How To Be Kind To Yourself: From Burnout And Overwhelm To Calm - by Clare Downham

COURSE

How To Be Kind To Yourself: From Burnout And Overwhelm To Calm

With Clare Downham

Do you find it easier to be kind to everyone except yourself? Perhaps you keep pushing when your body is asking you to stop, say yes when something feels heavy, or turn every decision into another thing to overthink. You may know you are exhausted and still hear a voice insisting that you should be doing more. This does not mean you are failing at self-care. Your quieter guidance may simply have become covered by noise. The journey from overthinking and overwhelm to calm, clarity and ease sits at the heart of Clare’s work. Being kind to yourself is an important part of that journey. Kindness is often presented as another list of things to do. Rest more. Say no. Set better boundaries. Make time for yourself. Goodness gracious, even kindness can become another thing to get right. Through a gentle exploration of the 3 Principles, this course offers a different perspective. Kindness is not found in a particular action. Sometimes it is kind to rest and sometimes it is kind to go dancing. Sometimes it is kind to say no and sometimes it is kind to say yes. It is not about the doing. It is about the feeling beneath the doing. You will be invited to listen more closely to your body, loosen your relationship with the inner critic and see tiredness, tension and overwhelm differently. Rather than treating them as personal failings, you may begin to recognise them as signals that you have become caught in noisy thinking. This course is especially supportive for high-achieving professionals and business owners who feel overwhelmed, behind or exhausted from pushing themselves. It is not another self-improvement project or a strict set of rules to follow. It is a gentle invitation to reconnect with the calm, clarity and kindness that are already within you. Take your time and allow the ideas to settle. As overthinking softens, your own wisdom becomes easier to hear and life can begin to feel a whole lot easier.


Meet your Teacher

Clare helps capable, driven professionals and business owners whose minds rarely stop, move from overthinking and overwhelm to calm, clarity and ease. Her journey began with an epic burnout in 2015, after years of holding everything together and believing she had to keep going. A headteacher, mother and busy human, Clare had become remarkably good at overriding her body and thinking herself into exhaustion. After years of trying to fix herself with tools and techniques, discovering the Three Principles changed the direction of her life and work. She saw that calm was not another thing to achieve. It was already within her, temporarily covered by the noise of thought. Her coaching is grounded in this inside-out understanding and our innate wellbeing and wisdom. Deep listening sits at the heart of Clare’s work. She provides a spacious environment where people feel heard, hear beyond the noise of their thinking and reconnect with what they already know. There is nothing to perform, prove or get right. Through Insight Timer and her group and one-to-one coaching, Clare supports people who feel overwhelmed, behind, exhausted or stuck. As the noise settles, the inner critic loses authority, decisions become simpler and the body’s wisdom becomes easier to hear. Her work is not about managing every thought or adding more to do. It is an invitation to rediscover the calm, clarity and wisdom that have been there all along, so life and business can feel lighter and easier.

read more

10 Days

24 students

5.0 stars

5 min / day

Acceptance

English


Lesson 1

From Running On Empty To Listening Within

Perhaps you have become so accustomed to pushing through, keeping everything going and saying yes that you no longer notice how unkind it feels. This lesson begins a different journey, from overthinking and overwhelm to calm, clarity and ease.

read more

Lesson 2

The Evening I Chose To Rest

Can you imagine being surrounded by music, dancing, and things you usually love, yet knowing that the kindest choice is to stay in your motorhome? This lesson explores what becomes possible when you listen without arguing with yourself.

read more

Lesson 3

Kindness Is Not A Set Of Rules

Being kind to yourself does not always mean resting, saying no or setting firmer boundaries. Sometimes the kindest thing is to say yes and go dancing. The action is not the answer. What matters is the feeling from which it arises.

read more

Lesson 4

Your Body Knows Before You Do

Your body may have been trying to get your attention while your busy mind has been telling you to keep going. Tiredness, tension, thirst, and overwhelm are not personal failings. They may be loving signals asking you to listen.

read more

Lesson 5

You Do Not Need To Know Until You Know

When a difficult message arrives, you may feel compelled to respond, decide, or sort everything out immediately. Yet forcing an answer from an unsettled mind rarely creates peace. Sometimes the kindest and wisest response is to wait.

read more

Lesson 6

You Are Not The Fifth Emergency Service

A difficult email can make someone else’s urgency feel as though it belongs to you. Before you know it, you are hammering at the keyboard and creating an even bigger problem. Kindness may mean allowing the urgency to pass before responding.

read more

Lesson 7

The Cruel Voice Is Not The Truth

The voice telling you that you are lazy, behind, not good enough, or failing can sound remarkably convincing. Yet its authority comes only from believing it. You can begin to hear that voice without turning it into another problem to solve.

read more

Lesson 8

The Feeling Is The Clue

An uncomfortable feeling is not evidence that something has gone wrong with you. It is an immediate signal that your thinking has become noisy, pressurised or cruel. The feeling can guide you back without requiring you to analyse every thought.

read more

Lesson 9

The Answer Is Never In Overthinking

You can think about a problem until you are completely exhausted and still be no nearer an answer. Clarity does not live inside the swirl. It becomes visible when the noise settles, and something already within you becomes easier to hear.

read more

Lesson 10

From Calm And Clarity To An Easier Life

Being kind to yourself is not a challenge to complete or another standard to live up to. It is a moment-by-moment willingness to listen. From calm comes clarity, and from clarity comes a life with more ease, lightness, and room to be fully alive.

read more


5.0 (1)

Recent Reviews

Nancy

August 29, 2026

Thank you..well done

Jo

August 27, 2026

Another great course, thank you, & I really valued your real-life experiences of this subject which were both very honest & very inspiring

Trusted by 36 million people. It's free.

Insight Timer

Get the app