Have you ever agreed to something and noticed the tension in your body straight away?

It can happen quickly. A request is made. A pause barely exists. The word “yes” is already out, even when something in you tightened, hesitated, or pulled back.

Later, there is often a different feeling. Frustration. Exhaustion. Sometimes resentment. Sometimes, there was confusion about why it felt so automatic.

This experience is more common than people realise, especially in Australian workplaces where collaboration, responsiveness, and reliability are valued. While it’s often described as people-pleasing, from a Somatic perspective, something else is happening under the surface.

The Body Moves Before the Decision

Before a conscious decision is made, the nervous system is already monitoring for cues of safety. Tone. Expectation. Power dynamics. Relationship.

The Mammalian Brain, particularly the limbic system, is constantly assessing whether a situation feels safe, uncertain, or pressured. That assessment happens quickly. Often, before language catches up.

The word Soma refers to the body as it is experienced from within. The felt sense of being in your own skin. Somatic awareness pays attention to these internal signals because they tend to show up before a clear thought forms.

A tightening in the chest. A slight drop in the stomach. A sense of urgency to respond. These are not random sensations. They are part of how the nervous system conveys.

Understanding the Fawn Response

When the nervous system detects relational pressure, one possible response is what is commonly called Fawn.

Fawn entails maintaining connection via accommodating, smoothing, or agreeing. It is commonly subtle. It can look like cooperation and flexibility. It may even be validation seeking. In many environments, it is rewarded.

In a workplace scenario, it might look like:

• agreeing to additional work without checking capacity
• saying yes to deadlines that feel unrealistic
• softening your opinion to avoid tension
• prioritising someone else’s comfort over your own boundaries

It can feel like the “right” thing to do in the moment. Over time, however, it can lead to overload.

Why It Feels Automatic

The World Health Organisation reported in 2023 that anxiety and depression contribute to approximately 12 billion lost working days globally each year. Workplace Wellbeing is closely linked to how supported people feel in their nervous systems.

When saying no might disrupt the connection, the nervous system can shift toward preserving harmony. This is not a conscious strategy. It is an adaptive pattern.

Many people who experience this are highly capable, thoughtful, and aware. They may even recognise the pattern after the fact. The difficulty is not insight. It is timing. The response happens quickly.

In some cases, people become less aware of their body signals altogether. The “yes” arrives before the sensation is noticed. The body still responds. It just becomes easier to override.

The Cost of Always Saying Yes

At first, this pattern of saying yes can support relationships and workflow. People are seen as reliable. Approachable. Supportive. Capable. Over time, however, this can become negative. 

What happens? Well, with predictability, the workload increases, and our energy decreases. It may take some time, but it is inevitable. Performance may drop off. Boundaries blur. The nervous system spends more time in a state of low-level activation. This can appear as fatigue, irritability, or reduced capacity to recover between tasks.

As always, we are going to back up our articles with the research! Data speaks volumes. A 2025 study using the All of Us Research Program found that people with higher perceived stress had significantly increased markers of allostatic load, the cumulative wear on the body from repeated activation (OR 2.18, 95% CI 1.78–2.66).

Patterns of over-accommodation can add to this broader load. This is not because saying yes is harmful, but because the body does not always receive a signal that the pressure has resolved.

In teams, this can affect communication. Agreements may not reflect actual capacity. Frustration may build quietly. Conversations become less clear.

What Somatic Awareness Changes

Somatic awareness delivers a small but meaningful shift. It brings attention back to the body before the response is finalised.

That might look like noticing your breath before answering, feeling your feet on the ground, or allowing a brief pause.

These actions create space.

In that space, the goal is not to become suddenly forceful. Often, it is simply to buy a little time, stay connected, and respond more honestly.

A different response might sound more like:

“I’d like to look at what’s already on my plate so I can give this proper attention.”

“Can I review my current priorities and come back to you?”

“I’m happy to think about how I would support this in a realistic way.”

The nervous system begins to learn that connection can still exist alongside clearer boundaries.

Somatics in Australian Workplaces

Across Australian workplaces, there is growing awareness of Psychosocial Safety and its connection to Mental Health. Policies and frameworks are evolving. At the same time, common interactions continue to shape how safe people feel to speak honestly.

EAP Counselling services provide important support for employees navigating stress and workload. When Somatic approaches are included, people develop practical ways to recognise patterns like Fawn in real time. This supports Workplace Wellbeing at both an individual and team level.

Leaders obviously play a role here. When leaders model pause, clarity, and realistic boundaries, it creates permission for others to do the same. 

Leadership Tip: Make sure you understand your team’s workload before making extra requests or changing the goalposts!

A Simple Practice

The next time a request comes in, notice what happens before you respond.

Is there tension anywhere in your body?

Is your breath shallow, or is it steady?

Is there urgency to answer immediately?

You do not need to change your response straight away. Just notice.

That awareness alone begins to shift the pattern over time.

How Our Somatic Counselling Can Assist

At The Team Approach, our Somatic Counselling supports individuals and teams in understanding how patterns like Fawn develop and how they show up in the Workplace.

Our sessions focus on recognising early signs of activation, building awareness of nervous system responses, and developing practical ways to respond with more choice. 

This supports Mental Health, strengthens Workplace Wellbeing, and contributes to Psychosocial Safety in Australian workplaces.

Sources

World Health Organisation. (2023). Mental health at work fact sheet.

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-at-work

Morley, F. et al. (2025). Perceived stress and allostatic load: Results from the All of Us Research Program. PLOS ONE.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12334008/