Work stress is not just a diary full of meetings or an inbox that never empties. It’s what happens when your nervous system is asked to stay “on” for too long without a clear way to downshift. You can change jobs, rearrange your calendar and still feel wired, tense or flat if your body hasn’t learned how to move out of work mode and back into something softer. In my Weybridge practice I use somatic therapy and EMDR to support work stress and burnout in a way that includes your body, not just your to-do list.
Teaching your body a quick downshift
We begin with simple, fast anchors you can use in real working days – not half an hour of techniques you’ll never have time for. In session, we practise movements and cues that are discreet enough to use between calls, in corridors, at your desk or in the loos.
You might experiment with:
letting your gaze widen to take in more of the room instead of staying locked on the screen
feeling your feet heavier on the floor, as if the ground is doing more of the work
lengthening your exhale by a second or two so your shoulders can drop slightly
resting a hand briefly on your chest or ribs to remind your system that a real body is here, not just a head
These micro-anchors are designed to be portable and repeatable. Used many times a day, they begin to give your nervous system a recognisable “signal to land” instead of waiting until you are exhausted or overwhelmed before it finally crashes.
Spotting overload before it explodes
Next, we build somatic awareness of how work stress actually rises in you. Most people only notice once they’re already at breaking point: the 3 a.m. wake-ups, the Sunday fear, the tears in the car, the sudden snap at someone you care about. In Work Stress Therapy Weybridge we’re interested in the 5–10% mark – the early signs your system is giving you, long before the explosion.
Together we pay attention to things like:
jaw clamping tighter during certain emails or meetings
breath becoming shallow and high in the chest
vision narrowing, screen and task filling your whole world
thoughts rushing ahead to worst-case scenarios or imagined criticism
that familiar internal push to “just get through it” at any cost
We map these signals kindly, without judgement, as evidence of how hard your system has been working to keep you functioning. From there, we pair them with practical choices: stepping away from the screen for 30 seconds, moving your eyes to the furthest point in the room, feeling your feet, taking one longer out-breath, or delaying a reply until your body has come down a notch.
Over time, this gives you a sense of being back in the loop, rather than stress happening to you. You start intervening early instead of only recovering late.
EMDR for pressure, perfection and “rest must be earned”
Once some steadiness is in place, we can use EMDR to address the deeper pressure points that keep work stress locked in. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) uses gentle left-right stimulation – via eye movements, taps or sounds – to help the brain and body reprocess experiences and beliefs that are still driving today’s responses.
In the context of work, that might include:
memories of shaming at school or university when you “failed”
previous jobs where overworking was the only way to feel safe or valued
bullying, micromanagement or sudden redundancies that left your system constantly braced
long periods of caregiving or responsibility that taught you rest must be earned, never given
internal rules like “If I stop, everything will fall apart” or “I’m only worthwhile when I’m productive”
In Work Stress EMDR Weybridge we move in short, carefully paced rounds. Before each round we return you to the present – feeling the chair, the room, your anchors. During bilateral sets, you simply notice what arises. We pause frequently to check that your system is still within its window of tolerance and adjust distance or pace if needed. The intention is not to push you through the worst memories, but to give your nervous system a chance to update them so they stop running the show every time a deadline appears.
Protecting home, evenings and sleep
Work stress doesn’t only live in office hours; it leaks into the evening, into your body in bed, into relationships at home. So part of this work focuses on transitions that protect the parts of your life that aren’t supposed to belong to work.
Between sessions we co-create simple, realistic structures such as:
A commute reset – whether you walk, drive or move from one room to another, we build a short sequence that marks the end of work mode: a particular playlist, one grounding exercise, a question you ask your body (“What do I need before I go through this door?”).
An end-of-day ritual – a short practice that tells your nervous system, “For today, it’s enough.” That might be closing your laptop with intention, making a brief list for tomorrow so your mind can let go, or literally changing lighting and posture to signal “off duty.”
An evening staircase – small steps that gradually turn the volume down: fewer bright screens, slower breaths, a more predictable sequence that your body can learn as a path toward sleep rather than staying stuck in work adrenaline until midnight.
These transitions don’t need to be perfect; they simply need to be consistent enough that your nervous system starts to trust them.
What begins to change
As anchors, awareness, EMDR and transition rituals come together, most people don’t suddenly love every meeting or never feel pressure again. What shifts is the cost of that pressure. Spikes are shorter. Recovery is quicker. Evenings feel more like yours. Sleep becomes a little deeper, a little less interrupted by work thoughts.
You may find it easier to say, “That’s enough for today,” without the same wave of guilt. Your body feels less like a machine you drag to your desk and more like an ally you’re learning to work with. Over time, this kind of nervous-system-aware approach makes it easier either to stay in your role with less harm, or to make big decisions about work from a steadier place rather than from total burnout.
If you’d like support with work stress
If you’re in or near Weybridge and recognise yourself in this picture of work stress that doesn’t switch off, you’re welcome to reach out. We can start slowly, with a conversation about what’s happening now and what would realistically feel like “better” in your week.
To ask questions or arrange an initial session, please use the contact page:
👉 https://www.cherie-james.com/contact
You can outline what your workdays look like, how stress spills into your evenings or sleep, and what kind of pace feels manageable for your system. From there, we can explore whether somatic and EMDR-informed support for work stress in Weybridge is a good fit for you.
FAQ
Q1. How does EMDR help with chronic work stress?
We lower baseline arousal, process pressure points and build transitions that separate work from home.
Q2. Will I get brief resets for the day?
Yes—post‑meeting settles, commute rituals and boundary phrases you can actually use.
Q3. Do you offer flexible session formats?
Yes. Weybridge in‑person and secure online options.