solve. Just space to hear yourself more clearly.

As we go deeper in the next few posts, we’ll begin listening to the deeper messages beneath exhaustion — and learning how to respond in a way that honors both your music and your wellbeing.

You Can’t Burn Out From Something You Don’t Care About

The very fact that you feel this way is proof of how much it matters.

This is not the end of your artistic journey — it’s an invitation to make it more honest, more whole, and more yours.

Let’s begin again — not by pushing harder, but by listening differently

See you in Part 2: “What’s Actually Happening Inside?”