I met the inspirational Georgia towards the end of 2025, Now one of our Sleep Talkers, Georgia has a truly enlightening and inspiring story to tell.
Georgia’s story into Yoga & Wellness Emergency Brain Surgery
In 2020, during the middle of the COVID pandemic, I underwent emergency brain surgery for a tumour I had no idea I had. I was a healthy 22-year-old with a good diet, regular gym & exercise, making the most of the good weather with my family as some of the lockdown measures were eased in summer 2020, what came in the coming days changed my life forever.
Often, we see or hear about tragedies, but it never really crosses our mind that it could happen to us. We carry on with our daily lives and sometimes become a little complacent with our health, or our ability to walk, talk, see, breathe, move, and be.
It all started with the blurred vision and dizziness that I’d get when I stood up, headaches and migraine symptoms alongside it. I thought my eyesight was getting bad, so I arranged an optician appointment. ‘Optical nerve swelling’, the optician said looking concerned, ‘I’d normally refer you straight to hospital but as the Doctors are already investigating it, I’ll write a letter to take to your GP’, he said. ‘But if it gets worse, don’t delay, take action’. That day my vision got a lot worse and I began seeing double, I remember driving back from visiting my grandparents and the grass verge was in the middle of the road. I went straight to A&E and they gave me a migraine tablet and sent me home.
The following day my vision was still blurred, I had a call from the hospital for my referral appointment at the end of the week and asked ‘how do I manage my symptoms until then? I can barely see’. ‘Eye drops to lubricate the eyes’, they said. So, I got some eye drops and tipped my head back to put them in and collapsed in a heap on the floor. After a phone call to 111 and a phone assessment with the Doctor I was on my way to A&E again, this time for a CT scan. Patients only because of COVID.
I sit there alone in the waiting room, after 7 hours in A&E a Doctor came to tell me I was being admitted as my scan showed excess fluid on the brain. I didn’t know what that meant but I knew it sounded scary. Heading for the ward with nothing but fear inside of me, complete fatigue hit as I climbed into the hospital bed and closed my eyes. The utter sleep deprivation takes over and pulls me into a sleep. I’m then woken for an MRI scan. I get put into a wheelchair and taken into the machine that is banging around my head for what felt like 30 minutes, then wheeled back to my bed. I then get told that I am being transferred to Queen’s Medical Centre. That made me fear the worst, whatever it was that was wrong, was serious and needed special treatment. My mum brought me a bag of things but wasn’t allowed to stay because of COVID. I was sent in an ambulance to QMC. My Dad met me at the doors, but again, wasn’t allowed inside the hospital. I got taken to the neuro ward and got dropped off at a bed with ‘Georgia Burrows – Neurosurgery’ written on the board above. Within 10 minutes, the neurosurgeon came to speak to me to tell me that I had a 5mm ‘ball of snot’ in my brain. This ball of snot was in fact a Colloid Cyst (Tumour) in the third ventricle of my brain causing a blockage to the fluid movement. People had been known to drop down dead with these going unnoticed. QMC dealt with only 10 of them a year.
Yes, it was extremely rare, and they needed to operate the next day. It was a lot to take in on my own, I needed my loved ones by my side but COVID didn’t allow for that.
After the scariest conversation of my life, hearing the risks of leaving it, the risks of removing it, and things like ‘you may have seizures’, ‘you may have a stroke’, ‘you may even die’, the top surgeons in the country had discussed my case and decided the best option was to have surgery the following day.
This is where my prior mindfulness practise was undoubtedly valuable. The evening before my surgery, I listened to guided meditations and breathing practises on Headspace to try and keep myself as calm as humanly possible. When they came to collect me the morning of my surgery, I felt tears and panic begin to bubble. I had to push them away and stay strong. Not only for myself but for my family, I had to get through it. I had to come out the other side. I had to fight it. I held the tears in and put my brave face on as they pushed my bed into the pre surgery room and gave me anaesthetic. ‘Happy thoughts to drift off to’, was the last thing I heard. I slowly opened my eyes to the most excruciating pain. I can only describe it as like having a knife in my head. 4 hours of recovery in ICU & lots of morphine.
I spent 2 days in the hospital post-surgery and once I’d had an MRI to confirm that the removal was successful, I was sent home to recover.
No one prepares you for recovery from Brain surgery. I didn’t know what to expect, the Doctor’s just told me to ‘Take it steady and do what you feel like doing’, so within a couple of weeks, being the active body that I am and upset that I hadn’t moved for what felt like an age, I thought some simple chair exercises couldn’t hurt, with that I was projectile vomiting with excruciating headaches and back to A&E… ‘REST’, they told me, ‘PLEASE REST’. So, with Doctor’s orders, I was back home, pretty much bed bound for the next 6 weeks, my mum was caring for me, and I had lots of visits from friends and family but could only really manage 10 minutes or so of talking then would need to sleep.
This period of initial recovery, not being physically able to do any of the things I was doing before was heart-breaking for me. I was forced to rest and recover. I had never experienced this inability before, and it soon made me realise how much I had taken it for granted when I was fully able.
The journey of recovery was not a straight road for me, as I started to feel a little more human again, and could gradually stay awake for longer, I realised that my whole body was dysregulated. My sleep/wake cycle, my heart rate, my digestion, my appetite, my energy, EVERYTHING was affected. I was experiencing extreme dysfunction from insomnia and hyperactivity one week, to extreme fatigue and depression the next. Sometimes I would go 72 hours without sleeping, and then would sleep for days and nights on end. It’s like my brain and body had to learn normality all over again. On top of this I was emotionally reacting to the traumatic event that I had experienced.
I suppose there’s no words to describe the complete mess that I was feeling, physically, emotionally and mentally. Of course, I was grateful that they found the tumour and saved my life, or at least felt that I should be more grateful than I really felt. This is when I had to take matters into my own hands and really do what I could to make myself feel better.
How breath and mindfulness practises saved me
I had been practising yoga for some years before this happened, and although I wasn’t able to practise the physical aspects during my immediate recovery, the yoga and mindfulness philosophy of ‘staying present’, was crucial for my recovery. Gentle body scans, or the act of simply noticing what I could hear, the meditative practises, were actually all I was able to do for a long time, but if it wasn’t for those, I truly don’t know how I’d still be here. I read Eckart Tolle’s – The Power of Now, this really helped me to accept how things were and find peace. I also had a regular practise of some different breath techniques, which had really helped me with anxiety in the past. Knowing these calming breath practises really helped to bring me to a state of relaxation, and fully allowing healing to occur within my body. I have included some of my favourite breath techniques below:
4 – 7 – 8 Breath
Breathe in for a count of 4, Hold for a count of 7, and Exhale for a count of 8
Nadi Shodana (Alternate Nostril Breathing)
Place the first two fingers between the eyebrows, use the thumb to block the right nostril, and breathe in through the left nostril for a count of 4, use the ring finger to block the left nostril, and exhale through the right nostril for a count of 4, inhale through the right nostril, block the right, and exhale through the left for a count of 4. Repeat this for a few rounds to balance and harmonize the nervous system
The post-surgery dysregulation continued for me for 2 years,
I felt that I had tried everything in the world to become more in balance, regular breathing techniques, mindfulness, lavender, chamomile, valerian root extract, more daylight, more movement where possible, no screens before bed, I had tried everything under the sun and nothing seemed to be the miracle I was searching for. I did become impatient, I was sad and depressed. I was constantly having thoughts like; ‘I should be better by now’, or ‘I should be living a normal life again now’, or ‘I should be working full time by now’, but the reality is.. you cannot rush healing. Every single body reacts to every circumstance completely differently. I had a very traumatic event happen in the space of a week and now needed to allow my mind and body all the time it needed to recover from it. However, I was determined to return to a fuller state of health, and I felt that I needed a deeper level of healing, so took myself to Bali to embark on a journey of just that.
I arrived to my retreat in Bali and was looked after from day 1 by the nicest people, I attended every possible healing class and treatment I could possibly go to. But the sessions that had the most profound impact on my healing were Nervous System Regulation classes,
Yin Yoga, Yoga Nidra, and any and all spa treatments, massage, chakra balancing etc. The techniques learnt on this retreat were to change my healing journey indefinitely. I learned vagal toning techniques to return my nervous system to a state of balance, I was brought deeply into supported rest, relaxation, and a full system exhale that allowed my mind and body to rest and heal on a cellular level.
Yoga Nidra
Also known as ‘yogic sleep’ is a form of non-sleep deep rest (NSDR), that focuses on bringing your awareness to different parts of the body, it is a meditative practise where your brainwaves shift from active (beta) to relaxed (alpha/theta) and is deeply healing. This state allows for deep relaxation, subconscious processing, and nervous system regulation. Going to guided yoga nidra sessions changed my whole life and this soon became a daily practise for me. I still follow guided Yoga Nidra daily on apps such as Spotify or Insight Timer or even YouTube. Little by little, through consistent regular practise of including these techniques in my daily life, I slowly became more regulated, my sleep started to improve, and I began to feel more human again.
I also attended a number of transformational breathwork sessions. Transformational Breathwork is a type of breath-based therapy that aims to help individuals release emotional, physical, and mental blockages in order to facilitate healing and personal growth.
What I learned about sleep and the Nervous System
When my own sleep pattern became damaged during recovery, I initially thought it was just because my body was tired or my brain was recovering, I didn’t realise how much it was affected by a dysregulated nervous system, until I attended sessions and later researched and studied the Nervous System.
Good sleep comes from a physiological state where the body feels safe and regulated.
During my recovery, my nervous system was constantly on high alert. My body was flooded with stress hormones, my mind raced at night, and no amount of positive thinking could convince my system to switch off at night. This is where I learned one of the most important factors about quality sleep.
How our primary biological autonomic nervous system survival responses work
When we experience a threat our ANS supports our survival by generating hormones and biochemical reaction that: Flight – flee from threat Fight – Fight the threat Freeze – System shut down from overwhelm or being trapped
The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for activation & mobilisation (Fight / Flight) which can be thought of as the accelerator.
The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for slowing down & stabilisation which can be thought of as the brake.
The part of our nervous system that is responsible for calming and grounding our system back to homeostasis is a branch of the parasympathetic nervous system called the Ventral Vagus Nerve and is referred to as the ventral vagal brake.
However, in response to chronic or traumatic stress, the accelerator in the nervous system is being continuously activated and triggered, which wears down the effectiveness of the Ventral Vagal Brake so it can no longer effectively do its job of bringing the body back into a centred and regulated state. This is where we can become ‘stuck on’ or ‘stuck off’.
I was living almost entirely in the sympathetic state. Even when I lay down exhausted, my body was wired. It was prepared for danger, not dreaming. Sleep requires a physiological shift into parasympathetic, a state where the brain waves slow, the breath softens, and the body stops scanning for threats. My body would then try to compensate by shutting down so I was in a constant cycle of being ‘stuck on’ or ‘stuck off’.
Once I learned this, I stopped trying to force myself to sleep and started learning how to regulate my nervous system instead. I discovered that:
· Breath directly influences the vagus nerve, the communication superhighway between the brain and body
· Slow, nasal, diaphragmatic breathing signals to the body that it is safe
· When the breath changes, the nervous system follows
· When the nervous system settles, sleep becomes available again
The key was creating the internal conditions where restorative sleep was possible again.
I now teach Nervous System Regulation sessions to help others. Breath and somatic practices, and guided relaxation. When we change the way we breathe, we change the way we feel and ultimately, the way we sleep.
The birth of Brainful Yoga
My journey of healing inspired me to learn as much as possible and also help others that are dealing with long term health issues or complications, those struggling with sleep, or any of life’s twists, turns stresses or traumas. I truly believe that healing can be found within, when given the correct support, tools and conditions. I completed my 200HR Yoga Teacher Training and then went onto 100HR Somatic Trauma Integration. I now run Brainful Yoga and support others’ through trauma informed Nervous System Regulation sessions. Guiding individuals into rest, relaxation, and nervous system healing. The fact that we have the ability to take our healing into our own hands is astounding yet so many people are not equipped with the tools or knowledge to be able to do this.
I believe that healing should be accessible for all, and through deepening connection to your own body, breath and intuitive innate wisdom, individuals are empowered to access higher levels of regulation, resilience, and transformation for healing.
Finally
if you are struggling, remember this: What feels permanent is not forever. “Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness,” writes Eckhart Tolle. Trust that this is part of your unfolding. You’re not behind. You’re becoming.
If you are curious about breathwork and nervous system practices can support your own sleep, health, and emotional wellbeing, I’d love to connect.
My sessions are designed to help people regulate their nervous system, reduce stress, and restore a sense of balance in both body and mind. Whether you’re struggling with sleep, recovery, or simply longing for more calm in your life, they are beneficial to all.
I also teach regular Yoga classes at various studios in Lincoln
To find out more from Georgia
📧 Email: georgia@georgiaburrows.com 🌐 Linktree: Instagram: @_brainful.yoga
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Headway Lincolnshire can offer support to you or members of your family who are affected by Brain Injury
The Lincolnshire Sleep Hub have attended sessions to offer support around sleep and brain injury.